Geniza Lab

Recto: Legal declaration from Fustat, 1737 CE (18 Shevat 5497), in which the witnesses testify that Shelomo b. David divorcd his wife Sarah bt. Mordechai. Presumably a draft: lines are crossed out, and there are no signatures. Verso: On the right is a narrative (for legal purposes?) of events having to do with Berakha (?) Cassuto and her husband Mordekhai b. Shabbetay and someone named ʿAbdallāh. On the left is a list headed "These are the names of the pieces of the dowry (nidonya) belonging to R. Saʿd (?) Cassuto."

Betrothal document and dowry list: "The clothes and the nedunya and the contante [Italian for cash] of the widow Ms. Dona (name or honorific?) bt. Moshe P[.]so"). The document is in Hebrew but several of the items on the dowry list seem to be in Judaeo-Arabic. She is going to marry Shelomo Maymūn b. Yaʿaqov Maymūn. Dated 1 July 1794 (3 Tamuz 5554).

Remnants of seven lines of a trousseau list (?). The names Elazar ha-Zaken and Sitt al-Kiram appear in the first two lines, followed by an itemized list of valuable objects. There is wide space between the lines.

Legal agreement on dowry rights. Dated: First decade of Ḥeshvan 1442 Seleucid, which is 1130 CE. Betweeen Sitt al-Kull bt. Berakhot known as Naṭīra and her husband the poet (ha-meshorer) Ṣedaqa b. Ṣemaḥ. He grants her all her dowry; she releases him from responsibility. He is also warned that he would have to give her the delayed marriage payment if he should ever take a second wife. Signed by Ḥalfon b. Ghālib the cantor and Natan b. Yefet. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Recto: Fragment of a marriage document including a dowry list. Location; New Cairo. Dating: 1189–1288 CE. On verso there is piyyuṭ.

Trousseau list for an upcoming marriage. Dating: ca. 1161 CE.The value comes out to 30 dinars. Bride: Milāḥ bt. Asʿad Ibn al-Amshāṭī. Groom: Abū l-Ḥasan Yefet b. Yiṣḥaq. Signed by Hillel b. Ṣadoq Av Bet Din and Mevorakh b. Natan. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 417)

4 legal records. (1) Taqwīm for the marriage between Avraham b. Abū l-Ḥasan Ibn al-Maghāzilī and Niʿam bt. Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ḥazzan. Dated: Nisan 1497 Seleucid, which is 1186 CE. Marriage payments: 5 + 20 = 25. Dowry = 44. See also T-S NS J287, a petition from the same woman to the Gaon Sar Shalom ha-Levi (1170–95 CE), written on her behalf by her father. (2) Taqwīm for the marriage between Abū al-Mufaddal b. al-Rayyis Abū l-Najm and Sitt al-Nasib bt. Eliyyahu. Dated: Nisan 1497 Seleucid, which is 1186 CE. The objects are evaluated by ½, ⅓ and ¼. Marriage payments: 0 + 30 = 30. Dowry = 55 (which includes a female slave named Shams valued at 15 dinars). Total = 85. (3) Taqwīm for the marriage between Abū l-Ḥasan b. al-Shammāʿ and Sitt al-Thanā' bt. Abū l-Makārim אלתווזי. Dated: Av 1497 Seleucid, which is 1186 CE. Marriage payments: 0 + 15 = 15. Dowry = 33. Total = 48. (4) Taqwīm for the marriage between Munajjā b. Hiba al-Ṭabīb and Ḥasab bt. Abū ʿUmar. Dated: Tishrei 1498 Seleucid, which is 1186 CE. Marriage payments: 5 + 20 = 25. Dowry = 15. Total = 40. (Information from Goitein’s index cards.)

