Geniza Lab

Part of a ketubba preserving only a few lines in large characters and the name of a witness, Saʿadya b. David. Verso: letter. (Information from CUDL)

Small fragment from the end of a ketubba, referring to the bride’s immersion (טבילה). Ca. 13th century. (Information from CUDL)

Part of a ketubba, written under the authority of Maṣliaḥ ha-Kohen (1127-1139 CE), in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Manassah (1100-1138 CE). (Information from CUDL)

Part of a ketubba, for Shemarya ha-Kohen (groom) and Sitt al-Bayt (bride). (Information from CUDL)

Ketubba fragment. Part of the trousseau is preserved. Total value: 281. (See Goitein's index card for further information.)

Part of a ketubba, with no details preserved. Ca. beginning of the 13th century. (Information from CUDL)

Responsum concerning orphans, describing a loan from orphans that is taken orally without an oath, and a statement that orphans who are in debt because of a deceased parent should not have anything taken from them until they reach a mature age. (Information partly from Goitein's index cards) EMS and VMR. The scribe is familiar from Avraham Maimuni's period. AA

Legal document concerning the breaking off of an engagement agreement in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi.

Legal document concerning claims of the wife of Abu al-Makarim b. Da’ud against him. The town of Minyat Zifta in Egypt and Muslim courts are mentioned. EMS

Legal document (validation/qiyyum). Fragmentary (right side only). In the hand of Avraham b. Natan Av. Concerning people such as: [...] b. [...] from Damsīs, Barakāt b. [...], [...] b. Berakhot, Yosef b. [...], [...] b. Ḥalfon ha-Ḥaver, [...] ha-Mumḥe, Avraham b. […], and Avraham b. Ḥal[fon]. (Information from Goitein's notes.) EMS (probably written by Avraham b. Nathan Av [Date: 1094-1115]) AA

Husband who intends to travel abroad allocates 20 dirhams per month, namely, five per week, for his wife, plus some wheat, the 20 dirhams to be used also for his capitation tax and from which she will pay rent and other household expenses, while he stipulates expressly not to lay claim on any earnings made by her through work and spinning. Fustat. Dated Tishri 1445/1133. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, 127, 423)

Recto: Short note about a court settlement from Fustat. An uncle allows his nephew to pay him back a sum of 10 dinars in 20 installments, the latter giving as security a 1.5-share in a house belonging to him (out of 24) in case he fails to pay for two consecutive months. 1134 CE. (Written by Nathan Hakohen b. Shlomo. AA) Verso: Judaeo-Arabic discussion of Genesis 20 with Hebrew citations. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:594; Goitein's index cards; and CUDL) EMS

Instruction by Avraham Maimonides to a scribe to make out a declaration that the court of Fustat had acceded to a ban pronounced against Evyatar al-Kohen al-Amidi in another country.

Legal document, testimony from a woman concerning her debt and her husband's inheritance. In the hand of Yefet b. David, the scribe of Efrayim b. Shemarya’s court in Egypt, second quarter of the eleventh century. Refers to Yiṣḥaq ha-Kohen (probably b. Furat).

Deed of compensation from the court of Efrayim b. Shemarya and in his handwriting. Concerning people from Tyre and a partnership, starting with an Arabic basmala.. (Information from E. Bareket, "The leaders of the Jews in Fustat", vol. 1 pp. 71-72, vol. 2, pp. 290, 380). VMR

Legal document in which a deposited estate is handed over to the heirs. Mentions people including al-Dhahabī, Ṣedaqa ha-Kohen (called Zayn), and Ibn Ghazāl. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL)

Legal document dealing with inheritance issues (a gift followed by a release). Mentions Elijah b. Shelomo (?), Peraḥya b. ha-Levi b. Shelomo and Abū l-Surūr. Dated 1435 of the Seleucid Era (= 1124 CE), in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. (Information from CUDL)

Court record concerning a sum that a husband owes his wife as part of a divorce payment. (Oded Zinger, Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza, 142-3) EMS

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dating: ca. 1210s. Location: Fustat. This fragment preserves the right side of a partnership agreement between Ibrahīm b. Mūsā al-Māyurkī ("from Mallorca") and another Ibrahīm b. Mūsā, whose origin isn't preserved in the text. Both would contribute both financial capital and labor. Funds are brought out into a single purse, suggesting that the act of qinyan effected the partnership. Both partners are to engage in trade. The division of profit and loss is not preserved, but line 10 hints that profits and losses were to be divided equally between the two partners. Line 11 affirms the partners' mandate to "avoid betrayal and indolence and neglect", suggesting this may have been a long-distance trading partnership. The partners promise "ethical and honorable", perhaps because certain norms of behavior are expected of the partners. This does not release the partners from the "oath of partners", though, so legal recourse for misappropriation or negligence remains possible. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 185-186) Probably in the hand of the same scribe, some bearing the signature of the same witness, and some cut in half vertically like this document: T-S 13J3.25 (dated 1215), T-S 13J3.27 (dated 1218), T-S NS 226.12 (dated 1217/18 CE), MS 8254, fol. 17a (dated 1216), T-S NS J242 (dated 1214), ENA 2727.23a, and T-S 13J22.18. Another Ḥalfon b. Elʿazar ha-Kohen document: T-S 247. EMS. ASE.

Legal record describing a husband trying to seize property, and declaring that his father-in-law’s accusations are false, even though the latter presented the court with two valid legal deeds as proof. (Oded Zinger, Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza, 66, 179) EMS