1. A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the A rab World, as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza,vol. 1, Economic Foundations(Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1967); vol. 2, The Community(Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1971); vol. 3, The Family(Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1977), especially sees. B,4, “The Economic Foundations of Marriage” and C, l, c, “Possessions and Pecuniary Obligations of Husband and Wife.” At the time of the writing of these lines, the final title of Friedman's massive opus has not yet been fixed. Its particular importance lies in its detailed discussion of the data provided by the Geniza in the light of Jewish law, both talmudic and medieval.Google Scholar

2. University of Pennsylvania, 1972. See also Yedida Stillman, K., “The Wardrobe of a Jewish Bride in Egypt,”Studies in Marriage Customs, Folklore Research Center Studies(Jerusalem, 1974), pp.297–304.Google Scholar

3. The maidservants (both black and white) were legally slaves and their monetary value was indicated. They were, therefore, “replaceable.”

4. Grohmann, Adolf, From the World of Arabic Papyri (Cairo, 1952), p. 156: a list of wedding articles, such as perfumes, henna, rose-water and wax candles. Eleventh century.Google Scholar

5. See Mediterranean Society,2:513, n. 18, and vol. 3, sec. D, n. 96.Google Scholar

6. See Mann, Jacob, The Jews in Egypt and in Palestine under the Fatimid Caliphs (London,1920), 1:158–61 and passim.Google Scholar

7. SeeShaked, Shaul,A Tentative Bibliography of Geniza Documents (Paris and The Hague, 1964), p. 41, 2*. (At that time the manuscript had not yet been identified.) The full text, including the trousseau, is edited in my Ha- Yishuv ba- 'A res ba- Tequfah ha-'A rvit ve-ha-$albanit [Jewish Palestine in Arab and Crusader Times] (Jerusalem, 1977), pt. 3, sec. 9.Google Scholar

8. 2 Chronicles 14:6, “Built”they will have children, as in Ruth 4:11. Also in Rabbanite ketubbot.

9. Isaiah 45:25.

10. Ezra 6:14. See n. 8.

11. The so-called Seleucid era (normally named “the Era of Documents”), which began in September 312 B.C.

12. The usual legal phrases by which a person takes upon himself an obligation toward another

13. The word means “cypress.”

14. The same obligations are repeated in other words.

15. This was obligatory among Karaites; with the Rabbanites twenty-five silver pieces were the gift due to a virgin.

16. In practice, the “additional” bridal gift was the main one.

17. As in Malachi 2:14.

18. Genesis 2:18.

19. Genesis 3:16. From the husband love and affection, fiibba, is expected; from the wife, love and considerateness, hisa, a standard term in Karaite ketubbot.

20. Not of her kin, since her father was not a Kohen. Probably a communal official, or otherwise a trustworthy person, who would count and lock away the silver pieces and be the legal representative who formally confirmed the conditions agreed upon before.

21. Which was made, of course, prior to the wedding, and probably many months before.

22. The dastaynaq(a Persian word) was a precious, broad wristband, normally inlaid with pearls. Our women normally wear onebracelet of the same type; in Geniza times as in those of the biblical patriarchs, see Genesis 24:22 invariably bracelets were worn in pairs, one of the same type on each arm. When only one was available (e.g., as reported in the Geniza, when a mother gave one to each of her two daughters) the list notes expressly: one singlebracelet.

23. I complemented the two missing superscriptions from TS 16.80 (fragmentary), also Karaite and fairly contemporary with our ketubba; the bride was well-to-do.

24. The mi'jar,or wimple, that is a turban-like cloth wound around the head and then flowing down over the body, was a main, and, as here, often the most costly part of the female dress. The term ridawani,“like a rida,or mantle,” describes the wimple as particularly long and broad

25. The 'aqfajbiyya is very common in the Geniza, but has not yet been found by me elsewhere. Chevalier, Dominique, “Les tissus ikates d'alep et de Damas”, Syria 39 (1962): 310, gives al-aqqdblyatayn “the two green almonds,” as the color of an ikate textile. But, as is evident also from the example here, 'aq(a)biyya designates the form of a dress, not its color. I derive the word from 'aqb, heel, and explain it as a robe reaching down to the ground, unlike the usual dress, which exposed the lower end of the pants to the eye (as may be seen on all thirteenth century miniatures depicting women. We have no earlier ones.). The long dress, with the train on the ground, shows the woman as noble, that is, doing no manual work a common theme in Arabic poetry.Google Scholar

26. The mula'awas (and still is) worn as a cloak covering the woman's body while going out. At night, it served also as a blanket.

