Letter: T-S 6J4.20

Description

Letter from a woman, in an unknown location, to her brother ʿAṭiyya b. Yehuda b. Sulaymān and to her widowed sister’s son Manṣūr b. Avraham, in the square of the perfumers, probably Fustat. (The two addressees—nephew and brother—evidently live together.) In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dating: Perhaps 12th century. She describes her distress—crying, fasting, blind (probably with tears), sitting in the corner, fire in the heart—ever since the nephew departed and she learned he was sick. She exhorts him not to worry or take on mental suffering (hamm), because that would be dangerous in his state. Then she switches to addressing her brother, whom she exhorts “by our upbringing and the breast which we suckled, do not neglect my nephew Manṣūr, for he is the one who protected me... he and his brother. Write me a response to this letter and cool my heart from the severity of its fire, for if you were to see me, you would not recognize me from my worry and distress.... I have sworn not to break my fast until you write me the response to this letter. And peace.” (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE