Oxford, Bodleian MS. Heb. a. 3.16

Bodleian Library (Oxford, United Kingdom)

One leaf document

Paper

Black (carbon based)

Calamus

No ruling can be seen

32

1239

13th Century CE

1551 Seleucid (1239 CE)

Egypt, Fusṭāṭ

Judeo-Arabic

(Other)

Partnership record

India Book I,41. The brothers Abū al-Faḍl and Abū al-Riḍā Yosef b. Berakhot, owners of a sugar factory, take on Yosef b. Peraḥya and Peraḥya b. Nissim (possibly Ibn Yiju, great-grandson of Avraham Yiju, the India trader) as investors, investing 400 and 200 dinars respectively. There is a reference to "Arabic documents" which record the dimensions and location of the factory, and the fact that the brothers inherited part of the factory and purchased the balance from their father. The investors allow the brothers to pursue other investments outside the partnership with partnership funds. Withdrawals from the partnership capital are recorded as a transfer of a share of the ownership from the brothers to the investors, and any rent on this share goes to the investors. The investors are required to return the partial ownership of the factory when the funds are repaid. The Arabic documents record the sale of the factory (and presumably the transfer of the shares) as a "fixed" purchase. The brothers remain active partners in the five-year partnership. Partnership profits are divided equally, despite the unequal investments. The brothers will account for their expenses by subtracting from partnership profits 2 dinars per molded block of sugar. Per Goitein, a document at shelfmark T-S NS J215 (PGPID 26372) describes the eventual sale of the factory discussed in this document. Verso has a legal query in Arabic script.

Partnership

No vowels or accents

From the Genizah, 1896.

990053386290205171

https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/manuscripts/hebrew-manuscripts/itempage?vid=KTIV&scope=KTIV&docId=PNX_MANUSCRIPTS990053386290205171&SearchTxt=Heb.%20a.%203.16,AND&__cf_chl_tk=KXOFoQMqMi8vyyTZ3uR2A3 (Date accessed: 2026-01-14)

https://genizah.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/catalog/volume_5 (Date accessed: 2026-01-14)

S. D. Goitein and M. A. Friedman, India Book 1: Joseph Lebdi prominent india trader: Cairo Genizah documents‎ (in Hebrew) (Ben-Zvi Institute, 2009).

S. D. Goitein and M. A. Friedman, India traders of the middle ages : documents from the Cairo Geniza : India book (Brill, 2008), vol. 1.

Available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/documents/5335/ (accessed January 14, 2026).