Geniza Lab

Legal query addressed to Yehosef Rosh ha-Seder. Concerning a muqaddam who demanded that his name be included in the kaddish as had been done for his predecessors (man taqaddamahu min al-muqaddamīn). "Some of the congregation opposed him, for their own reasons" (M. A. Friedman has suggested that these were also opponents of Avraham Maimonides, see "A Bitter Protest about Elimination of Piyyutim from the Service — A Request to Appeal to the Sultan [Hebrew]," Peʿamim 1999). One of the groups excommunicated the other group. The name Elʿazar ha-Kohen b. Aharon ha-Ḥaver appears at the upper left (and perhaps at the bottom of another document that was originally above this document). (Information in part from Goitein, Med Soc III, p. 480, n. 154). ASE

Bill of release written in Tyre 11th century. Malīḥa bt. Shemarya (?) the widow of [...[ yedid ha-yeshiva b. Peraḥya declares that she had sent what was in the possesion of Abu al-Faḍā'il Ṣadaqa b. Yosef and releases him from any claims regarding any loss due to the dangers of travel.

Legal deed. The body is in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: classical Geniza period. Mentions Peraḥya and al-Shaykh al-Ṣafiyy Abū l-ʿAlā. Otherwise, too faded to discern the content.

Marriage agreement of Perahya b. Natan and Sitt al-Ghiyār, daughter of Mevorakh. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 405, and IV, p. 342, and from Marina Rustow [reading the second half of the bride's name])

Legal document. In Hebrew. Involving Hillel b. Yiṣḥaq known as Ibn al-ʿAmm(?). Needs examination.

Legal document. Three horizontal strips from the same document. Dating: 11th century. A widow appoints her son Yosef b. Aharon to sue Yefet b. [...] for all that her husband had left with him. Mentions "the city of חנס that is called אי כפתור," i.e., Damietta. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. The language is very legalistic and it could also be a legal document. It seems to be describing the terms of a reconciliation agreement. It ends with the typical ending of a letter, "ושלומך יגדל ואל ידל." In a different hand in the margin: "This letter is for Shela b. Nissim." The document was subsequently torn up and reused for piyyutim.

There are two different fragments bound together under this shelmark. The top one contains the begining of a legal query regarding a court record written in R. Shnuel's court (probably Shemuel b. Hannanya 1139-1159). The bottom fragment seems to be from the end of a letter mentioning Shlomo Halevi b. Yosef.

Upper fragment: Copy of a contract of betrothal (erusin) according to the Palestinian style. Location: Probably Tyre. Dating: Before 1037 CE. Written by Yosef b. Yaʿaqov ha-Kohen. Bride: Malka. Groom: Ḥalfon. Has numerous signatures, including [...] b. Avraham ha-Melammed, Shemuel b. Moshe ha-Ḥaver, [...] b. Shelomo b. Rabīʿ. See M. A. Friedman's edition for further information.

Legal fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Names: Hiba ha-Parnas; Yaḥyā; Shelomo ha-Kohen.

Deed of guarantee. In Hebrew. Dating: 15th or 16th century. Concerning a loan of 120 peraḥim from the Nagid to Makhlūf Kammūn. It seems that the guarantors are Makhlūf's sister, his mother-in-law Simḥa bt. Shelomo, and someone named כדוש. As for another sum of 175 peraḥim, this will be paid in full by כדוש alone. The Nagid could possiblly be Natan (Yehonatan) Sholal (1484–1502) or his relative Yiṣḥaq Sholal (1502–1517). Information from Avraham David's edition via FGP.

Legal fragment. The scribe is Shelomo b. [...] ha-Levi. One of the witnesses is Tiqva b. ʿUlla ha-Levi.

Legal deed from Yemen(?). These two fragments are covered with sundry jottings in Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic, some of them documentary. One of them gives the year as אמש, probably meaning 5341 AM, which is 1580/81 CE. The same note mentions a man named ʿAlī b. ʿAmmār al-Qabbānī. Another jotting reads "we now begin to copy the Zohar." There are also several copies of introductions of letters; copies of piyyutim and maqāmāt (ne'um Heiman ha-Ezraḥi. . . ); and copies of legal documents. The most complete legal document is found on verso of ENA 2750.11, concerning an agreement between Yehuda נביצי(?) and Avraham Ghazzāwī and business in cheese. ASE.

Testimony (shahada) written in Jerusalem during the gaonate of Daniel b. Azarya (1051–62), October 1057. Draft.

Marriage contract (ketubba) appearing to be between two relatively poor families, as evident by the small marriage gift of 14 dinars. Dowry provided by the groom. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol.2, 249-54) EMS

Legal document. In Hebrew. Dated: Heshvan [4]7[..], which means no later than Heshvan 4799 AM, which is 1038 CE. Appointment of someone's brother R. Yehuda as guardian (apotropos) or agent. Witnessed by Moshe b. [...].

Deed of quittance. The firstborn Barakāt b. Salmān b. Avraham releases his brother Faraj and stepbrother ʿAbdallāh and the latter's father Abū ʿAbdallāh from any claim after he, Barakāt, had received his share in his father's inheritance. Dated: Wednesday, 28 Tishrei 1406 Seleucid, which is 1094 CE. Signed by: Yosef ha-Kohen b. Ḥal[fon] and Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Talmid; the teacher Yiṣḥaq b. Ḥayyim Nafūsī; Nissim b. Nahray; and ʿEli b. Yaḥyā ha-Kohen. (Information from Goitein's attached notes.)

Fragment of draft of a court document relating to the affairs of Nahray b. Nissim, ca. 1045-1096.

Engagement (shiddukhin) contract. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi (active 1100–38). Location: Fustat. Dated: Sunday night, 25 Kislev 1444 Seleucid, which is 1133 CE. Fiancé: Abū Naṣr Elʿazar b. Yefet. Fiancée: Sitt al-Banāt Saʿīda bt. Hillel.

Fragment from the bottom of a legal deed. Location: Alexandria. Dated: Middle third of Sivan 4895 AM, which is 1135 CE, under the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon. No details preserved. There is a fragment of a signature [...] ha-Levi.