Letter: T-S 10J12.1

Letter T-S 10J12.1

Tags

Input date

In PGP since 2004

Description

Letter from a physician to his uncle. Tells the writer's sad story, which involved the death of his beloved wife, an unfortunate second marriage, and his eventual flight. The writer asks his uncle to give his son the family bible. (Edited, translated, and analyzed at length in Oded Zinger's dissertation, chapter 5 and document #10.)

T-S 10J12.1 1r

1r

Transcription

S. D. Goitein, unpublished editions.

Recto:

  1. בשמ רחמ
  2. כתאבי אלי ואלדי ואעז אלכלק עלי והו ענדי אלואלד עוץ אלואלד //חתי//
  3. אן מא מנהא וקת מן אלאוקאת יבלגני מנך תדכאר אלא וכאני
  4. ראית וגהך פאללה יגמע בך אלשמל קבל מפארקתנא הדה אלדניא
  5. ואמא סבב כוני לם אכתב לך פי כל וקת אקצאד לסבבין אחדהם
  6. תראדף אמור אלזמאן ותגייראתה חתי לא יגתם קלבך פצלה
  7. עלי חאלך ואלודה במא דא יכוך תוריתי פי חקך ומן גמלתה אן
  8. ממלוכך צח פי מא קאלה אללה לנביה בן אדם הנני לוקח ממך
  9. את מחמד עיניך במגפה ויהי דבר ייי אלי בבוקר ותמת אשתי
  10. בערב פלמא חכם עלי כדא תחירת לאנהא כאנת לי מעיר ל
  11. לעזור וכלפת לי הדא אלצגיר בן ג סנין פאחתגת פיה ללנאס
  12. בעד //ת//דלל וגמע שמל פמא כרגת בעד יח יום מנכרצה(!) ואנא
  13. וארבעה מן אלטב ענדי אכראם לי אלי אן נאבני נפקה וכסוה
  14. כפן וגנאיה וקבול וכאנת עזיזה אהלהא ואלבלד יב דינאר
  15. ובין מא קצינא חקהא ורגענא וגדנא כל מא פי אלבית חמל
  16. פדרית דא גמיעה עלי נפסי בעד אקאמתי עזב סנה וג סנין
  17. מריץ פאפתקרת מן גמיע מא אמלה פקדר אללה אנני דכלת
  18. אלי אלמחלה אגתמעת בבן סברא אלדי הם אליום אצהארי ליאכד
  19. ראיה פי מרצי פתחדתנא פי אמר הדא אלמרה וכאן אלרזק
  20. מקדר עלי פדכלת בהא לוגוה אן שתא אחדהא כונהם אצחאב
  21. סתרה וג/ה/אה ועלם טב ואלאכרא אמלת אן יתרבא ולדי ולא
  22. אחתאג ללנאס ואלאכרי כוני קראת עליה מא כאן אקדר עליה
  23. מן גירה לאנה צעב עלי הדא אלעלם עלי כבר ועול בית ומלכות
  24. וכאן אלקום קד אעתקדו אן בקי מעי בקיה וכאן אלזמאן אכלאני ומא
  25. כאן בידי פלחקהא נדם פאכדת אן תרפע מן אלבית קטעה בעד
  26. אכרי אלי אן אכלת אלבית וכאן מקדארה מאיה וכמסין דינאר
  27. פלמא אסתרדתה פקלת להא אנזלי ען מוכרך פאבת והי
  28. פ דינאר פגצבת ואכרגת ולדי מן ענדהם אעדתה אלי אהלה
  29. והגרתהם מדה סנתין פי מניה גמר ואסכנדריה ואלבחירה
  30. פקצי אן רכבני ואחד אלי אביאר וכאן אלשיך קד אכרג אלי
  31. בו אלהיגא אלסמין בלקרב

Translation

Oded Zinger, "Women, Gender and Law: Marital Disputes According to Documents of the Cairo Geniza" (PhD diss., n.p., 2014).

Recto

  1. In (Your) Name, Merci(ful),

  2. My letter to my father, dearest to me of all people. You are to me the father substituting for (my) father to the point that 

  3. there is not a single time that a letter reaches me from you, without it being as if I am

  4. seeing your face. May God unite us before our parting from this world.

