Geniza Lab

Might connect with ENA 4011.45. See description there

Legal document. In the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli? Involves Avraham b. Faraj/Yeshuʿa al-Raḥbī who is known from several other documents from the late 11th century.

Legal document. Concerning a woman, a vow, and a delayed marriage payment.

Recto: Legal query with responsum. Dating: First half of the 11th century. Concerning a cantor who took an oath not to lead prayers in the synagogue or to slaughter for the congregation in the market. In order to release him from the vow, the heads of the congregation asked him questions such as, would he have taken this oath if he knew that people would say that he was an idiot? If he knew that his family would get mad at him? If he knew that people would say that he was a melancholic (sawdāwī) and therefore prone to taking many oaths? He responded that he would not have taken the oath. Thus, they released him from his oath. The responsum is damaged but appears to state that the release from the vow is invalid. (Information from Amir Ashur via FGP.)

Legal query sent to Rosh ha-Seder regarding an owner of a house who left to another land without paying his kharāj (AA)

Marriage document. Two small fragments from a dowry list, probably from a ketubah. 11th century. Judeo-Arabic, Aramaic. AA

Fragment of torn and damaged vellum, contains Geonic responsa. Published in Teshuvot ha-Hageonim Marmorstein, p. 2-3. On recto the end of a responsum on debt. On l. 12 another responsum on the custom to pray half in silence and half loud, which continues on verso. In l. 4 another responsum published in Otzar ha-Geonim, Berakhot. p. 63, no. 136. attributed to Rav Zemah Gaon. In li. 16 another responsum, published in Otzar ha-Geonim, Shabbat, p. 1, no. 2. In Ginzei Qedem, V, p. 85ff, TS 16.376 is published and contains another versions of the last 3 responsa here. AA

Legal formularies. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Likely belongs with ENA 3755.6.

Legal deeds, templates from of a manual. A copy of deeds of legal interest in the hand of the scribe Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi (documents of his are dated 1100-1138). Goitein (Med. Soc. 3:127) suggests that the deed was written around 1130, but does not explain the basis for this dating. The earliest identified ketubba that contain the monogamy condition as found here is from 1117, thus the deed was probably written after that year. Deed A, Ketubba: Ashur inserted this ketubba to his dissertation, which does not usually treats ketubbot, because of its proximity to the other deed and due to the unusual condition it contains. The husband vows to provide his wife with a female slave and, in case the present slave dies, to replace her with a new one. It is probable that Ḥalfon copied this condition from a real ketubba, since it is unlikely that this condition was common enough to be included in a manual of deeds. Deed B: deed complementing the Ketubba. Deed which records the dowry that was not stated in the ketubba. The deed was written on the reverse side, from line 8 onward, after the end of the ketubba in Deed A.

Leaf from a book of legal procedure and formularies.

Court records. Location: Fustat. Dating: c.1082–94 CE, as the reshut clause of the second document invokes David b. Daniel [b. ʿAzarya]. The fragment includes the end of one document and beginning of another one. The first document involves Shelomo b. Avraham and Ya'ir ha-Nadiv Pe'er ha-Qahal b. Avraham b. Ya'ir (also known from T-S 28.6). The second document involves Thābit b. Yūsuf known as Ḥammār, Khibā' bt. Menashshe the wife of Yefet, and a sum of 15 dinars.

Official document of some sort in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions a ḍarība. Looks late.

Legal document, small fragment. Involves Sitt al-Hanā' (the same as in T-S NS 226.12? It is not a join, but the hand looks quite similar.)

Legal document (iqrār) in Arabic script. Mentions 3 dinars. Two witness signatures. Dated, but the date is difficult to read. On verso is a piyyut in Hebrew. Needs further examination.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Fragment (lower right corner). Bride: Mubāraka. Groom: David. Witnesses: Yefet b. Ṭoviyya; Seʿadya b. Ḥalfon.

Legal query addressed to ha-Rav ha-Gadol. Concerning the parnas Yaʿaqov ha-Yerushalmi who died and left behind 4 sons and a daughter. His inheritance included a codex of the ḥumash. Most of the continuation is fragmentary. Also involved in the case (as judges?) are Levi Ibn al-Quḍāʿī; Yehuda al-Dimashqī b. Sibāʿ; and Abū l-Faraj. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Recto: Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. A woman declares that she has no claims against Rabbenu Yiṣḥaq ha-Rav ha-Gadol nor against her cousin (ibnat khāl) the female servant of the synagogue nor the latter's husband [Yiṣ]ḥaq b. Rajā. Goitein understands this document as a deathbed will and the reason for the release as that she had lived on public charity. What the document says is that "if it were not for God or her, I would have been cast down in the road, and I would have perished." Two lines are crossed out, mentioning an item worth approximately 10 dirhams. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Verso: Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Likely notes for drawing up a will. The testator is a woman [...] bt. Avraham ha-Levi al-Jubaylī, the widow of Abū l-Faḍl al-Dimashqī. She has 5 dinars and 60 dirhams. Her son gets 1 dinar. The burial expenses (nawā'ib) are to come out of the rest. Whatever remains will go to her her daughters. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Fragment from a compilation of legal queries. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions R. Yosef (ZL) and Yiṣḥaq ha-Rav (ZL).

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Cairo. A certain Netanel makes a declaration. Small fragment.