Letter: T-S 8J19.29

Description

Letter from Yosef, in Tripoli, Libya, to his mother, probably in Fustat. Although the address reads "from your son Yosef," the letter is written in the voice of an older woman who defends herself against the addressee's blame for not looking after Yosef properly and for not marrying him to her own daughter. The writer describes a form of temporary marriage that Yosef contracted with an orphan girl. “He fell ill (maraḍa), and his illnss intensified (ishtadda wajʿuhu), and he had no one to attend to him. Thus he saw fit to take a young orphan girl to attend to him, and he married her on the condition that if he wished to be free to move back to his country, he would write her a bill of divorce.” The letter further reports that the wife gave birth to a boy who died. The writer adds that she herself was sick during these events (and thus could hardly be blamed for not intervening). See Eve Krakowski, “Female adolescence in the Cairo Geniza documents,” PhD diss., The University of Chicago, 2012, 68; and S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 3:306, 494. EMS. ASE.