Scholarship on Legal document: CUL Or.1080 J141

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.

Testimony which took place in our presence, we the undersigned: When

God, exalted be His name, produced

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
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,
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
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
an order (of maintenance) against him for her daughter, which she had from him, commensurate with his circumstances. Also he requested from her
that she release him from all that was included in her marriage contract: the advanced gift, the delayed payment, the dowry,
and anything else. Then the two of them agreed to this and mutually released each other. We wrote for each of them
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:
"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
and definite terms, and with all the expressions of deeds of conveyance. And deliver it to my divorcée, this Ghawhara
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
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
with clear will and full capacity, acting freely, not being under compulsion, nor forced, nor coerced, nor
mistaken, nor in error, without having illness at all, nor anything else of all the things which disqualify testimony,
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
of the (era of) [do]cuments, at the end of each month, ten dirhems. I shall persist in continuing this
until she is married, as long as her mother chooses that she stay with her.
And I shall undertake towards her every year for clothing four caps, two wraps
for the waist, and something to cover her head, namely, two scarves, without any resistance or opposition, without any argument
or pretext at all. Rather I shall pay it from the richest of my possessions. And I release
[my divorc]ée, this Ghawhara, from all claims and demands and all attachments
and responsibilities which will occur to me against her, concerning all which took place between me and her, for all
[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
[ ] her work, and whatever might occur against her o[f...]
[ of all] its [diverse categories, a complete, perfect [re]lease [...]

CUL Or.1080 J141 1r

CUL Or.1080 J141 1v