Geniza Lab

Ketubba (marriage contract). A four piece join from an early 11th century Palestinian style ketubba from Tinnīs. Groom: Mevasser b. Yiṣḥaq. Bride: ʿAzīza bt. Ḥasan. Location: Tinnīs (Egypt). Written by Ṣemaḥ the cantor. Dating: Between 942/43 and 1033/34 CE.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Upper left corner. Location: Fustat. Bride: Sitt al-Ahl bt. [...] ha-Kohen Rosh ha-Qahal.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Lower right corner. Signed by Shelomo Kohen b. Yehuda and Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Shelomo.

Marriage contract from Damascus, 956, which records a marriage gift of 225 dinars (of which only 25 were advanced) and a dowry evaluated at 395 dinars. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 197-9) EMS

Marriage contract (ketubba). Beginning only. Dated: 20 Kislev 1550 Seleucid, which is 29 November 1238 CE. Groom: Yosef b. Yaʿaqov. Goitein's index card suggests that the Nagid at this time is already David I, but it is not clear if he deduced that from the phrases in the document or if he already knew that Avraham died before this date. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Marriage contract of Faḍā'il b. Yosef and Sittunā, signed in Abyār. Dated: December 1070 CE. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 388)

Formulary for a marriage contract, Qaraite/interdenominational. Dated: 1036 CE, at the time of Ṣemaḥ Nasi. One sheet is possibly missing in between, and with it the details about the tosefet and the nedunya. Information in part from Goitein's index card

Trousseau list for an upcoming marriage. Dating: ca. 1161 CE.The value comes out to 30 dinars. Bride: Milāḥ bt. Asʿad Ibn al-Amshāṭī. Groom: Abū l-Ḥasan Yefet b. Yiṣḥaq. Signed by Hillel b. Ṣadoq Av Bet Din and Mevorakh b. Natan. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 417)

Fragment of a marriage contract between the bridegroom X b. Yosef [the great Rav] and the bride Sitt al-Adab daughter of Yehuda b. Nissim the sar b. Masliah the haver, the judge. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 103)

Copy of a copy of a ketubba from Ashkelon, 1100.

Verso (original use): Marriage contract (ketubba). Central piece. In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. Groom: Mordekhay b. Saʿadya ha-Levi. Bride: Sitt al-Kuttāb. Containing many items of dowry with realistic values. Dated: [14]76 Seleucid = 1164/65 CE, under the authority of Daniel ha-Nasi. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 367, and Goitein's attached index card.)

4 legal records. (1) Taqwīm for the marriage between Avraham b. Abū l-Ḥasan Ibn al-Maghāzilī and Niʿam bt. Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ḥazzan. Dated: Nisan 1497 Seleucid, which is 1186 CE. Marriage payments: 5 + 20 = 25. Dowry = 44. See also T-S NS J287, a petition from the same woman to the Gaon Sar Shalom ha-Levi (1170–95 CE), written on her behalf by her father. (2) Taqwīm for the marriage between Abū al-Mufaddal b. al-Rayyis Abū l-Najm and Sitt al-Nasib bt. Eliyyahu. Dated: Nisan 1497 Seleucid, which is 1186 CE. The objects are evaluated by ½, ⅓ and ¼. Marriage payments: 0 + 30 = 30. Dowry = 55 (which includes a female slave named Shams valued at 15 dinars). Total = 85. (3) Taqwīm for the marriage between Abū l-Ḥasan b. al-Shammāʿ and Sitt al-Thanā' bt. Abū l-Makārim אלתווזי. Dated: Av 1497 Seleucid, which is 1186 CE. Marriage payments: 0 + 15 = 15. Dowry = 33. Total = 48. (4) Taqwīm for the marriage between Munajjā b. Hiba al-Ṭabīb and Ḥasab bt. Abū ʿUmar. Dated: Tishrei 1498 Seleucid, which is 1186 CE. Marriage payments: 5 + 20 = 25. Dowry = 15. Total = 40. (Information from Goitein’s index cards.)

Letter sent by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to his cousin Abū l-Barakāt al-Ḥarīrī b. Abū Manṣūr, discussing the marriage of their paternal cousin to Ibn al-ʿAmmānī. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 5)

Marriage contract of a ransomed captive woman, Damascus, possibly [10]82/3 or [11]82/3.

Karaite ketubba (marriage contract) from Jerusalem, January 1028.

Karaite marriage contract of the groom Hezekiah and the bride Sarwa written in Shevat 1339/ February 1028 in Jerusalem. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 50, 376)

Ketubba (marriage contract), formulary, found inside of a Palestinian prayerbook. The booklet also contains formularies for a bill of divorce and the husband's instructions to the scribe and witnesses for issuing that deed. For the location, the bill of divorce gives "City X, adjacent to Ẓoʿan Miẓrayim (=Fustat), which is situated on the river Nile." There is also a poem dedicated to "our lord Evyatar (b. Eliyyahu)," who was the Gaon during the last two decades of the elevent century. There are eleven additional leaves from the same booklet in MS. Dropsie 211. Information from Mordechai Akiva Friedman.

Testimony of woman, Sittuna bat Hayyim about her husband, Farah ibn Banuqa who left her 'a widow in his lifetime.' She is indigent because he had sold part of her dowry and pawned the rest, and this was many years ago.

Legal fragment. End of a marriage contract, signed by Efrayim b. Sadoq, Shelomo b. Mevorakh and Yosef b. Nissin.

Fragment of a dowry receipt of Sitt al-Kamal, written by Emmanuel b. Yehiel (ca. 1231-1279), containing details about a trousseau. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 453, and from Goitein's index cards)