Letter: ENA 2808.28

Description

Lower fragment: Letter from an unidentified man, in Damascus, to a female family member, in Egypt. In Judaeo-Arabic. On recto, there are elaborate instructions for where to send the letter of condolence upon the death of the sender's father: "to Bilbays (אבלביס!), to the ḥaver Abū l-Waḥsh, who should deliver it to Damascus, to Suq al-Ṣāgha (סוק אלסארה(!)), to Makārim b. Ibrāhīm al-ʿAjamī or to Surūr. Explain in it all that has happened to you (or maybe: all that came over you (from grief)). And greet Abū l-Bahāʾ b. al-Muʿallim and his father. On verso (which seems to be written in the same hand, but the ink and the size of the letters look different), the sender again mentions Abū l-Waḥsh al-Ḥaver (spelled both אבו אלוחש and אבו אלוחס); 15 dirhams; something about the holiday and the journey 'to here'; and that he has sent her 1 Egyptian dinar which Abū l-Waḥsh will forward to her.