Geniza Lab

Fragment from a marriage contract or a ketubah. Part from the monogamy clause is preserved. AA

Small fragment of trousseau list of the bride Zayn bt. Yiṣḥaq. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 132, and from Goitein's index cards)

Notes for drawing up a marriage document. Groom: Yehuda b. Eliyya ha-Levi. Bride: Bat Ṣabāḥ, a widow. The marriage payments are listed, and then "half a house in al-Qālūs." (Information in part from CUDL.)

Recto: beautifully illuminated ketubba, signed by Yaʿaqov b. Simḥa. Verso: Hebrew and Arabic document, signed by Joseph b. Khalaf. (Information from CUDL)

Fragment from a Karaite ketubba, preserving only the trousseau list. Olszowy-Schlanger (1998:378) dates the script to the early 11th century. (Information from CUDL)

Small piece from the lower part of a Palestinian-style ketubba. (Information from CUDL)

Ketubba, with a stipulation in Judaeo-Arabic. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a ketubba. (Information from CUDL)

Narrative in Judaeo-Arabic, including dialogue between a man and a woman concerning marriage. Also mentions a female slave. (Information in part from CUDL)

Legal document. In the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli (1066–1108). Rough draft of an agreement between spouses, detailing the conditions that the husband must obey when he takes a second wife. It is implied that the first wife is barren. Among other things, the husband undertakes to leave the female slave to his first wife when he dies. On verso there is a distinct document, also in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli, dealing with a business partnership between Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm Ibn Ṭībān, Abū l-Ḥasan Yūsuf, and ʿUlla.

Damaged legal deed, probably a settlement, in which a man (Manṣ[ūr]?) accepts a number of stipulations upon himself concerning a house and household goods. He agrees not to annoy (ḍājara) his wife, and he will provide for the two daughters of Yaʿqūb b. M[...] Ibn Jumayʿ, who are named Sitt al-Ahl and Sitt al-Qawām. The situation is not totally clear; this might be a divorce agreement or another kind of agreement based on the conditions that were written in the ketubba. At the bottom of verso, at 180 degrees, there is an unrelated legal note concerning the marriage payments of Elʿazar b. Ṭ[...]. The early installment is 8 dinars and the dowry is 43 dinars. Underneath, there is a note about the conditions agreed upon, involving property in the al-Qālūs neighborhood. There are additional jottings in both Arabic script and Hebrew script. AA. ASE.

Small piece of a marriage contract (ketubba) containing the diaspora custom.

Very damaged and faded marriage agreement written by Mevurakh b. Nathan (Date: 1150-1181). Some lines from the dowry list is visible, and also few of the commonly found conditions such as the trustworthy and the monogamy clause. AA

A draft of a pre nuptial agreement between husband and wife, contains most of the known stipulations found in marriage documents during the 12th century such as the monogamy clause, the wife permission to work, domicile stipulation, husband behavior. On the bottom of the page pen trials. On recto a poem. AA

Dowry list and nuptial gift of a rich bride. In the hand of Natan b.Shemuel he-Ḥaver. Dating: ca. 1128–53 CE.

A unique legal deed: A man appoints his father to collect 200 dinars from his debtor. The groom apparently owes the same amount to his future bride, to serve as betrothal money (קידושין במלווה). According to to Jewish law such betrothal, were the marriage money is a loan, is invalid (Maimonides, Ishut, 5:13), but if the loan is for mortgage it is valid (Maimonides, ibid. 5:14). The continuation of the deed is not clear: it seems that the groom betroth the bride by a lower sum, while his father was responsible for the rest. Written on vellum, in Hebrew. Probably from a book of legal deed but probably a copy of a real case. 11th century. AA .

The end of a ketubba with a dowry list, referring to either Nathan or Jonathan. The list has been reused for writing practice, with many of the words repeated between the lines in a different hand. (Information from CUDL)

Marital agreement between groom David b. Efrayim ha-parnas and bride Mubaraka bat Farah ha-Kohen, listing early and later additional payments for the ketubba, trousseau items, and stipulations regarding residence of the couple.

This fragment contains a poem for marriage and part of marriage stipulations

Declaration of a father and husband, testifying that he had not married anyone before the mother of his first-born and that he had not sired a child before this one. Written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (ca. 1100-1138). (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 279)