Geniza Lab

Petition from a woman to the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Location: Fustat. Dating: 1140–59 CE. "'I am a 'cut-off' (munqaṭiʿa) woman and I do not have (recourse) except to God’s gate and yours. I have fallen in with a man who is unashamed of the unseemly things spoken about him. My father does not enter my (house) for anything because of what happened to him. My brother is a young man, bashful and has no tongue… I have no supporter except God, the exalted, and you. May the holy One not lock your gate in the face of every munqaṭiʿ and oppressed (maẓlūm).' This woman is munqaṭiʿa even though she has a father and a brother, because these male relatives are unable to help her. So she is a munqaṭiʿa because she does not have effective male kinship." Information from Oded Zinger, "The Use of Social Isolation (inqiṭāʿ) by Jewish Women in Medieval Egypt," JESHO (2020), 827–28 and Oded Zinger, "Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza," 388–90. She goes on to ask for the Nagid's assistance, and mentions a bill of divorce, the delayed marriage gift, and her husband’s failure to provide for his family. EMS