Geniza Lab

A writ of qiddushin (betrothal), Tyre, ca. 1011-1037.

Legal document: an agreement concerning a levirate marriage, second half of the 15th century.

Legal document. Dated: 13[..] Seleucid, which is 1088–1188 CE. Statement that the claims about the immoral behavior of Ḥisāna bt. Asmāʾ, the wife of Hilāl the Alexandrian, are untrue. Signed by: Avraham b. Yefet Khalfa. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.)

Recto: letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, presumably in Qalyub, to his father, presumably in Fustat, late 12th century or early 13th. "If you have met with that woman [the matchmaker, judging by the response]... tell me everything she said." Also exhorts his father to update him on the apartment and the broad shawl and an ambergris seal (?). Verso: letter from Levi aka Abu Sahl to his son Moshe suggesting to him a choice among four prospective brides, one of them a divorcee: the daughter of al-[...]abiyah, or the daughter of Hibah the glassmaker the in-law of 'Imran b. al-Marjani, or the woman who was divorced by Ibn al-Habbar (the ink seller), or the daughter of Abu Sa'd al-Levi. He also requests a bundle of firewood for 4 or 5 dirhems for the holiday (lines 11-14) and mentions that Moshe's mother has gone away to "you know where" (lines 3-5) and writes something about the broad shawl, perhaps that he already sent it on Friday (lines 15-16). Information in part from Goitein's index cards. Identification based on distinctive handwriting and phrases; several other fragments survive with Moshe's letter on one side and Levi's on the other. ASE.

Segment of a ketubba (marriage contract), in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi.

Fragment of a marriage contract of the groom Elazar and the bride Sitt al-Dar, in which the bride undertakes to bring up the groom's children. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 310, 311)

Marriage contract. Location: Barqa (Libya). Dated: Thursday 5 Elul 4750 AM, which is 28 August 990 CE. The contract explicitly states that it follows the local custom of Tripoli, Libya, and has some peculiar traits which set it apart from similar documents from other countries. The bride, Ḥasana bt. Yosef al-Ṣarfī, was an heiress. This may account for the fact that she was not provided with a trousseau by her father but received a payment from her future husband, Aharon b. Yeshuʿa, to buy herself an outfit. The settlement is signed by 36 persons, possibly all guests present, only two of whom were witnesses. (Information from Goitein notes linked below.)

Marriage contract written by Yefet b. David, signed between the groom Yefet b. Shelomo and the bride Beracha bat. Shemarya in October 1029 in Jerusalem. (Information from E. Bareket)

Marriage contract written by Eliyyahu Gaon, Ramla, probably 1064.

Karaite ketubba (marriage contract), Ramla. Ca. 1030.

Karaite marriage contract from Fustat.

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.)

Marriage contract between Muna b. Shelomo and Mubāraka bat Avraham, Fustat, 1094 (Tishri, 1406 Seleucid). The couple are getting remarried after an earlier divorce. Although a divorcee, the bride is still a virgin. The value of the trousseau is 2 dinars and the marriage gift is 20 dinars. Verso is blank. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Goitein, Med Soc, Vol. 3, p. 391.)

Partly preserved marriage contract of Yiṣḥaq b. Shelomo and Jawhara. The delayed payment of the dowry is set at 50 dinars. Dated ca. 1050. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 411)

Family letter from Natan b. Yehuda (Alexandria, ca. 1160) to Moshe b. Ṣemaḥ and his brother (Fustat), the writer’s cousins-in-law. Natan b. Yehuda reports that everyone in the house was ill because of a great epidemic of sweating sickness (wakham) in Alexandria. He praises the brothers for their munificence but also politely reminds them that it was time for them to marry and wishes that their mother may see their “joy”. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and from Goitein, MedSoc, Vol. 3, p. 61 and p. 440n61 and Vol. 5, p. 113.)

A confirmation of the Beit Din that there were no obstacles to the marriage between Sālim al-Ḥalabī al-Ṣabbāgh and Sitt al-Kuttāb b. Yefet. Fustat, 1153. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below.)

Marriage contract written in Tiberias Colonia, 1035.

Fragment of a ketubba (marriage contract) from Tiberias, May 1035.

Court record, 1039. Banīna bt. Avraham in Alexandria, who had been deserted by her husband Yosef, appointed her brother Shelomo as her attorney. Accompanied by two witnesses to this arrangement, the brother appeared before Efrayim b. Shemarya’s court in Fustat, where the power of attorney was ratified. The brother appointed a cantor and clerk of the court as his sister’s permanent representative. Verso is blank. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below, Goitein, MedSoc, Vol. 3, p. 203.)

A court record, Fustat, 1148. Bu al-Ḥasan, the cantor, confesses to have beaten and cursed his wife and to have falsely accused her of filching money and utensils from his house. The wife ran away from the house as a result. In the present settlement, Bu al-Ḥasan forgoes all his claims against his wife and promises not to beat or curse her, under penalty to divorce her and to pay in cash the sums due to her under her marriage contract, in case he relapses. Written and witnessed by Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. Recto is blank. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and Goitein, Med Soc, Vol. 3, pp. 187-188.)