Scholarship on Letter: T-S 10J12.1

Recto

1. In (Your) Name, Merci(ful),

2. My letter to my father, dearest to me of all people. You are to me the father substituting for (my) father to the point that 

3. there is not a single time that a letter reaches me from you, without it being as if I am

4. seeing your face. May God unite us before our parting from this world.

5. And as for the reason why I have not been writing to you regularly, it boils down to two reasons. The first 

6. is the onslaught of fate and its vicissitudes, (with which I do not bother you) so that your heart will not be grieved, let alone 

7. your health. (The second reason is) the hiding of my inheritance in your property. In short, 

8. your slave substantiates what God said to his prophet: “O, mortal, I am about to take away from you 

9. the delight of your eyes through pestilence and the word of the Lord came to me in the morning and 

10. in the evening my wife died” (Ezekiel 24:15-18). When it was thus decreed upon me, I became perplexed because she was to me a “support 

11. from the town” (Samuel II 18:3). She left behind for me this three year old boy and I became dependent on people on his account 

12. after the humiliation and the reuniting (with him?). As soon as I left the town after 18 days, mute (from grief), I 

13. and four other physicians (who came in) my honor, I was overtaken by expenses, for cloths, 

14. for shrouds, burial and reception. For she was dear to her people and the town, 12 dinars! 

15. While we were settling her property, we returned and found that everything in the house was carried away 

16. and I had to return everything myself. After I was single for one year and sick for three years, 

17. I lost everything I had. God decreed that I entered 

18. al-Maḥalla and met Ibn Sabra, (who) are today my in-laws, to obtain his 

19. opinion on my illness. We spoke about the matter of this woman and agreed that the maintenance 

20. would be on me. I married her for various reasons: one of which was their 

21. respectability, dignity and knowledge of medicine. The other reason is that I wanted my child to be well brought up and that I would not 

22. be dependent on people. The other reason is that I have (already) studied from his excellence all that I could. 

23. For this knowledge (of medicine) is difficult for me due to (my) old age and the yoke of house and kingship.

24. Her family believed that I (still) had with me a remainder (of my wealth). However, fate had destroyed me and what 

25. was in my hand. Thus, remorse seized her and she started lifting from the house one item after

26.  another until she emptied the house to an amount of one hundred and fifty dinars.

27. When I demanded its return, I told her “renounce your delayed marriage payment” but she refused and it amounted to 

28. twenty dinars. I became angry and removed my child from them and returned him to his family. 

29. I kept away from them for two years in Minyat Ghamr, Alexandria and in the Buḥayra province.

30. It was decreed that someone gave me a lift to Abyār. The Sheikh had sent 

31. Abū al-Hayjāʾ al-Samīn towards 

Recto, right margin

1. me so send me his income. I had, in my own hand, a legal opinion (fatwā) from the Rayyis, R. Moses, that it is she who is rebellious, I do not 

2. owe her anything! While I was away, she gave birth to a girl of mine. The girl grew and she weaned her, while I was away. I went back to al- Maḥalla 

3. and we went to court. The telling of it all would take too long. (In the end,) she brought back all the household items while I returned the boy. Between one thing and another, in this situation, I spent out of my 

4. hand, from what money I attained, 15 dinars. They did this, easing my heart for a few days. However, they returned to taking out (of the house) item after item and selling them.

Verso

1. My life worsened further. She was arrogant to me through this boy of mine and the baby girl 

2. that I maintained, with the poll tax that I had to pay. My livelihood in al-Maḥalla dwindled. 

3. I became irritated (lit. my chest tightened) as my fortunes with women turned upside down. For I used to gaze at a wife (lit. a house) who had no equal 

4. at all, whereas this kind of wife is unfit for a friend or an enemy.

5. I entered the little one into a kuttāb because he is seven years old today. I do not have with me a 

6. bible. Because of that reason I told you about, if you have something with you from 

7. the days of the deceased, M(ay his) M(emory be blessed), that will show his (i.e. the writer’s seven year old son) favor with you, give it as a present to Abu’l-Hasan (i.e. the writerʼs son). For he is (like) your own son to the point that he 

8. asks me for you and always says to me “my lord, show me my uncle!” I did not know 

9. anything afflicted you until Abū’l-Surūr met me and told me what happened 

10. to you with Yaḥya, the Elder, may he be remembered for his evil deeds by the divine law whose 

11. power we all know. It saddened me, as whenever something is revealed about one of us, and especially you! May God, the exalted, punish him and may he not shame us by his reputation 

12.  

13. more than already took place. What happened to you with him will have no effect. Moreover, you will go 

14. with him to the military commander, (let) someone else punish him! And now, my uncle, I do not 

15. have any other pain that you (would) want to see, more than this matter. I am 

16. in a state of fear regarding these people (i.e. the Ibn Sabra family) for I want to raise him and how will God help me 

17. to be free from them? For they have made me grow old before my time! How I threw 

18. myself down like a camel! I did not rush to Fustat to procure in it what I want, 

19. instead, I have taken from the countryside the things I needed like “Harvest is past etc” (Jeremiah 8:20). I ask from 

20. your kindness that you will not inform him of my situation nor where I am. For if it reaches (him), he will 

21. attain shame among Jews. These people and I are in

22.  such a situation! So strive to remove about me the wrong opinions. I also sent a letter to 

23. inform my first in-laws that they should not inform him where I am. Send me (a letter) 

24. informing me what happens with him, whether he is in the city or outside of it. Perhaps 

25. he would encounter on the road what others encountered and we will not be picky. 

26. In short, (tell me) everything that happens to him for he is my link to (what) I had in my previous life: he and his mother.

27. with them (i.e. the Ibn Sabra family) are fifty dinars. They did not inform me of what is with them at all. Nor did they acknowledge to me 

28. anything. While I carried them (on my expense) as if they were guests! The old 

29. and the young treated them with honor out of respect to me. After that she joined him, obeyed him 

30. and went behind him. A son of Israel buried her, may God attach her 

31. to Him.

Verso, right margin

I am sending you greetings and to the elder Abū’l-Munajjā, send him my greetings and to the elder Abū ʿAlī and your children and their little ones. Praise to the one who decreed this situation as well as what follows for us. God, the exalted, grant what is best. Peace on to you and to all of Israel, Amen.