27. Ar. wiqdya(or waqqdya),literally, “protective clothing,” not found in other ketubbas, but mentioned in commercial correspondence

28. Riimi imported from Christian Europe, mostly southern Italy and Sicily. The minshafa(literally, “towel”) appears in numerous ketubbas at the very end, mostly close to the bureau containing the female “unmentionables.” Sylvia Kedourie explained to me the term rightly as bathrobe.

29. Ladhwas a red Chinese silk imitated in Sicily; see my paper “Two Arabic Textiles,” Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient19 (1975): 221 24.Google Scholar

30. A dress of fine silk with sleeves, see Mediterranean Society,1:454, n. 53.

31. Ar. izardesignates the Jewish prayer mantle or anything like it.

32. Defined by the classical Arab dictionaries as a basket, quffa,made of palm leaves containing a woman's perfumery and toilet utensils. It was probably an imitation in brass; it is mentioned repeatedly. They also had baskets made of silver, TS 8 J 21, fol. 4, 1. 16.

33. Used like soap for washing and cleaning. It is found in almost every list.

34. Such containers of perfumes, often made of silver, were intended to keep bad odors out of the house. They are rarely absent from a trousseau. The ginger vases used in England until the end of the eighteenth century (then made of porcelain) served the same purpose. Note the high price of this vase here

35. In almost all lists bedding comes before “Copper” and is more valuable than the latter. Since the values are reversed here, the scribe also changed the usual sequence

36. A textile originally manufactured in Tabaristan, a province in northern Iran south of the Caspian sea. It was imitated in many places, especially in Ramie (probably the Egyptian, not the Palestinian town of that name).

37. A place in Iran, near Herat: Buziyan, pronounced Buziyon.

38. The actual grand total seems to be 70'/2, not 61 'A dinars, but long experience has taught me that it is I, not the Geniza clerks, who make mistakes in additions. Here, something special might have happened. As often at weddings of people with little money, there was probably a squabble over the estimate, and finally an agreement about the total owed by the husband was reached.

39. The dowry remains the properly of the wife; the husband may use it with her consent.

40. Rabbinical law was not as outspoken and liberal in this matter as the Karaite dispensation.

41. Literally, “her families,” that is from her father's side. Most of the Rabbanite Geniza marriage contracts have adopted the Palestinian custom that one half of the dowry reverts to the wife's paternal family in case she has no child from the man she married. But this is not general rabbinical law.

42. In theory, at least, the Karaites, like the Muslims, have no fixed calendar. As in ancient Israel, the new month was “declared,” when the new moon was actually sighted, and a second Adar was “intercalated,” when the grain in Israel had not greened in time. The Geniza has preserved actual reports by Karaites about the greening of the ears, as well as a letter about a particularly pious Karaite who refrained in Jerusalem not only from beef and mutton, but also from chicken. (The Karaite calendar to this day differs from the Rabbanite. The Yom Kippur War was for them an Erev Yom Kippur war, for in 1973 their Day of Atonement fell one day later.) Any dispute arising in married life must be settled in a Jewish court.

43. I take this as an abbreviation of s(ibbur), meaning “ten men”; see D.Goitein, S., “The Hebrew Elements in the Vernacular of the Jews of Yemen” [Hebrew], Leshonenu 3 (1931): 368.Google Scholar

44. Probably a variation of Zuta, “Mr. Small.”

45. Here the word 'ed,witness, is omitted. I do not know how Yfiypronounced his name.

46. “Good tidings.” This could also be read Bishr.

47. Typical Arabic names such as 'Omar or 'Amr, or Jarir (the grandfather of the bride, name of an Arab poet in Umayyad times) were common among Syro-Palestinian Jews.

48. The first chapter of my “India Book,” that is, a collection of Geniza items (now 376) related to the India trade, is dedicated to him.

49. “Sprout,” a messianic name; see Jeremiah 23:5.

50. Heb. marinu we-rabbenu,“our master and lord,” originally (and here) preceding the name of a man with some learning, but often simply meaning “Mr.”

51. The gold pieces were deposited with a third party.

52. When a person is obliged, for any reason, to take an oath, the opposing party might, under certain circumstances, impose on him an additional oath.

