Geniza Lab

Fragment from the top of the ketubah of Muwamalah d. David. AA

Marriage contract involving a bride with children from a previous marriage whom the new husband undertakes to support, and mentioning 118 dinars in a dowry and marriage gift. Signed by the cantor Yiṣḥaq b. Ghalib (ca. 1125). (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 309, and from Goitein's index cards)

Ketubba (damaged), late, from Cairo ([...] ha-semukhah le-fustat mitzrayim), from at least the 18th century [55__], probably the 19th. ASE.

Ketubba, faded, from Cairo, dated 25 March 1811, between Nissim and Esther, with a me'ukhar of 150 reyals (3000 piastres = 30 pounds). ASE.

Ketubba (damaged), late, probably from Cairo, probably early 19th century, if it comes from the same stratum as the other late ketubbot in this binder. But the informative phrases are mostly effaced. ASE.

Fragmentary Karaite marriage contract, the margin of which is adorned with large, hollow letters. (Information Mediterranean Society, III, p. 112)

Legal document fragment ("I increase on top of her ketubba. . . . 5 dinars. . . 3 gowns. . ."). ASE.

Ketubba (marriage contract) fragment, clearly in the Palestinian tradition, 1034.

Ketubba fragment (lower left corner). Groom: ʿAmmār b. Yiṣḥaq. Bride: Surūr bt. Yefet. A sum of 12.5 dinars is mentioned. The dowry is valued at 113 dinars. Signed by Palṭiel b. Efrayim (appears also in T-S AS 145.52 in the 990s CE, and T-S 24.11 in 1002 CE). (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Marriage contract (ketubba). Small fragment from the middle of the top. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dated: 1438 Seleucid, which is 1126/27 CE, under the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon (at the very beginning of his tenure). Bride: Ghāliya bt. M[...], a virgin. Marriage payments: 5 + 20 = 25. With an ornate header with fleurs-de-lis and blessings for the Gaʾon. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Legal document fragment (lower left corner), mentioning 'her ketubba.' Signed Yosef b. Shemuel. ASE.

Ketubba fragment.

Ketubba fragment. No names or dates. Ca. 1200 CE.See Goitein's index card for further information.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Fragment (upper right corner). In the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. Dated: Thursday, 5 Nisan 146[9] Seleucid, which is 6 March 1158 CE, under the authority of Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Groom: Yeshuʿa b. Yiṣḥaq b. Shabbetay ha-Mumḥe [...] Shofeṭ. Bride: Sitt al-Sāda bt. Natan, a virgin. Marriage payments: 5 + 20 = 25. (Information from Goitein's index card.)

Instructions for manumission of a female slave written by Avraham Ibn Yiju. III 40a is the top of the page. III, 40b is the bottom of the page. III, 40c is the verso, a draft of a letter written by Avraham b. Yiju for another man and having nothing to do with the India trade, and therefore not edited in Goitein-Friedman. It is, however, edited in Assaf, Texts, 149-51.

Legal document, damaged, perhaps regarding a partnership. Protagonists include Moshe ha-Kohen known as Abū ʿImrān. and Abū Saʿd b. Abū l-ʿAlā. Witnesses include [...] ha-Kohen b. Mevorakh, Moshe ha-Levi b. Ṣedaqa, and Yiṣḥaq b. Ghālib al-Ḥazzan. ASE.

Contract in which a scholar known from a number of dated manuscripts gives sums of money to his two daughters. The money is destined for their trousseaus when they reach maturity, but will in the meantime be supervised by a merchant in the form of a partnership to which the merchant himself contributes a small sum. The capital is ensured as a 'deposit of the court,' for which the highest possible form of security had to be given. Dated to the last third of the 11th century. (Information Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 175-176, 442)

Confirmation of a former deed of sale in which Yosef and Maymūn sons of Yaʿaqov al-Ghallāq (? אלגלאק) are interested. The document in question was drawn up in 966 CE before the Beth Din in Qaṣr al-Shamʿ. Of the five original witnesses, only ʿAli b. Shelomo is still living, and he confirmed that his own signature was valid, and others were brought to confirm the remaining signatures. Information from FGP.

Legal document fragment, probably late 11th century, since witnessed by Yakhin b. Netanel who also signed T-S 13J5.2 ca.1085. Other witnesses: Shemuel b. Mevorakh; Avraham [...]; and Maṣliaḥ [...]. Verso contains a few jottings in Arabic and Judaeo-Arabic. ASE.

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Written in the hand of Avraham b. Natan. Moshe ha-Levi and his father (identified as Ṣedaqa ha-Levi b. Moshe in T-S 12.464) participate in a partnership in a shop. The relationship itself resembles an apprenticeship, as Ṣedaqa explains that Moshe is to transact only with his father’s permission. Furthermore, line 16 makes it clear that the two are to work side by side. That line 17 assigns to “each of the two of them…total responsibility” suggests a corporate liability, not restricted to each partner’s share in the joint concern but instead to fulfillment of the sum total of partnership losses or debts. Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman edited both T-S 12.464 and T-S 16.168 in his dissertation, but these could not be proven to be a join until T-S NS 325.11 was identified as the missing piece by Alan Elbaum. (Information in part from "A Mediterranean Society, I," 443; "A Mediterranean Society, V," 331, 336, 597, 599; Goitein's index cards; and Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 138)