Geniza Lab

A letter containing a court ruling demanding the return of a deposit.

A bill of division of land in Troki, Lithuania

A legal deed approving ownership of a house in Jerusalem.

A legal deed: division of the possessions of the deceased - A house, vineyard and bronze items between his 3 sons. The vineyard is located on the banks of Alma river, Crimea.

A Karaite bill of divorce. Yosef b. Mordechai Levi is divorcing his wife Sultana d. Elya Kohen. In Haskoy, Istanbul. The date is given according to the destruction of the Temple: 1762 (= 1831)

A declaration by the community of Qal'a

Non-Geniza. Legal document sent from Lublin to Troki (טראקא). Dated: 1577 CE.

Non-Geniza. Legal document. Agreement between the Qaraite and Rabbanite congregations in Lithuania (specifically Samogitia?) concerning taxation. Dated: 1654 CE.

A moral acceptance to keep the Torah

Non-Geniza. Two men had arrived to Troki from Brisk to settle ther, without asking the permission of the community pf Troki. They now taking upon themselves not to settle there.

Enactment of the Karaite community of Lithuania concerning the protection of the businesses.

Monetary agreement between a newly married couple. Yehuda b. Simha married Sarah d. Elzafan, and her father took upon himself to pay her dowry in four years. Istanbul.

Formulary for a marriage document. Dating: Catalogued as 17th or 18th century.

Legal formulary. In Hebrew and Aramaic. Dating: Unknown. Catalogued as 12th or 13th century, but unclear on what basis.

Contract of friendship between Elʿazar Maymūn and Yom Ṭov b. Sīd. In Hebrew and Aramaic. Dated: Sunday, 17 Tevet 5324 AM, which is January 1564 CE. As Mann describes, Yevr. II A 236/5 contains 10 (or more) leaves of various notes on Biblical and Rabbinic matters. On fol. 2, upside down relative to the main text, this document is to be found. The parties vow to treat each other as brothers, to help each other in all things, loan each other books, and pray together in the synagogue of Shemuel b. Sīd. (Mann: The synagogue of the Sevillians in Cairo was called by his name. Cp. about this scholar and Kabbalist, a refugee to Egypt after the Spanish expulsion, Sambari's Chronicle (in Neub., Med. Jew. Chron. I, pp. 145, 159, and 151–62)). If one is angry at the other, they will seek to appease each other within 24 hours. The document invokes three of the sages of Safed—Joseph Caro, Moses. b. Joseph di Trani, and Israel de Curiel—and Me'ir de Padova (=Meir b. Isaac Katzenellenbogen (d. 1565)) and Yiẓḥāq b. Sīd (perhaps the son of Shemuel b. Sīd and perhaps the father of the signatory Yom Ṭov b. Sīd; see Mann's notes for these identifications). ASE.

Non-Geniza. Legal document regarding the sale of a vineyard. In Hebrew. Dating: ca. 19th century. Surrounded by sundry jottings including in Russian and Arabo-Hebrew.

Karaite halakhic ruling regarding the inheritance of an unmarried daughter sent to Binyamin Dayun from Ishaq

Deed of sale of a house in Gozlow

Karaite halakhic discussion regarding different types of legal deeds and their use

A legal declaration regarding lease of a land