Geniza Lab

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

Ketubba fragment. Calligraphic.

Remarriage contract of a bride who had been both widowed and divorced in which she receives a house, but no trousseau. Dated 1180-1191. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 101, 409)

Fragment of a marriage contract concerning the remarriage of Moshe b. Yiṣḥaq and his wife Sittat, containing details about the dowry. Dated 1378/ 1066-1067. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 391, and from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a marriage contract. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Ketubba fragment. Location: Fustat. Dated: 1462 Seleucid = 1151/52 CE, under the reshut of Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Groom: [...] b. Ṣadaqa. Bride: Turfa.

Legal fragment. Marriage contract. Dated: 29 Nisan 1458 Seleucid, which is 1147 CE. Under the reshut of the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. In the hand of Natan b. Shemuel ha-Ḥaver. Groom :Yaʿaqov ha-Baḥur b. Yehuda ha-Zaqen. Bride: al-Sitt bt. Ḥalfon ha-Zaqen; she is the divorcee of the groom. Only the first 7 lines are preserved; no details about the dowry or marriage gifts. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter addressed to Mevorakh b. Yefet. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning the arrangements for the sender's upcoming marriage (e.g., the stipulations of the ketubba and the size of the marriage payments) and seeking instructions from the addressee.

Ketubba fragment for Peraḥya ha-Kohen and 'the virgin bride [...].'

Verso: Legal record that Abū l-Surūr b. Ghanya(?) remarried his divorced wife Maʿānī bt. Karīm al-Aqraʿ ha-Levi. Dated: Wednesday night, 29 Tishrei 1541 Seleucid, which is 18 September 1229 CE. There is documentation of the payments returned to her as originally set down in her ketubba. Witnessed by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. On the margin a notation: the remarriage took place without immersion (ṭevila) for menstrual purity. Goitein speculates that she might have been post-menopausal. Moss. VII,56 is her bill of divorce from 8 months earlier. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Ketubba (marriage contract) by proxy form from the siddur of Shelomo b. Natan of Sijilmasa, 12th century. NB: The shelfmark has changed, and it will take some work to find the current one.

Copy of a ketubba. This is the second page. In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. Groom: Shela. Bride: Sitt al-Ḥusn.

Ketubba. Only some signatures are preserved together with the validation (qiyyum) of the ketubba. The witnesses of the main document are: ʿUlla b. Yosef ha-Levi; Moshe b. Yehuda; the teacher Yiṣḥaq b. Nissim Nafūsī (עולה הלוי ביר יוסף משה בר יהודה יצחק המלמד[ביר ניסי]ם נפוסי). The witnesses of the qiyyum are: Avraham b. Shemaʿya ha-Ḥaver; Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi; Moshe b. Ṣadoq; and at least two additional names, one including "Yoshiyyahu" and the other "ʿEli ha-Levi." (אברהם בר שמעיה החבר נין שמעיהו יצחק ביר שמואל הספרדי משה ברבי צדוק ועוד שם אחד).

Ketubba. Dated: 12 Ni[san] 1571 Seleucid, which is 1260 CE, under the authority of David I Maimonides. This was not the first marriage of the bride. The husband name was Yaaqov and the delayed marriage gift was 7 dinars. The earnings of the bride is exchanged for her cover, and there is a immersion condition. There is a trustworthiness clause and also a condition regarding the children of the husband from a previous marriage - probably they will be living in their home until they marry. The hand is almost certainly that of ʿImmanuel b. Yeḥiel. Another interesting feature is that the ketubba is not signed and then someone attached a piece of parchment with two signatures: Elʿazar b. Shelomo ha-Levi and Avraham b. Seʿadya.

Detailed trousseau of Bint Menahem (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 403, and from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a ketubba. In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan (part of his signature survives). Some of the items of the dowry and their values are listed. Goitein's index card emphasizes that as this an inventory (as opposed to a dowry list?), the prices are real. The sum of thirty dinars according to the custom of the land is mentioned. Witnesses: Berakho[t b. Yefet] MKTM, Yishaq b. [...], Menashshe b. [...], Mevorakh b. Natan. On verso there are jottings of accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Marriage agreement of Perahya b. Natan and Sitt al-Ghiyār, daughter of Mevorakh. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 405, and IV, p. 342, and from Marina Rustow [reading the second half of the bride's name])

Marriage contract (ketubba) appearing to be between two relatively poor families, as evident by the small marriage gift of 14 dinars. Dowry provided by the groom. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol.2, 249-54) EMS

Marriage document. A beautiful ornamented ketubah, probably on vellum, from Rashid, Egypt 1780-1789 (according to Lieberman catalogue). The complete date is hard to decipher. The groom’s name is Avraham, the bride’s name is not preserved. The text is faded, and can be partially deciphered. The marriage gift is 60 thousand Mayidish - a common currency at this period. The witnesses are Aharon Tawil and Moshe Fatah (?). Connected with ENA 3306.2 - this is the ‘bill of conditions’ – שטר תנאים of the same couple, by the same hand and layout, probably written at the same time of the ketubah itself. Among the conditions we can find the groom’s promise not to take another wife. Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

See PGP 12852