Letter: T-S 13J20.2
Letter T-S 13J20.2What's in the PGP
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Description
Letter from a tax farmer in the Fayyum who was cheated of his share by his partners, was unable to pay his debts, and was therefore taken into custody. He has been in prison for four days. He is sick with ophthalmia and his dependents are perishing. He asks help getting released before the Sabbath. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 35, 362 and from Goitein's index cards)
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Transcription
Translation
Editor: Goitein, S. D.
Translator: Rustow, Marina (in English)
T-S 13J20.2 1r
S. D. Goitein, unpublished editions.
Recto
- עבדהא
- צדקה בן תאמאר
- בשמך רחמנה
- אלמסתגאר באללה ובחצרה סידנא תבת אללה
- מגדהא וצאעף סמוהא וכבת עדוהא
- גיר כאף ענהא חאלה ומא הו עליה מן
- אלפקר וכתרה אלעאיל ואלדיון אלמטלוב
- בהא מן אלגרמא אלסו ואנה כאן קד
- שארך בו אלחסן בן אלתדמרי וסיד אלאהל
- בן אלגשו פי צמאן מנפלת אלפיום ולעלהא
- קד עלמת דלך ומא כפי ענהא וכאן עבדהא
- קד אסתקר בינה ובינהם אן יכון אסמה
- מעהם פי אליהוד דון אן יכון לה אסם פי
- אלדיואן ואגאבהם אלי דלך תקה בהם וחסן
- טן מנה בהם פלמא זגא אלבאב אטרחוה
- ואערצו ענה וכאבתוה ואטרחו אמרה
- ובקי יל[אז]מהם ועתקד אן פיהם רגעה
- וצלאח [ו]הם פי כלאל דלך ועדוה באן
- יוצלו [אליה] מא יקותה הו ועילתה ואן
Marina Rustow, [digital geniza document edition].
Recto
- His servant,
- Sedaqa b. Tāmār—
- in your name, O merciful one—
- who seeks refuge in God and in his excellency our lord, may God establish
- his glory, multiply his loftiness and smite his enemy.
- His situation is not hidden from him, and the poverty he is experiencing,
- as well as the abundance of dependents and debts demanded
- from him by evil creditors. He had
- a partnership with Abū l-Ḥasan b. al-Tadmurī and Sayyid al-Ahl
- b. al-Jashū in a ḍamān for the release-tax (munfalit) of the Fayyūm. Perhaps
- he is aware of this and it is not hidden from him. His servant
- had drawn up a deed of acknowledgment between himself and them so that his name would be
- with them, among the Jews, without having his name in
- the dīwān. He agreed to this, trusting them and thinking
- well of them. But when trouble came to the door, they discarded him,
- turned away from him, suppressed him and disregarded his situation,
- while he kept pursuing them, believing they would show remorse
- and probity. During this period, they promised him that
- they would provide [him] with sustenance for him and his family and
T-S 13J20.2 1v
Verso
- יסדדו אמרה מע אלמדאינין ויופו ענה
- בעץ אלדין תם יקררו מעה אן יסכת
- ואן ימסך ענהם פלמא חצלו עלי נעמה
- כבירה ופאזו במא חצל להם אטרחו
- עבדהא וקד קוי עליה בעץ אלמדא
- ינין וטרחה אלאעתקאל מד ארבעה
- איאם והו מריץ רמד ועילתה תאלפין
- וכלהם באסוא חאל וחושית אן יכון
- פ[י] א[יאמ]הא מצלום מתל עבדהא
- ואבו אלמעאלי בן כוגך הו יערף מא
- בין עבדהא ובינהם ויסל אנעאמהא
- אן תסתדעיה אליהא ותסמע מא ענדה
- ותתסבב פי אכראג עבדהא מן אלאעתק
- אל קבל אלסבת וראיהא אלמופק ان شا الله
Verso
- would settle the matter with the creditors and pay off
- some of his debt. Then they arranged with him that he should remain quiet
- and refrain from (pursuing) them. When they obtained great
- benefaction and succeeded in what they acquired, they threw off
- his servant. Some of the creditors have become forceful toward him,
- and imprisonment has struck him for four
- days, while he is sick with eye inflammation, his family is perishing
- and all of them are in a very bad condition. Heaven forfend that
- during his rule there should be someone as oppressed as his servant.
- Abū l-Maʿālī b. Khawajak knows what has taken place
- between his servant and them. He asks for his favor
- in summoning him and hearing what he has to say,
- and in arranging to release his servant from prison
- before the Sabbath. His resolution is successful, if God wills.
