Letter: T-S 13J18.10

Letter T-S 13J18.10

Metadata

Shelfmark
T-S 13J18.10
Primary Language
Judaeo-Arabic

What's in the PGP

  • Image
  • 1 Transcription
  • 1 Translation

Description

In this appeal, typically addressed to the community ('your excellencies, my masters, the illustrious lordly judges, and...the elders of Israel'), a widow and mother of four, weighed down by debt, asks for 'something to conceal myself (astur bihi nafs) and the fo[ur] who are with me. She thus voices the common plaint of the master, the 'concealed,' who strives to maintain him/herself economically without having to 'uncover his/her face, especially by resorting to the public dole. (Information from Goitein's index cards and from Cohen)

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Additional metadata

Collection
Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter
Historical shelfmarks
TS 13 J 18, f. 10; TS Box 13 J 18, f. 10; TS 13 J 18, fol. 10; TS Box 13 J 18, fol. 10
Input date
In PGP since 2017
Image
Transcription
Translation

T-S 13J18.10 1r

°
1r
S. D. Goitein's unpublished edition (1950–85).
  1. גאריתכם מרה ארמלה
  2. מסכינה מדיונה
  3. ומעהא ארבעה איתאם
  4. בשם המביט אל עני ונכה רוח
  5. קד געלת אללה תע שפיעי אלי חצרה מואליי אלדיאנין
  6. אלסיידין אלאגלין ואלי זקני ישראל [ ישמרם . . . .
  7. צורם במע/ו/לה שבברכות פי [ . . . . . . . . . .
  8. עליי במא אסתר בה נפסי ואלאר[בעה . . . . .
  9. אלדי מעי ובמא אשבע בה גועתי וגועתהם
  10. פאננא כמסה אנפס מנקטעון עראיי גיאע
  11. מא לנא אחדא נקצדה גיר אללה תע ומואליי
  12. אלשיוך אלאגלא הזורעים על כל מים ואלמתפצלין
  13. עלי כל אחד ואנא ואטפאלי ממן לם [י]נכשף
  14. //יומא// קט וגוהנא לגמאעה ולא לפראד גיר
  15. אן אלצרורה אליום אחוגתנא אלי הדא פינטרונא

Right margin, diagonal lines written upside down.

בעין אלרחמה | ויגתנמו תואבנא | ולא יגפלו | ענא פמא | בקי בעד |

Top margin, diagonal lines written upside down.

הדה אלרקעה אלא אמא אלחיוה(!) | באפצאלהם או אלמות בתגאפלהם | וחאשאהם מן דלך ואללה | תע יתקבל מנא פיהם | צואלח אלאדעיה | ושלומם ירבה | לעד

Mark Cohen, The Voice of the Poor in the Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, 2005).

Recto

  1. Your slave woman, the wife // widow //,
  2. destitute and debt-ridden 
  3. with four orphans 
  4. In the name of "Him who looks after the poor and broken-spirited" (Isaiah 66:2).
  5. I have made God the ex(alted) my intercessor with your excellencies,
  6. my masters, the illustrious lordly judges, and with the elders of Israel, may their Rock [bless them]
  7. with the best of blessings, so that [you kindly bestow]
  8. upon me something to conceal myself and the fo[ur] who
  9. are with me, and with which I can satisfy my hunger and theirs.
  10. We are five souls, desolate, naked, and starving,
  11. having no one to turn to except God the ex(alted) and my masters
  12. the illustrious elders, "who sow by all waters" (Isaiah 32:20), who act with kindness
  13. toward all. I and my children never, ever uncover our
  14. faces, not to a group of people or to individuals. However,
  15. necessity has now forced us to do this.

Right margin

May you look upon us with a merciful eye and obtain reward because of us. May you not neglect us. After

Top margin

this petition the only thing left is life through your kindness or death as a result of your neglect, far be it from you. May God the ex(alted) accept from us our pious prayers for you. May your welfare increase for ever. 

T-S 13J18.10 1v

°
1v
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Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter, T-S 13J18.10. Available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/documents/3270/ (accessed June 3, 2026).