Geniza Lab

Conditional bill of divorce. In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. Dated: Av 1480 Seleucid, which is 1169 CE. The trader Bū Saʿd Moshe b. Yefet gives this conditional divorce to his wife before setting out on a journey to Yemen. Signed by: Mevorakh b. Natan and Shemuel b. Seʿadya. See also T-S 12.585 recto and verso. (Information in part from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:192, 467; Amir Ashur and Ben Outhwaite, “Between Egypt and Yemen in the Cairo Genizah,” Journal of Islamic Manuscripts, Vol. 5 (2014), 213.) EMS.

Legal query probably addressed to a Muslim jurisconsult. In Arabic script. Concerning a Jewish woman whose husband converted to Islam and later traveled to India, where he seems to have disappeared. "Concerning a Jewish [man] who converted to Islam (aslama) and was attached to a Jewish woman, after he had converted, for a year. Then he wished to travel, and the aforementioned wife said to him, “You will not leave without giving me my bill of divorce,” to which he replied, “I won’t be gone but for a little while.” And he left and has now been missing for ten years. And she requests to [re]marry, seeing her dire economic condition, for she lacks support due to the hardships of the hour and the difficulties of the time. Is it possible that she will marry after all this time, and no news were heard from him, since he is in India (fī bilād alHind)?" Information from Yagur, "Several Documents from the Cairo Geniza Concerning Conversion to Islam" (2020). Verso contains piyyutim; Goitein's attached edition suggests that they may be in the hand of Ben Yijū.

Legal document, Qaraite. Conditional divorce. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated Sivan 5503 AM, which is 1743 CE. It is a detailed record of how David b. Reuven Nāqish wished to travel to Istanbul for business, and how he agrees that if he is absent for longer than 2 years, his wife Masʿūda bt. Avraham Fayrūz may receive a bill of divorce from the court. There appears to be only one witness, a certain Yaʿaqov. Merits further examination. Cf. Yevr.-Arab. II 1573 (another conditional divorce).

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Dating: ca. 1224 CE (this date is mentioned in the text of the letter). Contains a fascinating and long-winded tale about contradictory testimonies regarding whether a woman's husband (ʿAbd al-Khāliq) gave her a conditional divorce before he traveled to Egypt; on the strength of this, certain people drew up a get for her and now she's engaged to someone else; the writer is upset about this and wants the addressee to weigh in, partly because the witnesses are contradicting their own past statements/behaviors, and in part because of how it will look to the Rabbanites ('the Qaraites have already become a חרפה וקלסה'). Merits further examination. ASE.

Yequti'el b. Nissim Fairouz is taking upon himself to give a conditional bill of divorce to his future wife Situta b. Nahum Levi in case he will be absent for more than a year. Dated Monday 10th Shevat, 5523 (1763)

Legal document, Qaraite. Conditional divorce. Dated: Monday, 21 Heshvan 5516 AM, which is 1755 CE. The document describes a quarrel between ʿOvadya b. Eliyyahu Rofe known as Ḥakīm and his wife ʿAzīza bt. Avraham Levi known as רכס(?). "The evil inclination overpowered him" and he made a vow that he would either bring all of her possessions from her mother's house that very day, or she would become forbidden to him. The day passed and he did not fulfill his vow. He now declares that if he ever travels or runs away, the court may give ʿAzīza the bill of divorce. It seems he will remain responsible for supporting any children. It is not entirely clear what the first part of the story has to do with the conditional divorce in case he runs away. Scribed and witnessed b: Eliyyahu Rofe known as Zaʿir. Other witnesses: Naḥum Kohen Gabbay(?) b. Aharon Kohen known as Ḥātūm(?); Eliyyahu David Rofe b.(?) Elishaʿ Rofe. Merits further examination. Cf. Yevr.-Arab. II 1275 (another conditional divorce).