53. See n. 41, above.

54. See n. 12, above.

55. A phrase commonly used, even when the woman concerned was well known to the judge or notary.

56. Ar. mujrayaft sawddl; see b, Al-Rashid al-Zubayr, Kitdb al-Dhakha'ir (Kuwait, 1959), p. 63, II. 5–6. The term needs further examination. It occurs again in Doc. Ill, I. 8, below.Google Scholar

57. As in Heb. tannurmeans “oven.” The term has not yet been found elsewhere. Since it is mentioned between bracelets, I take it to be a cuff made of silver. The fern, lannurais a piece of clothing, but not in the Geniza.

58. “Auspicious,” a very common ornament.

59. The nineteenth century kohl containers in Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria still had the form of a little amphora, as was the case in ancient Egypt and Greece; see Lane, E. W., Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (London, n.d.), p. 38, andGoogle ScholarEudel, Paul, Dictionnaire des bijoux de I'Afrique du nord (Paris, 1906), pp. 138–39, 163.Google Scholar

60. See n. 24, above.

61. This term occurs hundreds of times in the Geniza but, as far as I can see, not in Arabic dictionaries. I derive it from jukan,polo stick or play, and explain it as a robe shorter than the regular thawb.See the paper noted in n. 29, above.

62. Text ksy f khsyj.Reading and translation tentative.

63. Cf.Steingass, F.J.,A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary (London, 1947), p. 430, hamail, necklace with flowers or small coins. Coins joined together to form an ornament have been preserved from the Fatimid period.Google Scholar

64. See n. 26, above.

65. Ar. mijnabis a common word for curtain; but since the regular term for curtain in the Geniza is silr,the mijnabmust have been a specific type at that time and, thus far, has not been found elsewhere

66. The maqtais a piece of cloth large enough for one dress but was also worn as a wrap.

67. Since Tabarf textiles were frequently imitated, see n. 36, above, a genuine “Tabaristan” was identified as such.

68. Whether this common term is derived from Persian susan,lily, or suzan,needle, is not yet sure

69. Text: mikhadd lil-khadd,“pillows for the cheek.” Since in a society without chairs pillows were used all day long for reclining, sleeping pillows were often characterized as such.

70. See n. 33, above.

71. The other half probably belonged to her brother (known from another source), wherefore the partner is not noted.

72. That is, ten disks of amber and five of gold on each side and one of gold forming the middle piece.

73. Ar. qawdis, sing, qadus (Greek kados), pieces of ornaments similar to the “cylinders,” bakar, in 1. 11; see Dozy, R.P.A., Supplement aux dictionnairesarabes (Leiden and Paris, 1927), 2:314bGoogle Scholar

74. All these vessels were of silver or other precious materials.

75. Ar. zabdiyya,still in common use.

76. . Text: majma,a utensil with compartments, also used at the visit to a bathhouse. See Dozy, Supplement,1:217a, TS 10 J 10, fol. 29, 1. 14: majma' lil-hammam.

77. Ar. madhdf,a vessel for mixing ingredients of medicaments or food.

78. Ar. sab'(the same probably in Heb. sheva'.Be'er Sheva': The Lion's Well). Whether this lion was a knickknack like the crystal cock in 1. 23, and whether the needle served for stirring perfumes, is not evident. The lion was perforated and contained the needle

79. Ar. jary al-qalam.In calligraphic writing the lines ended with an elegant curve turning upwards. This was imitated in textiles and, as I learned from pictures from $a'da in northern Yemen shown to me by Brinkley G. Messick III, also in architecture. This turning up of the left end of a line was common in documents from the Fatimid chancelleries and is found also in the Geniza as well as in present-day legal documents from Yemen. $a'da was a great center of book learning

80. This dress of European style is mentioned together either with a thawb,robe, or jiikaniyya,polo robe, or (iiilla,festive robe, and a cloak or a wimple; see II. 15 16, 21 22, and column III, 34. It must have been something special, and should not be confused with the mindil Rumi,the R. kerchief, found in countless ketubbas

81. I take makhtuma(“with a signature”) to be a piece of clothing on which the name of the giver (with or without a dedication) was embroidered, usually referred to as firdz,which simply means “embroidery.” Cf. talmudic sarbele ftatime(Bab. Talmud, Shabbat 58a) clothing of the scholars bearing “the signature” of the Resh Galutha, or Head of the Diaspora

82. A precious brocade, widely used also in medieval Europe.

83. Ar. Al-Jaza'irbecame the name of the town of Algiers, called so after the islets near its coast. But I have little doubt that in the Geniza the word designates the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea. Cf. Encyclopaedia of Islam,2d ed., s.v. “D/aza'ir-i Baljr-i Safid.”

