Composite manuscript: Hebrew letters to the Jewish court of Paris by Pinchas Michael Abdallah (Gaster Hebrew MS 1207)

to establish seed for the death of God, as it is written in the Book of Genesis, in the portion of Vayeshev And He Dwelt, chapter 38, verse 10: "And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord slew him." Verse 9: "And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground," etc. Verse 10: "And the thing which he did was evil in the sight of the Lord; and He slew him also." And behold, it is known that this matter was before the giving of the Torah. From it we learn [that] any man who comes upon a woman not for the purpose of establishing seed is considered as if he came upon a kedeshah cult prostitute/harlot. And also the act of Judah will prove [this] to them. Before the giving of the Torah, they were careful against harlotry after the flood, as it is written in the mentioned portion, verse 23: "And Judah said, 'Let her take it, lest we be shamed; behold, I sent this kid, and you have not found [her],'" etc. However, the intention of Tamar was not for harlotry, God forbid, as it is written there in verse 14: "And she took off her widow's garments, and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself," etc., because she saw that Shelah had grown, and he did not give him to her as a wife. And therefore she acted with her wisdom to establish seed from the act of Judah, our father Abraham, so that she would merit seed in all the promises that God promised him for the future to do for his seed after him. And had she kept the pledge as testimony and evidence in her hand, she would have been burned. And if it were not severe to Him that the Torah was not yet given, we find ourselves learning that any man who designates for himself a woman [so as] not to have pregnancy, she is a kedeshah. As it is written in the Book of Deuteronomy, which Moses our teacher explained—all the laws and judgments of the Torah—and called them Mishneh Torah Repetition of the Law. And see in the portion of Ki Tetzei When You Go Out, chapter 23, verse 18: "There shall be no kedeshah of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a kadesh of the sons of Israel." We find that the Oral Torah speaks always in condemnation of these nations who are not of the covenant, and the Torah of forbidden sexual relations is strict. And it itself performs the act of Zimri and seeks reward like Phinehas. It adorns itself at first; afterwards it will have the opportunity to rebuke