Letter: T-S AS 161.187

Description

Part of an official/communal letter. Opens with blessings in Hebrew, then changes to Judaeo-Arabic for the body. Moderately wide spaces between the lines. It begins as a letter of recommendation on behalf of the bearer, Furayj b. Abū l-Faḍl, who has been on the run for 5 years due to the capitation tax (hārib min al-jāliya). The community sending this letter describes how they help the numerous poor and needy people who have descended upon them, "and we bear their burden for you (pl.)"—apparently implying that the receiving community should do more. The last line refers tantalizingly to "the arrival of a group of foreigners, arriving to us from the [...] [...]." (Information in part from CUDL)