Geniza Lab

Legal document confirmation by Eliyyahu Ha-Kohen Gaon b. Shelomo. 1070. Signed by Zedaqa b. Yosef, Mevasser b. Yosef, [...] b. Avraham Saadia b. Yiṣḥaq b. Yeshua

Deed of engagement from 1230 written in Qalyub under the authority of Avraham Maimuni. The groom's name is Yefet and the bride is represented by an agent named Nadiv Hakohen

Bill of divorce with signatures of the wittness. there are two groups of witnesses: עדי מסירה - who testify that the bill of divorce was given to the woman, and עדי חתימה who testifies on the signatures of the other witnesses. the woman is [...[ b. Amram. One of the witnesses is Abu Ali Ibn Daud. On verso few words from a discussion on ritual slaughter, written by the same hand and some Arabic jottings.

Legal deed, fragment. None of the main document is preserved, but two signatures are present: the cantor Yoshiyya b. Neḥemya and Sahlān b. Avraham. On verso there is a table of names in Arabic script. Each of the names is followed by a mark. The names include: Bunyām b. Mubārak, Furayj b. Isḥāq, Dāʾūd b. Yaʿaqūb, Hiba b. Asad, Ismāʿīl b. Ismāʿīl, Maḥfūẓ [...], Shabbāth(?) b. Ṣāliḥ, Zikrī b. Yūsuf, Furayj b. Hārūn.

Legal deed on the inheritance left and it's division. One of the parties (the mother according to Y. David in his Phd) agrees to support her son and not to ask for for support from the father. If she will fail to do so she will have to pay 15 dinars to the Synagogue of the Jerusalemite. On verso few faded words, probably from a piyyut

Page from the record book of the law court of the Yeshiva, perhaps Yoshiyahhu Gaʾon. From the same ledger: ENA 4010.28, ENA NS 8.15, and Bodl. MS heb. c 13/21. Recto: Agreement between a wife and husband, August 1023. Mentions "under arrest (? iʿtiqāl) by Sayyidnā al-rayyis." Verso: Three small settlements. (1) Hiba b. Musāfir and Ibn Ruʿbūb. 1/8 dinar over 23 weeks. (2) Mubārak b. Khalaf al-Ramlī b. al-Ruwaymī and Mubārak b. al-Harrām(?) al-Laḥḥām al-Ramlī. Involves a canister or spice box (zanjala/zinjila) that was deposited against 2 qirats. (3) Ibrāhīm b. Manṣūr al-Ṣāʾigh and Abū l-Ḥusayn Shemuel b. Binyamin b. ʿUlla. 41 dirhams.

Power of attorney by Shemuel Ibn al-Lebdi from late tenth-early eleventh century Fustat. Shemuel appoints a man (only 'son of Ḥalfon' survives) to sue Nissi b. Yaʿaqov.

Will. Only a few words are preserved. Mentions a woman: [...]āl bt. Shelomo b. ʿEzra, and mentions [...]q b. Ibrahim. Dated: 1369 Seleucid, which is 1057/58. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Legal document from the high court of the nasi (David b. Daniel) recording testimony of Yefet b. Levi (?) b. Menashshe, acting as power of attorney for his wife, Banāt bt. Abū l-Riḍā Yefet, claiming her father's share of what remains from his partnership with Musāfir b. Shemuel, and recording Musāfir's testimony that he could produce a legal document testifying that Abū l-Riḍā had spoken about this matter differently (i.e. as not being a partnership). The document was then in Tyre, whither Musāfir had sent it for validation by the head of the yeshiva, Eliyyahu Ha-Kohen, and Musāfir asks for a delay until he can have it sent. Verso: parts of one or two other letters, unrelated to the document on recto. ENA 4010.31 and T-S 20.162 are from the same case.

Marriage contract (ketubba) in the Palestinian style. Location: Tyre. Dated: August 1079 CE. In the hand of the ḥaver ʿAmram b. Ṣedaqa (see also T-S AS 150.230, T-S 16.136, T-S AS 156.394, and T-S AS 150.230). Edited by both Gil and Friedman.

Legal document. Small fragment of a decorated ketubba. Fustat. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Left lower corner of a will from Fustat. The elder daughter is in charge of the partitioning of the house. The dying man says that his Sabbath robe and Sabbath mantle are good enough and there is no need to buy new 'shrouds'. Dated Adar 1361/ February 1050.

Bill of divorce for a certain Na'ama, signed by Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq and Eli Hakohen b, Nahor

Legal document. The elders of the community orchestrate a settlement concerning the companies of grave diggers (aḥzāb al-ḥaffārīn). One is led by Wusayd b. ʿUqayb ("little lion son of little eagle”). Written and signed by the cantor [Yefet?] b. David b. Shekhanya. See Mediterranean Society, X, A, 3, note 221. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Record in a court notebook. Written and signed by Mevorakh b. Natan. Two complementary fragments, not providing a complete document. A venture on behalf of an orphan named Abū l-Ghayth, undertaken by Abū l-Maʿālī Shemuel b. Asad together with his son ʿEli. The orphan had reached maturity, but was not yet regarded by the court as able to manage his estate. An amount of 56.5 dinars was entrusted to Shemuel and his son, who stood security with their own possessions (in Minyat Zifta Jawād(?)), real estate and movables. The document itself is dated 147[5] Seleucid, which is 1164 CE, under the authority of the Head of the Jews the Gaon Netanel ha-Levi. Following the end of the document (after Mevorakh's elaborate signature in ENA 4011.23), there are multiple addenda in which the orphan confirms sums received. The note in the margin states that he received one payment of 8 dinars in Shevaṭ 1478 Seleucid, which is December 1166 / January 1167 CE. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, III, 296, 492.) NB: Goitein refers to ENA 4011.23 as ENA 4011.22. To add to the confusion, the current ENA 4011.22 is an unrelated legal document also in the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan.

Court record written by Efrayim b. Shemarya. Sitt al-Dār bt. Ḥusayn, the wife of Khalaf b. Isḥāq, claims from her husband 10 dinars given to him as a loan. Her husband claims that they agreed that she would get the money only in case of a divorce. Bishr b. Efrayim represents Sitt al-Dār in this lawsuit. (Information from E. Bareket, Yehudei misrayim, p. 185)

Legal document signed by Shemuel ka-Kohen b. Avtalion, Avraham b. Mevasser, Hisdai b. Natan the parnas, and Shabbat b. Nusayr. Shemuel b. Avtalion was active in Fustat from ca. 1007 to 1055.

Court record written by Shemuel b. Avtalion, dealing with a dispute between Yeshua ha-Kohen b. Ghulayb and Yoshiyya b. Maimon. Signed by Avraham b. Mevasser, Hisdai b. Natan and Shabbat b. Nusayr. Dated Av 1339/ August 1028. (Information from E. Bareket Shafrir misrayim, p. 268)

Court record written by Shemuʾel b. Avtalion, dealing with a dispute between Yeshua ha-Kohen b. Ghulayb and Yoshia b. Maimon,1028(FGP)

Small fragment from the validation (qiyyum) of a legal document. Mentions the names Yaʿaqov b. Yosef and Avraham b. Yaʿīsh ha-Kohen.