Legal document: Moss. IIIa,2

Description

Two legal records in a court register. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: Thursday, 14 Kislev 143[9] Seleucid, which is 1127/28 CE, under the reshut of [Maṣliaḥ] ha-Kohen Rosh Yeshivat [Gaon Yaʿaqov]. Both records are each signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya and Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo; one of them is also signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. One record contains an interesting testimony from Nissim b. Shemuel (ZL) who went out to the countryside as part of a group in order to supervise the production of water buffalo cheese. He gives a fairly detailed description of the cheese-making process (rennets and all). A Copt apprehended them and confiscated the shipment in the name of the state until the 'Rayyis' pulled some strings (faḍḍala ʿalaynā) and sent Abū l-Majd the brother of Abū Yūsuf(?) to liberate it. The purpose of the testimony may be to account for the number of moulds of cheese (650) and their whereabouts; it seems that 1 is in Bīr [...] and 8 are in Minya. Every mould has a seal on it. The second legal record does not appear to be related, but it still needs examination. The man giving the testimony about the cheese, Nissim b. Shemuel, also signed T-S 12.561 (dated 143[.] Seleucid) together with Ḥalfon b. Menashshe; at that time, his father was still alive. ASE