Handwritten leaf, document of sale of ownership of a courtyard. Tunisia, 1789-1835.

Large-format leaf, in Western cursive script.

The document mentions the dayan R. Natan Borgel (a leading Tunisian rabbi, author of Chok Natan) as the one who mortgaged the property to R. Eliyahu Lousada.

The document itself is dated Tishrei 1789, and is signed by witnesses. A confirmation on the margins is signed by the Portuguese community Beit Din of Tunis, with signatures of the members of the Beit Din, rabbis of the Portuguese community in Tunisia: R. Yitzchak son of R. David Alhayk, R. Avraham Abukara and R. Daniel Franko.

An added confirmation dated Shevat 1835 attests that the payment had been made in Iyar 1790, with calligraphic signatures of "Mordechai Darmon" (scribe of the Tunis Beit Din) and another witness (undeciphered).

R. Yitzchak Alhayk was the Rabbi of the Portuguese (Grana) community of Tunis (succeeding his father-in-law R. Mordechai Baruch Carvalho, d. 1785 in a plague; R. Yitzchak published his father-in-law's Meira Dachya, Livorno 1792). He officiated in Tunis until his passing in 1802, and was succeeded by R. Avraham Abukara, the second signatory of the document. R. Avraham Abukara the first ("HaGadol") passed away in 1818, and was succeeded by R. Daniel Franko, the third signatory of the document, until his passing in 1820.

[1] double leaf. 43 cm. Fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Tears and defects, affecting several words. Folding marks.