Geniza Lab

See PGP 12852

Marriage document. A badly torn fragment from the top part of an ornamented ketubah, written on vellum, contains only Biblical verses. There are several ketubahs of the same layout, all from the beginning of the 12th century (e.g T-S 16.52; T-S 16.224, most of them by the hand of Halfon b. Menashshe (1100-1139) Hebrew. AA

Marriage document. An upper part of an ornamented ketubah, from Cairo, Friday, 14th of Adar Sheni (according to the calendar 14th is Saturday, Passover evening). The marriage gift is 600 Gold (dinars). The groom is Shlomo Francis and the bride Gracia. Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

Marriage document. An ornamented ketubah from Rashid, 1785. The text is complete, but the left margin with the decorations is torn. The groom is מסעוד סוגייר (Masʿūd Sughayr). The bride's name is not preserved. The marriage gift is 3000 Mayidis. Signed by the groom and Moshe Pesah משה פסח Hebrew and Aramaic

Marriage document. An ornamented ketubah from Fustat. Late, 18th century. The year is not preserved. The bride's name is Ester, the groom's name is not preserved. Signed by Hayyim Shalom and two other fancy signatures that are difficult to read. Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

Draft of a legal query regarding a woman who was bethroted by a [erson who raped her. Her fiancee was later hels captive in Malta and wished to divorce her. There were no Jewosh courts in Malta able to arrange a bill of divorce, so he asked his friend to ask the court in Egypt to send hom a formula of bill of divorce, a formula of a bill of proxy and expalantions how to write it. The proxy return to Malta where the court produced a get, and it was sent back to Egypt. The Egyptian court found some defects in the get mainly in the name of the woman. Some approved it and some invalidated it.

On recto three short copies of legal documents. The first regarding the selling of jewles owed ro Abu al-Hasan b. Abu al-Fakhr and signed by Halfon Hakohen b. El'azar and [...] b. Yosef. The 2nd document is faded. Abu al-Faraj b. Mansur is serving as a guarantor of Yosef al-Kohen's daughter, The 3rd document is torn, but probably deals with a store. On verso accounts written in different directions on the page. AA

A few fragments stuck together. The main one is a piece from a document written by Halfon b. Menashshe Halevi (dates: 1100–38). Mentions some neighborhoods of Fustat, including Qālūs and Sūq al-Kabira, and descriptions of a property. Probably a deed of sale. The note on verso may be a filing note or may be unrelated. AA. ASE.

Marriage document. A torn, faded and damaged ketubah. The name שמריה Shemarya is preserved, probably the bride's or groom's father. The marriage gift is 50 dinars. Although the date is not preserved we can date it to 1176 onward, thanks to the appearance of the stipulation regarding the bride's ritual bath after menstruation, enacted by Maimonides in 1176 (see M.A Friedman, "Social Realities in Egypt and Maimonides' Rulings on Family Law” Maimonides as Codifier of Jewish Law [N. Rakover ed., Jerusalem 1987], p. 230), and appearing in almost every ketubah from this year on (e.g ENA 3811.2). Here only few words from this stipulation appear in l. 11. Hebrew and Aramaic. AA

Bill of divorce. Dated 13 Sivan 5505 AM which is 13 June 1745 CE. Location: Cairo. The husband's name is listed solely as Menaḥem b. Yosef. MCD.

Legal document. A damaged legal document, probably a bill of release. The sum of 55 dinars is mentioned. Signed by צדקה הכהן בן דוד נ"ע, Zedaqa Hakoen b. David who signed also on TS 12.75 (no later than1093). Judeo-Arabic and Aramaic. AA

Fragment of a legal document. The terms sāiʾba (endowment/waqf property more generally ) and mūwāqafa (safeguarding waqf/endowment properties) are suggestive that the document could be related to a matter pertaining to waqf. The last lines reveal the beginning of a name "al-Fāḍil al-Ajal al-Asʿad". Recto contains a Hebrew script with one line of not very legible Arabic script in a chancery hand at the bottom.

Legal document. A damaged bill of release, in late Andalusian or Maghrebi hand. Mentions a payment of 54 peraḥim, which generally refers to the Venetian gold ducat or its equivalents. People involved include Yosef Ibn Zimra; Yehuda; and Moshe. Some deletions and correction in the text. Faded and very cursive. AA. ASE.

Tiny fragment of a document in Arabic script with a date preserved: Dhū l-Qaʿda 671 AH

Legal document. Minute fragment from a legal document. Hebrew. AA

Legal formulary, probably.

Legal document. In Arabic script. Crumpled and faded. Mentions a power of attorney (wikāla/wakāla), someone who signed something (saṭara ʿalā), "min al-ṭaraf," the number 24, and an aforementioned house (al-dār al-madhkūr). Reused on verso for a copy of the beginning of Genesis.

Marriage contract (ketubba). Small fragment. Mentions Meshullam. Witnesses: Moshe b. Shela; Mevorakh b. [...].

Court records, possibly. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. There are various entries about different matters, including several deceased people and their surviving offspring, inventories of property, and a narration of things two people said to each other.

Marriage document. Fragment from a left side of ketubah de'irkasa כתובה דארכסא, that is a ketubah written as a replacement for a lost ketubah (see also ENA NS 3.3). This we learn from the term כתובתא קדמתא [= her former ketubah] in l. 6. The name of the groom is Manṣūr. 11th century? Hebrew and Aramaic. AA