Cairo Genizah : Legal document: ketubba

Cairo Genizah

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Marriage deed (ketubba) dated Thursday 13 Nisan [1]606 Sel. (= 31 March 1295 CE) in <placename type=settlement ref=/catalog/place_7024441 key=place_7024441>Fusṭāṭ</placename>. There is only a solitary signature at the end of the deed, Saʿadya b. Judah, who was presumably the scribe. There is a blessing written in the top margin in a larger, squarer script: יהי רצון מלפני שוכן מעלה להשלים שמחה וגילה וחדוה ויד ושם ותהלה ומלוי כל שאלה לאדוניו נגידנו דוד נגיד עם סגולה ולחתן ולכלה etc. The ketubba is written under the authority of David Maimonides (David b. Abraham b. Moses) as Nagid (Raʾīs al-Yahūd), who is given the full, resplendent list of his titles in the body of the deed. The groom is Nadiv b. Elʿazar b. Abraham, and the bride is Sarah bat Elʿazar b. Abraham. The ketubba has a menstrual purity clause. It is possible that the scribe made a major mistake in writing the contract: the bride and groom share identical fathers' and grandfathers' names, which seems unlikely, and that is perhaps why there are no witness signatures. It was perhaps never used. Front and back of this manuscript were shot in the wrong order, so the ketubba is in image 2</p>