Letter: T-S 13J18.18

Letter T-S 13J18.18

Metadata

Shelfmark
T-S 13J18.18
Primary Language
Judaeo-Arabic
Secondary Language
Hebrew

What's in the PGP

  • Image
  • 1 Transcription
  • 1 Translation

Description

Letter from the wife of Maʿānī. Desperate letter of appeal to the 'courts' (judges) from a blind woman whose husband had fled to Alexandria and left her and her 3 year old girl. She is pleading to the community for relief. She calls herself 'a widow during the lifetime (of her husband). (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 218, 472 and from Cohen)

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Additional metadata

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

T-S 13J18.18 1r

1r
S. D. Goitein, unpublished editions.
  1. אשריכם זורעי על כל מים משלחי רגל ה(שור) והח(מור)
  2. אשרי שומרי משפט עושה צדקה בכל עת
  3. אשרי משכיל אל דל ביום רעה ימלטהו ד'
  4. ד' ישמרהו ויחייהו ואשר בארץ ואל ת(תנהו) ב(נפש) א(יביו)
  5. לם יכף ען מולאי בתי דינים שצ ואלגמאעה
  6. ברוכים יהיו חאל אלוקת וצעובתה עלי דוי אל
  7. אקדאר אחרי ואוכד אלצעפא ואלפקרא ואנא
  8. אמראה צעיפה אלבצר לא [אע]רף אלליל מן אל
  9. נהאר ולא נהתדי אדא מש[ . . ] והרב זוגי אלי
  10. אסכנדריה ותרכני ארמלה אלחיאה ופי
  11. רקבתי טפילה בנת ג סנין ונחן גיאעה
  12. עראיה ואין לאל ידינו ולולא אללה תעאלי ואל
  13. שיך אבו עלי שצ אלדי ידכרנא פי בעץ
  14. אלאוקאת למא כאן לנא חאל וקד שכית
  15. חאלי אלי אללה ואלי אלגמאעה ברוכים יהיו
  16. אן ינטרו פי חאלי קבל אן אמות גועא
  17. לעל יולפו לי שי אסתתר בה ושכרם
  18. כפול מן השמים ושלומם [לעולמי] עד

Right margin, perpendicular line.

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

Recto

"Happy shall you be who sow by [all waters, Who let loose the feet of (cattle) and (asses)" (Isaiah 32:20).

"Happy are those who act justly, who do right at all times" (Psalm 106:3). "Happy is he who is thoughtful of the wretched; in bad times may (the Lord) keep him from harm" (Psalm 41:2). 

"May the Lord guard him and preserve him; and may he be thought happy in the land. Do not s(ubject him) t(o the will of his) e(nemies)" (Psalm 41:3).

My masters the "courts," (may their) R(ock) p(rotect them), and the community, may they be blessed, are aware of the current situation and how difficult it has been for those with means, all the more so the weak and poor. I am a woman with poor sight. I cannot [dis]tinguish night from day and cannot find my way since my husband le[ft me and f]led to Alexandria and left me a "widow during (his) lifetime". In my charge is an infant girl three years old. We are starving, naked, and lacking strength. Were it not for God the exalted and the elder Abū ʿAlī, (may his) R(ock) p(rotect him), who remembers us occasionally, we would not be in any shape. I call out concernng my situation to God and the community, may they b[e] blessed, to look into my situation before I die of starvation and hopefully put together something that I can "cover myself" [with, and] may your reward from heaven be doubled. May [your] welfare [increase for ev]er. 

 

Recto, margin

The wife of Maʿānī who has fled. 

T-S 13J18.18 1v

1v
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Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter, T-S 13J18.18. Available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/documents/3288/, accessed December 26, 2024.
https://geniza.princeton.edu/documents/3288/