Geniza Lab

Court record concerning a widow who has received back her dowry but is still owed her marriage gift, in Bilbays, Elul 1515/August 1204 (Elul 12th does not match Tuesday as the of the week). On verso liturgical poems.

Legal document (actually two different documents concerning the same persons) concerning the poor treatment afforded to R. Moshe, a new hazzan, by R. Nissim, the muqaddam of al-Maḥalla, and centered on issues relating to a marriage ceremony and the public evaluation of a dowry. Thirteenth century. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:74, 538; Mordechai Friedman, Jewish Marriage in Palestine, 1:296; Eliyyahu Ashtor, “The Number of Jews in Medieval Egypt,” JJS (1967), 238) EMS.

Legal document acknowledging a debt on account of a dowry. Fustat A.D. 982. The groom is Yosef ha-Kohen b. Avraham.

Marriage contract (ketubba) stating that the 200 zuz were "established by the holy college" and the dinars bear the sign "of the temporal ruler." Date, location and witnesses are not preserved, but the marriage probably took place outside of Egypt, as a gift of an ‘Egyptian sheet’ is mentioned. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 301-9) EMS

Fragment from the right part of a ketubah. The groom's name is Nethan'el. Small part of the dowry list is preserved. AA

Ketubba with a valuable dowry listing gold jewellery, pearls, rubies, and turquoise, second half of the 15th century. (Corrected by comparison with photocopy of MS & Goitein's notes) (Z.F.)

Segment of a court testimony. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi (Date: 1100-1138). Regarding dowry arrangements after the renewal of a lost ketubba. The ketubba of Abu l-Fadl Ṣadoq b. Ḥalfon b. Moshe and his wife […] bt. Berakhot b. Yehuda ha-Levi was lost when the Franks (‘May God ruin them’) captured Tripoli (Lebanon, in 1109 CE) and Abū l-Faḍl and his wife were taken prisoner. On verso there is Genesis 1:1-3. (Information from CUDL)

Recto: Extract from Ruth 1. Verso: Fragment of a deed signed by Moshe ben Maymun, Damascus, late tenth century. The document includes a description of a piece of property that appears to have been part of a Palestinian-style ketubba and dowry. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 370-1 and CUDL) EMS

Legal deed. Location: Qūṣ. Dated: Shevaṭ 1527 Seleucid, which is 1216 CE, under the authority of Avraham Maimonides. In which the physician Abū l-Manṣūr Elʿazar b. Yeshuʿa ha-Levi gifts the entire contents of his late wife’s dowry, “consisting of gold, silver, copper, and other items worth 200 Egyptian dinars,” to his two minor daughters, Nasab and Kufūʾ (or Kufāʾ?). The declaration was made in the house of Abū Saʿd Seʿadya, in the presence of his son Abū l-Mufaḍḍal Yehuda ha-Talmid ("the scholar"). (Information from Eve Krakowski, “Female adolescence in the Cairo Geniza documents,” PhD diss., The University of Chicago, 2012, 34; and S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:278–79, 489) EMS

(I) Document concerning claims on trousseau items between Tahir b. Abu Sa'd and his wife Fard bat Abu Isaac. (II) Payment of a debt of five dinars less twelve dirhems in monthly installments. Khalaf al-Mutasawwiq b. Abu al-Surur owes Abu al-Muna b. Barakat; October 3, 1160. (III) Legal document concerning the partnership of a house. (Information from Goitein’s index cards) EMS

Bottom part from a ketuba. Only the end of the dowry list is preserved and partial signatures. AA

Minute fragment from a ketubah contains mostly part from the dowry list. AA

Small fragment from the end of a ketubah. One of the witnesses is Yehezkel. AA

Small fragment from a ketubah containing few items from the dowry list. AA

Fragment from a legal document, possibly a trousseau list section of a ketubah. On verso the name Abu al-Khayr Zedaqa is written. AA

Fragment from a legal document, possibly a trousseau list section of a ketuba. AA

Fragment of a legal document, mentioning a dowry with the value of its items. (Information from Goitein's index cards.) In the hand of Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya.

Small fragment, probably from a ketubah. Only small part from the dowry list preserved. AA

Fragment from the top part of a court record, from the year 1335 Era of documents = 1024. [...] Hakohen known as [Ghu]layb is declaring in front of the court. On verso a dowry list. AA

Small fragment of trousseau list of the bride Zayn bt. Yiṣḥaq. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 132, and from Goitein's index cards)