Geniza Lab

Legal query in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu addressed to Avraham Maimonides. Regarding a man who wishes to divorce his wife and pay her ketubba "in installments" (i.e. not at all). Information from Amir Ashur via FGP.

Legal document. Location: Damietta (אי כפתור). Dated: Thursday, 4 [...]n 1442 Seleucid, which is 1130/31 CE. Under the reshut of Maṣliaḥ Gaon. Involves a woman named Sitt al-Milāḥ whose husband committed "obscenities" (fawāḥish) against her. She is represented by her brother in her suit against her husband. Information in part from Zinger, "Women, Gender, and Law," p. 58. This document has apparently been edited by Yeḥezqel David (הגירושין בקרב היהודים על פי תעודות הגניזה ומקורות אחרים, pp. 260–62). Transcription awaiting digitization.

Letter from Nahum b. Mansur, in Malij, to the parnas Abu Kathir, in Cairo. The letter discusses the happy outcome of Nahum b. Mansur's daughter's marital dispute . Written around 1092, as indicated by a calendar for that year written on the free space of the verso. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 568; III, pp. 213, 471)

Letter from a woman to her husband (ṣāḥib al-bayt). In Judaeo-Arabic. After the greetings, which include wishes for the husband's recovery from illness, she continues, "Don't ask what I suffered on the road due to riding. Ever since I arrived, I have been sick (mariḍa). Your father certainly quarreled with me in the middle of al-Muṣāṣa (a neighborhood in Fustat), and not all that was said needs to be repeated. Don't ask what I suffered with the wife of your father, and Abū l-Surūr who was exceedingly generous, and everyone treated me well (are these euphemisms?). May God repay each servant according to his deeds. He (it seems one of her own family members) said to me, 'Divorce him, and I will take care of all that is necessary.' Now, if I divorce you. . . ." The fragment cuts off here. Information in part from Zinger; this translation differs slightly from his. ASE.

Recto: Marriage contract, fragment. Groom: Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa b. Berakhot. Bride: Milāḥ bt. Abū l-Faraj (from verso). Dating: Under the reshut of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya (1140–59). Witness: Yehuda b. Shelomo ha-Sofer. None of the monetary details are preserved, though we learn from verso that the delayed marriage gift was 5 dinars. Verso: Legal document written on the verso of the torn marriage contract. The husband and wife from recto remarry after the wife promises not to leave the house without her husband's permission. The husband still owed her one dinar which would have to be paid if they quarrelled again. Goitein's note card names Natan b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver—is this written in his hand? Witnesses: Seʿadya b. Natan, Yehuda b. Shelomo ha-Sofer, and Mevorakh b. Natan. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter from an Alexandrian judge. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1180. Full of interesting details about the tensions in the community during the early years of Saladin's reign and interactions with governmental authorities and various amīrs. The writer's opponent, the president of the congregation, threatened to discontinue the payment of his salary and instead have twenty persons deliver to him their weekly contributions to the quppa. The writer also reports on a legal case (upper margin of verso) involving a man who forced his wife to live in the same house with him and his mother, while he was sick. Before this, the mother-in-law had sworn that her son had no ailment, but now that he has turned out to be sick, the wife is scared that her entire dowry will be lost (spent on medical expenses?). (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 62, 105)

Court record. Location: Fustat. Dated: 16 Elul 1355 Seleucid, which is 13 August 1044 CE. Written and signed by the cantor Yefet b. David; also signed by Khalaf b. Yefet and Raḥamūn b. Yiṣḥaq. Concerns a marriage settlement after a dispute. The husband[...] b. Saʿīd b. Ḥallūf and his wife, in which he promises not to beat her and to set her up in a house separate from his family, while she agrees not to leave the house. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index cards.) Join: Oded Zinger. VMR.

Letter likely from Yedutun ha-Levi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Containing advice concerning the domestic affairs of the recipient. "This small piece of paper contains a short letter to a husband who fought with his wife, who was also his cousin (FBD). Apparently, the wife left the home for her fatherʼs house, and the husband is told that if he desires his wife, he ought to go to her father and accept what he has to say. Then the couple should give the marriage another chance for two months, without the wifeʼs father or mother entering into their house. If this does not work, he ought to divorce her immediately." Information from Zinger's dissertation, p. 343.

Legal record describing a husband trying to seize property, and declaring that his father-in-law’s accusations are false, even though the latter presented the court with two valid legal deeds as proof. (Oded Zinger, Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza, 66, 179) EMS

Letter in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to Ḥisday ha-Nasi (a Qaraite communal leader) concerning a husband who wishes to divorce the wife he had been coerced into marrying in Alexandria. The husband demands to pay the marriage gift in installments (i.e., never completely) after all that he had suffered from her bad character (al-tarbut raʿa). He has been with her for three years, but it feels like twenty. He is perishing from his illness (maraḍ) and poverty and bad wife. If his request is refused, he threatens to flee the country and leave her an ʿaguna. Shelomo is probably not writing on his own behalf, as it is unlikely that he would consult a Qaraite Nasi for a legal opinion. Contains elements of both a petition and responsum. There is a provocative (mis)quotation of Leviticus 14:45 on verso: "I have broken (should be: he shall break) down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, etc." With this the husband is comparing his wife (referred to as one's 'house' in Judaeo-Arabic) with a house stricken with ẓaraʿat. (Information from CUDL and Oded Zinger, Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza, 87, 149, 180, 220, 260.) EMS. ASE.

