Geniza Lab

Bill of divorce, minute fragment, from 1125

Legal deed, 1145, minute fragment.

Bottom of a court record in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Signed by him and also by Ḥalfon b. Yosef ha-Kohen. Dating: 1127–38 CE, based on the conjunction of the years of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe and the years of Maṣliaḥ Gaon.

Legal document. Small fragment from the top left side of a legal document. ישועה בן משה, צדיק בן שמריה. Fustat. Judeo-Arabic and Aramaic. AA

Bill of divorce of Bidra b. Smuel, signed by Shalom b. Pinhas

Quittance from Ulla b. Tahor (or Tahor b. Ulla - his name appears in both options) to Saadia and his wife Sitt al-Husn. Signed by Yaaqov the physician b. Ḥalfon

Another fragment from ENA NS 18.17a, not a direct join

Legal document dated Av 1346/July-August 1035 concerning Yehuda b. Yaʿaqov, who had disregarded the ruling of the court in Qayrawan, Ifrīqiya. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Court record. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1140s CE, under the reshut of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Abū l-Faḍl al-Kutnānī b. Hiba al-Iskandarānī claims that he is owed 7 1/3 dinars by Abū l-Surūr b. Ibrāhīm al-Iskandarānī known as Ibn al-Jamīla. Abū l-Surūr denies this. The court asks them both to take a vow. The document is incomplete and unsigned.

Ketubba written by Yefet b. David

Legal document. Record of release. Dating: March 1097. Written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. This fragment seems to be the continuation a document, the beginning of which is TS 16.87 (PGPID 4094). In the section preserved here, Abū al-Faraj Nathaniel b. Moses and his brother Abū al-Barakāt Aaron release Abū al-Baqā Samuel b. Nathan the Ḥaver from obligations in a long-distance trading partnership which had taken their father, apparently the active partner, to Tripoli or Lebanon. The release clauses absolve Samuel from any further obligation in either “a partnership (shirka)” or “a commenda (muḍāraba)”. Although this fragment cannot be seamlessly joined to TS 16.87, that both documents are concerned with the partnership suggests that they go together. This evidence is strengthened by the fact that TS 16.87 is dated to the twenty-first of Adar in the year 1097, which was a Sunday; this could have been three days before the "Wednesday the twenty-fourth" mentioned in line 23 of this document as the delayed date of execution. While most of the bulk of the document is written by Hillel b. Eli (also a signatory), the notarization is written in different handwriting and attests to the fact that the undersigned witnesses recognized the signatures of the initial witnesses. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 81-82)

Quittance. Unfinished. Sumr bt. ʿEli releases any debt owed to her by Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Abū l-Bishr Shelomo al-Bazzāz or by his brother Abū l-Faḍl. The case involves an inheritance somehow.

Detailed deathbed declaration made by Abu al-Tahir Mevorakh b. Shela al-murid (government supplier), written by the scribe Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. The testator declares his second wife, Sitt al-Dar b. Yosef, responsible retroactively to the time of their marriage, as well as for the future, with the exception of the 'principals', by which he meant immovable property and merchandise, namely, pepper, lead, jewelry of silver and pearls. Concerning these, those of his children from this second marriage could request an account from her upon reaching maturity. If needed for the household, or 'cases of illness, school fees, clothing or unforeseen expenses,' she was allowed to sell some of the 'principals,' but only with the permission of a relative named in the document or two witnesses appointed by the court. The wife was allowed to spend the money thus obtained however she saw fit. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 255-256, 483). (Written by Halfon b. Menashshe Halevi [Date: 1100-1138]. AA)

Quittance, draft in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya in which a mother obliges herself to release her son from any lawsuit filed by herself or her daughter from a previous marriage. Dating: ca. 1038 CE. (Information from Bareket)

Reuse: Several legal documents, either drafts or court records. In Judaeo-Arabic. The entries on recto are very faded. The one that begins at the bottom of recto contains a statement by Yosef b. Shelomo that he will not take a second wife (or else he will be punished). Location: Probably Fustat. Dated: 1390 Seleucid, which is 1078/79 CE. The second entry on verso concerns various deposits or pledges. Mentions the wife of Sulaymān, a judge (al-shofeṭ), the house or wife of Abū l-Surūr. Also mentions a mill (ṭāḥūna) and maybe someone named Shāhīn. The bottom entry on verso is a detailed list of the items pertaining to the Dār al-Ṣarf that were sold in the presence of the court (Yefet b. Zarʿa(?), Meshullam b. Moshe, and Avraham b. [...]).

Court record from 1029

Ketubba from 1091-1110 written by Hillel b. Eli. The groom is Ayyash b. Berakhot

Legal settlement of 1113 between husband and wife written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe Halevi. Not much preserved. Sigend by Nathan c. Shelomo the cantor b. Yair and [...] b. Yosef

Court record

Fragment of a ketubba of the groom Yefet b. Avraham from Alexandria signed by Avraham b. Yaʿaqov. Dated ca. 1100. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 399)