Sharing a house was dangerous. Whoever lived under the same roof would see what was cooked on Friday, who did not eat on fast days and who prayed before dawn.
So a simple lease could be something more. One file records how one was agreed: the owner was told he «could well rent them the rooms without fearing them, and they would not fear him either… and that way both sides could do anything at all without fear».
Behind the bargaining over a few rooms lay a pact between observant Jews: we will not be alarmed by what we see, and you will not be alarmed by what we do.
That pact ended up recorded in a heresy trial, like almost everything else. On Sagell Street, even a rental agreement could end up before the tribunal.
