Legal document: Yevr. II A 1241/9

Description

Karaite betrothal document. Date: 26 Adar 5487 AM (1727 CE). Location: Cairo. The previously married bride is Najma bt. Yeshūʿa bt. Moshe and the groom is David b. Raḥman b. Yosef (with no surnames provided). The groom's monetary contributions to the marriage are listed as: 25 kesif + 460 medin (additional gift payment) + 11 gold b'riaḥīm (בריחים) + 75 medin/para. The term בריח literally means "bolt" or "bar" in Hebrew (Jastrow, 193; Strong, H1280) but in this context served as a numismatic label for Ottoman gold zingirli coins. The initial sum of 11 gold b'riaḥīm (בריחים) + 75 medin indicates the full value of the muqdam/meʾuḥar rather than their component sums. Line 12 notes that the muqdam payment is 180 medin (~1 b'riaḥ + 75 medin/para). In line thirteen, a meʾuḥar of 10 gold [בריחים] is given with the valuation of 1,070 medin (1 b'riaḥ = 107 medin/para). The exchange rate given for the b'riaḥ/בריח thus directly corresponds with that of the Ottoman zingirli in early eighteenth-century Cairo (Raymond, Artisans et Comerçants, Vol. I, 30-31). MCD.