מסמך משפטי: BL OR 5561A.4–4a

תיאור

Deed of sale for a residential building and its upper-story apartment in the Jewish quarter of Cairo. Dated: in the first third of Nisan 542[4] AM which is March-April 1664. The year 542[1] AM is also possible, given that only the first letter of the final word is visible (thus, alternatively 1661 CE). The opening lines provide an overview of previous transactions related to the "hanging residential building (הקאעה המעלקה) facing Darb Talmud Torah." This Arabic architectural term "muʿallaqa" is most well-known locally for its usage in the title of the Hanging Church of Fustat, a reference to the way the Coptic house of worship was built over another structure (part of the Qaṣr al-Shamʿa fortification). The opening lines detail how the two-part property was eventually purchased by Esther the wife of Yaʿaqov b. Yiṣḥaq Luria Ashkenazi, whose husband Yaʿaqov had, by coincidence, previously purchased and resold it a few years prior. The purpose of this document becomes clear in l. 26, where Esther and her husband Yaʿaqov sell the property to a certain Yosef Ben-Shanji for 25,000 medin. Given that this document is dated in the 1660s, it seems unlikely that Yaʿaqov was the son of the famous Kabbalist R. Yiṣḥaq Luria Ashkenazi (b. 1534-d. 1572 CE)– which would make him roughly 90 years old if he was born c. 1570 CE. R. Yiṣḥaq Luria Ashkenazi is only known to have had one son, Moshe, who died young in 1555 CE and was buried in Safed. Yaʿaqov is listed in connection with his brother Avraham [b. Yiṣḥaq] Luria Ashkenazi who was alive in Av 5415 AM (1655 CE). BL OR 5561A.4 seems to preserve only the imprint of BL OR 5561A.4a; the relationship between these two fragments and how they were folded is not completely clear from the digital images. BL OR 5561A.4a is the one with legible text. Note that "Image 1" and "Image 2" on FGP are not recto and verso but rather the upper part and the lower part of recto. ASE/MCD