Rabbinic Deposition

(GENIZAH).

Egypt

circa 1150

Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew on paper. Scribe: Mevorach ben Nathan ben Samuel Chever (whose father was an associate of Judah Halevi). Formerly in the Daniel M. Friedenberg Collection

Legal document stating that a woman named Sumr bat Moshe, the widow of Isaac, and her orphaned sons, Abu Hasan and Abu Ishaq, were charitably housed by the merchant of Fostat, Abu 'l-Ma’ali, known as ibn Asad (Arabic name of Samuel ben Judah). Furthermore, Asad paid off the late Isaac’s creditors. The deposition, on the part of the older son Abu Hasan, attests that he and his younger brother have no financial claim against Asad. The Beth-Din validated the signatures of the two witnesses, Mevorach ben Nathan and Ezekiel ben Nathan. The signatures of the three rabbinic justices are as follows: Chiya bar Isaac, Ephraim bar Meshulam, and Hillel bar Tzadok. A thorough transcription is provided along with the manuscript by the Genizah expert, the late Prof. S.D. Goiten, who utilized this document several times in his work, A Mediterranean Society (1988) V, pp. 357-8, 605; III, pp. 9, 428