Geniza Lab

Fragment of a marriage contract of the groom Elazar and the bride Sitt al-Dar, in which the bride undertakes to bring up the groom's children. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 310, 311)

Marriage contract written by Yefet b. David, signed between the groom Yefet b. Shelomo and the bride Beracha bat. Shemarya in October 1029 in Jerusalem. (Information from E. Bareket)

Marriage contract written by Eliyyahu Gaon, Ramla, probably 1064.

See T-S 12.715.

Marriage contract for a marriage between Yefet b. Saʿadya and Ṣiʾa b. Yehuda Mevorakh b. ʿElī (Fustat, Thursday, 14th of Adar, ca. 1020). The marriage gift amounted to 50 dinars, and the dowry to 240 dinars (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and from Goitein, MedSoc, Vol. 3, p. 403.)

Karaite ketubba (marriage contract), Ramla. Ca. 1030.

Karaite marriage contract from Fustat.

Marriage contract for a marriage between Ḥasan b. Yefet and ... bat Mevasser (Fustat, Monday, 25 1345 Seleucid (1034)). The marriage gift amounted to 18 dinars and the dowry to 32 dinars. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and from Goitein, MedSoc, Vol. 3, p. 415.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Dated: 13 Tishrei 1608 Seleucid, which is 11 September 1296 CE. Groom: Elʿazar b. Shelomo. Bride: [...] bt. Yosef. Lists the trousseau and stipulates that the wife’s earnings should belong to her husband. Bears only one signature: Yosef b. Netanel b. Shela ha-Levi ha-Ḥazzan. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and from Goitein, Med Soc, Vol. 3, pp. 133, 159, 461 note 89.)

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.)

Partly preserved marriage contract of Yiṣḥaq b. Shelomo and Jawhara. The delayed payment of the dowry is set at 50 dinars. Dated ca. 1050. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 411)

Marriage contract between Natan b. Peraḥya and Malīḥa bat Yefet, Fustat, 1119. An enormous sheet illuminated in various colours and decorated with flowers. Very poorly preserved. Mentions 25 gold dinars as part of the dowry. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below.)

Fragment of a late ketubba, with sums in muayyadis, including the stipulation that the husband will not take a second wife without the bride's consent.

Marriage contract written in Tiberias Colonia, 1035.

Fragment of a ketubba (marriage contract) from Tiberias, May 1035.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Location: New Cairo. Groom: Natan b. David. Bride: Sitt al-Sāda bt. ʿOvadya. One of the oldest and largest illuminated medieval ketubbot from the Geniza. Containing six layers of calligraphic borders of varying widths, including piyyutim in micrography; one thin border of gold outlined in blue; one wide border of gold calligraphy on a blue background; two arches of intersecting circles of micrography interspersed with red, blue, and gold shapes, and the monumental calligraphy of the poetic superscription in gold and blue. As a whole, this ketubbah appears to have been executed to the highest standards of medieval Levantine Jewish book art. Some portions of other decorated and illuminated ketubbot from this period have been preserved, but because of their fragmentary state they have not yet received extensive scholarly attention (see, for example, T-S 16.104, T-S 16.73, and T-S 24.17). Join by Noam Sienna, and information from Sienna, N. (2018). Reunited At Last: T-S K10.4 and Bodl. MS. Heb. c. 13/25. [Genizah Research Unit, Fragment of the Month, July 2018]. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.34050. Note that Goitein treats Bodl. MS heb. c 13/25–26 and Bodl. MS heb. c 13/27–28 as if they are pieces of the same ketubba. This is possible but not certain, as the fragments are not continuous.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Left upper part. Dated: Nisan 1380 Seleucid, which is 1069 CE. (10 +) 20 = 30. As far as preserved, the dowry is worth at least 70 dinars. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Ketubba, fragmentary. Groom: Yosef Kohen b. Khalūf. Likely from North Africa. Resembles Bodl. MS heb. a 2/2 (from Barqa, 990 CE). (Information from Friedman, Jewish Marriage in Palestine, Vol. 1, pp. 165, 269, and 288.) On verso there are piyyutim.

Ketubba fragments. Lower part. One of the witnesses is Shelomo b. Yosef. There is literary text on verso.

Ketubba fragment. Opening only. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1[4]31 Seleucid, which is 1119/20 CE. Groom: [...] b. Tiqva. Bride: Ḥasana bt. [...].