Geniza Lab

Marriage document. A large damaged piece from a ketubah, from the 12th century, 1127 onward, based on the title יהי שמו לעולם כירח יכון עולם, which started to appear during the tenure of Maṣliaḥ Gaon as the Head of the Jews. The groom’s name is Nisin b. David. The bride Dāra bat Avraham b. ‘Amram. Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic. AA

Marriage document. Fragment from a damaged ketubah. The groom is Ḥalfon ha-Kohen. The name of his father and bride are not preserved. Part of the dowry list is visible. 12th century. Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic

Marriage document. Fragment from a ketubah, probably written by Hillel b. ʿEli (1066-1108), from Fustat. Only part of the date is preserved: Tuesday, 19th of […]. From the names of the parties only the bride’s father’s name survived: מסבאע. Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

Ketubba, once monumental, now just a piece of it. What remains are two perpendicular lines on the right hand side of the text containing blessings. Ed. Friedman, JMP, #64 who dates the ketubba to 1089-1099 and locates it in Tyre.

Marriage document. Damaged and faded ketubah, written by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe Halevi. Only the end part of the dowry list, and some of the signatures survived. Signed by [...]הכהן בן שלה and [...בן] יצחק Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Aramaic. AA

Marriage document. In the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli (active 1066–1108). Fragment from a left side of ketubba de-irkesa (כתובה דארכסא), a ketubba written as a replacement for a lost ketubba (cf. ENA 3616.13). The bride’s name is Malīḥa b. Shelomo. The groom’s name is not preserved. JRL SERIES A 1104 is a small fragment from an agreement between Malīḥa bt. Shelomo (probably the same woman) and her husband. The JRL document is apparently written by Avraham b. Natan Av (compare T-S 8J12.1, which he signed), which can help us date this ketubba to 1098–1108 CE, the period in which the two scribes were active. AA

Marriage document. Fragment from a ketubah. No names or dates are preserved. Contains a few words from the monogamy clause. Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

Marriage contract. Location: Cairo. Dated: 29 Shevat 5535 AM, which is 1775 CE. Groom: Eliyyahu Goren(?) b. Nissim. Bride: Hermosa bt. Nissim Nakaro(?). Total marriage payments: 3,000 silver diwani medins.

Marriage document. Small fragment from the top of a ketubah, as is evident from the large, decorative phrases opening with בשם אל עולם, commonly found at the top of ketubot. In l.2: אשר לא יספר (Genesis 32:13). Someone, probably a school child, used the blank spaces to copy what looks like Biblical verses in a very childish and crude hand. Hebrew. AA

Marriage contract. Dated: 5579 AM, which is 1818/19 CE. Groom: Raḥamim ואפה(?). Bride: Marḥaba bt. Yaʿaqov מניצר(?). Currencies: real, medin.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Location: Yūd ʿImrān on Bīr al-Ḥā'it, Yemen. Dated: 4 Nisan 2151 Seleucid, which is 1840 CE. Groom: Hārūn b. Sālim al-Thalā'ī(?). Bride: Saʿda bt. Sālim Ḥoṭer al-Kohen, a widow.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Location: Yemen. Dated: Shevat 2005 Seleucid, which is 1694 CE. Groom: Dā'ūd b. Yosef al-Ḥamāmī (or al-Ḥammāmī) al-Ḥaḍrī. Bride: Simḥa, a virgin.

Marriage contract. Location: Cairo. Dated: Thursday, 15 Sivan 5566 AM, which is 1806 CE. Groom: David Karo b. Binyamin. Bride; Malīḥa bt. Yaʿaqov Romano. Sum of money: 150 reals (1 real / 90 medins).

Marriage document. Lower part, probably of a ketubah, written by a typical 13th century hand. Some of the dowry list is preserved. Signed by […] Hakohen b. Moshe and Shlomo b. […]. On the right margin שהד פרח?? Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo-Arabic. AA

Small fragment from an engagement deed, written under the authority of Netanel Halevi, based on the phrase נסיכנו ונשיא אלהים ב[תוכנו]. AA

Marriage document. Small fragment from what is seems as a ketubah, probably by the hand of Hillel b. Eli or Ḥalfon b. Menashshe Halevi. Shemuʾel b. Khalaf is mentioned. Judeo-Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

Ketubba, late 11th century or early twelfth century Yemenite. The total of the dower and the dowry is larger than 230. The name Ulla ha-levi is mentioned. Written and signed by Shemuel b. Moshe b. Elazar. other signatories: Avraham b. Yosef, Khalaf b. Moshe. Moshe b. Yosef. Ya'aqov b. Khalaf and nadiv ha-Levi b. Moshe ha-Levi.

Prenuptial agreement. The marriage is to take place in seven years when the bride comes of age, meaning at the time of the agreement she was five years old. She is not an orphan: her father is mentioned (his name is Yishaq and the grrom's name is Moshe b. Perah. The hand looks like Yefet b. David.

Testimony regarding bridal consent to marriage. Two manuscripts that deal with the marriage of a bride named Karam. The two manuscripts contain the bride's consent to the marriage, her receiving the initial marriage gift (Muqaddam) and an appoint of a representative on her behalf. The first manuscript, ENA NS I.95a, from the 3rd of Nissan (Monday, the 14th of March) year 1244, is a testimony of witnesses that the bride gave in their presence her consent to the marriage to the aforementioned Groom, and that she received the initial marriage gift (Muqaddam) and accepted the sum of the delayed marriage gift (Me'ukhar). The story takes an unexpected twist in the second manuscript dated two days afterward. While the wife testified in the previous document that she received the initial marriage gift and accepted the sum of the delayed marriage gift, in the second document she appoints her brother to receive the initial marriage gift and to set the sum of the delayed marriage gift. Since the ending of the first document did not survive it is impossible to determine what took place in those two days. The wife might have wanted to testify that she received the muqaddam but things did not turn out the way they should have (the two sides might have fallen into dispute and the agreement was not signed?) Thus, direct involvement of the bride's wife was required. Another option is that the brother's appointment as representative was carried out informally before receiving the initial marriage gift, but only later was this formalized in court. [NB volume number in shelfmark is roman numeral I, not Arabic numeral 1]

Beginning of a ketubba, 870 CE. (Or 871 CE?) "The oldest dated Genizah document. A draft of a ketubah, in which the writing is interrupted after the date in the seventh line, probably because the day in the month is mistaken: 17 Tishre 1183 Seleucid, which is (שבת אשר בתשרי [...] אלפא ומאת ותמנ״ן מציון ותלת), Seleucid year (לשתרות)." Information from Penn Catalog.