Letter: CUL Or.1080 J123

Description

Informal notes in Judaeo-Arabic. Recto: Possibly from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. The writer asks the addressee to write a note to R. Ḥananel regarding the writer's plan to come into Fustat today to see him as well as the writer's wife. He writes, "By the Covenant, I do not want to go to Gehennom, for most slaughterers are in Gehennom, as they (the rabbis) also said, 'The best of slaughterers go down to Gehennom.'" (This is a slight misquotation of BT Kiddushin 82a, exchanging the negative maxims about physicians and slaughterers). Goitein suggests that the writer is seeking a recommendation to be appointed as a slaughterer, although he hated the profession; Goitein may have succeeded in reading more of the text, but perhaps the writer is rather trying to avoid such an appointment. Verso: The response, instructing the addressee to wait a day before coming into Fustat, because the distinguished person (presumably R. Ḥananel) has agreed to meet with the writer today. So the addressee should await further instruction. Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.