Geniza Lab

Legal deed in Judaeo-Arabic. Involving a divorcee named Miryam bt. Avraham. Little else remains.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: probably early 13th century. The writer complains that the Rayyis does not trust him to deliver letters for him, thus he gave leters to R. Yūsuf to deliver, who then lost them. The writer gathered the courage to write to Rabbenu Avraham and al-Ḥaver about this matter, but he has not received a response from 'his Majlis', thus he writes the present letter. On verso he discusses the case of a (his?) wife, the daughter of Bū Saʿd b. Maqdūnsa (an Ibn Maqdūnsa is also mentioned in T-S Ar.54.91). Her husband sent her a get from Damascus with Muẓaffar. She then remarried in Fuwwa (?) Yūsuf b. al-Yaqṭīn. "And the purpose of your letter to Damascus is that perhaps you can give him a ruling regarding (re-)marriage. The story is confusing and would likely be clarified by the missing part of the letter. An Abū Zikrī is mentioned in the margin. ASE.

Court record of divorce (or is this the bill of divorce itself?). In Hebrew. Dated: Tammuz and Av 5279 AM, which is 1519 CE. Husband: Elʿazar b. Aharon ha-Kohen. Wife: Esther bt. Seʿadya Kohen.

Letter of appeal from a woman whose husband had abandoned her with Muslims. "In this fragmentary letter a woman bitterly describes her marital misfortunes. Her husband brought her and her eight year old daughter to live among non-Jews. He then abandoned them with no food or drink. She fell ill [with pleurisy—"itbarsamt"] and was forced to turn to her gentile neighbours for assistance. Her daughter died. Deserted, diseased and bereaved, she sought release from her marriage. She was advised, "Sell your hair and ransom yourself". The iftidā' or "ransom" divorce, which is referred to here, entailed the wife's renouncing her claim to the delayed mohar payment. The purport of the advice here seems to have been that even if she would be left completely destitute and would have to sell her hair for support, she should initiate divorce proceedings and ransom herself from the marriage. This reminds us of R. Akiba's instructions to a man who wanted to divorce his wife without paying her the full ketubah settlement: "Even if you have to sell the hair on your head, you must pay her her ketubah" (M. Ned. 9:5). In the present case the wife seems to have been reluctant to do this. She wanted assistance in accomplishing the divorce without losing what was due her as divorce settlement (ḥaqq). This document is described by Goitein, in Med. Soc. 3, 272. Goitein offers a different explanation of the advice given the woman to cut her hair, viz. by cutting her hair and sending it to the religious authorities, she would humiliate herself and thereby compel them to take action on her request to perform the ransom divorce. See the reference on p. 487, n. 136, for women of the court sending their hair to an important general. The fragment is in a poor state of preservation, and some of my readings are uncertain." Information, edition, and translation from Friedman, "Divorce Upon the Wife's Demand," p. 117f. See also Zinger, "She Aims to Harass Him," and "Long Distance Marriages" (note 57).

Bill of divorce (get) from Malij. The bride is X bt. Yosef.

Letter of appeal for help. In Judaeo-Arabic. Written on behalf of a woman, probably in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. "A divorced woman complains that her former husband constantly asks her to return to him. She has left for Alexandria and all the time he keeps asking her to return to him in Fustat which she is afraid to do. Even the Rabbi's servant continues to pressure her to comply (ghulām al-rav baqiya yulzi(mu)nī ʿalā al-safar) saying that “it might be good for you.” Information from Zinger's dissertation, p. 47.

Letter from an unknown man, unknown location (not Fustat or Alexandria), to his mother Umm Mufaḍḍal, in Alexandria. Written in Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. He briefly expresses concern for his mother's health, because he heard that she has been ill for one year. He then gets to the purpose of the letter, which is to solicit his mother's help in obtaining the divorce he has been wishing to obtain for a year, for he has been prevented from remarrying (presumably by the local authorities wherever he is, because they learned that he was still married to a woman in Fustat). He sent the bill of divorce with the bearer of the present letter, a man from Iraq. He asks his mother to receive the messenger richly. If the wife is still in Fustat, the messenger should continue on his way to complete the mission. If the wife has come to Alexandria, the mother should deliver the bill of divorce directly. He also asks her to send something to Ibrāhīm and to send her response with Ibn Abū l-Najm, "because we have two capitation taxes (we still have to pay)." Information in part from Zinger's dissertation, 246–47.

