Oxford, Bodleian MS. Heb. a. 3.37

Bodleian Library (Oxford, United Kingdom)

One leaf document

Parchment

Brown (iron-gall)

Calamus

There is ruling

Pencil

Grid of single vertical and horizontal lines

49

49

590

295

1028

11th Century CE

ca. 1028

Tyre, Aleppo

Orient

Hebrew

(Other)

Legal document

Deposition in the Jewish Court of Tyre, ca. 1028. The rent of a compound in Aleppo has been dedicated by its owner, Hilla b. Joseph, to the Great Synagogue in that city; the sons of Hilla, Mevorakh and Mufarrij, now live in Tyre. They declare before the court that the allegations of a certain man from Aleppo, who claims that the house was sold to him by their father, are vain and unfounded. The brothers insist twice upon the fact that it is the rent that was dedicated. They also insist on the fact that the man cannot prove the purchase, since he holds no deeds of purchase. The intention of the brothers to sell that house is apparent enough, though the relevant passage in this matter has unfortunately been damaged. They seem to be insisting that the dedication of the rent was on condition that it lapses if the heirs decide to sell it. Had the house itself been dedicated, the heirs would not have had a word to say about deeds of purchase nor would the case have been discussed in court at all. As we have it, the story behing the document seems to be that the late Hilla actually received money from the purchaser, but died before the deed of sale had been concluded. The heirs now strive to prevent the man from collecting the rent of the house, in order not to create a legal precedent, and keep the right to sell it at a convenient opportunity. The community of Aleppo probably claimed that the house itself had been dedicated. As to the claimant, he seems to have taken some steps to gain possession of the house, perhaps with the aid of a Muslim court. We have the therefore three parties involved in the case, with conflicting interests. The deposition of the brothers, as recorded by the court in Tyre, is preceded by a lenghty verified introduction, in a very flowery style, which forms the first half of the letter. The first part of the introduction is a eulogy, alphabetically arranged, to the learned people of Aleppo and their leader, the head of the court, R. Yaʿaqov b. Joseph. The letter is written in the hand of Shemuel b. Moshe.

No vowels or accents

From the Genizah, 1896.

990053386480205171

https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/manuscripts/hebrew-manuscripts/itempage?vid=KTIV&scope=KTIV&docId=PNX_MANUSCRIPTS990053386480205171&SearchTxt=Heb.%20a.%203.37,AND (Date accessed: 2026-01-20)

https://genizah.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/catalog/volume_5 (Date accessed: 2026-01-20)

M. Gil, Documents of the Jewish Pious Foundations from the Cairo Geniza (Brill, 1976)

M. Gil, Palestine During the First Muslim Period (634–1099)‎ (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv University, 1983), vol. 2.

Available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/documents/505/ (accessed January 20, 2026).