Legal document: T-S 12.397 + T-S G1.5a + T-S AS 155.329

Description

Legal query with the autograph responsum of Yehuda ha-Kohen Rosh ha-Seder b. Yosef (aka "the Rav"). Yehuda b. Yosef was a student of Rabbenu Nissim b. Yaʿaqov of Qayrawān. He appears in the letters of the Maghribī merchants of the second half of the 11th century simply with the name "the Rav." This query concerns an orphan girl whose mother married her off while she was still a minor. Some time after the wedding, she stated that she had committed adultery. The man initially denied this claim but confessed upon examination by the court. The querier wishes to know if the wife is permitted to her husband. The responsum begins: "There are two sides to this ruling." The Rav ultimately rules that she is permitted to her husband. On verso, in Arabic script, "hādhihi ʿindī bi-khaṭṭihi raḥimahu Allāh" ("I have this in his handwriting, may God have mercy on him"). Information from Amir Ashur via FGP and from Friedman, "A Responsum by 'The Rav.'"