Cairo Genizah : Legal document

Cairo Genizah

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Part of the betrothal deed of Sitt al-Ahl bat Joseph Lebdi (bride) and Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya ha-Levi b. Benjamin (groom), in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Manasseh ha-Levi. Both the groom and bride’s father were involved in the India trade. The dowry is particularly lavish, and the document notes it was publicly displayed and assessed in the preceding days before the betrothal agreement was written on 10 June 1124 CE. The groom (apparently nervous that the bride’s family would withdraw part of the dowry) insisted that the bride’s younger brother, Zayn, make a formal declaration committing himself and his absent elder brother, Abū l-Barakāt, to giving the entire dowry. The whole document is found at 6 different classmarks, and is apparently unsigned. The marriage seems not to have gone ahead, as Sitt al-Ahl remarries in a ketubba found at T-S 12.595 and T-S 12.604, and Peraḥya later marries Sitt al-Nās (Or.1080 J49, dated 1139 CE) and Sitt al-Ḥasab (Bodl. MS. Heb. e. 98, fol. 63, dated 1146 CE).</p>