Legal document: Yevr.-Arab. I 328

Description

Legal record (#23) in a court register/pinqas from a Karaite beit din in Cairo (on f. 9v of Yevr.-Arab. I 328). Dated 4 Shevat [5321] AM (1561 CE). The scribe provides the year 5321 AM a few entries earlier and it is implied here in entry #23 as סנה תארי׳. Outside confirmation of the date can be found in the related document Yevr.-Arab. II 1561 (PGPID 39504), dated 4 Shevat 5321 AM. The related document probably comprises a loose-leaf version of the record that was retained by the court or issued to the legal party at the center of the case: ʿAbd al-Jawwād b. Farajallāh al-Kohen. ʿAbd al-Jawwād appears before the court in the Dār Simḥa Synagogue to ascertain why they have not allowed him the honor of going up with the Torah for the kohen blessings. They answer that this is because they heard that "the Shāmiyyīn" (this seems to refer to the Damascus or wider Syrian Qaraite community) had not allowed him to go up, therefore they have continued the practice until they find out the reason for it. ʿAbd al-Jawwād addresses the court, explaining that the judge ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Fayrūz had prohibited him because the community suspected his late father Farajallāh of improper sexual relations with an Ethiopian woman (al-ḥabashiyya) in Egypt. No further details are provided about her identity or relationship with Farajallāh. The judge ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz intended to write to the Karaite community in Egypt and inquire about this matter, though it seems he never did. ʿAbd al-Jawwād now asks the court to clear up the matter, and they affirm that the accusations were never substantiated against the father regarding the Ethiopian woman, and that the father had retained his right to go up with the Torah both in the Egyptian and Syrian Qaraite communities. The court concludes that ʿAbd al-Jawwād's right to go up with the Torah should be restored, and the document reports that he indeed did so on the following day (a Tuesday?). (MCD/ASE with information from Ben-Shammai's edition/analysis)