Geniza Lab

Court record written and signed by Aharon b. Yeshuʿa ha-Rofe. Location: Alexandria. Dated: Middle third of Av 4889 AM, which is July/August 1129 CE, under the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon. The case concerns half of a ground floor apartment (qāʿa). Also signed by Yiṣḥaq b. Yosef and Ṣedeq b. [...].

Legal query regarding an inheritance, draft. The brother of the deceased had apparently not paid anything to the widow. The bulk of the query is in Judaeo-Arabic, with four lines of Arabic script at the bottom. At least the first three lines of the Arabic appear to be related (they twice mention Sayyidnā). On verso there is piyyuṭ.

Dowry list, an addendum to a ketubba

A legal query. In Judaeo-Arabic. (Goitein, Palestinian Jewry, 309-311, suggested that it might be addressed to R. Isaac the Spaniard). Concerning an adopted girl who fled her marriage to a foster brother and was driven out of her house by her foster siblings. A woman, mother of 3 girls and 2 boys, took a captive girl into her house, regarding her bringing up as a 'thawāb' (mitzva). After 4-5 years, the girl matured and one of the boys of the woman wished to marry her. After 4 (months?) she returned to the house of her foster mother and declared she would not remain with him. Dating: Goitein dates this document to the Crusader period, but see Goldman, "Arabic-Speaking Jews in Crusader Syria" (diss.), p. 37, "Many undated Geniza documents have been ascribed to the period of the Crusades simply because they relate to warfare, ransoming, refugees, and/or massacres." (some data added by AA)

Legal query, might be sent to Avraham Maimuni regarding two partners who had quarrelled regarding a certain commodity. The question is about the status of the partnership, whether Shimon is rafiq or sharik, companion or partner.

Betrothal deed written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. The bride's name is Sitt al-Sāda.

Prenuptial agreement, draft. Late. Currency: peraḥim. The groom is not permittted to take the bride out of Egypt, not even to Eretz Israel.

Unsigned copy of a contract between Abū l-Bahāʾ b. Abū l-Mufaḍḍal and Abū l-ʿIzz (all called 'al-rayyis,' probably meaning physician here). Concerning 91 + 9 = 100 jars of laṭaf wine and 657.5 "broken" dirhams of Egyptian currency. In the damaged part, something about becoming vinegar when clay seals are not broken. Dating: ca. 1220 CE. Handwriting of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu? (Information in part from Goitein's index card and Ekaterina Pukhovaia.)

Left fragment: Court record. Very faded and damaged. In the handwriting of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Settlement of a martial dispute after the intervention of 'righteous elder' between a husband Shelomo ha-Kohen known as Ibn Abī Raghīf (cf. T-S 13J33.5 for this family name) and his wife [... bt.] Berakhot.

Legal deed written by Avraham b. Natan Av. Probably a bill of release. Unsigned. On verso there is a piyyut also written by him

Fragment from a woman's deathbed will. This was mistakenly attributed to Maimonides by Ratzhaby (Sinai 111, p. 214). On verso there is a list of seemingly random Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic words.

Legal documents, drafts recto and verso, in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya. Concerning a gift given to a young woman named Sitt al-Dār.

Legal deed, draft of a bill of authorization written by Efrayim b. Shemarya and Yefet b. David

Legal deed. Unclear if any of the details of the case are preserved.

Recto: Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic. On verso there are a few words in Arabic script, very faded. VMR. ASE.

Legal rebuttal regarding the lawsuit between Yosef Lebdi and Wuhsha over the possession of 22 bales of lac. So far, six bifolia and two leaves have been identified, totaling 28 pages of what must have been 40 pages in 2 quires. It seems that the judge in the lawsuit ruled in Lebdi's favor. A certain 'rayyis' wrote and published a critique of the ruling and supported Wuhsha's position. The judge answered with a rebuttal, and what has survived in the Geniza is the rayyis's rebuttal of the judge's rebuttal. The writer often quotes passages from his original critique and from the judge's answer. While the document is complex and obscure, the positions of the two sides are simple. The judge believed Lebdi's agreement with his two partners, Farah and Abu Nasr, includes the 22 loads of lac in question, as long as the other party does not provide proof that it does not include them. The unnamed rayyis argued that since Lebdi had no proof that the 22 bales belonged to his partnership with Farah and Abu Nasr, they must be considered as belonging to Farah's and Abu Nasr's heirs, since the bales are in their possession. In other words, since the bales are in the hands of the heirs, the burden of proof must be on Lebdi. Farah and Abu Nasr, it must be remembered, were murdered in Aydhab. Lebdi was entitled to 29 shares out of 30 of everything in their partnership and Abu Nasr and Farah had between them only one share. Farah's heirs already took their small share of the 22 bales of lac. It is worth noticing that only Wuhsha is mentioned as 'the heir' to Abu Nasr, even though we know she had another brother and two sisters. The trial between Lebdi and Wuhsha took place in 1104, three years after Lebdi came back from India, because the judge intentionally delayed the proceedings to give the parties time to come to an agreement. The last fragment, whose place in the larger document is not known, contains the information that the case was brought before a Muslim judge, who ruled in Wuhsha's favor. This document was thus written during or shortly after 1104. ENA 2855 16: I, 27a p. 1 T-S Ar 47 245: I, 28, p. 1 ENA 2855 15: I, 27a, p. 2 T-S Ar 43 272: I, 27 T-S G2 60: I, 28a, pp. 1-8 T-S Ar 49 33: I, 28b. For further explanation of the complex codicology of this document see Friedman's notes in pp. 174-177 in the Hebrew edition, and pp. 242-244 in the English edition.

Responsum that deals with someone who, due to financial troubles, must move to another city to find work despite an explicit prohibition against it in his wife's Ketubba. The identity of the person to whom the question was directed is unknown. Danzig quotes Adler's opinion that the rabbi was Maimonides, however, there is no proof for this. The Responsum asks: May the husband force his wife to join him against her will? If the answer is no, must he divorce her, as he transgressed an explicit condition in her Ketubba? If the answer to both questions is negative, must he give her child support while he is away? Must he only provide for his kids in this period? The answer has not been preservEd. In the rest of the page and in the right-hand margins there is a piyyut that continues on the reverse side (not presented here).

Marriage document (FGP)Legal formulary. One leaf of paper, from a collection of legal deeds (ספר שטרות). Contains a ketubah for levirate marriage and a deed of division of land. It is not identical with the known books of deeds. The hand is typical 12th century. The same scribe copied Sidur of Rav Saadya Gaon in CUL 1080 13.55. Paper. The page is complete, but the text has some large holes and creases. Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

Query and responsum of Joseph b. Jacob Rosh ha-Seder.

Trousseau list (taqwīm) for Sitt al-Waqār bt. Bū l-Riḍā b. Tamīm. Gives details of the items with numbers next to them. Dating: The document is dated ambiguously, 19 Elul '28; the handwriting is consistent with 13th century, so the most plausible options are 1528 Seleucid (=1217 CE) or 5028 AM (=1268 CE). (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)