Letter: T-S 8J17.1

Description

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a contact in Fustat. He heard that al-Shaykh al-Yesod would like to spend Shabbat in Fustat, and the addressee is to look after him. There is an air of secrecy, however. "Tell him that I am a member of the family (min dhurriyatikum), and if he asks you about the family (al-dhurriya), tell him there are no news." (Perhaps referring to a waqf dhurriya i.e. family trust? or simply to a regular inheritance?). The specifics of the matter are obscure. Moshe also writes that the Shaykh Sajjāʿ al-Dīn (‘the poet’) apprehended him and said, 'What is that feeble old man doing to you? Let me put him in order (?)." Sajjāʿ al-Din apparently refers to the writer's brother, Abū Isḥāq. Moshe reiterates what the party line should be if either al-Yesod or Sajjāʿ al-Din bring up the matter of an inheritance with the recipient. EMS. ASE.