84. Ar. saman,a fine reed growing in the Jordan valley near Beisan (Beth She'an); see Dozy, Supplement,s.v. A Karaite ketubba, TS 12.658, 1. 15 lists a mat made of this material.

85. Ar. mudhayyal.

86. Not to be confused with “pairs,” as the pairs of bracelets possessed by her.

87. The term mi'raqa(pronounced, perhaps, ma'raqa)extremely common in the Geniza, seems to be absent from the dictionaries of classical Arabic. Instead, up to the present day, 'araqiyyais used. Since men also wore skull caps, in inventories one would note “a female skull cap,” e.g., TS NS J 184. The entry ma'raqain Dozy, Supplement.2:121a, is based on a nineteenth century North African glossary.

88. Ar. manni,from mann(the biblical man,manna), “honey dew,” “fine dust,” often found in the Geniza, but seemingly absent from Arabic dictionaries.

89. Ar. muqaddama,common in the Geniza but apparently not known from elsewhere. The translation “bureau” was chosen in order to differentiate that item from the numerous other terms for chest or trunk mentioned in the Geniza and serving the same purpose. It is likely that the muqaddamawas a chest with drawers, but this has not yet been definitely established.

90. Why then did they not use buttons for clothing? Human inventions have their peculiar ways. The so-called Arabic numerals were never applied by the Arabs to daily use. They served science, not commerce. The Near Eastern merchants learned the use of Arabic numerals from Europe.

91. See Doc. Ill, col. Ill, II. 24–25. Ar. busuf wa-tadliq,also, e.g., in TS 24.1, the ketubba of the Nasi David b. Daniel b. Azaryah of the year 1082. See Sh. Shaked, Bibliography,p. 76. The term busuishould not be translated as “carpets,” but rather by the general term “spreads.”

92. ENA NS 17, fol. 12, 1. 5: sarfr sa'sam.

93. TS 24.2, 1. 5: dakka saj.

94. Doc. Ill, col. Ill, 1. 14: $urddiqayn qalamun(s = s). “Chameleon-colored,',' Ibu) qalamup,means, ”changing color,“ appearing differently when looked at from different angles. Only here, the canopy is called furddiq.Elsewhere its name is killa,also used for mosquito netting (in which meaning the word entered modern Hebrew).

95. SeeGoitein, S.D., ”The Synagogue Building and its Furnishings“, [Hebrew with detailed English summary], Eretz-hrael 7 (1964): 81–97, especially pp. 90–96. The missing part of the inventory printed on p. 95 is contained in TS Box 28, fol. 51; see ”Kele Kesef u-Vadde Pe'er be-Vatte ha-Kenesiyyot shel Fustat bi-Shenat 1159,“ Tarbiz38 (1969): 397. The ”unknown term of silversmithing“ mentioned there is bi-nawfaratayn, “with two water lilies.”Google Scholar

96. TS 20.47,11. 7–8, see Eretz-Israet7 (1964): 92. Three Jewish government officials, bearing the title Saniy al-Dawla (“High-ranking”) are known to me: Moses ha-Kohen, active around 1080 (TS 10 J 6, fol. 5,1. 11; TS 16.188); Abu '1-Munajja, Solomon Ibn Sha'ya, prominent around 1110 (see Mann, Jews in Egypt,1:215–17); and Moses ha-Levi b. Japheth, living around 1170 (TS 12.104, TS 16.208, etc.). Here, the first is intended.

97. Richards, D.S., “Arabic Documents from the Karaite Community in Cairo”, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 15 (1972): 109. Since part of the building whose boundaries were described in the document was donated in 1324 (that is, sixty-four years after the original purchase) to the poor of the Karaites, it is likely, but not certain, that the synagogue referred to was a Karaite place of prayer. Another synagogue donated by a woman was “the upper synagogue,” or rather four synagogues on the third floor of four adjacent houses willed by Elea Nomico to the Jewish community of Candia, Crete, in 1432;CrossRefGoogle Scholar seeJacoby, David, “Quelques aspects de la viejuive en Crete dans la premiere moitie du xve siecle,” Kritologikon Synedrion (Athens, 1974), pp. 113–16.Google Scholar

98. See Mediterranean Society,2:243.

99. However, the kanisat al-mu'allima,literally, “the synagogue of the school mistress,” given as an address in a Geniza letter, was not a house of prayer dedicated by her, but rather the place where she taught. She is mentioned elsewhere; see Ibid vol. 3, chap. D., n. 204.