Legal document: CUL Or.1080 J141

Legal document CUL Or.1080 J141

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Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Dating: Mentions the date Av 1425 Seleucid = July/August 1114 CE. This is a post-divorce settlement. The former husband, Saʿadya b. Avraham, and the former wife, Jawhara bt. Seʿadya known as Abū l-Yumn Ibn al-Baṣal, release each other from all claims. She initiated the divorce by agreeing to forego the delayed payment from her marriage contract (this is known as "ransom" or iftidāʾ), and the court obligated him to give her the bill of divorce. The ex-husband does commit to maintaining their infant daughter by giving Jawhara 10 dirhams each month and 8 pieces of clothing each year. Information from Friedman's edition and from Goitein's index card.

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CUL Or.1080 J141 1r

1r
Mordechai Akiva Friedman, "The Ransom-Divorce: Divorce Proceedings Initiated by the Wife in Mediaeval Jewish Practice.," Israel Oriental Studies 6 (n.p., 1976), 288-307.
  1. Testimony which took place in our presence, we the undersigned: When 

God, exalted be His name, produced 

  1. the causes for separation between (our) master and lo(rd) Sa[a]diah b. (our) master and lo(rd) Abraham r(est in) E(den) and Ghawhara 

  2. the daughter of (our) master and lo(rd) Saadiah, known as the elder Abu -l-Yumn b. Al-Baṣal (his) e(nd be) g(ood), and she ransomed herself with her delayed payment, 

  3. and the court obligated him (to give) to her a bill of divorce, then she requested that he release her from whatever (claim) he might possibly harass her 

  4. with for that (money) which she administered for him in his house as long as she was married to him, and (she requested) also that there should be written for her 

  5. an order (of maintenance) against him for her daughter, which she had from him, commensurate with his circumstances. Also he requested from her 

  6. that she release him from all that was included in her marriage contract: the advanced gift, the delayed payment, the dowry, 

  7.  and anything else. Then the two of them agreed to this and mutually released each other. We wrote for each of them 

  8.  a release from the other. With this, this (our) master and lo(rd) Saadiah b. (our) master and lo(rd) Abraham r(est in) E(den) said to us: 

  9.  "Testify to me and perform with me a symbolic qinyan (to be binding) as of now. And write and sign (a document) binding me with all the obligatory phrases 

  10. and definite terms, and with all the expressions of deeds of conveyance. And deliver it to my divorcée, this Ghawhara 

  11. daughter of (our) master and lo(rd) Saadiah, called the elder Abu -l-Yumn (his) e(nd be) g(ood), that it be in her possession for today 

  12. and for the future, as a document conveying rights, that I declare in your presence, with the most firm and most strong terms of declaration

  13. with clear will and full capacity, acting freely, not being under compulsion, nor forced, nor coerced, nor 

  14. mistaken, nor in error, without having illness at all, nor anything else of all the things which disqualify testimony, 

  15. that I shall undertake towards my daughter for her right (to maintenance), as of the date of the month of Av, of the year 1425 

  16. of the (era of) [do]cuments, at the end of each month, ten dirhems. I shall persist in continuing this

  17. until she is married, as long as her mother chooses that she stay with her.  

  18. And I shall undertake towards her every year for clothing four caps, two wraps 

  19. for the waist, and something to cover her head, namely, two scarves, without any resistance or opposition, without any argument 

  20. or pretext at all. Rather I shall pay it from the richest of my possessions. And I release 

  21. [my divorc]ée, this Ghawhara, from all claims and demands and all attachments 

  22. and responsibilities which will occur to me against her, concerning all which took place between me and her, for all 

  23. [the time] she [wa]s married to me, and from that which she administered for me in my house, and fro[m] a[l]l 

  24. [   ] her work, and whatever might occur against her o[f...] 

  25. [    of all] its [diverse categories, a complete, perfect [re]lease [...] 

 

CUL Or.1080 J141 1v

1v
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