Geniza Lab

Marriage contract (ketubba). In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan (active 1150–81). Groom: [Naḥ?]um b. Menashshe ha-Dayyan. Marriage payments: 10 + 20 = 30. Two lines of micrography in the left margin flanking Deut. 33:29 in large letters (מי כמוך עם נושע ביהוה מגן עזרך). (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Fragment from the top of the ketubah of Muwamalah d. David. AA

Marriage contract involving a bride with children from a previous marriage whom the new husband undertakes to support, and mentioning 118 dinars in a dowry and marriage gift. Signed by the cantor Yiṣḥaq b. Ghalib (ca. 1125). (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 309, and from Goitein's index cards)

Ketubba (damaged), late, from Cairo ([...] ha-semukhah le-fustat mitzrayim), from at least the 18th century [55__], probably the 19th. ASE.

Ketubba, faded, from Cairo, dated 25 March 1811, between Nissim and Esther, with a me'ukhar of 150 reyals (3000 piastres = 30 pounds). ASE.

Ketubba (damaged), late, probably from Cairo, probably early 19th century, if it comes from the same stratum as the other late ketubbot in this binder. But the informative phrases are mostly effaced. ASE.

Fragmentary Karaite marriage contract, the margin of which is adorned with large, hollow letters. (Information Mediterranean Society, III, p. 112)

Letter to the judge Natan (b. Shelomo?) ha-Kohen (he-ḥaver ha-meʿulle ha-dayyan ha-maskil bet din hagun...). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 12th century. Goitein's index card suggests that the sender could be the addressee's cousin Ṭoviyya b. ʿEli—but the handwriting is not Ṭoviyya's. The purpose of the letter is to ask for help on behalf of the bearer, formerly the tax farmer (ḍāmin) of 'the freight (nawl) of [...]' in Shubrā Damsīs. This man left the city years ago, and he was targeted by his creditors when he returned. The case seems tangled and involves Salāma Ibn al-Muʿallim, 33 dirhams, Barakāt al-Dimashqī, outstanding debts to the diwan, and 3 dinars. (See Goitein's attached notes for his attempt to sort out the details.) The addressee is asked to help the bearer approach 'Sayyidnā' for help. The sender says "there is benefit for us in this" (wa-lanā bihi nafʿ). (The same phrase, incidentally, appears as a Judaeo-Arabic marginal annotation in an Arabic-script document from 1507 CE—D. S. Richards, "Arabic Documents from the Karaite Community in Cairo," doc. XV.) The sender also refers to a woman who is "naked and lacking everything," perhaps a family member of the ex-ḍāmin. ASE

Legal document fragment ("I increase on top of her ketubba. . . . 5 dinars. . . 3 gowns. . ."). ASE.

Ketubba (marriage contract) fragment, clearly in the Palestinian tradition, 1034.

Ketubba fragment (lower left corner). Groom: ʿAmmār b. Yiṣḥaq. Bride: Surūr bt. Yefet. A sum of 12.5 dinars is mentioned. The dowry is valued at 113 dinars. Signed by Palṭiel b. Efrayim (appears also in T-S AS 145.52 in the 990s CE, and T-S 24.11 in 1002 CE). (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Small fragment from the middle of the top. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: 1438 Seleucid, which is 1126/27 CE, under the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon (at the very beginning of his tenure). Bride: Ghāliya bt. M[...], a virgin. Marriage payments: 5 + 20 = 25. With an ornate header with fleurs-de-lis and blessings for the Gaʾon. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document fragment (lower left corner), mentioning 'her ketubba.' Signed Yosef b. Shemuel. ASE.

Ketubba fragment.

Ketubba fragment. No names or dates. Ca. 1200 CE.See Goitein's index card for further information.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Fragment (upper right corner). In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. Dated: Thursday, 5 Nisan 146[9] Seleucid, which is 6 March 1158 CE, under the authority of Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Groom: Yeshuʿa b. Yiṣḥaq b. Shabbetay ha-Mumḥe [...] Shofeṭ. Bride: Sitt al-Sāda bt. Natan, a virgin. Marriage payments: 5 + 20 = 25. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

List of customs paid in Aydhab by Avraham Ibn Yiju, around 1152. III 40a is the top of the page. III, 40b is the bottom of the page. III, 40c is the verso, a draft of a letter written by Avraham b. Yiju for another man and having nothing to do with the India trade, and therefore not edited in Goitein-Friedman. It is, however, edited in Assaf, Texts, 149-51.

Instructions for manumission of a female slave written by Avraham Ibn Yiju. III 40a is the top of the page. III, 40b is the bottom of the page. III, 40c is the verso, a draft of a letter written by Avraham b. Yiju for another man and having nothing to do with the India trade, and therefore not edited in Goitein-Friedman. It is, however, edited in Assaf, Texts, 149-51.

Inscription in huge letters with a border of broad black and red lines (obviously a decoration of a wall). (Information from Goitein's index card.) Joins: Ezra Chwat.

Recto: Bottom of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. With several expressions of deference and petition-like language. Might be a request for a loan of 2 dinars which the sender needs for his travel expenses in Alexandria and Malīj; he will send the money back from Malīj to Fustat. Verso: Top of a letter in Arabic script. Addressed to two maternal uncles, possibly (mawālayya al-akhwāl(?) aṭāla allāh baqāhamā). The sender tells them that they left at a good time ("in a blessed hour") and that Kalil al-Kassār (the woodcutter) stayed in the shop into the night, and nobody came, and eventually Abū Saʿīd ('your cousin,' ibn khālkum) came home. The old woman said to him, 'Go to the shop and tell Kalīl to lock it up.' The continuation is fragmentary and difficult to follow.