A legal decision concerning a monetary dispute between a husband and wife which was adjudicated in non-Jewish court ("erka'oth shel goyim")

ATTAR, JUDAH IBN

Morocco

17th-18th Century

Autograph manuscript signed. North African cursive Hebrew script. Two hands: Lines 5-10 in hand of R. Judah ibn Attar; lines 1-5 in a different hand. R. Judah ibn Attar’s signature with elaborate Sephardic monogram

R. Judah ibn Attar (1655-1733), preeminent Moroccan halachist, was known by the sobriquet "Rabbi al-Kabbir" ("the great teacher"). A native of Fez, he spent most of his life there, but for a brief stint in Meknes (1701-1704), where he fled to escape persecution. Despite his honored position as Av Beth Din, he refused to accept remuneration, supporting himself as a jeweler. Moroccan Jewry reveres his memory, attributing to him numerous miracles and wonders, his tomb in Fez may still be visited. Some of R. Judah ibn Attar’s many responsa were published in Mishpat u-Tzedakah be-Ya'akov by his disciple R. Jacob Abensur [Ya'abetz] (1894; 1903). He also composed a commentary on the Pentateuch, Minchath Yehudah (Meknes, 1940). Unfortunately, many of his responsa were lost. See EJ, Vol. III, cols. 835-836 and J. Ben-Naïm, Malkei Rabbanan (1931), ff. 46-50. R. Judah ibn Attar was a member of the same extended family as R. Chaim ibn Attar (1696-1743), the famed author of the "Ohr ha-Chaim" commentary to the Pentateuch. According to Chassidic lore, it was the fondest desire of R. Israel Ba'al Shem Tov to meet the holy "Ohr ha-Chaim." It is said, had those two great luminaries met, the Messiah's arrival would have been imminently certain