Geniza Lab

Betrothal register from a court book, 1023. From the same ledger: ENA 4010.28, ENA NS 8.15, and Bodl. MS heb. c 13/21.

Betrothal document for Yiṣḥaq Goren (?) b. Shelomo and Sitt al-Bayt bt. Avraham Dayyan, dated July 1804 (middle third of Av 5564).

Beginning of a betrothal document for Shelomo Khamīṣ (?) b. Raḥamim and the orphan Sarah bt. Aharon. The scribe abandoned the document after 6 lines.

Late betrothal document between Esther [...] bt. Se. Yaʿaqov ʿAdda and Se. Yosef פיחה (?), listing conditions. The word "contante" appears (Italian for "cash"?).

Fragment of a betrothal agreement between Bayan and Sitt al-Nasab. Among the provisions included is the groom's assurance that he will not prevent the bride from traveling from Fustat nor will he force her to travel against her will. (A similar set of arrangements, also pertaining to a woman named Sitt al-Nasab, is reflected in T-S 16.35.). Verso is blank. No date.

Recto: Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe to his brother Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Fragment (lower left corner). Mentions Armenian bole, Abū ʿImrān, Marāzībī tutty, and greetings to various people. Verso: Legal jottings in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. One is for a document involving Sitt al-Ahl bt. Avraham ha-Levi and her husband Manṣūr b. ʿEli. (Information in part from CUDL)

Recto: betrothal deed between R. Efrayim ha-Talmid b. Meshullam and Yeshuʿa ha-Levi b. Ṣedaqa al-Ramlī for his daughter Sitt al-Fakhr. The advanced gift is 15 dinars, the delayed gift 50 dinars (though 60 is written above the line). Verso: part of an Arabic document, probably from the Fatimid chancery. (Information from CUDL)

Betrothal (erusin) document. Location: Cairo. Dated: 19 Sivan 1418 Seleucid, which is 1107 CE. Fiance: Yosef ha-Levi b. Berakhot. Fiancee: Sitt al-Kull bt. Yefet. Wedding to take place two years later. Early marriage payment: 10 dinars. Delayed marriage payment: 30 dinars. One half of the early marriage payment is given at the time of betrothal. Witnesses: Seʿadya b. Shelomo; Avraham b. Shabbetay; Ḥalfon b. Dā'ūd. (Information from Goitein's note card.)

Legal document. Qaraite betrothal deed for Amat al-Qadar and Khalaf b. Mahfuz. Dated 1357 Sel. (1045 CE). Joins: Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (three fragments, 1998) and Mordechai Akiva Friedman (upper left fragment, 2006).

Sitt al-Baha bt. Eliyya, the bride of Abu l-Ḥasan, receives on the day of her qiddushin from Abu Kathir b. Yahya 18 1/2 dinars deposited wth him. (Information from Goitein's index cards) VMR

Betrothal record from 1093 in which the obligatory betrothal gift is 4 and one/sixth dinars. The document also stipulates the daughter receives the uppermost floor of a house; if she preferred to live elsewhere, she would receive rent, but her father and his heirs were responsible for the payment of the ground rent and watchman. Signed by Eli ha-Kohen b. Yahya, Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq (the Scholar), and Ezekiel II ha-Kohen he-Ḥaver b. Eli he-Ḥaver I. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:522, 3:445, 4:96, 374) EMS

Two betrothal contracts. See individual records. The hand is very close to that of the clerk who wrote many of the letters of Yehoshua Maimonides (d. 1355); perhaps a coincidence, or perhaps he had a long life.

F. 2r: Betrothal contract between Ṣedaqa b. M[oses?] and Wazīra bt. Mūsā b. Isaac. Dated Kislev 1691 of the Seleucid Era (= 1379 CE), and signed by Shemuʾel b. [...]. There is a delayed installment gift of 400 dirhams. (Information from CUDL.)

