Geniza Lab

Text of an oath to be taken in court

Legal document. Apprenticeship agreement. Dated December 1150 or January 1151. Location: Fustat. Written in the jurisdiction of Shemuel b. Ḥananya ha-Nagid, between Abū al-Faraj al-Musta‘mil b. Shelomo and Hillel b. Sālim. Abū al-Faraj gives Hillel 100 dirhams as an absolute debt and the latter agrees to work until the amount is repaid. If Hillel wishes to leave this employment, he must pay the entire balance of the debt. It seems that Abū al-Faraj is also to pay Hillel a wage, though the amount is unspecified. Repayment of the debt is to be recorded on the document itself. Abū al-Faraj is referred to as "his teacher", though his trade is not clear from the document; he is simply called "the [government] employee". This and the fact that Hillel indentures himself to Abū al-Faraj with the loan, suggests an apprenticeship relationship, though the nature of the work itself is unclear. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 63-64)

Marriage document. A torn and damaged Karaite ketubah. Although no complete sentences have survived, from the remaining words and phrases we can be sure that this is a Karaite ketubah: e.g החתן הבחור החשוב, ואליו תשוקתו and more. Probably 11th century. Hebrew. AA

Legal document in the distinctive hand of Elḥanan b. Shemarya. This is a notification (moda'a) that the release that Ṣāliḥ granted a certain Nāshī is invalid because it was coerced. On the back are a few lines in Arabic script - perhaps addressed to a woman (see separate record).

Responsum to Hodayahu ha-Nasi who lived around Avraham Maimonides' time. See a parallel in T-S 10G5.3. The question deals with a last testament and an inheritance

Responsum of a gaon, copied into a literary compilation.

Bill of manumission of a slave, formulary from Siddur R. Natan of Sijilmasa, citing R. Hayya Gaon

Qiyyum shetarot, formulary from Siddur R. Natan of Sijilmasa

Large legal document, probably a quittance. Mentions Moshe ha-Kohen, Abū l-Khayr, probably a woman named Munā (at the very end) and 7 dirhams. Faded. Unfinished and unsigned. On verso there is more writing in Hebrew script in a different hand, even more faded.

Legal query in the form of a letter to Yiṣḥaq b. Sasson, Maimonides' contemporary with his answer on the verso. The writter of the query is known to us from a letter he wrote to Maimonides, TS Misc. 28.98

Bill of sale for a female slave named חלל (Ḥalal? Ḥulal? In fact there is a vowel above the letter in the document, but it is not immediately clear whether a fatḥa or a ḍamma is indicated). Yosef ha-Kohen pays [..]ta bt. Shemuel either 23 or 26 dinars. Yosef may be identical with Abū l-Makārim. The buyer is Abū l-Makārim, who is purchasing the female slave for his sister (karīma), and the seller is Abū Saʿd al-Ṣayrafī. It is not clear how Abū Saʿd is related to the daughter of Shemuel. Abū Saʿd guarantees (ḍāmin) to the sister of Abū l-Makārim דרך אלחל of the female slave (whatever this means; as in T-S 8J8.4). The document seems to conclude with a provision that Abū Saʿd will reimburse the full price of the female slave to the sister of Abū l-Makārim in certain scenarios (אן יקים להא בתמן הדה אלגאריה . . . מתי . . . מן יעתרפהא או ירמי מלכייתהא ויסתכרגהא מן יד כרימה אלשיך אבו אלמכארם). The document is incomplete, and there are no signatures. Verso: Probably an archival note in Arabic script describing the contents of the document: يذكر فيها انه ضمن درك زوجته والصهر مسلم الى يده جامع عن حق السوق وجعل الدلالة. The buyer and seller may in fact be in-laws, e.g., maybe the sister of Abū l-Makārim is actually the wife of Abū Saʿd al-Ṣayrafī. Needs further examination. ASE.

Memorandum about a debt of partners and payment of customs in Fustat and Tripoly. The matter will be brought to the the Qadi bu al-Qasm. Names : Farah b. Ayyash, Mawhub b. Sa'd, Abu al-Khayr Sedaqa,

Dowry list written on vellum

The part written with a wider pen resembles business accounts, while the part written with a thinner pen looks like a portion of a legal document. Dated: Monday, 25 Jumādā I 423 AH, which is May 1032 CE. The two text blocks might be unrelated, but it is tempting to read the upper portion as the inventory of an estate (the تركة repeatedly referred to underneath), while the lower portion includes witnesses' statements about the sale/auctioning of the estate. Mentions Aḥmad b. Hibatallāh al-Wakīl. The last sentence states that ʿAlī b. Musāfir will return to his wife after something to do with this inheritance. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) Two names visible are ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and Yaḥyā.

Legal document in which a daughter called Mawlat gives her mother Yumn b. Shemuel known as Ismai'l the gift of her entire. Her husband is taking it upon himself to support her daughter in case the mother dies. Written by Hillel b. Eli

Court record in which Karīm is suing Abū l-Munā b. Yehuda concerning a qintar of Syrian oil and copper vessels left in Minyat Ziftā in his hands. For more details on the dispute, see Bodl. MS heb. c 28/68 (PGPID 6438).

Responsa of the geonim copied by a known scribe who lived around the beginning of the 11th century. Some of responsa are known to us from other publications of Geonic responsa

Legal deed concerning a female slave, that is probably sold or given as a gift to a woman named Sitt al-Nas. Also mentioned Mevasser, Shemarya Hakohen. Written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe Halevi

Ketubba, Qaraite. The bride's name is Ḥusnā.

Agreement between Yiṣḥaq b. Yefet ha-Kohen and his divorcee al-Ḥasana bt. Moshe, from Tinnīs. She releases him from something. Signed by Yaʾir b. [...].