Letter: Bodl. MS heb. f 56/130

Letter Bodl. MS heb. f 56/130

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Input date

In PGP since 2017

Description

Fragment of a report on measures taken to save pious foundations from the rapacity of the finance minister, known as 'the Monk'' (active 1127-1129). (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 425, 426, 588)

Bodl. MS heb. f 56/130 130 recto

130 recto

Transcription

S. D. Goitein, unpublished editions.

Translation

Moshe Gil, Documents of the Jewish Pious Foundations from the Cairo Geniza (Leiden: Brill, 1976).

Bodl. MS heb. f 56/130 130 verso

130 verso

Verso

  1. that is the year when they dispossessed people he found it proper, 

  2. most probably after having consulted our Master ha-Me‘ullē, 

  3. of blessed memory, that this half (of Dār Nāqa) should be acquired for al-ʿAniyīm for this 

  4. sum. So he went to the scribe and insisted 

  5. that he should write in the declaration 

  6. that this money had been received by him 

  7. from b....., and that he ordered him to use it for the poor of the 

  8. Jews. So the scribe wrote as he asked, but did not 

  9. apply his mind to the words he wrote, since he understood 

  10. that the aim desired by him, namely to acquire it for al-ʿAniyīm 

  11. had already been attained. This was an excellent idea 

  12. since this way he was sure that al-Kōmer would not discover 

  13. that there was money deposited with him for the poor of the Jews 

  14. with which to purchase a property, so as to send somebody and seize it 

  15. from him, just as he seized the 300 dinars that 

  16. were deposited with al-Me‘ullē, of blessed memory, for b. Shuwayʿ.

 

  1. והי סנה מצאדרתהם ללנאס ראי מן אלדא
  2. לא שך בעד משאורה רבינו המעולה
  3. זל אן יחצל הדא אלנצף ללעניים בהדא
  4. אלמבלג פצא אלוראק אקתרח
  5. עליה באן יכתב פי אלכתאב אקראר
  6. באן הדה אלדנאניר כאן קד תסלמהא
  7. מן ב. .כם ואמרה בצרפהא ל/צ/עפי אל
  8. יהוד פיכתב אלוראק כמא אראד ולם
  9. יתאמל אללפט אלדי כתבה למא עלם
  10. אן אלגרץ אלמטלוב פי תחצלהא ללעניים
  11. קד תם וכאן דלך מן אצוב אלארא
  12. ודלך אנה אמן מן אן יסמע אלכומר
  13. אן ענדה דנאניר מודועה לצעפא אליה[וד
  14. ישתרא להם בהא מלך פינפד יאכדה[א
  15. מנה כמא אכד אלש מאיה דינאר אלת[י
  16. כאנת מודועה ענד אלמעולה זל לבן
  17. שויע

Recto

  1. (They were) known as people who fear God, may He be exalted. So after having 

  2. read this will as granted by the owner 

  3. of the property himself, according to the Jewish laws, we relied 

  4. (4-5) upon it and made it an ordinary waqf for the poor, as our Sages, of blessed memory, said: There is a commandment 

  5.  
  6. (6-7) to fulfill the words of the deceased. So it was not an arbitrary act of al-Shaykh Abūʾl-Faraj b. Qusāsā to 

  7.  
  8. write as he did in the declaration, since he was, 

  9. may he be of blessed memory, a God-fearing person, a righteous man, 

  10. a man of charity for the poor and the students of 

  11. the Torah. It only appears from the case 

  12. that this money was deposited with him 

  13. by our Master ha-Meʿullē, of blessed memory, until some property would become available, 

  14. to be purchased with (this money). But as there occurred the accession of al- Kōmer, 

  15. (15-16) may his bones be pulverized! - since the date of the declaration is the year 521 

  16.  

 

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