Geniza Lab

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, parchment, middle fragment only.

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

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.

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.

Recto: Marriage contract (or renewal of a marriage contract?). Location: Fustat. Date: 13[..] Seleucid, which combined with the fact that the document on verso was signed by Avraham b. Natan Av ha-Yeshiva, suggests not long before 1088 CE. Groom: Manṣūr b. Moshe ha-Kohen. Bride: Zayn bt. Aharon ha-Mumḥe. Early marriage gift: 10 dinars. Delayed marriage gift: 5 dinars. Dowry: 1/4 house worth 30 dinars, outfit worth 30 dinars. Verso: Addendum in the hand of Avraham b. Natan Av ha-Yeshiva (who also signs). The wife, Zayn, sells the 1/4 house, receives 30 dinars, and releases (her husband; not expressly said, but since it was included in the ketubba, must be him). Two others sign: Moshe b. David ha-Levi and Ṣemāh b. Yaʿaqov ha-Levi. There are a few phrases in Arabic script on verso (only on Halper 333); one of them appears to be about love (perhaps the superiority of old love over infatuation? ويا عشقي القديم على...). (Information in part from Goitein's index cards; Halper catalgoue; and CUDL.)

Recto: bottom of a marriage contract (ketubba). Groom: Yosef b. Shelomo. Bride: Karīmā bt. Nuṣayr known as Elʿazar. The end of her dowry list is preserved, including a black female slave valued at 30 dinars. The scribe and one of the witnesses is Yosef b. Elʿazar b. ha-Shofeṭ (who also signed T-S NS J269, dated December 29, 1066). Numerous other witnesses signed, including Ḥalfon b. Mevorakh, and Yehuda b. Moshe (?) ha-Ḥazzan. Verso: four different blocks of dense text, most in poetic, rhyming Hebrew lines. Join by Goitein.

Marriage contract from Ramla, ca. 1062 or 1070. The groom is Avraham b. Sedeqa. (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, p. 358-61) EMS

Ketubba fragment. The groom is named Ghālib.