ثيقة شرعيّة: CUL Or.1080 1.88 + T-S NS 99.55

Testimony to what transpired in our presence, we the witnesses [whose signatures are below: Our master and lord Joseph b. Saul/Yūsuf b. Šu‘ayb] Ibn al-Naghira appeared before us and said:

Serve as my witnesses and perform with [me] the symbolic act of commitment [and write and sign that I bind myself with all terms] that are precise and phrases that are absolute and all expressions of deeds attesting to rights that this should be for Ḥalfon ha-Levi—may the Merciful protect him—b. his honor, the saintly outstanding sage [Nethanel] . . . [so that this be in his hand a deed of] proof and evidence, that I declare in your presence in the most decisive [and firm] terms [for declarations, in good health and full capacity, of my free will, under no compulsion] nor force, nor duress, not mistaken or erring, nor with any illness [or anything else that disqualifies testimony] and without coercion, that I owe and am responsible for and obligated to pay, from my unencumbered assets, to our lord [Ḥa]lfon ha-[Levi] . . . [forty] Murābiṭī [mithqāls], a fully-binding debt, effective as of now, and an undertaking as a loan. I shall p[ay them to him] . . . [without disavowal] or dispute, except after payment . . . deed of sale that I sold/bought for him all that he ordered [?] . . . forty mithqāls, as attested by the deed . . . without duress. I declare him to be trustworthy for this in what he says, like two [valid witnesses] . . . or that he has not received payment, his claim is acceptable like t[wo valid witnesses.] . . . [And my heirs] after me or my legal agents [have no right to impose on him] any oa[th for all this] . . . not an ancillary [oath] nor a general ban on anything [he says] . . . [And any claim against him will be null] and void, completely invalid and considered nil . . . has no validity and will not be acted upon . . .

[And we performed with him the symbolic act of commitment, with an implement suitable] to perform it, effective as of now, after he had cancelled any declarations of having acted under duress [and conditions] . . . [inclusive of] all declarations of having acted under duress, without any compulsion whatsoever, for all that is . . . forty mithqāls which are in his possession, an absolute debt, as of now . . . of which he will not be quit except by complete payment to our lord Ḥal[fon b. Nethanel] with whatever . . . [mentioned] above. Written in the month of Sivan, of the year four thousand, eight hundred and nin[ety-nine] [in the cit]y of Almeria, situated on the shore of the Sea. And [the] proceedings in our presence were written, si[gned and delivered] by us [to our master] and lord Ḥalfon ha-Levi—may the Merciful protect him—b. his honor, our lord and master Nethanel ha-Levi—may he be remembered for a blessing—to be in his hand as a deed attesting to rights [and evid]ence. Written on an erasure: “that”; added between the lines: י in באסתיפא. And [all] is valid, firm, binding and authoritative.

Joseph ha-Levi b. Ḥārith—may he be remembered for a blessing. Isaac b. Aaron—may his Rock preserve him. Isaac b. Jacob—may he rest in Eden. Ḥāvīv/Ḥabīb b. [Abraham—may his Rock preserve him.] Isaac b. Obadiah b. Isaac . . . Isaac b. . . . h—may he rest in Eden. Solomon b. Saadya b. Solo[mon].

This deed has been verified in our presence in court, in a session in which the th[ree of us sat together,] its text and signatures written above and verification included therein below in the signatures of the witnesses who have signed. [Sin]ce four of them have come forward, namely [Jose]ph ha-Levi b. Ḥārith—may he be remembered for a blessing; Isaac b. Aaron—may he be remembered for a blessing; Isaac b. Jacob—may he rest in Eden; [Ḥāvīv/Ḥabīb b. Abraham—]may his Rock [preserve him] and testified before us to their signatures and declared that this is the very signature [of each of them] with their distinctive signs, namely Joseph ha-Levi b. Ḥārith—may he be remembered for a blessing; [Isaac b. Aaron—may his Rock preserve him]; Isaac b. Jacob—may he rest in Eden; Ḥāvīv/Ḥabīb b. Abraham—]may his Rock preserve him, we have verified and validated it as fit.

[Aaron b. Yeshū]‘ā the physician—may the memory of the pious be for a [blessing. Isaac b.] Joseph, the Jerusalemite—may he rest in the Garden of Eden. Yeshū‘ā b. Mevōrāk—may he rest in the Garden of Eden.

The verification at the bottom of [this document] has been confirmed in our presence, in court [in a session in which the th]ree of us sat together, its text, witnesses’ signatures and verification being written above, and its confirmation included therein [written h]ere below. And these [are the judges who] signed it: Aaron b. Yeshū‘ā the physician—may the memory of the pious be for a blessing; Isaac b. Joseph—may he rest in the Garden of Eden; Yeshū‘ā b. Mevōrāk[—may he rest in the Garden of Eden. . . . ] that w[e the court] are familiar with [the verification/ signature of the ḥā]vēr [?]‌ Aaron b. Yeshū‘ā the physician—may the memory of the pious be for a blessing, that this is his verification [in his handwriting and distinctive signs]; and two [other] witnesses came forward [and testified] to the signature of Isaac b. Joseph—may he rest in the Garden of Eden—that this is his signature [in his handwriting and] distinctive signs [?], we have veri[fied and validated it as fit.]

Nathan ha-Kohen b. Solomon. Yeshū‘ā b. Josiah b. Shema‘yāhū Ga[on]. Nathan b. Samuel he-ḥāvēr—may his memory be for a blessing.