  5. And as for the reason why I have not been writing to you regularly, it boils down to two reasons. The first 

  6. is the onslaught of fate and its vicissitudes, (with which I do not bother you) so that your heart will not be grieved, let alone 

  7. your health. (The second reason is) the hiding of my inheritance in your property. In short, 

  8. your slave substantiates what God said to his prophet: “O, mortal, I am about to take away from you 

  9. the delight of your eyes through pestilence and the word of the Lord came to me in the morning and 

  10. in the evening my wife died” (Ezekiel 24:15-18). When it was thus decreed upon me, I became perplexed because she was to me a “support 

  11. from the town” (Samuel II 18:3). She left behind for me this three year old boy and I became dependent on people on his account 

  12. after the humiliation and the reuniting (with him?). As soon as I left the town after 18 days, mute (from grief), I 

  13. and four other physicians (who came in) my honor, I was overtaken by expenses, for cloths, 

  14. for shrouds, burial and reception. For she was dear to her people and the town, 12 dinars! 

  15. While we were settling her property, we returned and found that everything in the house was carried away 

  16. and I had to return everything myself. After I was single for one year and sick for three years, 

  17. I lost everything I had. God decreed that I entered 

  18. al-Maḥalla and met Ibn Sabra, (who) are today my in-laws, to obtain his 

  19. opinion on my illness. We spoke about the matter of this woman and agreed that the maintenance 

  20. would be on me. I married her for various reasons: one of which was their 

  21. respectability, dignity and knowledge of medicine. The other reason is that I wanted my child to be well brought up and that I would not 

  22. be dependent on people. The other reason is that I have (already) studied from his excellence all that I could. 

  23. For this knowledge (of medicine) is difficult for me due to (my) old age and the yoke of house and kingship.

  24. Her family believed that I (still) had with me a remainder (of my wealth). However, fate had destroyed me and what 

  25. was in my hand. Thus, remorse seized her and she started lifting from the house one item after

  26.  another until she emptied the house to an amount of one hundred and fifty dinars.

  27. When I demanded its return, I told her “renounce your delayed marriage payment” but she refused and it amounted to 

  28. twenty dinars. I became angry and removed my child from them and returned him to his family. 

  29. I kept away from them for two years in Minyat Ghamr, Alexandria and in the Buḥayra province.

  30. It was decreed that someone gave me a lift to Abyār. The Sheikh had sent 

  31. Abū al-Hayjāʾ al-Samīn towards 

 

Recto, right margin

  1. me so send me his income. I had, in my own hand, a legal opinion (fatwā) from the Rayyis, R. Moses, that it is she who is rebellious, I do not 

  2. owe her anything! While I was away, she gave birth to a girl of mine. The girl grew and she weaned her, while I was away. I went back to al- Maḥalla 

  3. and we went to court. The telling of it all would take too long. (In the end,) she brought back all the household items while I returned the boy. Between one thing and another, in this situation, I spent out of my 

  4. hand, from what money I attained, 15 dinars. They did this, easing my heart for a few days. However, they returned to taking out (of the house) item after item and selling them.

 

T-S 10J12.1 1v

1v

Recto, margin:

מני אבעת דכלו בי וכאן בידי אנא פתוא מן אלריס רבי משה אנהא חי בעלת המרדות לא ילזמני להא שי ופי גיבתי ולדת לי טפלה וכברת ופטמתהא ואנא גאיב פדכלת אלי אלמחלה ואח ואחתכמנא וטאל אלשרח אלי אן אעאדת גמיע אלקמאש ורדית ולדי ובין דא ודא כרג פי אלחאל

מו

ידי מא כאן חצלי דינאר יה פפעלו דלך ענדה לקלבי איאם יסירה ורגעו יפרגו קטעה קטעה

יביעוהא

Verso

  1. My life worsened further. She was arrogant to me through this boy of mine and the baby girl 

  2. that I maintained, with the poll tax that I had to pay. My livelihood in al-Maḥalla dwindled. 

  3. I became irritated (lit. my chest tightened) as my fortunes with women turned upside down. For I used to gaze at a wife (lit. a house) who had no equal 

  4. at all, whereas this kind of wife is unfit for a friend or an enemy.

