Geniza Lab

Contract between ʿAlun and Judah the cantor. Signatures include Maʿarūf b. Judah, Yaʾir b. Elʿazar and Menashshe b. Judah. Verso: possibly accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a ketubba for [...] bat Meshullam (bride). Witnessed by Ṣedaqa b. Ṣemaḥ. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a ketubba, mostly illegible. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment of a ketubba. Bride: [...] bt. Yoel b. Yeshuʿa. Groom: Shelomo b. [...]. Location: Fusṭāṭ. Dating: ca. 1237–79 CE, as it is written In the hand of ʿImmanuel b. Yeḥiel (active ca. 1231–79), under the authority of David I Maimonides (in office ca. 1237–1300). (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

Part of a divorce deed (geṭ) signed by Ḥalfon ha-Kohen b. Elʿazar and Sar Shalom b. Shelomo (second half of the 11th century CE). (Information from CUDL)

Marriage contract (ketubba) concerning a wealthy and influential family. Dated: 18 Kislev [48]41, which is 1080 CE. (Gil thinks 4741 AM and 979/80 CE.) The groom is [...] b. Shelomo from Damascus. The bride is [...] bt. […] b. [… ha-Ko]hen ha-Gizbar ("the treasurer") b. Shemuel b. Moshe ha-Kohen […] al-Qazzāz, and her agent is her uncle. Moss. VII,118.1 is in the hand of the same scribe (though probably not a join), and the Khalaf ha-Kohen ha-Gizbar mentioned there may be identical with the [...] ha-Kohen ha-Gizbar mentioned here. (Information in part from CUDL and Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 356.) EMS. ASE

Letter fragment from the Jewish community of Palermo to the Jewish community of Alexandria. Dating: ca. 1030 CE. May mention [Ḥayyim b.] Yaʿaqov ha-Sef[aradi] (who also appears in T-S 24.6). Concerning the appointment of a guardian for the orphan Moshe b. Eliyya, whose father Eliyya was like Ḥayyim’s son(?). The guardian was supposed to collect money—800 טריים—which belonged to the dead father in Alexandria. There is one line of Arabic script in the margin, probably blessings for the addressee. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #237.) VMR

Page from a court record book, one entry in which is dated 455 (= 1144 CE). Mentions the town Malīj, and the following individuals: Abraham b. Yeshuʿa, Abū Saʿd b. Tamām, ʿAmram b. Elʿazar, Saʿdān b. Sahl. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: 7 Av 1443 Seleucid, which is 1132 CE. Concerns the same case as Bodl. MS heb. d 66/7, namely the separation three months earlier of Ṣedaqa ha-Meshorer b. Ṣemaḥ and Sitt al-Kull bt. Berakhot ha-Levi. The purpose of this document is for the court to issue Sitt al-Kull's father a certificate confirming that there will be no reconciliation; this enables him to claim alimony for her. The alimony arrangement is described in Bodl. MS heb. d 66/7.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Marriage contract from Tinnis, Egypt, in the late tenth century; two pieces. A long elaborate poem recited on Passover was written on both sides of one piece, and on the verso of the marriage contract. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 339) EMS

Part of a ketubba for Nathan ha-Levi (groom), referring to the dowry. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: lower part of a ketubba. Verso: writing exercises of biblical verses in various hands. (Information from CUDL)

Small scrap of parchment containing the closing line of a marriage contract and its signatures. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 374) EMS

Court record dated Av 1371/September-October 1060. Abu Sa'd b. Ishaq releases Sulayman from a debt of four dinars according to a ruq'a (note) dated November 1059. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Get (bill of divorce) from Fustat for Menashshe b. Shemuel and Sitt al-Fakhr bt. Yefet Tif'eret ha-Qahal. Hand of Hillel b. ʿEli. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter by Menashshe b. Moses referring to a legal query sent to the Nagid. (Information from CUDL)

The end of a ketubba, witnessed by [...]ya b. Aaron, Peraḥya ha-Me[lammed] and Isaac b. [...]. In the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli (1066-1108 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Perhaps a letter of introduction or appeal on behalf of Joseph b. Ḥalfon, written by a community or Bet Din and addressed to similar (לכבודכם). Reference is made to witnesses testifying, to a man’s death and the fact that he (Joseph?) had chosen not to get married. Barely legible. (Information from CUDL)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.