Geniza Lab

Marriage contract (ketubba). Fragment (middle of the bottom part). Dating: 13th century, per Goitein. Groom: Tiqva b. Shelomo ha-Levi. Bride: Sitt al-Kuttāb. No dowry. The document was subsequently covered with jottings in Arabic script. On verso there are outlines of huge blocky letters in both Hebrew and Arabic. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Deed of sale of a house. Large fragment. In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. Dated: 1467 Seleucid, which is 1155/56 CE, under the reshut of Shemuel b. Ḥananya. The son of Bū Saʿd al-Ṣayrafī known as Ibn ʿUmayr sells to his partner in the house the quarter which he had inherited from his father in Qaṣr al-Shamʿ in the alley (zuqāq) of Manā'il (? מנאיל), for 15 dinars. The buyer is Bū l-Faraj al-Kohen al-Ṣayrafī b. […] b. Moshe known as Ibn Mardūk. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Ketubba fragments. Lower part. One of the witnesses is Shelomo b. Yosef. There is literary text on verso.

Ketubba fragment. Opening only. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1[4]31 Seleucid, which is 1119/20 CE. Groom: [...] b. Tiqva. Bride: Ḥasana bt. [...].

Legal document, bottom part only, plus qiyyum/validation. Location: Fustat. Dated: [14]38 Seleucid, which is 1126/27 CE. Witnesses: Avraham b. Shemaʿya ha-Ḥaver descendant of Shemaʿyahu Gaon; Ḥalfon b. Menashshe; Meshullam b. Menashshe ha-Ḥaver; Ḥalfon b. Ghālib; Natan b. Yefet. The qiyyum is signed by Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi; Zakkay b. Moshe; Menashshe ha-Kohen ha-Ḥaver b. [Yaʿīsh?].

Ketubba (marriage contract). A four piece join from an early 11th century Palestinian style ketubba from Tinnīs. Groom: Mevasser b. Yiṣḥaq. Bride: ʿAzīza bt. Ḥasan. Location: Tinnīs (Egypt). Written by Ṣemaḥ the cantor. Dating: Between 942/43 and 1033/34 CE.

Letter from Avraham ha-Parnas b. Menaḥem to the brothers Yiṣḥaq and Yehoshuaʿ b. Khalfa(?). On vellum. Extremely ornate, calligraphic, scribal hand, vocalized Hebrew. It is torn off before the substance of the letter begins. On verso there is also a legal document, a release (שטר פיצוי). Unclear if this is a draft or not.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Upper left corner. Location: Fustat. Bride: Sitt al-Ahl bt. [...] ha-Kohen Rosh ha-Qahal.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Lower right corner. Signed by Shelomo Kohen b. Yehuda and Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Shelomo.

List of names and corresponding numbers. In Arabic script.

Legal document. Release. In Hebrew.

Marriage contract from Damascus, 956, which records a marriage gift of 225 dinars (of which only 25 were advanced) and a dowry evaluated at 395 dinars. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 197-9) EMS

Legal document. Dated: 14[..] Seleucid. The day of the month was left blank, so this is presumably a draft. Ṣadaqa ha-Kohen b. David makes a declaration concerning a quarrel (wa-jarā baynanā mushājarāt) over various large sums of money including 500 dinars. There is also a Yosef involved.

Letter addressed to Abū Yaʿqūb b. Yūsuf al-Fāsī. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th century. The writer's name may be preserved as well, but the conservators have covered it with paper. The writer gives updates on his own father and mother and broaches various business matters. He mentions the goods of Abū Isḥāq Ibn Barukh.

Prenuptial agreement, probably.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Beginning only. Dated: 20 Kislev 1550 Seleucid, which is 29 November 1238 CE. Groom: Yosef b. Yaʿaqov. Goitein's index card suggests that the Nagid at this time is already David I, but it is not clear if he deduced that from the phrases in the document or if he already knew that Avraham died before this date. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Legal fragment in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Involves [...] b. Munajjā al-ʿAṭṭār and his young daughter. Involves giving something to his in-law Abū l-Faḍl Menashshe al-Raffā' ("the darner").

Letter from Khalfūn b. Benaya(?) to Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā b. Mūsā Majjānī. (The names are very difficult to read; these may be not exactly right.) In Judaeo-Arabic. On vellum. Dating: 11th century. The letter itself is very faded. An 'iqtiḍā'" is mentioned twice, and perhaps the addressee's cousin (ibn ʿamm) Abū Ibrāhīm Isḥāq. ASE

Business accounts, mentioning goods from India, myrobalan, and pepper, among many other things.

Marriage contract, possibly. Only a few words of the inscription at the top (mentioning rejoicing and the Nagid) and the first line of the document are preserved. Dated: 1595 Seleucid, which is 1283/84 CE.