Testament (Skopje)

Whereas it is true and certain that the Lady Simcha—may she be blessed above women in the tent—daughter of the honorable and exalted R. Hefetz Conforte—may his soul repose in Paradise—summoned us, the undersigned bet din, and we, the undersigned court, went on the first day of the month of Adar, the thirtieth day of the previous month, and found her sick and laid out on her bed—a sickbed—and we questioned her comprehensively and she responded both affirmatively and negatively as appropriate, and all her words and speech were like other people’s who are healthy and of sound mind, and she said to us, the court, that she feels herself to be at the highpoint of her illness and wishes to make a will by reason of impending death, and she said to us as follows, “I request you, righteous court, be witnesses to my will, and I affirm before you today, with immediate effect, that there be given out of all my assets, from my marriage settlement deed and from all I possess under all the heavens, firstly to my daughters one silver madrish and one cloak only, and nothing more, by way of unconditional inheritance that I have designated for them. All this shall be given to my daughters as an unconditional inheritance. And I further desire in any event that there be given to the Holy Community “the House of Jacob” as an unconditional gift one hundred [ . . . ] and I have designated them as from today as an unconditional gift to the aforesaid Holy Community; and I further desire in any event and designate funds that are likewise to be given as a joint unconditional gift to my brother R. Aaron Conforte and to my young brother, the honorable R. Abraham Conforte . . . one hundred handfuls of grush coins as an unconditional gift, fifty grush coins to each . . . and I further desire in any event that there be given to the scribe, Ḥakham Moses Finia as an unconditional gift one white silk garment; and I further desire and designate funds that there be given to the exalted ḥakham, the sweet singer of Israel, R. Isaac Finia, one pair of madrish of the large type of silver coins as an unconditional gift; and I further desire and designate funds that there be given to the teachers of the Talmud Torah—one shirt to each of them, that is, three shirts for the three teachers—as an unconditional gift; and I further desire in any event and designate that there be given to the wife of my father, the Lady Anbatiya—may she be blessed above women—whatever remains of my assets, whether money or money’s worth or anything else from a thread to a shoe-latchet, all shall be hers as an unconditional gift. I have given everything to her, and no one, either great or small, or any person the world over shall be permitted to protest—neither an individual nor the public—to oppose or object to the entirety of this my will in any circumstances, either wholly or partially, for I have given to them—to each individual—whatsoever I wished of my own free will and wholeheartedly as an unconditional gift, and nothing remains for my heirs and those claiming through me to inherit out of my entire will besides what I have designated for them to inherit—only one pair of madrish and one cloak as aforesaid. This was what was willed and what we, the undersigned bet din, heard from the mouth of the testatrix, the Lady Simcha, and we have accordingly recorded all of the aforementioned with full clarity, and so that it stand as a true record, we have signed our names here at Skopje as evidence, entitlement, and proof. And this was executed on the first day of Adar, i.e., the thirtieth day of the previous month, in the year 5490 from the Creation. And all is true, fit, sound and established.