Geniza Lab

Detailed Karaite marriage contract of Elazar b. Shemarya and Rebecca bat Yosef. Dated Tishri 1512/ September 1200, Cairo. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 409)

Marriage contract between Eli b. Qimoy and Sutayt b. Yair, written by Shemarya b. Elhanan. Dated 1306/ 994-5. (Information from Bareket, Shafrir misrayim, p. 272)

Part of a ketubba for Ratab (רתב) bat [...] b. Isaac ha-Kohen ha-Sar and Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen [b. ...]. Dated Marḥeshvan 1604 (= 1292 CE) in Fusṭāṭ. The names of witnesses are not preserved. Written under the jurisdiction of David b. Abraham Maimonides. There is a decorative heading in larger letters in which many of the letters are decorated with crude fleurs de lis. (Information from CUDL)

Bill of release written by Hillel b. ʿEli (1066–1108 CE). Location: Damascus. Names mentioned include: Avraham b. Yeshuʿa, Yehuda b. Moshe the Damascene cantor, Menashshe b. Yefet ha-Kohen, Shelomo b. Moshe, ʿUlla b. Yosef ha-Levi, Ḥalfon b. Yiṣḥaq, the scholar Levi b. Netanel the cantor, the Nasi David b. Daniel b. ʿAzarya, Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Kohen, Yeshaʿya b. Menashshe, Yehuda b. Moshe the cantor, Shelomo b. Mevorakh he-Ḥaver, Mevorakh b. Natan ha-Kohen, Avraham b. Shemaʿya he-Ḥaver, Menashshe b. Sibāʿ ha-Levi, Wahb b. Yeshuʿa, Aharon b. Moshe, and Meshullam b. ʿEli ha-Kohen. At the bottom of the document Shelomo b. Yosef ha-Kohen signs ‘Shelomo ha-Kohen son of a Gaʾon … grandson of Shelomo Gaʾon, descendant of Aharon’, although his usual signature - Shelomo b. Yosef Av - was apparently meant to placate the son of his father’s rival to the gaonate, David b. Daniel, in whose court he participated. In this instance, however, Shelomo decided against his customary diplomatic signature and emphasized his father’s credentials. (Information from CUDL.)

Marriage contract (ketubba); line two begins with the phrase "on the river," the only clue to establishing the provenance of the document. Dated 4844 A.M. (1084 C.E.) (Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 2, 217-26) EMS

Large fragment of a marriage contract. Dated from the early 11th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, 378, 417)

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dated: March 1097. Location: Fustat. Written in the hand of Hillel b. Eli. This document is likely the top half of a document of which ENA NS 18.22 (PGPID 6925) is the final section. This section discusses the details of a partnership between Abū ‘Imrān Moses (dead at the time of document's writing) and Abū al-Baqā Samuel b. Nathan the Ḥaver. Abū ‘Imrān Moses contributed 124.5 dinars out of 484.5 dinars (the latter contributed the balance) and agreed to split profits and losses evenly. Moses traveled to al-Shām and sent merchandise back to the Fustat agency house of Abū al-Ṭāhir b. Rajā, a Muslim. This document was likely written directly after Moses’ death and concerns itself with the division of partnership assets between Moses’ heirs Nathaniel and Aaron and the investor Samuel, mentioning commodities deposited in the names of the heirs, and also those "allocated to the Elder Abū al-Baqā". The active partner bore responsibility for losses (similar to the Talmudic ‘isqa), though no additional amount was allocated to him for his maintenance or as compensation for his work. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 129)

Ketubba fragment for an unnamed bride and groom. Dated the 1st of Shevat 1415 (= 1104 CE), in Fustat. NB: Goitein and Worman referred to T-S 16.90 as T-S 16.91, and vice versa.

A widow named Khazariyya instituted a long litigation against her three sons until she got from them what was due her late husband's marriage gift and her dowry, consisting of jewelry, clothing, merchandise and other goods. Dated from the late 10th or early 11th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 247, 248.) NB: Goitein and Worman referred to T-S 16.90 as T-S 16.91, and vice versa.

Verso: Will of Maymun b. Khalfa. Location: Fustat. Dated: Thursday, 17 Tammuz 1383 Seleucid, which is 5 July 1072 CE. Witnessed by Yosef b. Elʿazar Ibn ha-Shofeṭ and Moshe b. Shelomo. Details about Maymun’s belongings, including goods that are in other’s hands and money that belongs to Maymun, or that he owes others. Also mentions several books that belong to Nahray b. Nissim. (Information in part from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #565.) On recto there is a much earlier Muslim marriage contract. VMR

Marriage contract in Arabic script. Dating: 1028–36 CE, based on the mention of the judge ʿAbd al-Ḥākim b. Saʿīd (b. Mālik) b. Saʿīd. Groom: ʿAlī b. Ṭāhir the gatekeeper (bawwāb). Bride: Fāṭima bt. Abū l-Ḥasan. The document is cut off on the left, presumably by the scribe who reused the document for the Jewish will on verso several decades later (see PGPID 5919).

