Geniza Lab

Legal document, probably a partnership deed, but this is admittedly speculation. Mentions a sum of 53 new Sulaimānī dīnārs. Dated: 19 Shaʿbān 955 AH. Needs further examination.

Legal document. In Arabic script. Dated: First decade of Jumādā II 440 AH, which is November 1048 CE. Involves Azhar b. Khalaf al-Isrāʾīlī, the agent of al-sayyida al-sharīfa al-malika al-jalīla(!?). Well preserved, and merits examination. The al-Sayyida al-Sahrīfa mentioned here could be al-Sharīfa bt. Ṣāḥib al-Sabīl, who is believed to have provided meals to the caliph al-Mustanṣir Billah during the Shidda 'Uzma (see al-Maqrīzī: Ighāthat al-Umma bi Kashf al-Ghumma, pg. 99). On verso there is a lovely prayer in Judaeo-Arabic, with copious praises for God and expressions of repentance (and the psychic and bodily distress that ensues from reflecting on one's sins). AA. ASE. YU.

Contract of lease. In Arabic script. Involves Ismāʿīl b. Ḥasan b. al-Ḥāmī and his three sons, the 13-year-old Bū ʿAlī, the 12-year-old Ṭāhir, and the 2-year-old Abū l-Faraj. The date 544 AH (which is 1149/50 CE) is mentioned in the body of the document (l. 7). (Information in part from Wissem Gueddich via FGP.)

Legal document, probably dating to the late Mamlūk/early Ottoman era. Mentions grains and vegetables (al-ḥubūb wa al-mazrūʿāt), al-dhahab al-Ashrafī, the Nile (baḥr al-Nīl al-Mubārak), and al-Baḥr al-Aʿzam (Mediterranean Sea). The istiʾjār clause in l4 suggests that it could be a rental/lease document however the transactions and routes suggest that it could be a sale or a partnership deed. The currency towards the end "al-nuḥās al-aḥmar al-mutaʿāmil bihā alʾān bi-l-dīyār al-Miṣrīyya" hints toward a plausible dating of this document. Goitein notes that copper coins do not begin to appear commonly in Geniza documents until the late thirteenth century and afterward (Mediterranean Society I, 360). Hence, this might be the Mamlūk-era fels/fulūs (aka jadīd post-1357CE). Another numismatic reference that might be the most useful for dating is "dhahab al-Ashrafī al-Dhāhirī"; in general, ashrafī refers to the late Mamlūk dīnār first minted in 1425CE under Sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay which stayed in circulation under the Ottomans (but which was known more commonly as sharīfī/şerifi post-1517CE). It is safe to say that this document is late-Mamlūk 15th/16th-century or much less likely early Ottoman. Needs further examination. YU.

A 13th/19th-century Ottoman era debt acknowledgment document with a seal. Muḥammad Ḥusain acknowledges (aqarra wa ashada) in his sound mind that he owes 900 Kuruş in debt (شهد بذلك يكون ملزوم 900 ق) to Ḥusain al-Baṣrī(Naṣrī?). The document is dated 26 Muḥarram 1260/16 Feb 1844.

Bottom half of a legal document, 4 lines. Mentions arṭāl Miṣr, the quantity of half raṭl, and the occurrence of the transaction/event in the presence of a judge (bī-ḥuḍūr l-Qāḍī l-ʿArab).

Writ of debt drawn up in the ''high court" between two brothers, both kohanim, Hiba b. Ghālib and Yisraʾel b. Ghālib. Location: Jerusalem. Dated: Friday, 24 Ḥeshvan 4765 AM, which is 10 November 1004 CE. ("The fifth year of the shemiṭa" is specified.) Hiba owes Yisraʾel the considerable sum of 236 dinars. (Or has he already paid?) Signed by Shelomo b. Mevorakh; Shelomo b. Yiṣḥaq; Shemuel b. Naḥuma; and Shemuel ha-Shlishi ("the Third") b. Hoshaʿna. (third), son of Hoshana. (Information in part from Gil.)