Legal query. Dating: Early 13th century (per Goitein). Concerning the wife of a Kohen who traveled 2 or 3 times without letting her know how long he would remain absent or leaving her sufficient food. She swore "oaths frightening the mountains" (אימאן תרעד אלגבאל) that after his return she would not remain with him. Not complete. (Information from Goitein's note card.)

Family letter from a son to his father, Abu al-Muna al-Muwaffaq. Two main family matters are discussed. First, the son states that his brother-in-law, a Rumi, has stolen the Ketubba (marriage contract) of his sister. The son had intended to bring the Rumi to the head of the police or to the rabbinical court, but he had already run away. Secondly, the writer asks his father to allow his brother, Abu Ishaq, to spend the holidays with him. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 114, and from Goitein's index cards)

Legal declaration, probably the concluding page of a deposition, signed by Shem Ṭov al-Ḥāmī. In Hebrew and Ladino. Dating: Late. Shem Ṭov declares that he vowed to undertake the nezirut of Samson (i.e., abstain from wine and let his hair go wild) when his son had an eye disease. He wanted his mother-in-law to come visit her daughter and sick grandson, so Shem Ṭov told her that he had beaten her daughter. This had the desired effect, but led to a great quarrel, in which both Shem Ṭov and his wife denied any beating, and the mother-in-law asks, "Why are you denying the truth?" At this point they wanted the mother-in-law to leave them alone, but she refused to leave without her daughter. Shem Ṭov made a fist and threatened her in order to end the argument. The husband concludes by reporting the words of his vow to refrain from wine and, it seems, not to leave his wife alone on Sabbath (meaning that he would fulfill his conjugal obligations), "Yo recibo nezirut Shimshon bar Manoaḥ baʿal Delilah con todos sus tena'im de non dexarla עלא דומתי (?) on the Sabbath." He signs Shem Tov ("Good Name") al-Ḥāmī, watchman of a quarter. "The purpose of the declaration was, of course, that the impulsive watchman thirsted for wine and wished to be absolved from his overhasty vow." Information from Weiss and Goitein (Med. Soc, II, 608 n. 41 and Med Soc V, 110 and 536–37). ASE.

Letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated 2 Nisan 1551 Seleucid (1240 CE). The writer seems to be asking the addressee to assist a certain man against his wife (inṣāfuhu min zawjatihi). If the man and his wife cannot reach an agreement, the man should deliver the writer's letter that is in his possession to the military governor (? al-wālī al-ḥarb) of Ashmūm. If they do reach an agreement, that letter should not be delivered.

Legal fragment. Appears to be the settlement of a marital dispute between Yūsuf and Sitt al-Ahl. Dating: Mentions the date Shevat 1437 Seleucid, which is 1125/26 CE. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. See also the description for T-S NS 320.57 + ENA 2386.4, which is related. NB: Goitein and Gershon Weiss refer to this fragment as "T-S NS 320.54."

Letter from Masʿūd b. Mawhūb to his brother Sābiq b. Mawhūb. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender is agitated about the news he heard from Umm Subayʿ b. ʿAbdallāh, namely that his wife has taken their son out of the school (kuttāb) and allowed him to play all day. "She behaves like an idiot (ablah), inflicting unhealable wounds." He will travel (or send raqqāṣīn?) to Cyprus (קברץ), where it seems the woman lives. He has sent 15 dirhams with Abū l-Munā b. Ḥiyya to give to the teacher. The boy should not be allowed to play hooky. He sends a jūkāniyya (a garment) for the boy. He asks for Abū ʿImrān to draw up a bill of divorce for him for Ṣafar [5]31 (=1136/37 CE) for a half dinar. Some of this summary is tentative; needs further examination. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Fragment of a legal record in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (1100–38 CE). Concerning a family dispute. A woman, Maḥfūẓa from the Ḥātimiyya(?) family, had her inheritance from her father taken by her husband, and domestic strife ensued. In this document, the court orders him not to beat or curse his wife, but rather to honour her and provide her with anything that she was rightfully due. (Information from Goitein's note card and CUDL.)

Letter segment, apparently to the Nagid.

Recto: Ketubba fragment. Dating: Prior to 1144 CE. Groom: Tamīm ha-Kohen b. Yefet ha-Zaqen. Witnesses: Ẓemaḥ ha-Kohen b. Shemuel ha-Kohen; Elqana b. Shelomo. Verso: Legal document. The settlement of a protracted marital dispute between the same Tamīm b. Yefet and his wife Sitt al-Khawāt. Needs further examination for the details of the resolution. Location: Fustat/Cairo. Dated: Adar 1455 Seleucid, which is 1144 CE, under the reshut of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Witnesses: Berakhot ha-Kohen b. Aharon ha-Galīlī, Munajjā ha-Parnas b. Shelomo, and Natan b. Shemarya ha-Kohen.

Reconciliation agreement between husband and wife. Dated: 6 Tammuz 5415 AM, which is 1655 CE.