Betrothal Agreement (Fustāt, Egypt)

Our teacher and master, Moses ha-Yakar—the son of our teacher and master, Israel ha-Zaken [the elder]—betrothed before us, the undersigned witnesses, Sitt al-Kull—the young daughter of our teacher and master, Eli ha-Zaken [the elder], who is known as “lame in his hand”—for the sake of complete betrothal according to the Torah and Jewish law, in accordance with the law of Moses and [the people] Israel. It has been decided that twenty dinars shall be given in advance, as a gift from the time of entering [the wedding canopy]. Of this, he paid in advance ten dinars at the betrothal, and it was decided that, in exchange for the remaining ten, a pair of golden bracelets shall be written for her in her ketubah; and the [sum that shall be paid] later is thirty good and excellent dinars. The entering [the wedding canopy] will be before the next Sabbath. Her father, our teacher and master Eli, received her agent—after his deputyship from her part was established for the sake of accepting her betrothal, and being pleased with what pleases him, in front of two [legally] fit witnesses—[and the father has received] the wedding ring, and the ten dinars in cash from the sum of the advance money. It was decided that the bride would depart with him to . . . and would live with him in al-Maḥalla al-Kubra. And the groom has no stipulations concerning her dowry at all. And the groom accepted upon himself that [he would consider] Sitt al-Kull reliable with regard to her speech, house, ketubah, and her dealings concerning everything and regarding everything. [He accepted this] upon himself and upon all his heirs in front of two [legally] fit, reliable witnesses; and there is no oath against him at all, not even an unspecified ban. If he requests cancellation of the marriage before entering [the wedding canopy], the ten dinars that he has now paid in advance to the girl will be considered as a gift to her from this moment, and they include the four dinars and the one-sixth. Her father took upon himself that if he were to request cancellation of [the marriage] before entering [the wedding canopy], he would have to return the ten dinars that he has received now, and he would have to pay to the groom ten dinars in addition to these from his property, expressly stating that it is a “gift from this moment.”

And we, the undersigned witnesses, performed the qinyan [binding agreement] ceremony with Moses, the groom, and Eli, the father of the bride, her representative, [obligating] each of them to comply with everything that applies to him, by a completely performed and strict qinyan, using an object that is appropriate for the qinyan ceremony, from this moment, with the cancellation of every [possible] declaration of protest, and [the cancellation of] every stipulation and testimony. We have written it down and have signed it, in order to produce a legal proof, and this was on the night of the first day [Sunday], on the 2nd of Marḥeshvan, in the year 1443 according to the Era of the Documents [1131], in Fustāt-Misr, which lies on the banks of the Nile. [Under the] authority of our master, Matsliaḥ ha-Kohen, head of the academy of the Pride of Jacob, may his ministration be strong and established forever!

Nathan ha-Kohen ben Solomon ha-Kohen

Ḥalfon ha-Levi ben Manasseh

Joseph ben Job ha-Levi

Marḥeshvan, 1443

Source: CUL T-S 8J17.9, fols. 1r–2r.