رسالة: T-S 10J17.4

Recto

1. In God’s name. His servant Joseph b. ʿAllān {read: ʿIwāḍ}, the Alexandrian kisses the earth before the lofty seat of his illustrious lordship

2. R. Ḥananel, the wise and the discerning, son of his honor, great and holy master

3. and lord, Samuel the esteemed elder, the munificent and the noble—may his end surpass

4. his beginning and may his days last until he sees your living male

5. child And may He render your praise good in this world and the next world!

6. This is to inform you that I am from a well-to-do family and that my father was one of the India

7. travelers. God had bestowed upon us {alt. tr.: them} His grace. My lord your father is acquainted with

8. my father and my brother Futūḥ, who recently traveled to Yemen

9. and died on the ship. Sheikh Maḍmūn took his possessions

10. and sent them to his heirs in Alexandria. He (Futūḥ) had previously willed me something,

11. when he set out on his journey. That is, should his appointed time overtake him, something would be given to me

12. from his estate. But the document was not written according to legal procedure,

13. because the two of us were in a wine party. I, your servant, went up

14. to his excellency our lord—may his grandeur increase!—and complained to him.

15. He wrote a number of letters to the congregation about me, in order that I might

16. get something to support my family, which has in it nine

17. People. In short, I am now in a state of hunger and thirst

18. and naked and lacking everything. I ask God and you

19. to give me a thawb (robe), with which I can enter the synagogue and hear ‘Holy’

20. and ‘Blessed,’ for the sake of Dear God, after (I had) niṣāfī and sābūrī

Recto, right margin

and mutakhkhat May you be saved from a reverse of fate! May your well-being increase!

Recto

I(n the name of the) M(erciful) Your slave Joseph b. ʿAllān

the Alexandrian 

kisses the ground before the [l]ofty, most illustrious seat of the master R. Ḥananel the wise and discerning, son of his honor, greatness and holiness (our) ma(ster) and t(eacher) Samuel the precious elder, the munificent benefactor, may his end be better than his beginning and may he live a long life to see living offspring from you, and may He make your own reputation a good one in this world and the next. 

I inform you that I am from a good family. My father is one of the India traders, and God favored us. Your father knows my father and brother Futūḥ, who recently went on a journey to Yemen and died on shipboard. The elder Maḍmūn took his money and transferred it to his heirs in the port (Alexandria). When he (my brother) was setting out on his travels he made a bequest of something to me, if his time should come, namely, that I should be paid something out of his estate. But no docum[ent] to t[h]is effect was properly executed and recorded, for we were drinking at the time. Your slave went up (to Fustat) to appeal to his excellency our lord, may his glory be exalted. The latter wrote a number of letters to the community on my account, hoping I would be provided with something to take back to support my family, which consists of nine souls. 

Now that I am starving and thirsty and without clothing or anything else, I ask God and you to "cover" me with a robe so I can enter the synagogue to hear "Kadosh" and "Barukh" in the presence of the noble God, having in the past been used to wearing "niṣāfī" and "ṣābūrī" and "mutakhkhat." May He save me from a cycle (of misfortune). And may your welfare increase.