Geniza Lab

Marriage contract between Muna b. Shelomo and Mubāraka bat Avraham, Fustat, 1094 (Tishri, 1406 Seleucid). The couple are getting remarried after an earlier divorce. Although a divorcee, the bride is still a virgin. The value of the trousseau is 2 dinars and the marriage gift is 20 dinars. Verso is blank. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Goitein, Med Soc, Vol. 3, p. 391.)

Mid-11th-century letter from Umm Faḍā'il, a widow in Fustat, to a family friend, Abū Zikrī b. Yosef (Yehuda b. Yosef Rosh ha-Seder), in the West. The letter deals with her son Fakhr's intended travel to Sicily. She requests that the addresee assist him. She mentions a power of attorney document that she gave to her son, so that he will dispose of their remaining property in Sicily. She also mentions an ongoing divorce of her daughter. Information from Ben-Sasson's edition via FGP.

Formularies for divorce-related documents. The one on recto is clearly based on a real document and a real case, but gives "peloni" for the month and for some of the names. Location: Fustat. Dated: 5514 AM, which is 1753/54 CE. The husband is Barukh b. Yosef Ḥayyūn. The wife and her family are from Alexandria. Sums of money are given in silver dīwānī muayyadis and gold maḥbūbs. Somehow involved is a pin (in Ladino: אלפיניטי=alfinete) embedded with a precious gem (שקבוע בו אבן טובה). Two witnesses are named in the document but their signatures do not appear at the bottom. See also Bodl. MS heb. d 66/101

Recto: Court record regarding the complaint of a man that his divorced wife penetrated forcefully into his house, April 1085 CE (6 Nisan 1396). Verso: Four drafts of legal documents ca. 1085 CE, in one of which Hiba b. Hillel al-Ṭarabulsī and Yaʿaqov b. Yiṣḥaq al-Lādiqī witness that they know Maḥfūẓa bt. Avraham al-Lādiqī and that she was married to אבן אלמנחמה, who divorced her and died. Information from Goitein's note card.

Recto: Petition to Masliah Gaon from a woman wishing to have a divorce. Probably 1127 CE. Discussed in detail, with translation, in Oded Zinger's dissertation, pp. 201–02: 'Malīḥa bt. Abū al-Faḍl wanted a divorce. She claimed that her husband suffered from many illnesses and that his children from a previous marriage were irreligious. Malīḥa feared for the well-being of her children were she to die. We have a resolute petition written on her behalf to the head of the Jews, Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen, informing him of the following: "I am the wife of Adam, the money changer. For the past eight months, I have asked repeatedly for divorce, but could not obtain it. I had thought that with the arrival of your most venerable presence, you would not postpone giving a ruling to me or to another (on my behalf) a single hour. He is a man afflicted with many illnesses and sicknesses. He has children far removed from religion and others. The servant fears lest what is sealed upon people (i.e. death) overtake him, or me. There is no assurance what will happen with him and with my children.1 By the divine law that you possess! Examine my state and quickly issue a verdict, whatever it may be.2 The servant appointed a representative, but from all that was done to the man; he said that he would not return to mediate between us. The servant is bashful, I do not have a tongue to speak with. By your parents! Examine my state and please liberate me.3 .... All that I want is the liberation of the servant, by any means necessary. And what the divine law obligates."4 We hear of Malīḥaʼs ultimate success in her bid for divorce in another document, T-S 8J5.4 2v. A four-line entry in a page from a court notebook records that on 28 June 1127, Malīḥa appointed Nathan ha-Levi b. Abraham as her representative to sue her husband. This short entry is followed by another entry recording an unrelated appointment of a representative. The next entry in the court notebook, however, records that on the very same day, a cantor who was one of the witnesses of the first appointment came to the court with two parnasim from the community. The three men declared to the court that they had made the symbolic purchase from Malīḥa confirming that she relinquished the entirety of her meʿuḥar and was willing to take an oath over her claims regarding the dowry. Her husband also made the symbolic purchase confirming that he had no claim over her. It appears that Malīḥa got her divorce.'5 Margins of recto, and verso: Copious jottings in Hebrew and Arabic script. It is unclear how much, if any, pertains to the main letter on recto. Shelomo ha-Levi b. Moshe is named. Many of the Arabic writings appear to be formulaic phrases from a letter to a dignitary (titled in one place Imam and Amir).

