Karaite-Rabbanite Ketubah (Fustāt, Egypt)

This ketubah preserves the record of the marriage between David ben Daniel, son of the Palestinian Rabbanite Daniel ben ‘Azariah ha-Nasi, and Nāshiya, daughter of the Karaite leader Moses ha-Kohen ben Aaron. This was David’s second marriage, one that he arranged after divorcing his first, Rabbanite wife. David’s strategic alliance with the family of high-ranking Karaite notables bespeaks the close connections of Karaites and Rabbanites in this period, connections that David hoped would further his claims on the Palestinian academy and his ambitions toward the position of exilarch. Given David’s leadership position, the marriage contract follows Rabbanite law, even though such “mixed” marriages usually followed the practices of the wife. The dowry in this ketubah is extremely large. Ellipses indicate lacunae in the manuscript, and double slanted lines indicate additions to the text that were written between the lines.