Witness statement in which a proselyte known by the name of Abu al-Khayr takes out a Torah scroll from the Holy Ark and proclaims a ban on an adversary. This statement concerns Yehuda b. Chaim, about his behavior in the synagogue when the ban was pronounced, and his subsequent incarceration. Dated 25 Tevet 1393/ November 1081. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 306, 592 and from CUDL)

Bill of sale in which a Nubian female slave named 'Salt' is sold for 15 dinars. Dated 24 Tammuz 1395/ July 1084. (Information from Mediterranean society, I, p. 137)

Legal document. Record of release. Dated 1085. Location: Alexandria. This document is a largely-complete release signed and executed by well-known members of the rabbinical court of Alexandria. The litigants are Yosef b. Shemuel and the judge Menashshe b. Pinḥas. Although the details of the relationship between the litigants are not explicitly stated, the release clauses suggest that a partnership existed between the two of them. Items listed include currency, raw and smithed precious metals, clothing, textiles, and other merchandise, suggesting that the partners were involved in a trading partnership. Yosef releases Menashshe (and not vice versa), suggesting that Menashshe was the active partner in the partnership. Like the "soundness of mind" clauses, the release from oaths appear in releases from partnerships and powers of attorney. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 242)

Digest of a marriage contract. Location: Fustat. Dated: 14 Elul 1405 Seleucid, which is August 1094 CE. Groom: Yakhin the cantor. Bride: Sitt al-Kull, a virgin. Marriage payments: 50 + 105 = 155 dinars. The fragment also contains drafts of various legal documents (one involving the rent of a house in Qaṣr al-Shamʿ and 125 dinars; another involving Abū l-Surūr's claim that he came to Fustat with 25 dinars and spent it all) and letters (one to a judge called al-Rayyis), and many jottings. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 406, Goitein's index cards, and CUDL.)

Deathbed declaration of an old man, bringing his two sons before four witnesses and explaining that all he possesses in cash is 33 gold pieces. In view of such a small estate, he was afraid they would quarrel, wherefore he decided to arrange the distribution while still capable. Dated November 1103/ Heshvan 1416. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 409; V, pp. 133, 134, 542)

Deed of sale of a female slave named Shaʿal (or Shuʿl or Shuʿal). Written in the hand of Hillel b. ʿEli. Dated: Last third of Kislev 1420 Seleucid, which is 1108 CE. Seller: Abū l-Ḥasan Menashshe b. Seʿadya ha-Kohen known as Ibn al-Maṣmūda(?). Buyer: Ṣedaqa b . Yehuda. Price: 21 dinars. Signed by: Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel ha-Sefaradi, Yosef b. Yaʿaqov, Yeḥezqel b. ʿEli ha-Kohen he-Ḥaver. (Information from Goitein's attached notes.)

Recto: Deed of sale written by Natan b. Avraham Av. Location: New Cairo. Dated: Tuesday, 5 Kislev 1420 Seleucid, which is 10 November 1108 CE. Sitt al-Aqrān bt. Yosef ha-Kohen, the wife of Yehuda b. ʿAllān, sells her Nubian female slave Naʿīm to Sitt al-Munā bt. Natan/Hibatallāh, the widow of Nahray b. Nissim, for 20 dinars. There is a clause stating that Yehuda b. ʿAllān permitted (? amḍā li-zawjatih) this sale. Witnessed by Menaḥem b. Shemuel, Yaʾir b. Seʿadya ha-Kohen, and Ṣemaḥ b. Yaʿaqov ha-Levi. Verso: Subsequent deed of sale in Arabic script. Sitt al-Munā sold Naʿīm to the Christian physician ʿAbd al-Masīḥ b. Maqāra(?) b. Hārūn for 20 dinars. Dated: First third of Dhū l-Qiʿda 508 AH, which is March/April 1115 CE. Witnessed by Hibatallāh b. Ḥasan (=Netanʾel b. Yefet?). (Information from Goitein's index card, Aodeh, and Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, 918.)

The widow of the Cairene judge Avraham b. Natan confirms having received from her son-in-law everything that was owed to her from the estate of her late husband. The judge's daughter, as the only heir, had paid her mother whatever was owed her from her marriage contract or her husband's will. Dated Adar 1427/ March 1116. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 483)

Deed of sale of a female slave, signed by Avraham b. Shemaya and Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Menashshe. Dated Av 1430/ August 1119.