Legal document: Moss. VII,19

Recto

1          For a good sign, and success, and wealth

2          and honour and comfort

3          On the fourth day of the week, which is the sixth day of the month of Tammuz, in the year two thousand two hundred and ten

4          of the Era of Documents, in the town of Qā^ʿ Bīr al-^ʿAzab, which is located on her wellsprings, at this day

5         there came before us—we, the undersigned witnesses—Sālim ibn Hārūn al-^ʿUzayrī known as Zihreh and

6          told us: “You know, O masters, that I married this Ġinā bint Sālim ibn Šakir al-Tām, the virgin

7          who is my wife with a ketubba and qiddušin, and she lived together with me for many years and days, and I have children from her. Now, her ketubba

8          was lost, and the date of her ketubba deed is not known. Our sages said: “It is prohibited for any man to keep his wife

9          without a ketubba even for one hour", so now I wish to write her a ketubba, like her former

10        lost ketubba, and its validation is for the sake of Abraham the patriarch”. Thus, Sālim ibn Hārūn al-ʿUzayrī Zihreh, the groom, said

11        to Ġinā bint Sālim ibn Šakir al-Tām, the virgin bride, “Be my wife, according to the law of Moses and Israel.

12        And I by the command of Heaven will serve, honour, support, nourish, provide and clothe you, in the manner of Jewish men

13        who serve, honour, support, nourish, provide and clothe their wives faithfully. And I am giving you

14        the mohar of your virginity, two hundred silver zuz, which are equivalent to twenty-five pure silver zuz,

15        which are due for you, and your sustenance, your clothing and your needs and to come to you as is the custom of the entire world.” And this bride consented and became

16        his wife. And the total dowry which she brought in to him one hundred silver qafla. This groom has received all of it:

17        he has taken possession of it; it has come under his control, and he has undertaken all of it as a loan and debt binding him. And this is what her husband the groom gave her

18        as a first gift: one hundred silver qafla, and a dwelling in a Jewish property, including its exits and entrances, and all

19        that is due to her from the base of the world to the top of the sky. And he wanted to give her an additional gift as the last part of her mohar, one hundred

20        silver qafla. All of the above-mentioned silver qafla—which every hundred qafla is equivalent to

21        twenty-two good, pure silver qafla of the standard weight of Sanaa, which is known as the silver of the city

22        of Sanaa in the market of the silversmiths. And thus this groom said to us: “The responsibility for this ketubba as a whole—the basic payment, the dowry,

23        the first gift, the residence, and the additional payment along with all the remainder of the conditions of the ketubba—I take it upon myself and upon my heirs

24        after me. And as for all the choicest possessions and purchases that I have under all the heavens, which I have bought and that I shall buy,

25        property that is immovable or movable or movable by virtue of real estate—all of them will be surety and guarantees for the whole of this ketubba, the basic payment, the dowry

26        the first gift, the residence and the additional payment, for it to be paid from them, in my lifetime and after my lifetime, and even from the shirt

27        off my back. And if her former ketubba should be found, then she is not allowed to collect [from it] but only [from] that one or this one. And we have performed a qinyan

28        from Sālim, this groom, to his bride this Ġinā on everything that is written and explained above, a complete, strict and valid qinyan, with an implement

29        fit for making an acquisition, with a nullification of all legal documents and stipulations to the very end. And this ketubba is not like an asmaḵta, nor like formularies, but rather like the firm stringency

30        of all ketubba deeds that are customary in Israel, and that are regulated and that are according to the enactment of our sages, of blessed memory. And already included in this ketubba are all

31        matters of sustenance and clothing according to the laws of the nations of the world. In a time of need, God forbid, for this reason he wrote her a gift, an additional mohar

32        and the division of the dowry in half. Everything is valid and established. The humble Levi ibn Yaḥyā al-Naǧǧār, may he live forever, may his end be good.

Verso

1          Sālim ibn Hārūn Zihreh al-^ʿUzayrī performed a qinyan—a complete, effective from now qinyan, in accordance with the law of our sages, of blessed memory—that he holds and has a debt to his wife

2          this Ġinā, thirty-eight and a half qirš—all in Francs—as a complete debt and an outstanding loan,

3          and this is after the payment of the marriage gift (lit. “stipulation”) and after the deduction of the dowry. This payment is postponed until the time it is imposed on him.

4          And he will not release him from his debt, even in the seventh [year]. And he mortgaged all his property, land and movable,

5          that he purchased and will purchase, not like an asmaḵta, nor like formularies, at the day mentioned above. And everything is valid. The humble Levi ibn Yaḥyā al-Naǧǧār, may he live forever, may his end be good.