Legal document: T-S NS J401m + T-S NS J401k

Description

Petition filed by a woman asking the help of the community since her husband did not return from his travels. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Two fragments (separate documents) regarding the same matter. Date not preserved. The woman brought her case before the court asking for an allowance in order to provide herself with living expenses. Her arguments were as follows: her husband left her for a short time and did not intend to spend the winter away from home; however, by that time he had already been absent more than six months. In order to support herself, she had had to sell whatever remained of her dowry. Even when he is present, he is abusive. Her request of the court was two-fold: a. as mentioned above, to fix her an allowance for living expenses, and b. to confirm in a recorded document that all that she was obliged to sell in order to survive should be regarded as due her from her husband. This latter request was immediately met; but a decision on the former request was delayed, with the hope that the husband would soon return. Because the husband delayed his return, and she repeated her requests for help, it was decided to grant the woman an allowance on a temporary basis. It seems that she was one of the notables of the city and she was not even deprived of her servants who were also taken into account when the amount of the allowance was determined. No signatures are extant. (Information from Gershon Weiss.)