Geniza Lab

Ketubba, once monumental, now just a piece of it. What remains are two perpendicular lines on the right hand side of the text containing blessings. Ed. Friedman, JMP, #64 who dates the ketubba to 1089-1099 and locates it in Tyre.

See PGP 11366

Marriage document. Damaged and faded ketubah, written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe Halevi. Only the end part of the dowry list, and some of the signatures survived. Signed by [...]הכהן בן שלה and [...בן] יצחק Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Aramaic. AA

Marriage document. Two fragments of a Karaite ketubah of Husn and David [?]. Early 11th century [?]. The smaller fragment, ENA NS 3. 27 was given the same shelf-mark as two fragments of a Rabbanite ketubah. It completes the text of the bigger fragment ENA NS 3. 23, and follows immediately in ll. 17-24 (data from Olszowy-Chlanger Judith. Karaite Marriage Documents from the Cairo Geniza, 1998, p. 406) Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic. AA

Marriage document. In the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli (active 1066–1108). Fragment from a left side of ketubba de-irkesa (כתובה דארכסא), a ketubba written as a replacement for a lost ketubba (cf. ENA 3616.13). The bride’s name is Malīḥa b. Shelomo. The groom’s name is not preserved. JRL SERIES A 1104 is a small fragment from an agreement between Malīḥa bt. Shelomo (probably the same woman) and her husband. The JRL document is apparently written by Avraham b. Natan Av (compare T-S 8J12.1, which he signed), which can help us date this ketubba to 1098–1108 CE, the period in which the two scribes were active. AA

Ketubba (marriage contract). In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. The portion preserved here is mainly the trousseau list. The grand total of marriage payments plus dowry is 140 dinars. There is one line of micrography as decoration in the right margin. (Information from Goitein’s index card.)

Legal document. Damaged bill of release, relating to quarter of a house. No names survived. Probably early 12th century (the hand is familiar, but I couldn’t identify the scribe) Judeo-Arabic. AA

Legal document. Damaged. On recto title: זכרון עדות (= bill of testimony) in square Hebrew script. On verso, in different hand, a refutation of a certain legal ruling, might be related to gentile courts or to a school of scholars. Hebrew. AA

Legal document. Fragment of a ketubba. Groom: Avraham b. Ṣedaqa. The bride is a widow. Dating: early 11th century. Marriage payments: 2 + 13 = 15. Dowry: 50 - 15 = 35. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Marriage document. Fragment from a ketubah. No names or dates are preserved. Contains a few words from the monogamy clause. Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

Partnership agreement between Moshe and Yiṣḥaq, specifying each party's liabilities. Written in Hebrew. Location: Salonika. Dated: Friday, 19 Av 5330, which is 1570 CE. Scribed by Yosef Ashqeloni. Mentions "3 metecales (מיטיקאליש)," perhaps a unit of currency (the name mderived from Arabic mithqāl), and "the fattorias (פאטוריאש) according to their custom," referring to the fattoria system of mercantile agents (known as fattores).

Legal document. In Hebrew: Location: Damietta (קפוטקייא). Dated: Beginning of Sivan 5488 AM, which is 1728 CE. Concerning complex inheritance arrangements upon the death of Hermosa bt. Yosef Ḥazzan. Currencies: fundukli; silver medin (מ״ך). Many people are mentioned: Ḥayyim Kialokos; Yosef Mizraḥi; Avraham Castro.

Letter from Moshe b. Yosef Hamon of Istanbul to Yehuda al-Ashqar in Egypt. In Hebrew. Dating: Second half of the 16th century. For information on the Hamon family, see H. Gross, 'La famille Juive des Hamon', REJ, 56 (1908), pp. 8-26, 57 (1909), pp. 55-78; U. Heid, 'Moses Hamon, chief Jewish physician to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent', Oriens, 16 (1963), pp. 152-170. Information from FGP.

Marriage contract. Location: Cairo. Dated: 29 Shevat 5535 AM, which is 1775 CE. Groom: Eliyyahu Goren(?) b. Nissim. Bride: Hermosa bt. Nissim Nakaro(?). Total marriage payments: 3,000 silver diwani medins.

Letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer's name appears in the upper left corner but is very faded. He mentions having left Aden recently. Also mentions people including Bū l-Faḍl b. ʿAjamī and Ḥasan the paternal uncle of Dā'ūd.

Letter addressed to 'ha-Rav ha-Gadol.' In Hebrew. Mentions having to pay two dinars in Fustat. Needs examination.

Legal deed. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably late 11th century, based on the presence of the witness Ṣāliḥ b. Yivḥar, who signed T-S 10J26.8 in Tripoli (Lebanon), in 1079 CE. Concerning a dispute between Abū Yaʿqūb Yequtiel b. [...]h ha-Rofe and his wife Munā. Sums of 70 and 20 dinars are mentioned. Witnesses (names written in the hand of the scribe): Ṣāliḥ b. Yivḥar; Yaʿaqov b. Shelomo; Yiṣḥaq b. Elʿazar.

Letter sent by Ḥayyim b. Avraham Skandari, probably in Cairo, to his son, probably in Alexandria. The date is the 2nd of Adar I, probably 1590 but could also be 1606, depending on whether the yod and vav are to be read in ישֿוןֿ. Information from Avraham David's edition (FGP).

Letter from Shalom, in Egypt, to an unknown addressee, probably in Istanbul. In Hebrew. Dating: Second half of the 16th century, based on Avraham David's assessment. Reports on a shipwreck outside of Beirut; the survivors had to make their way by land to Egypt. Turkish merchants arrived from סטליאש (David suggests Sitia, Crete, cf. שיטיליאש in Mosseri III,231 and שיטיליש in T-S 10J16.32). They reported that the ship of Sulaymān Kāshif had been shipwrecked but not before reaching land. The writer goes on to discuss the trade in tin. Information from FGP.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq ha-Levi to Ḥayyim. In Hebrew. Dating: Ottoman-era. Concerning business. The writer conveys a tale of underhanded dealings and bribes involving a çavuş, a judge, and a basha, and he requests the intervention of the addressee. Mentions a shipwreck and lake Burullus (near Rashīd). Information from FGP.