Letter: AIU XI.274

Description

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic headed by two Bible verses. The first ~10 lines are blessings for the addressee, evidently a communal official close to the head of the Jews ('Sayyidnā al-Rayyis'). The text is very faded and damaged; this fragment might have been used in a book binding. The sender says that he sent two prior letters with Mūsā al-Rakkāḍ (the itinerant merchant?). Mentions Baghdād, R. Yiṣḥaq, and "two hafṭaras (ifṭāratayn)" There are ~4 different text blocks on verso written in seemingly random directions, all of which seem to be continuations of the main letter on recto. One of them shows that the addressee is a Levi (blessings for all his children, ha-leviim).