Geniza Lab

Karaite betrothal deed. Bride: Yamān bat David b. Isaiah, of Egypt. Groom: Shela b. ʿAmram al-Qirqisānī, of Tyre. Both the bride and groom are represented by agents. The groom appointed his agent (Shelomo b. ʿAdiya b. Menashshe al-Qazzāz, witnessed by Yefet […] Shelomo b. Abraham and Shemuʾel b. Moses he-Ḥaver) in Tyre in 1050 CE (date given according to the Seleucid erd), and the text of the deed of attorney authorising the agent was incorporated into the deed of the betrothal, and ratified by the Karaite court in Fusṭāṭ (under the jurisdiction of the Karaite nasi David b. Ṣemaḥ). The bride’s agent is Shelomo b. Musāfīr (appointment witnessed by Aaron b. Samīḥ ha-Kohen and Ṣedaqa b. Saʿadya). The betrothal took place in 1051 CE, in Fusṭāṭ (date given accodring the both the Seleucid and AM era). Witnessed by Manṣūr b. Mevasser and Shemuʾel b. […]. (Information from CUDL)

Qaraite settlement at court between Dāʾūd b. Mūsā and his divorcee ʿAzīza bt. Ḥusayn b. David the teacher. An alimony of 14 dinars had been fixed of which 2.5 dinars had been paid and the rest will now be paid on a monthly basis. ʿAzīza agrees to deliver her ex-husband's books to the court. Written in the hand of Abū l-Faraj Ṣemah b. al-Ḥasan b. Boʿaz. Dated: 429 AH, which is 1037/38 CE (perhaps specifically March 1038 CE). (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 426, and Goitein's index cards)

Letter from a Qaraite, in Jerusalem, to al-Shaykh al-Rashīd Hārūn Ibn Saghīr, in Cairo. To be read to the whole Qaraite community. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late, probably no earlier than 15th century. Very similar format to many of the Firkovich letters. The writer complains of great trials suffered ever since arriving in Jerusalem "on account of the ḥabash (Ethiopians?)." He clarifies that the conflict is about Ibrāhīm and Sulaymān who both insist on marrying Rivqa who 'belongs to' (? btāʿ) al-Shaykh al-Najīb Shimʿon. They had decided to marry her to Avraham, but she insisted that she would only marry Sulaymān, and Avraham said that he would kill someone if he didn't get to marry her. They feared something ('al-amākin' = the places?) and prevented her from entering either Sulaymān's or Avraham's house or from leaving her own house without a female escort. The story continues for much longer, becoming ever more convoluted and involving the Rabbanites and Islamic courts and a forged ketubba. Needs further examination.

Letter from the Qaraite Jews of Ashqelon to the Qaraites and Rabbanites of Fustat. Dating: Summer 1100 CE. The letter deals with the ransoming of Qaraite captives from Jerusalem following the Crusader conquest of the city. (Qaraites represented a large percentage of the small number of Jews who still lived in Jerusalem after the Seljuk conquest[s] in the 1070s.) The letter also explains that the fortified city of Ashqelon had not yet fallen, but the residents are struggling to cope with an influx of refugees and the need to make large payments to the Crusaders to ransom back Jewish captives - men, women and children - as well as books and scrolls pillaged from the synagogues of the Holy Land. Despite the terrible circumstances, they take solace in the fact that that the Crusaders appeared not to have mistreated the women. The writers report that they had received the suftaja (bill of exchange), at least the second substantial donation from the Jews of Fustat to the campaign to redeem captives and books. This letter is a request for further donations. The community in Ashqelon had spent over 500 dinars; ransomed over 40 captives; continues to bear the high expenses of caring for the 20 redeemed captives who remain in Ashqelon; and is now in debt for more than 200 dinars. The writers also mention Jews who had escaped from Jerusalem on their own, and others who had been given safe-conduct with the wālī. Of the refugees who arrived in Ashkelon, many had died of the epidemic they encountered there: "The attacks of these illnesses (amrāḍ), the falling of that plague (wabā'), that pest (fanā'), that disaster (balā')" (recto, lines 17–19); later, describing how the refugees perished, "Some of them arrived here healthy, and the climate turned against them (ikhtalafa ʿalayim al-hawā'), and they arrived at the height of that plague (wa-waṣalū fī ʿunfuwān dhālik al-wabā'), and many of them died" (recto, lines 42–44); then, twice more, the writers emphasize their great expenses caring for those who have survived but are still sick, who need not only food and clothing but medicines and syrups (recto, lines 53–55 and right margin 19–20). There are notes by the writers and forwarders of the letter in the right margin on verso, including Yehayyahu ha-Kohen b. Maṣliaḥ, David b. Shelomo and Ḥanina b. Manṣūr b. ʿUbayd. See DK 242 + T-S AS 146.3 for a letter written one year earlier from the Rabbanites of Fustat to the Rabbanites of Ashqelon, also having to do with the campaign for the ransoming of captives. (Information CUDL and from Goldman, "Arabic-Speaking Jews of Crusader Syria" (PhD diss., 2018), 49–58. See also Goitein, Med Soc 5:537; Goitein, "New Sources on the Fate of the Jews during the Crusaders' Conquest of Jerusalem" (Heb.) Zion, 17 (1952), 136; Goitein, Palestinian Jewry, pp. 241-242; and Goitein's notes attached to Bodl. MS Heb d 11/7 (page 9f). ASE/MR

Letter from the Karaite David b. Ḥayyūn, in Jerusalem, to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov, in Tripoli (Libya). Dating: Probably middle of the 11th century. The sender confirms receipt of something that was sent with his sister's son Ismāʿīl, and he thanks the addressee. He emphasizes that he prays for him at all times, including when he goes up to the Mount of Olives and when he is at 'the gates of mercy.'

