ثيقة شرعيّة: MS 9160, fol. 1

الوصف

Authorization of takanot from the Mustarab community in Egypt from 1595 CE– which reflects the date 9 Sivan בשמח׳׳ה in the final line of the document. This gematria of 1595 CE was originally read as such by Avraham David: 2+300+40+8+5 = [5]355 AM. This document bears the witness signatures of many community members– far more than is normally the case for early modern Rabbanite legal documents –because it certified the appointment of two communal rabbis in the wake of R. ʿOvadya Kāhna's death c. 1595 (for an earlier document on this communal figure, see: CUL Or.1080 15.45, PGPID 19723). This document established the terms of R. Yaʿaqov Castro's and R. ʿOvadya Kshaʿa[?] ha-Levi's communal appointments. Curiously, the witness section includes the signature of only the latter rabbi (perhaps this was R. Yaʿaqov Castro's copy?). Other signatures belong to: Yiṣḥaq ʿAmā..m, David b. Saʿadīya ʿAdanī, Menaḥem b. Avraham ha-Levi, Aharon b. Yosef Kohen aka ʿEzra, Avraham Ḥazan ha-Levi, Yosef Skandarī, Elīʿazar Shāṭr. MCD (with information from FGP).