Records of three betrothal agreements. The first is a receipt dated Monday, first day of Pesaḥ, mentioning the groom Yaaqov Ḥanan b. Yosef Ḥanan and the bride Kaḥla bat David Jannāḥ. The second mentions the groom Efrayim Ḥakīm b. Elihu Ḥakīm and Suqar (?) bat Shemuʾel ha-Levi, dated Nisan 5577 of the Era of Creation (= 1817 CE) in Cairo. The third mentions the groom Menaḥem Wadish b. Shelomo, and the bride Miriam bat Elijah ʿAṭias. Efrayim Ḥakim acts as a representative of the bride. Dated: 5578 of the Era of Creation (= 1818 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Betrothal register (53b according to Friedman) between Manṣur b. [...] b. Yiṣḥaq b. Saʿīd b. Pinḥas to Zahara bt. Yaʿaqov haKohen the scribe. One of four fragments from the court ledger of the Babylonian congregation of Damascus (T-S 16.181, T-S AS 146.66, T-S NS 320.108, and T-S 12.592). Dated: 4693 AM (= 932/33 CE). This fragment contains four independent documents, nos. 53a-d. Documents 53a, 53b, and 53c are betrothal registers. Document 53d is a marriage contract, written at the time of the "nissuʾin." (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 401–35) EMS

Betrothal register (53c according to Friedman) between Hillel b. Aharon haLevi and Tāma bt. Yiṣḥaq. One of four fragments from the court ledger of the Babylonian congregation of Damascus (T-S 16.181, T-S AS 146.66, T-S NS 320.108, and T-S 12.592). Dated: 4693 AM (= 932/33 CE). This fragment contains four independent documents, nos. 53a-d. Documents 53a, 53b, and 53c are betrothal registers. Document 53d is a marriage contract, written at the time of the "nissuʾin." (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 401–35) EMS

Marriage contract (53d according to Friedman) between ʿEli b. Wahīb and Hiba bt. Yonah. One of four fragments from the court ledger of the Babylonian congregation of Damascus (T-S 16.181, T-S AS 146.66, T-S NS 320.108, and T-S 12.592). Dated: 4693 AM (= 932/33 CE). This fragment contains four independent documents, nos. 53a-d. Documents 53a, 53b, and 53c are betrothal registers. Document 53d is a marriage contract, written at the time of the "nissuʾin." (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 401–35) EMS

Betrothal register (53a according to Friedman) between Biqa (?) b. Moshe known as Abu Kāmīl and Mimuna bt. Ḥasan. One of four fragments from the court ledger of the Babylonian congregation of Damascus (T-S 16.181, T-S AS 146.66, T-S NS 320.108, and T-S 12.592). Dated: 4693 AM (= 932/33 CE). This fragment contains four independent documents, nos. 53a-d. Documents 53a, 53b, and 53c are betrothal registers. Document 53d is a marriage contract, written at the time of the "nissuʾin." (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 401–35) EMS

Legal deed: Karaite deed of betrothal for Khalaf b. Maḥfūẓ (groom-to-be) and Ama al-Qādar bt. Efrayim b. Manṣūr b. Furāt (bride-to-be). Dated Thursday, 17 Sivan 1357 (= 1045 CE; note interlinear reference to Tammuz), probably in Fusṭāṭ, in the lifetime of the Nasi David b. Ṣemaḥ. There are quotes from Psalms 69:13, Nehemiah 2:18, Psalms 64:11, Hosea 2:21, Deuteronomy 1:11, 7:14, and with testimony from Barakāt b. Menaḥem ha-Kohen, and Yefet b. Abraham ha-Levi. Witnessed by Ṣedaqa b. Maṣliaḥ b. Sahl ha-Levi, David b. Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe ha-Levi, ʿAlān b. Nahum, Yosef b. [...] b. Efrayim, David b. [...], and [...] b. Naḥum. (Information from CUDL)

Legal deed: Qaraite deed of betrothal for Khalaf b. Maḥfūẓ (groom-to-be) and Ama al-Qādar b. Efrayim b. Manṣūr b. Furāt (bride-to-be). Dated Thursday, 17 Sivan 1357 (= 1045 CE; note interlinear reference to Tammuz), probably in Fusṭāṭ, in the lifetime of the Nasi David b. Ṣemaḥ. There are quotes from Psalms 69:13, Nehemiah 2:18, Psalms 64:11, Hosea 2:21, Deuteronomy 1:11, 7:14, and with testimony from Barakāt b. Menaḥem ha-Kohen, and Yefet b. Abraham ha-Levi. Witnessed by Ṣedaqa b. Maṣliaḥ b. Sahl ha-Levi, David b. Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe ha-Levi, ʿAlān b. Nahum, Joseph b. [...] b. Efrayim, David b. [...], and [...] b. Nahum. (Information from CUDL)