Karaite document, compiled by a delegation of 12 Gaza and Jerusalem Karaites, regarding the state of fields in the spring in order to determine whether to intercalate the year, March 1052.

Fragmentary Karaite marriage contract, the margin of which is adorned with large, hollow letters. (Information Mediterranean Society, III, p. 112)

Bill of divorce, Qaraite. In Hebrew. T-S 12.54 and T-S 12.70 are two very rare examples of Qaraite bills of divorce. Location: Fustat. Dated: Wednesday, 24 Shevaṭ 135[.] Seleucid, which is 1039–47 CE. Husband: Ḥasan b. Ṭayyib. Wife: Ḥusn bt. Yaʿqūb.

Legal document: will, fragmentary, of the Qaraite mother of two girls, before delivering another child. Concerns in particular her valuable jewelry. Goitein surmised that the document was Qaraite based on the style, the script and the text in the same hand on verso, which refers to the intercalation of the calendar according to Qaraite law. He dates it to the first half of the eleventh century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 418, and from Goitein's index cards)

Verso: Fragment of a detailed report about the colors and development of crops, as part of a will. Relevant to Karaite law for intercalculating a thirteenth month. (Information from Goitein's index cards and Mediterranean Society, IV, 418)

Marriage contract (ketubba), Qaraite. Bride: Sara bt. Sahl. Groom: Avraham b. Yaʿaqov. Signed by Saʿīd ha-Kohen b. Naḥum and Yosef ha-Melammed. Dating: 1089–1187 CE. Location: Egypt(?). Information from FGP.

Decree (copy in Hebrew script) from the Fatimid caliph al-Ẓāhir to a governor of Palestine (probably Anushtekin al-Dizbirī) informing him of another decree that had come in response to a petition in the name of the Rabbanite Jews regarding a conflict with the Qaraites. That decree is referred to as muktatab lahum (registered with them). Ca. 1030.

Fragment of a Karaite marriage contract of the groom Mevorakh b. Yahya and the bride Mubaraka, containing the trousseau. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Detailed Karaite marriage contract of Elazar b. Shemarya and Rebecca bat Yosef. Dated Tishri 1512/ September 1200, Cairo. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 409)

Karaite marriage contract, dated ca. 1000. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 407)

Recto: Letter from a Karaite in Alexandria to the Karaite Nasi David b. Hasdai, concerning support for the Nasi from the Karaite communities in the Maghreb. Dating: 12th century. The letter opens with many very deferent phrases and congratulations on the addressee's recovery from illness. Verso: Draft of a rhymed Hebrew opening to a letter. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Dated: 23 Shevaṭ 1393 Seleucid (= 1082 CE). Location: Probably New Cairo. Groom: the nasi and head of the Jews David b. Daniel b. ʿAzarya (in office 1082–94), son of the gaʾon Daniel b. Azarya (in office 1051–62). Bride: Nāshiya bt. Moshe b. Aharon ha-Kohen, the daughter of a Qaraite notable, who brings in a dowry of almost 900 dinars (or over 1100 dinars?). As the bride is from a prominent Qaraite family, and the groom is a high-ranking Rabbanite, there are special clauses in the contract stating that the groom will not force the bride to compromise her Qaraite principles, and the bride will join her husband in observing the Rabbanite feasts. Attested by the Bet Din and witnessed by Yequtiʾel b. Moses, Nissim b. Maḥbūb, Shelomo b. Yiṣḥaq, Yeḥezqel b. ʿEli he-Ḥaver, Hodaya b. Yoshiyya, Yosef b. Shemuel, Yosef b. Elʿazar, Ṣedaqa b. Muvḥar, Aharon b. Avraham, Netanel b. Yefet he-Ḥaver, the cantor Aharon b. Avraham, Hillel the Cantor b. [...], Avraham b. Yiṣḥaq. (Information from CUDL and Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 136, 456.)

Qaraite marriage contract (ketubba). Location: Cairo. Dated: 1315 AM, which is 1003/04 CE. (In fact, Goitein points out that this is one of the oldest known documents from Cairo, which had been founded only ~35 years prior.) Groom: Shelomo b. Mevasser b. Sahl al-ʿAni. Bride: Sara bt. Yeshaʿya b. Sahl al-ʿAni. (Groom and bride are first cousins, abnā' ʿamm). The groom had already paid 100 ʿAzīzī dinars and promised another 50 at the wedding. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index cards.)

Letter from a Damascene Karaite to a Karaite leader in Fustat, approximately 1040.

Letter from Avraham b. Ya'akov in Jerusalem to his son in Fustat. Around 1040, in the handwriting of Moshe b. Yitzhak from the Karaite community. (Probably the father and son belong to the Karaite community as well). The father describes his difficult situation after the death of another son and because of his illness and his need for money and asks his son for help. (Information from Gil, Palestine corrections, Mehkarim be-Mada'e ha-Yahadut, Te'udah 7, pp. 326-327). VMR