The Conservation of Two Karaite Marriage Contracts
by MICHAEL MAGGEN & SHALOM SABAR
INTRODUCTION
The Karaites are a Jewish sect that was founded in the eighth century in Persia and Babylonia. The
sect flourished in the East, mainly in the ninth to twelfth centuries. In subsequent centuries, the
main centres of Karaite settlements were in Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, Crimea and Lithuania.
Karaites, in Hebrew Ba'alei Mikra, means "people of the Scriptures", denoting their strict adherence
to the Written Law of the Hebrew Bible and total rejection of the Talmud, the compilation of the
Jewish Oral Laws, with rabbinical commentaries accumulated over many centuries. The Karaites
look upon the Scriptures as their sole guide in every aspect of their spiritual and daily life.
The Jewish marriage contract, or Ketubbah, is drawn up in every Jewish marriage; the document
sets out the obligations of the husband to his wife. The Karaites have a parallel contract for each
marriage, which differs from the Ketubbah in that it is written in Hebrew rather than in Aramaic and
includes a commitment to observe all holidays and the new moon as stipulated on Mt Sinai.2 In
many cases, the Karaite contracts are decorated with densely coloured borders with floral motifs.3
DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
The documents here under discussion are two Karaite ketubba, emanating from the Karaite
community of Egypt. The first contract is dated to the thirteenth century, and as such is one of the
earliest known of its kind; the other was produced in the eighteenth century. The two manuscripts
were written on gevil and goat skin parchment respectively. Gevil is referred to in the Talmud; it is
an gall-tanned leather used for holy biblical texts.4
They were clumsily glued together, back to back, and subsequently folded hori-
faded; the darkened skin was in a fairly brittle state with many tears, losses and cracks (Fig. 2).
The eighteenth-century parchment was in a better state of preservation, although it had suffered
similar damage, with holes, tears and cracks. The text was written in three inks: black, red and
green. The green ink was identified as a copper-based pigment, which had caused local corrosion of
the parchment.
Prior to any treatment the inks were tested for water sensitivity; only the red ink of the eighteenthcentury manuscript proved to be fugitive. During treatments no bleeding occurred.
Fig. 1. The two manuscripts before treatment.
Fig. 2. The thirteenth-century document, backside, demonstrating the brittle condition of the parchment
RELAXATION
The main aim of the conservation treatments was to separate the documents. Prior to separation the
folds must be relaxed. This was done in the following two-stage process. After unfolding the object
(Fig. 3) strips of damp blotters and Mylar® (DuPont) of about 1 cm wide were placed above and
below the folds. After ten minutes, the areas of folds softened and relaxed and were able to be
opened flat. The documents, which were still attached at this stage, were then placed between dry
blotters and dried under weights.
SEPARATION OF THE DOCUMENTS
The separation process was carried out slowly, progressively humidifying narrow sections of about
6 cm at a time and releasing the two layers with a microspatula. The strips were sandwiched
between two sheets of a PETP non-woven (Reemay®, DuPont), damp blotters and PETP foil
(Mylar) in that order, and left for about 25 minutes. The more delicate thirteenth-century manuscript
was placed face down. Fig. 4 shows the separated manuscripts. Fig. 5 shows details of the separated
manuscripts.
Fig. 3. The unfolded object
REPAIRS
Thirteenth-century manuscript
The thirteenth-century manuscript was extremely fragile due to brittleness. There were many tears
and missing areas. A suitable lining support was chosen, namely,
Fig. 4. The separated objects, backside
Fig. 5. Detail of the separated manuscripts
Fig. 6. The thirteenth-century document after treatment
an unbleached Irish Aerolinen® cloth. This textile is both strong and flexible in relation to its
thickness.
The cloth was washed, ironed and cut to size before use. The manuscript was placed face down onto
Remay and blotter. Wheat starch paste (Zin Shofo®) of a thick consistency was applied to the
bottom margin (6 cm) and the linen placed on top. Using a warm tacking iron set at about 40 °C, the
drying time was speeded up, reducing the risk of overwetting the skin. The manuscript was pressed
slightly under weights; stretching was felt to be too stressful for this delicate object. The margins of
the lining were trimmed, and the manuscript was mounted on archival board. Missing areas were
filled in from the front with Japanese paper and then toned in with Windsor and Newton
watercolours. Fig. 6 shows the document after treatment.
Eighteenth-century manuscript
Tears and infills were repaired with parchment glue and parchment. The parchment was flattened
by stretching it on a board, using a system of clips and pins.
Fig. 7. The eighteenth-century document after treatment
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Many thanks to Hasia Rimon from the Tel Aviv Museum of Art for helping me in writing this
article.
MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES
Precipitated Wheat Starch: Zin Shofo, Conservation Materials NV, USA. Japanese Paper: Paper
Nao, Sengoku Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. Parchment: Yakeb Asher Parchment Factories, Jerusalem,
Israel. Irish linen: Aerolinen.
SUMMARIES
The Conservation of Two Karaite Marriage Contracts
Marriage contracts are interesting documents for the Jewish culture. Two of those contracts,
originating from the Karaite community of Egypt in the thirteenth and eighteenth, centuries, written
parchment, were glued together back to back. They had to be unfolded, separated, repaired and
mounted.
La restauration de deux contrats de manage caraite
Les contrats de mariage sont des documents interessants pour la culture juive. Deux de ces contrats
des XHIe et XVIIIe siecles, provenant de caraites, communaute d'Egypte, ecrits sur parchemin
etaient colles dos a dos. Us ont du etre deplies, separes, restaures et monies.
Die Konservierung von zwei Ehekontrakten der Karaite-Sekte
Ehekontrakte sind interessante Dokumente für die jüdische Kultur. Zwei solcher Urkunden aus dem
Bereich der Karaite-Sekte in Ägypten, die eine aus dem 13, die andere aus dem 18. Jh., beide auf
Pergament, waren rückseitig zusammengeklebt. Sie mußten entfaltet, voneinander abgelöst,
ausgebes-sert und neu montiert werden.
REFERENCES
1. Encyclopedia Judaica. Vol. 18. Jerusalem 1972. cols. 761-785: A succinct survey of the history
of the Karaites and their doctrines (J. Heller and L. Neomy).
2. Corinaldi, M.: [The personal status of the Karaites]. Jerusalem 1984. Esp. pp. 39-44 (in
Hebrew).
3. Sabar, S.: Mazal Tov: Illuminated Jewish marriage contracts from the Israel Museum
collection. Jerusalem: The Israel Museum 1993. PI. 53: from Kierk-Yer, Crimea (1719);
idem: Ketubbah: Jewish marriage contracts of the Hebrew Union College Skirball Museum
and Klau library. New York and Philadelphia 1990, pp. 308-310 (from Cairo 1953).
4. Haran, M.: Bible scrolls in eastern and western Jewish communities from Qumran to the High
Middle Age; Hebrew Union College Annual, vol. 56. Cincinnati 1985, pp. 26-29.
5. Animal Glue or Gelatin, Paper Conservation Catalog, AI2C 1984, p. 32.
Michael Maggen
The Israel Museum
Jerusalem
Israel
Shalom Sabar
Hebrew University
Jerusalem
Israel