Geniza Lab

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

Minute fragment from a marriage deed. On recto probably from a marriage agreement or ketubah, with monogamy clause and probably a stipulation about domicile. On verso probably the qiyyum (legal establishment of this deed) under the authority of Masliah Gaon. Only part of the date survived: Ad[ar … 14]48 (only תמ remains) = 1137. AA

Letter from Shemuel b. Eli Gaʾon in Baghdad to an unknown person. In the hand of his disciple Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Rosh ha-Seder of Irbīl. The sender mentions that the community members do not fulfill their duties towards the yeshiva. Also discusses the problem of girls forced to marry against their will. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 207. See also Goitein index card.)

Right fragment of a marriage contract, containing high-priced items in the trousseau (dowry). Groom: Avraham. Dated [13]35 Seleucid, which is 1023/24 CE. (Information from CUDL and Goitein, Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 375, 407.)

Letter from a man, in Damascus, to his father, perhaps in Fustat. The sender expresses his longing and desperation in this foreign land, especially after the departure of Manṣūr ("the world closed itself in on me... I cry... and wish my soul would leave, but it does not"). He reports that he is revered, because he has successfully humiliated all the competing cantors, and now nobody dares to chant in his presence. (The father seems to be a cantor as well.) His father was upset that he entered the service of "someone like the ghulām"; Manṣūr will explain everything when he arrives. He was unable to send some of the goods for his brother; Ibn Abū l-Zakkār may have told him not to trust a potential bearer. He has sent with Manṣūr a mould of cheese worth 2.5 dirhams, and he has equipped Manṣūr with funds to keep the cheese well-oiled en route lest it dry out. He complains about the lack of sustenance in Damascus. He claims to fast most days out of sorrow/longing, and he repeatedly asks for prayers. He is worried that his enemies will gain the upper hand over him (he may have seen this in a dream? Verso, line 8). He describes the hospitality of his paternal uncles and their children and his maternal aunt. He asks for news of potential fiancees back home—his cousin (bint ʿamm) and Nabaʾ—since the locals in Damascus are trying to set him up with a local woman. He emphasizes that he would never get married with his father absent. He alludes to a period of a year when he had a falling-out with his father, a rift which is now healed (this may explain some of the over-the-top language of longing in this letter). He asks for some aqwāl, which should be sent to the house of the Nezer along with instructions to forward them to Aleppo should the son have traveled already. He concludes by warning his father to seal all of his future letters—"and not with a heavy seal." (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Karaite betrothal deed. Bride: Yamān bat David b. Isaiah, of Egypt. Groom: Shela b. ʿAmram al-Qirqisānī, of Tyre. Both the bride and groom are represented by agents. The groom appointed his agent (Shelomo b. ʿAdiya b. Menashshe al-Qazzāz, witnessed by Yefet […] Shelomo b. Abraham and Shemuʾel b. Moses he-Ḥaver) in Tyre in 1050 CE (date given according to the Seleucid erd), and the text of the deed of attorney authorising the agent was incorporated into the deed of the betrothal, and ratified by the Karaite court in Fusṭāṭ (under the jurisdiction of the Karaite nasi David b. Ṣemaḥ). The bride’s agent is Shelomo b. Musāfīr (appointment witnessed by Aaron b. Samīḥ ha-Kohen and Ṣedaqa b. Saʿadya). The betrothal took place in 1051 CE, in Fusṭāṭ (date given accodring the both the Seleucid and AM era). Witnessed by Manṣūr b. Mevasser and Shemuʾel b. […]. (Information from CUDL)

Draft of a ketubba from Fusṭāṭ, dated 1301, written under the authority of the Nagid Abraham b. David b. Abraham Maimonides. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage contract from the year 1301 A.D., under the authority of Avraham Nagid. Bridegroom: Jephthah b. Avraham.

Marriage document, fragment. "Delayed marriage payment and dowry, 38 dinars...."

A small fragment from a ketubba. (Information from CUDL)

Replacement ketubba from Ṣanʿāʾ, Yemen, for Sālim ibn Hārūn al-ʿUzērī, known as Zuhra, and Ḡinā bat Sālim b. Shakir al-Tām, dated 6 Tammuz 2210 of the Seleucid era (= 14 June 1899 CE). Written and signed by Levi ibn Yaḥyā al-Najjār. The deed, a replacement for a ketubba that was lost, was written in the Jewish quarter, Qāʿ Bīr al-ʿAzab. Verso contains an additional legal note concerning the arrangements for the repayment of a debt owed by the husband to his wife. (Information from CUDL)

Agreement between Sitt al-Baqāʾ and her husband Tahor ha-Levi the astrologer (al-Munajjim) b. Namir concerning money owed from the ketubba. Signed by Moshe b. Yehuda and Hillel b. Yosef, and dated Marḥeshvan 1460 of the Seleucid era (= 1148 CE). (Information from CUDL.)

This copy of a marriage contract from a record book from the Palestinian synagogue of Fustat is written on four pages of two folios consisting of page 1: Mosseri A 37 (=Moss. VII,37.2) and page 2: Mosseri A 76 (=Moss. VII,76.1). The marriage between Yefet b. Yaʿaqov and Ḥanna bt. Avraham mentions a dowry of 690 dinars which seems to be an exaggerated amount. The first page is in the hand of Yefet b. David, the second page by another scribe. Dated: September 7, 1043 CE (on New Year's eve). (Information from Goitein, Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 94, 446)

Legal document or documents (there is text on both recto and verso). Mentions the groom ʿOvadya b. Ḥalfon.

Small fragment of a ketubba, referring to ‘[.]5 gold dinars’. (Information from CUDL)

Marriage document, small fragment.

Legal document in Arabic script. Agreement between Ḥasan b. Hārūn and his father-in-law Ḥasan b. Isḥāq b. Mūsā concerning Ḥasan's fiancee Maḥfūẓa and her early marriage payment of 20 dinars. The fiance gets the 20 of the muqaddam back, goes on a business trip, must send 21 during the first two months. Another 4 months are stipulated. There is also a sum of 70 dinars involved somehow. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Marriage contract, fragment. In Hebrew and Aramaic, with the dowry list in Judaeo-Arabic. The bride may be [...] bt. Yosef.

Marriage contract. Small fragment. The bride is named Nujūm.

Small fragment of a ketubba, mentioning various sums in dinars. (Information from CUDL)