Letter: T-S 12.329 + T-S Ar.48.136

Description

Letter from Yosef b. Araḥ to Abū l-Faḍāʾil b. ʿAmram In Judaeo-Arabic. See also T-S 13J20.8, a letter from Yosef to ("the Talmid") Netanel b. Amram (possibly the same recipient as here?). Yosef can hardly contain his amazement and dismay at what Abū l-Faḍāʾil has done with the garment, and how he must not have received Yosef's last two letters, or must not have read them properly, and how he went ahead and had the garment cut. He says nothing so grievous has ever happened before, and it might be expected from a young person, but not from an elder "who has spoken with the foundations of the world" (? wa-taḥaddath maʿa yesodei ʿolam.) There is other specialized vocabulary of the textile industry here as well. In the upper margin of recto Yosef defends himself against Abū l-Faḍāʾil's accusation of messing up a deal involving Abū Saʿīd. He sends his regards to Abū l-Faḍl and Menaḥem and Natan and Yehuda. He also encloses a letter from Ṭoviyya to Natan that he had forgotten about until now, and adds his own good wishes for the holidays, as well as his own request that Natan obtain two dirhams' worth of myrtle (? marsīn) from the Parnas or from someone else (for Sukkot?) and send them with anyone, whether a Jew or a trustworthy Muslim, or even the captain of the boat. Join: Alan Elbaum.