Geniza Lab

Ketubba from Yemen. Date unknown. The first two lines, which included the date and the place, are now missing. The city Ṣanʿā' is mentioned in the content. The groom is Sālim b. Saʿīd al-Akhlūfī. The bride is Saʿīda bt. Saʿīd al-Ḥatrūshī. The document differs greatly from the usual ketubba and contains a number of Arabic phrases as אלפצה אלמדכורה. One of the two witnesses is יודא ן' מורי מוסי אלשחב (the other is illegible). Information from FGP.

Ketubba from Yemen. Date: Friday 19 Adar 2203 Seleucid, which is 1892 CE. Location: Al-Maḥābisha in northwest Yemen, also known as Quzayyiz, near lake al-Qaṭf. Groom: Ḥayyim b. Sulaymān. Bride: Shamʿa bt. Dā'ūd. Witnesses: Saʿīd b. Sulaymān Najjār and Yaḥya b. Saʿīd Kabbāsī. Information from FGP.

Ketubba fragment with an elaborate floral border pattern that was recorded in Fustat/Cairo (the location appears with the customary title "Fustat Mitzraim on the Nile River" (l.3). The bride's name is lost but her father's is Haim (l.5) and the name of the groom is Menahem al-Wārīs "אלואריש". Although the dowry's currency label has been lost, it appears to have been quite large given the remaining words "forty thousand". MCD.

Small fragment from the beginning of a ketubba from Fustat. No identifying information remains.

The end of a ketubba. There is some sort of reshut clause at the end of the document, invoking Rosh Galutenu ... Nagidenu. . . and his son Ḥalfon. The remaining witness names are [... b.] Khalaf, [... b.] Yaʿaqov Kohen, and Neḥemya b. Yaḥyā.

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

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.)

Ketubba fragment (right lower corner). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Groom: Yefet ha-Zaqen b. [...] ba-Ḥavura. Witnesses: Peraḥya b. Araḥ; Yefet b. Ṣadaqa. (Information from Goitein's index card)

Legal document. Ketubba. Dating: early 11th century. Bride: Dalāl. Early marriage payment: 30 dinars. (Information from Goitein’s index card and CUDL.)

Model of "a marriage contract" – undated – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 103) – in Hebrew. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 54). MCD.

Model of "a marriage contract" – undated – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 149) – in Hebrew. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 54). MCD.

Ketubbah – undated – Museum of Islamic Art – (number 203) – in Hebrew and Aramaic. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 55). MCD.

Marriage contract – 5690AM – 1930CE – (number 58) – in Hebrew and Aramaic in manuscript and print. (information from Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa, ed., Dalīl Wathā'iq al-Janīza al-Jadīda / Catalogue of the Documents of the New Geniza, 58). MCD.

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)

Ketubba fragment, with a lovely decoration in the header. The groom's father is named Shelomo. On verso there are magical remedies/incantations, including one against polyuria.

Two remnants from Late ketubbas from Cairo. AA

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

Fragment from a ketubba written by Halfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. The bride’s name is Diyār. There is another minute fragment bound together with the ketubba, which contains another fragment of a legal deed, probably written by Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. AA

Bottom part of a ketuba of Wahish b. Eli and Khibara d. Yosef. Written by Yefet b. David the Cantor. Signed by Yefet b. Mansur, Yosef b. Nehemya and Shemarya b. Avraham. AA

Fragment from a 13th century ketuba. Verso is decorated. AA