Geniza Lab

Legal document in Hebrew. Dated: Monday, 8 Adar I [5293 AM] = 3 February 1533 CE. The specific case was identified by אביחיל מנצורה on FGP in December 2021 as a famous case from the responsa of the time, "the girl from Tripoli." The following summary is based entirely on Shlomo Zalman Havlin, תשובת ר׳ שמואל ב״ר משה הלוי בן חכים / בן חקאן, Yeshurun 31 (2014), 41f. Yāqūta bt. Sulaymān Būza of Tripoli (Libya) was married at the age of 9 to her cousin Pinḥas b. Baʿdās Būza in 1510 CE, a few months before Tripoli was conquered by Spanish forces (who remained there until 1530). Pinḥas was taken captive, and Yāqūta remained an ʿaguna for 12 years. In the meantime, it was rumored that Pinḥas had converted. Yāqūta and some of her family immigrated to Egypt. Around 1522 CE, they approached the court in Cairo and sought to annul her marriage by bringing witnesses to testify that she was married as a minor without the consent of her father. On the basis of these testimonies, R. Moshe al-Ashqar, R. David Ibn Abi Zimra, and R. Shemuel ha-Levi Ḥaqqan/Ḥakim annulled her marriage to Pinḥas, and she remarried and had children over the following years. In 1525, R. Shemuel Ibn Sid obtained new testimonies from Tripolitans who claimed that the marriage had taken place with her father's consent, and therefore her second marriage was invalid. R. Moshe al-Ashqar claimed that Ibn Sid's receipt of testimony was invalid (it was received at night, Yāqūta was not present, there was no cross-examination, the judges were relatives, and the judges were boors and made an error in writing the date)—so he upheld the second marriage. In 1530/31, Yaʿaqov Beirav obtained further testimonies in Gaza and Jerusalem from Tripolitans and held (no later than 1533) that despite the flaws in Ibn Sid's testimonies, indeed there was no coercion in the first marriage, and her second marriage was invalid and her children illegitimate. R. Shemuel Haqqan and R. Moshe al-Ashqar countered this responsum, and Yaʿaqov Beirav countered their counter-responsum. In 1533, R. Moshe al-Ashqar traveled to Jerusalem and obtained additional testimonies from Yaʿaqov Beirav's new witnesses, together with R. Levi Ibn Habib. They were warned in the strongest possible terms to testify truthfully—and they retracted their earlier testimonies. Al-Ashqar returned to Egypt and declared victory, and Yaquta's second marriage was upheld. R. Eliyyahu b. Binyamin ha-Levi of Istanbul also wrote a responsum on the same issue (in support of Yaquta and her second marriage) and sent it to Moshe al-Ashqar. The Geniza fragment preserves only the lower right corner of the document and two signatures, but the details match perfectly: "... on the night of the wedding, that the elder Avraham took her out.... and married her to the aforementioned Pinḥas, on the night of the wedding, against the will of... and it was all against the will of her father and not... and we signed on Monday, the 8th of Adar I...." Based on the calendar date and the day of the week, the year can only be 5293 AM / 1533 CE, which means that this testimony belongs to the final phase of the controversy. It is signed by none other than Moshe Ibn al-Ashqar and Shemuel (Haqqan/Hakim?) ha-Levi. See also T-S NS 180.17, published by Shmuel Glick, Seride Teshuvot of the Ottoman Empire Sages, vol. 3, doc. #8. (Information mainly from Avihayil Mansura, Shlomo Zalman Havlin, Liran Yadgar, and CUDL.) ASE