Geniza Lab

Bill of divorce. Husband: Yeshuʿa b. ʿEli ha-Kohen. Wife: Ẓāfira bt. Yefet. (Information from Goitein's index card on T-S 8J29.13, probably the same couple.)

Contract of debt. In the best hand of Natan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver. Location: Fustat. Dated: Kislev 1452 Seleucid, which is 1140 CE. Sayyid al-Ahl b. ʿEli ha-Kohen he-Ḥazan known as Ibn al-Kāmūkhī receives 14 dinars from the banker Abū l-Bayān b. Abū l-Ḥasan known as Ṣaḥib Shamʿa. He will pay it back in the following month (Ṭevet). Signed by: Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen the descendant of Yehosef Kohen Ṣedeq (=the India trader Abū Zikrī Kohen); Avraham b. Yosef. (Information from Goitein's notes.) There are photostats and an edition in Goitein's notes (to be uploaded).

Legal document. Power of attorney. Dated: 1115. Location: Al-Maḥalla. ʿOvadya b. Efrayim ha-Levi Rosh ha-Qahal empowers 'ḥemdat ha-yeshiva' Avraham b. Natan ha-Sheviʿi to money owed to him ("from a partnership and a claim and a rental") on his behalf. ʿOvadya not only states that he has not retained Avraham only "to advance my cause and not to subvert [it]", but also that he will accept whatever the court rules, in stock halachic phrasing. The agent, Avraham b. Natan, is well-known from Geniza documents (Cohen 1980, pp.130-131) identifies him in the circle of the Head Mevorakh b. Saadya, noting that he acted as a mediator in other business affairs. His role in this document seems to have been settling the matter of the partnership, perhaps in court. Two of the witnesses to the power of attorney, Zakkay b. Shelomo and ʿEli b. Shelomo, may have been brothers. Also signed by Yehuda b. Shemuel and validated by Aharon b. Yeshuʿa ha-Rofe and Avraham b. Yeshuʿa. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 92-93)

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dated: 18 January 1061. Location: Fustat. This document initiates a partnership in the ritual washing of corpses. Sulaymān b. Ḥusayn and his son Isḥaq take on a third partner, Daʾūd b. Ḥasan (nicknamed Abū Jaʿd, "Curly"), who will receive a quarter of all revenues. The three worked in shifts, with one on duty at any given time, but the other two partners agree to work outside of their regularly scheduled shifts if necessary. Isḥaq’s share in the profits is not stipulated. All funds are to be given to Suleyman, suggesting that Isḥaq and Dāwūd may have been his apprentices. No partnership term is given. The document states explicitly that the terms of the contract are immutable. Signed by: ʿEli b. ʿAmram ha-Levi; Shemuel b. Avraham; and Surūr b. Ḥayyim Ibn Sabra. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 95)

Official document in Arabic script. Dated: 1231 AH, which is 1815/16 CE. On a printed template perhaps from the customs bureau (ديوان كمرك . . مصر). It is filled out in the name of a certain Khwaja Eliyyahu. Needs further examination.

Legal document. In Arabic script. Yaʿqūb Balūl al-Khayyāṭ ("the tailor") b. Khiḍr al-Yahūdī who lives in ḥārat al-yahūd owes Shūʿā Zayn(?) b. Ibrāhīm al-Yahūdī a sum of 122 Rūmī qirsh (piasters), 1 qirsh equaling 40 medins (niṣf fiḍḍa). Yaʿqūb must make repayments of 4 qirsh/week. If he fails to do so, he will have to pay the entire sum. 3 (or perhaps 4?) witnesses are signed on this contract. On verso there are records of payments totaling 45 qirsh over a period of about 4 months (significantly lower and less frequent than 4 qirsh/week). (Information mainly from the JRL catalogue.)

Official document of some sort. In Arabic script. Dated: 1236 AH, which is 1820/21 CE. (Information from JRL catalogue.) Needs examination.

Legal testimony. In Arabic script. Dated: 26 Jumādā II 1205 AH, which is 1791 CE. Involves Mīkhāʾīl Nāyūtī(?) al-Kātib(?) and Yaʿqūb Ḥarrāf(?). There are four witness signatures at the bottom as well as an inscription and a stamped seal in the right margin. (Information in part from JRL catalogue.) Needs examination.

One side: Order of payment of Abū Zikrī Kohen. Possibly dated 1449 Seleucid, which would be 1137/38 CE. There is an אמת at the top and a vertical line running through the text. Other side: Document in Arabic script, unidentified. Needs examination.

Legal document. In Arabic script. Large. Elegantly written, with moderately wide spaces between the lines. The lines initially descend and then sharply ascend at the end of each line. It is unclear how much is missing from the top and bottom margins. Perhaps this is a waqfīyya? It may be Mamluk-era, but that is a guess. There is text on both sides, a stamped seal in the margin on one side, and on the other side three additional lines in the margin at 90 degrees to the main text. Much of the content of the document consists of describing the features and locations of various properties. (Information in part from JRL Catalogue.) Needs further examination.

Recto and verso are each documents in Arabic script, probably legal. The one on verso uses the honorific khwāja, suggesting Ottoman-era. Needs examination

Legal document in Arabic script. Dated: 1248 AH, which is 1832/33 CE.

Legal document in Arabic script. Dated: 1226 AH, which is 1811/12 CE.

Legal document (or letter?) in Arabic script. Late. Needs examination.

Order/note in Arabic script addressed to al-Shaykh al-Rashīd, who is to pay 30 dirhams to Abū l-Faḍl for the plaster on the 17th of Dhū l-Ḥijja.

Legal document in Arabic script. Dated: possibly 659 AH, which would be 1260/61 CE. Needs examination.

Miniature receipt of some kind in Arabic script. Needs examination.

Order of payment. In Arabic script. Sayyid al-Ahl is to give something to the addressee.

Legal document in Arabic script. The name ʿAlī b. Khālid appears in Hebrew characters in the upper left corner, and the name Yehuda in Hebrew characters appears in the middle of the Arabic text of the document. Needs examination.

Legal fragment in Arabic script. Needs examination.