Marriage Contract. Solemnizes marriage of Moses ben Judah ben Moses Amzalak to Esther bat Solomon ben Judah Benoliel. Signature of groom.

A Kethubah of another member of the Lisboan branch of the Amzalak Family (who settled in Bahia, Brazil) was sold by Kestenbaum & Company, Sale 44, Lot 284. Despite the notorious Expulsion at the close of the 15th-century, from the 18th-century and on, certain Jews from Morocco and Gibraltar were discretely permitted to visit Portugal for commercial purposes. The Inquisition which dealt with the heresy of baptised Jews (new-Christians) was officially dissolved after the defeat of the French in 1821. Even so, in 1810 there were already some 500 Jews in Portugal, many with English nationality, originally from Gibraltar and also from Morocco (Tetuan, Ceuta, Tanger, Mogador). The first (private) Synagogue in Lisbon was founded in 1813, an official Synagogue was built in the capital only in 1902. It is unlikely a Kethubah was issued in Portugal prior to 1800, indeed none are noted in Abecassis' Jewish Genealogy: Portugal and Gibraltar (Lisbon, 1991). (With appreciation to Dr. R. Bachmann of Lisbon for his scholarly advice)