Letter: T-S 13J18.10

Letter T-S 13J18.10

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Input date

In PGP since 2017

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)

T-S 13J18.10 1r

1r

Transcription

S. D. Goitein, unpublished editions.
  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

Translation

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

Recto

Your slave woman, the wife // widow //,

destitute and debt-ridden 

with four orphans 

In the name of "Him who looks after the poor and broken-spirited" (Isaiah 66:2). I have made God the ex(alted) my intercessor with your excellencies, my masters, the illustrious lordly judges, and with the elders of Israel, may their Rock [bless them] with the best of blessings, so that [you kindly bestow] upon me something to conceal myself and the fo[ur] who are with me, and with which I can satisfy my hunger and theirs. We are five souls, desolate, naked, and starving, having no one to turn to except God the ex(alted) and my masters the illustrious elders, 

"who sow by all waters" (Isaiah 32:20), who act with kindness toward all. I and my children never, ever uncover our faces, not to a group of people or to individuals. However, necessity has now forced us to do this. May you look upon us with a merciful eye and obtain reward because of us. May you not neglect us. After 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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