Legal document. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: 5 Av 1443, which is July 1132 CE. Connected with the same case as T-S 8.131, namely the divorce arrangements of Ṣedaqa b. Semaḥ (called ha-Meshorer, the poet or singer) and Sitt al-Kull bt. Berakhot ha-Levi. The separation took place three months earlier (8 Iyyar 1443/1132). By the decree ("marsūm") of Maṣliaḥ Gaon (probably after the request of the woman's father: see T-S 8.131), a committee of eight elders (all undersigned) was appointed in order to confirm and fix the alimony for Ṣedaqa's wife and child. The committee gathered in the synagogue of the Palestinians. It was suggested that one and a half dirhams per day would suffice to provide for their living expenses (ll.7-8), but after the recommendations of some people attending (l.4), it was decided to decrease the payment, and fix the alimony at one dinar per month (l.14), arguing that the aforementioned sum was overrated (ll.12–13). This sum was intended to cover all her expenses for food, lighting, public bath and rent. Witnesses: Avraham b. Shemaʿya; Natan b. Shelomo; Natan b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver; Peraḥya b. Ḥalfon ha-Ḥaver; Menashshe b. Yaʿaqov; Avraham b. Shelomo; Meshullam b. Menashshe; and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from Weiss's edition and Goitein's index cards)

Bill of divorce. Location: Cairo. Dated: 15[..] Seleucid, which is 1188–1288 CE. Probably in the second half of this range, to judge by handwriting (which is likely known). Husband: al-Rayyis Yaḥyā [...] al-Levi. Bride: Sitt al-[...]. Signed: Pinḥas ha-Kohen; ʿOvadya b. Yehuda ha-Dayyan. On verso, apart from the note that the wife received the get in front of witnesses, there is a list of three men somehow related to the case: Abū l-Riḍā b. al-Nagid; [...]r b. al-Sukkarī; and Abū l-Majd b. al-ʿAwwād. This part is also signed by ʿOvadya b. Yehuda ha-Dayyan and one other person.

Court record. This is a copy of the marriage contract (ketubba) between Shemuel Kahna b. Nissim and Fā'iza bt. Yūsuf, originally dated Tuesday, 2 Heshvan 1357 Seleucid, which is 15 October 1045 CE. The copy of the marriage contract is introduced with a statement that Fā'iza came to the court and asked them to copy the marriage contract into the court ledger ('shimmush') so that it would serve as a proof, because she intends to send an agent to claim a bill of divorce and her mu'akhkhar (delayed marriage payment). Information from Goitein's note card.

Informal note in Judaeo-Arabic. "R. Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo spoke with asked Rab[benu?] ha-Meʿule, and he said to him, 'I heard that Abū l-Faraj al-Jab[īlī?] divorced his wife with a get.' Inquire about this for me." Abū l-Faraj al-Jabīlī (or al-Jubaylī?) appears in several other documents from the mid-12th century.

Legal document: testimony on the date of a bill of divorce written by Yaʿaqov b. Avraham, Yosef Lebdi's travel companion. The document is dated to April 5, 1095.

Bill of divorce. Dating: 13th century? Signed and probably written by Shemuel b. Yaʿaqov (ha-Ṣarfati?) and Ṣadoq b. [...]

Left fragment: Magical text with the header ללמטלקה = for the divorcee

List of dowry details, part of the settlement of a divorce. Includes items that the husband sold or that got worn out. Signed by Yiṣḥaq ha-Melammed b. Ḥayyim and ʿUlla ha-Levi b. Yosef. See Goitein's note card for further information.

Recto: List of items from a dowry that have been (a) lost or (b) remain in the husband's house. In the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu? Verso: List of items in Arabic script, with a few lines in Judaeo-Arabic. Despite the similarity of situation, there is no connection between ENA 2700.32 and ENA 2700.33. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter from an in-law to Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, entreating him to divorce his wife (Sitt Ghazāl).

Bill of divorce. Dated 13 Sivan 5505 AM which is 13 June 1745 CE. Location: Cairo. The husband's name is listed solely as Menaḥem b. Yosef. MCD.

Bill of divorce from a betrothal (erusin). Very faded. No signatures. Dated: Looks like [4]903 AM, which would be 1142/43 CE.

Qaraite bill of divorce formulary

Bill of divorce (get). Fragment (left side). Dated: 135[.] Seleucid, which corresponds to the range 1038–48 CE. Wife: [...] bt. Yeshuʿa. Written and signed by [Yefet] b. David the cantor.

Legal document. Court record. Dated: 1084. Location: Fustat. This document contains a partial court record of a partnership between Yefet b. Wad‘a and Abū Zikrī. While Abū Zikrī was away travelling, Yefet invited Sa‘āda to join the partnership, for which Sa‘āda was to be paid 1.5 dirhams each day. Sa‘āda purchased henna for the partnership, and he called the court to validate his testimony that the value of the henna had dropped. As Yefet both invited Sa‘āda to the partnership in the absence of Abū Zikrī and agreed to pay him a daily wage, he appears to have been either the senior partner or a passive investor, while Abū Zikrī and Sa‘āda are active partners. Given that Yefet has invited Sa‘āda to join the extant partnership (instead of contracting a new partnership with Sa‘āda) Yefet and Abū Zikrī likely both had capital investments in the intial partnership, and Yefet had the task of investing the joint capital while Abū Zikrī pursued other trading opportunities. Unusually, the agreement between Sa‘āda and the other two partners required him to take an oath attesting to partnership accounts should the partnership assets lose value. The remainder of the document (lines 8-28) is a draft of a marriage agreement of a couple who were divorced in Tyre and subsequently reconciled in al-Mahalla. It provides specifics as to the dowry (including money, textiles and clothing, a drinking cup, and a mirror) but lacks the names of the relevant parties. This fragment may have been a page from a notary’s register. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 75-76)