Legal document: T-S J2.78

Description

There are several distinct items on this fragment, all but one in the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. (I) The main text block was edited by Goitein as a "draft of a document of Maimonides' installation as Head of the Jews (Raʾīs al-Yahūd)." On his index card he notes, "this leaf was perhaps intended only as a cover for the document, which is perhaps lengthy." There are some remaining difficulties, as the first word cannot be Goitein's גרץ (looks most like כסר, but דכר would be more typical), and there may be another word in the lacuna at the end of l. 2. In any case, this item somehow connects "this court ledger" (hādha l-shimmush) to the headship (riyāsa) of Maimonides (Moshe ha-Rav ha-Gadol. . . b. Maymūn b. Yosef b. Yiṣḥaq). (II) At upper left and in the upper margin, in the hand of Shemuel b. Saʿadya ha-Levi, there are jottings of communal accounts. "In the hand of al-Neʾeman. . . covering. . . the total: 40. . . and for the pay (rawātib) of. . . the total: 158 less [. . .]." On verso, there are two draft entries for legal cases: (III) Something relating to a lawsuit between [...] bt. Muwaffaq the freedman (ha-meshuḥrar) and [...] b. Maʿālī who is presumably her husband; alimony (mezonot); her ketubba; and "a complete geṭ." A daughter of Muwaffaq the freedman appears also in T-S 10J2.15 (PGPID 7757). (IV) Something to do with al-Nadiv and monthly rent payments for a certain house. Quite difficult to read.