Letter fragment from Shelomo ha-Kohen b. Nisan to multiple addressees. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerns Yūsuf al-Zayyāt b. Ṣadaqa and the legal question of whether or not he divorced a certain woman and/or if he is still married. There is additional note in a different hand: "... divorced the sister of Mawhūb ṣaḥīḥ(?) Shelomo b. Yiṣḥaq"; perhaps this line was written in support of the contents of the main letter.

Legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning the financial arrangements upon the divorce of Mansūba and Avraham. Needs further examination.

Legal document. In Hebrew. Location: Probably Cairo. Dating: Probably 18th or 19th century. Mikha'el b. Moshe appoints Refa'el b. Shuʿa Berakha as his agent for giving a bill of divorce to his betrothed Ruḥama bt. Moshe. On verso there are sums including with western Arabic numerals

Letter in Hebrew between brothers discussing the travel of the sender's son to Mandatory Palestine and request for sixty pounds (ששים פונט). Based on the mention of currency the letter was written pre-1949 under the British Mandate. There is also discussion of the sender's son-in-law who lacks professional training and is out of work, the letter sender hopes his daughter and son-in-law get a divorce. This letter is catalogued incorrectly in the MIAC catalogue as being in Judaeo-Arabic, which is not the case based on the scan offered in Ḥasan and Sarrāj, Al-Janiza wa-l-maʿābid al-Yahūdiyya fī Miṣr, 184-185. Date: 20th c. MCD.

Legal document. Agreement between Abū l-ʿIzz Moshe b. Abū l-Barakāt and his newly divorced wife. She agrees to accept 30 instead of 70 dirhams due to her from the ketubba, and in exchange the ex-husband foregoes claims against her concerning 'nafaqa.' Location: Fustat. Dated: Sunday night, 28 Tevet 1579 Seleucid, which is 16 January 1268 CE. On verso there is Genesis 33:19–34:7. (Information from Goitein's index card and from CUDL.)

Informal note addressed to a judge. In the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli (active 1066–1108). In Judaeo-Arabic. A woman came to Hillel with a bill of divorce (here called "baraʾa," release) supposedly written in the hand of the addressee, but he suspects that it is a forgery, because the addressee, the purported scribe, does not habitually date his documents with the Seleucid calendar. Furthermore, the verso of the bill of divorce does not contain the required statement that it was delivered to the woman. The addressee is asked to look into this (al-naẓar fīhā). The women's husband is missing (maʿdūm). (Information from Oded Zinger's forthcoming edition.)

Bill of divorce. Dated: Wednesday, 10 Elul 1395 Seleucid, which is 1084 CE. Location: New Cairo. Husband: Elʿazar b. Avraham. Wife: Sitt al-Ahl bt. Yiṣḥaq.

Bill of divorce. Dated: Thursday, 27 Adar I 1540 Seleucid, which is 1229 CE. Location: Fustat. Husband: Avraham b. מימאן(?). Wife: [Miryam] bt. Ḥabīb. On verso there is the statement that Miryam received her geṭ, but instead of a signature, it just has "peloni b. peloni."

Formulary for a bill of divorce. There is also Hebrew poetry (אופן(?) ליהודה הלוי זל).

Bill of divorce (get). Location: Fustat. Dated: 6 Nisan 4973 AM = 1524 Seleucid, which is 1213 CE. Husband: Shela b. Meshullam b. Netanel ha-Zaqen. Wife: Sitt al-Nasab bt. Elʿazar known as Ibn Shalom. Signed: Yeshuʿa b. Daniel; Moshe ha-Kohen b. She'erit.

Bill of divorce (get). Location: Fustat. Dated: Monday, 25 Sivan 1459 Seleucid, which is 1148 CE. Husband: Yosef b. ʿAbdallāh. Wife: Kala bt. Abū Saʿīd. Witnesses: Natan b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver; Nadiv b. Yeshuʿa. On verso there is an addendum attesting that she received the get, signed Nadiv b. Yeshuʿa and Seʿadya b. Mevorakh.

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 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.