Legal document. A torn deathbed declaration. The will is by a woman, for the terms used are צואתה אשר ציותה קודם מיתותה. Shemuʾel HaKohen and his brother Avraham are mentioned at the top of the deed. Also mentioned is 'Azarya haLaḥ... עזריה הלח[...] According to FGP, the deed is dated 1078 CE, but only the number לט (39) from the year of creation is visible. Interestingly, the document cites another bill from the year [4]734 [= 973], so it is possible that the actual date of the main deathbed declaration is from the 978 CE. However, the paper and the hand do not appear to be from the 10th century. AA

Ketubba (marriage contract). Groom: Yehuda b. ʿAmram. Bride: Sutayt bt. Shemuel Gaʾon, virgin. Location: Jerusalem. Dating: Late 10th century. Doodles in the margins.

Rabbanite responsum or polemical text about the term "aviv."

Legal document. Fragment of a deed, according to Gil, A history of Palestine, 634-1099, p. 270, from Mahdiyya and is written by the 'Rav'- Judah ha-Kohen b. Yosef b. Eleazar. However, al-Mahdiyya is not mentioned, and it is not his hand, as evident, for example, from T-S G1.5a (+ T-S 12.397 + T-S AS 155.329), where he signed (published by M.A. Friedman, "A Responsum by the 'Rav' Judah b. Yosef ha-Kohen Concerning a Child Bride who Committed Adultery", in: Diné Israel, 20-21 (2001) [Hebrew], pp. 329-351). The name Yosef b. Ya'aqov is corrected from Yahaboy or vice versa. The date is only partially preserved: 'Marheshvan […] thirty two to the date of the Arabs', which can be either 432 Hijri (= 1040) or 532 (= 1137). According to Ashur, ('On Rashi, Maimonides and a lost Talmudic commentator - Joseph ben Yahaboy', Cambridge University Library Fragment of the Month: May 2019) On l. 5: [... ראש ישי]בת גאון יעקב ביר אברהם This Head of the Yeshiva might be Nathan b. Abraham, whose rivalry with Solomon b. Judah took place between 1034-1042, so the year 1040 is more likely. Also signed by Moshe b. Zekharya. Judeo-Arabic. AA

Court record, draft or part, regarding 36 dinars possesed by the wife of tbi Yosef Ya'aqov the brother of Moshe al-Andalusi

Marriage contract (ketubba). Bottom part only. Bride: Ṭova bt. Ḥusayn. Groom: Shelomo b. Yisrael known as Ibn Ṣabāḥ. Nine signatures are preserved on this fragment, including that of Sahlān b. Avraham; other witnesses include Avraham ha-Levi b. Yosef Baqāʾ b. Mevasser; Hillel ha-Levi b. Yiṣḥaq; Aharon ha-Kohen b. Sar Shalom; Nuʿmān b. Binyamin; Furayj b. Ḥusayn. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Legal deed, draft in the hand of Yefet b. David. On verso, draft of legal record in the same hand.

Legal deed, barely readable. Shelomo Hanasi is metioned

Bill of sale for a female slave. Mevorakh and Yekutiel

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: 20 Shevaṭ 1354 Seleucid = 3 February 1043 CE. Written and signed by the cantor Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. Also signed by Shelomo b. Zakhar. In the document, Yona b. Shelomo and Husn bt. Binyamin agree to take care of Zayn

Court record in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli. Location: Fustat. Dating: No earlier than late 1097 CE, as it contains a copy of an earlier legal document which was dated Monday, 29 Av 1408 Seleucid. Under the authority of the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saʿadya. Concerns the financial settling between Abū ʿAlī Yefet b. Avraham (Yefet is titled Tifʾeret ha-Qahal) and Abū Yaʿqūb Yequtiʾel b. Moshe ha-Rofe (Yequtiʾel is titled Paqid ha-Soḥarim) after the death of Yefet's brother Yaʾir the judge. ENA NS 48.7 and ENA 4010.17 concern the same case (information from Moshe Yagur).

Legal deed from 1088–89 in which a woamn appoints an agent (wakil) to demand her provisions from her husband. Signed by Mariut Hakohen b. Yosef

Partnership agreement. Dated: 11 Sivan 1347 Seleucid, which is May/June 1036 CE. Gil identifies the handwriting as that of Sahlān b. Avraham. The contents are as follows: Shemuel b. Sahlan al-Barki brought a shipment of pearls from Farah b. Sahlun, from Qayrawān. Three experts are splitting the pearls between both partners. Shemuel (one of them) asks that his part would be used for traveling and selling the pearls in the Arabian Peninsula. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #799) VMR