Letter: T-S 12.478

Letter T-S 12.478

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Description

Original use: Letter or petition in Arabic script, mentioning the caliph, witnesses, a document (wathīqa), and a legal or political conflict. The Arabic hand also seems in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya (c/f. CUL Or. 1080 J7, could also be in the same Arabic hand on T-S AS 149.39). The sender/petitioner is a tax farmer (ḍāmin) and requests to look into his affair "al-inʿām ʿalayya bi l-naḍr (=l-naẓr) fī amrī." He mentions reporting something directly to the caliph "wa-ashuftu ḥāluhu ilā l-ḥaḍra." Reuse: Probably a Hebrew letter, in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya, discussing a document that may or may not have been in the handwriting of a Gaon, and his quarrel with someone who was wrongly trying to take money from the fund for the orphans. Needs further examination.