Four dowry lists. (1) Taqwīm (dowry list) for the marriage between Hiba b. Faḍā'il al-Ḥazzān and Riḍā bt. Tamīm al-Parnas. The dowry total is 66 dinars plus one-half of a house. Marheshvan, 1186. (2) Taqwīm (dowry list) for the marriage between Maʿālī b. Naṭīrā and Sitt al-Bayt bt. Makārim al-Parnas. The dowry total is 23 dinars. Marheshvan, 1186. (3) Taqwīm (dowry list) for the marriage between Abū Manṣūr b. Yiṣḥaq Ibn al-Dhahabī and Sitt al-Karam bt. Abū l-Barakāt. The dowry total is 180 dinars (includes jewelry, clothing, bedding, and copper), plus 7/24th of a house in Cairo. Kislev, 1186. (4) Taqwīm (dowry list) for the marriage between Abū l-Maḥāsin and Sitt al-Naba' bt. Menashshe. The dowry total is 140 dinars and includes clothing, jewelry, bedding, and copper. Tevet, 1186. (Information from Goitein’s index card)

Karaite ketubba (marriage contract) from Jerusalem, January 1028.

Testimony of woman, Sittuna bat Hayyim about her husband, Farah ibn Banuqa who left her 'a widow in his lifetime.' She is indigent because he had sold part of her dowry and pawned the rest, and this was many years ago.

Fragment of a dowry receipt of Sitt al-Kamal, written by Emmanuel b. Yehiel (ca. 1231-1279), containing details about a trousseau. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 453, and from Goitein's index cards)

Dowry list for Sitt al-[...]a bt. Abū l-Khayr b. Yosef. No details of the dowry itself are here. Probably a draft.

Letter from Avraham b. Abi al-Hayy, from Alexandria, to his brother Musa. Around 1075. The writer is worried about their sister, Jarba, who is about to get married but still does not have a bed and bedsheets. Abū l-Ḥayy is sick and Avraham asks again that he will get him a prescription. He first asked in the preceding letter, F 1908.44C. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #470) VMR

Family letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Almost certainly from a woman, addressed to her cousin (ibn ʿamm). Goitein describes it as a "fragment of a family letter warning a young husband not to squander his wife’s trousseau." The relationships will take some work to figure out. The sender reports that a certain woman heard that her sister's husband is in prison. Referring to another man, "he and his wife are doing well." Then, "Please ask her husband to let her stay with us until she give birth, so that we can look after her, I and her sister. At this point, she inserts the threats—if the husband touches the dowry, she will send a petition/complaint to the Nagid informing him of everything. The sender has sent with Umm Hiba the bearer of the letter two shirts and two malʿabs (toys?). She has purchased garments for the woman and for her mother-in-law (apparently an effort to win her good graces so that she treats her daughter-in-law well, as he writes, "if I hear that she treats her well, God Almighty will reward her"). If the pregnant woman's own mother were not sick, she would have traveled to her. Regards to "the dear girl" and her children and her husband. "I have sent you 3 [...] for the children." מפרכה and her sister send regards. (Information in part from Oded Zinger.) ASE

List of dowry details, part of the settlement of a divorce. Includes items that the husband sold or that got worn out. Signed by Yiṣḥaq ha-Melammed b. Ḥayyim and ʿUlla ha-Levi b. Yosef. See Goitein's note card for further information.

Recto: List of items from a dowry that have been (a) lost or (b) remain in the husband's house. In the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu? Verso: List of items in Arabic script, with a few lines in Judaeo-Arabic. Despite the similarity of situation, there is no connection between ENA 2700.32 and ENA 2700.33. Information from Goitein's note card.

Marriage contract between Arye b. Yehudah and Karima bat `Ammar. The latter refused to leave Cairo and live with her husband in Palermo, Sicily, resulting in legal arrangements and restoration of gifts; includes a detailed trousseau. Dated ca. 1080. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 402; 177 and 464 note 85) EMS. (Written bu Hillel b. Eli. AA)

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

Dowry list, an addendum to a ketubba

Two fragments of a dowry list (taqwīm). In Judaeo-Arabic. Includes a female slave named Waṣl ("Union") valued at 13 dinars. Delayed marriage payment (muʾakhkhar): 60 dinars (or 20? Goitein read ס instead of כ, but this is not certain. Possibly the fragment was better preserved at the time, or he deduced that 60 was the more likely alternative based on her socioeconomic status). (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)