  5. I entered the little one into a kuttāb because he is seven years old today. I do not have with me a 

  6. bible. Because of that reason I told you about, if you have something with you from 

  7. the days of the deceased, M(ay his) M(emory be blessed), that will show his (i.e. the writer’s seven year old son) favor with you, give it as a present to Abu’l-Hasan (i.e. the writerʼs son). For he is (like) your own son to the point that he 

  8. asks me for you and always says to me “my lord, show me my uncle!” I did not know 

  9. anything afflicted you until Abū’l-Surūr met me and told me what happened 

  10. to you with Yaḥya, the Elder, may he be remembered for his evil deeds by the divine law whose 

  11. power we all know. It saddened me, as whenever something is revealed about one of us, and especially you! May God, the exalted, punish him and may he not shame us by his reputation 

  12.  
  13. more than already took place. What happened to you with him will have no effect. Moreover, you will go 

  14. with him to the military commander, (let) someone else punish him! And now, my uncle, I do not 

  15. have any other pain that you (would) want to see, more than this matter. I am 

  16. in a state of fear regarding these people (i.e. the Ibn Sabra family) for I want to raise him and how will God help me 

  17. to be free from them? For they have made me grow old before my time! How I threw 

  18. myself down like a camel! I did not rush to Fustat to procure in it what I want, 

  19. instead, I have taken from the countryside the things I needed like “Harvest is past etc” (Jeremiah 8:20). I ask from 

  20. your kindness that you will not inform him of my situation nor where I am. For if it reaches (him), he will 

  21. attain shame among Jews. These people and I are in

  22.  such a situation! So strive to remove about me the wrong opinions. I also sent a letter to 

  23. inform my first in-laws that they should not inform him where I am. Send me (a letter) 

  24. informing me what happens with him, whether he is in the city or outside of it. Perhaps 

  25. he would encounter on the road what others encountered and we will not be picky. 

  26. In short, (tell me) everything that happens to him for he is my link to (what) I had in my previous life: he and his mother.

  27. with them (i.e. the Ibn Sabra family) are fifty dinars. They did not inform me of what is with them at all. Nor did they acknowledge to me 

  28. anything. While I carried them (on my expense) as if they were guests! The old 

  29. and the young treated them with honor out of respect to me. After that she joined him, obeyed him 

  30. and went behind him. A son of Israel buried her, may God attach her 

  31. to Him.

 

Verso, right margin

I am sending you greetings and to the elder Abū’l-Munajjā, send him my greetings and to the elder Abū ʿAlī and your children and their little ones. Praise to the one who decreed this situation as well as what follows for us. God, the exalted, grant what is best. Peace on to you and to all of Israel, Amen.

 

Verso:

  1. פתנכר עישי אכתר ואסתטאלת עלי בלולד אלדי לי ואלטפלה
  2. אלדי רזקתהא מע כון אלדי חצל לי כרג וקלד מעאיש פי אלמחלה
  3. וצאק צדי(!) כיף תעכסת פי נסאיה יכון אבצר בית מן לא יסוא
  4. מגמל וביתי עלי הדה אלצורה לא יצלח לא לצדיק ולא לעדו וכאן
  5. קד דכלת בלצגיר אלכתאב לאן עמרה אליום ז סנין ולם יכון ענדי
  6. מצחף פלאגל הדא אלדי כלמתך אן יכון ענדך שי בין פצלה ענך
  7. מן איאם אלמרחום זל תהדיה לבואלחסן לאנה ולדך חתי אנה
  8. יטלבך מ.. פי כל רקת יקול לי יא מולאי אוריני עמי ולם אעלם אנא
  9. עדרך איש הו חתי אגתמע בי בואלסרור ואחכא לי מא גרי
  10. עליך מן אלשיך יחיי יזכר במעשיו הרעים פי חק אלשרע אלדי
  11. נעלם קדרה לקד גמי עלי כיף יכוך מנא ואחד יצהר מנה דא
  12. ובלכאץ פי חקך פללה תעאלי יענשה ולא יכגלנא בסמעתה
  13. מצאף אלי מא גרי ולקד מא גרי עליך מנה עגז בל כנת תדכל
  14. מעה אלי צאחב אלחרב ישעף בה גירה ואלאן יא עמי אנא מא
  15. כאן לי חרקה תשתהי אן תראה מצאף אלי הדא אלפעל ואנא
  16. מע הולי אלקום עלי וגל לאני אריד אן ארבה וכיף יעינני אללה
  17. עלי אלכלאץ מנהם לאנהם שיכוני קבל חיני וכיף כוני רמית
  18. רוחי מתל אלרכאב ומא נהצת אלי מצר לאנאל פיהא מא אריד
Image Permissions Statement
  • T-S 10J12.1: Provided by Cambridge University Library. Zooming image © Cambridge University Library, All rights reserved. This image may be used in accord with fair use and fair dealing provisions, including teaching and research. If you wish to reproduce it within publications or on the public web, please contact genizah@lib.cam.ac.uk.