Legal document: T-S 8J5.4

Description

Court notebook in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Fol. 2r, bottom text block: Outline of an employment agreement. Dated: Tuesday, 17 Tammuz 1438 Seleucid = 28 June 1127 CE. This document records a qinyan between Avraham b. Aharon ha-Kohen and Isḥāq b. Saʿīd in which Isḥāq agrees to work for Avraham to repay a debt of an unspecified amount. Isḥāq is to be compensated the fixed wage of 2 dirhams a day, with half a dirham going towards repayment of the loan. If Isḥāq leaves before the debt is fully repaid, his compensation is to be retroactively reduced to 1.5 dirhams a day, and he must still repay the debt; and if Avraham terminates him before the debt is fully repaid, his compensation is to be retroactively raised to 2.5 dirhams a day. As the two work together for a longer period, the incentive for each not to terminate the relationship increases. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 181.) See also detailed translation and commentary in Goitein's attached notes.