ثيقة شرعيّة: T-S 20.32

Recto

1. (1–6) ...] Mevorakh b. [Ephraim...] this Jacob and [...] dinars and [...] to the Muslim with these din[ars ...] Muslim to ʿAmram. ʿAmram saw fit [to sue?] this Jacob [and Bahiyya] the wife of [Mevora]kh in Jewish courts for he took pity on her honour 

2.  
3.  
4.  
5.  

6.  

7. for she is a married woman. Everyone gathered in court and several court sessions were held. 

8. The judge (bet din) told them: "It is best that you reach a compromise between you 

9. in [Jewish] courts rather than go to Muslim courts, for the Muslim deed in 

10.  ʿAmram's possession is a verified deed." The judge and the elders sought to spare the woman, 

11.  so the elders intervened and negotiated the matter. After they (i.e. the elders) determined that 

12.  from (the sum) incumbent upon them (i.e. the couple) in the deed they owe forty-two dinars which they need

13.   to give ʿAmram today, ʿAmram saw fit, as an act of benevolence to them, to take from them 

14.  thirty dinars. As for the rest, he planned to ask the Muslim to give it to him as a gift. 

15.  ʿAmram consented to this with a symbolic purchase. The elders ruled and implored the husband of the wife, Mevorakh, 

16.  to give half of the thirty dinars so that 

17.  his wife would not be dragged to Muslim courts. He was unwilling to give the half. They cautioned him

18.   with soft and beneficial words until he gave ʿAmram

19.   eleven good and weighted dinars from the thirty dinars. [The rest was written as] a deed (of debt) 

20.  against Jacob b. Yaʿīsh ha-Kohen, the brother of Bahiyya, the wife of Mevorakh b. Ephraim. All consented

21.   to this compromise. When Mevorakh, Bahiyya's husband, gave ʿAmram the eleven 

22.  dinars, he asked that a verified deed of quittance be written for his wife 

23.  from ʿAmram and to take the Muslim deed in his (i.e. ʿAmram's) hand. Since what he asked was good, 

24.  the judge ordered and wrote a deed of quittance for Bahiyya. This is its text: 

25.  ʿAmram b. Yefet came to the judge and elders undersigned in this deed and said: 

26.  “Be my witnesses and make the symbolic purchase in every language of right, write and sign for me 

27.  your testimony. I am neither forced, compelled, nor deceived, but with a willing spirit. 

28.  I free, release, and clear Bahiyya bt.  Yaʿīsh [wife of] Mevorakh b. Ephraim from the deed 

29.  I had against her in Muslim courts and I gave it to her husband, Mevorakh. No claim remains for me 

30.  against her either in Jewish or gentile courts. I cancel 

31.  any notification I may have given or will give from today to eternity. I absolve her completely and 

32.  eternally in this (world) and the next. Neither a ban, an oath, 

33.  a curse, a shifted (oath), nor a Torah (oath) remains for me against her. We made the symbolic purchase from ʿAmram b. Yefet, a complete and rigorous purchase 

34.  with a fitting instrument, a verified, validated, (and) without faults. Let this deed of release have

35.   the weight and veracity of all the release deeds instituted by our rabbis and used in the world. Written on 

36.  Thursday, 20 of Av in Fustat-Mitzrayim situated upon the River Nile (in the) year 

37.  1368 AG (= 24 July 1057 CE). We gave this deed to Bahiyya as a right. "Bahiyya" is written (above the line).

38. (Signed:) Yeshuʿa ha-Levi b. Abraham, m(ay he rest in) p(eace). Yefet b. Ṭoviyya ha-Levi, m(ay he rest in) p(eace). ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Yaʿīsh, m(ay he rest in) p(eace).

39. Yosef b. ʿAzarya, m(ay he rest in) p(eace). Netanʾel b. ʿAmram. Ḥasan b. [...] ha-Kohen.

40. This deed was validated before us in our court, ʿEli he-Ḥaver b. ʿAmram, Nethanel b. ʿAmram, Yefet b.

41. Ṭoviyya ha-Levi, m(ay he rest in) p(eace). [When] two witnesses [came] and showed that these are their signatures, we validated it (i.e., the deed) as is fitting. (Signed:) ʿEli the eminent

42. ha-ḥaver [b. ʿA]mram. Ye[fe]t ha-[Levi b. Ṭoviyya?]. Ne[tan]ʾel b. ʿAmram, m(ay he rest in) p(eace).