Letter: T-S 13J20.20

In the n(ame of the) Me(rciful) 

“Say as follows: 'To life! Greetings to you, '" etc. (1 Samuel 25:6). 

May your [h(onor)] g(reatness and) h(oliness), (our) ma(ster) and t(eacher) Solomon ha-Kohen the precious elder have many blessings and imminent salvation, pity, and compassion and the fulfillment of every request, much luck, and all available blessings. May God bless you and grant life to your son and let you see his joyous occasion and wedding canopy; and (your) h(onor), g(reatness), and h(oliness) (our) ma(ster) and te(acher) Yeshuʿa the precious elder, may God open before you the gates of mercy and grant life to your son and let you see his joyous occasion and wedding canopy, Amen forever. 

I am dispatching this letter to the most illustrious elders, may God preserve them, to inform them that the bearer of this (letter) is a man who was healthy, working strenuously in order to "conceal" himself and his family, when Fate betrayed him and he became weak, such that anyone looking at him needs no explanation about his condition. In addition, debt and the poll tax caught up with him. Whoever assists him with something with which he can maintain his way of life, shal1 be deemed to have made an offering (to God). He is ashamed for this has never been his habit. Whoever does him a good turn shall be deemed to have done so for the sake of God, and the Creator will magnify his reward. And peace. 

In addition to this, your son Maʿānī and his children ask about Father, the elder Abuʾl-Rabīʿ Sulaymān, and Ibrāhīm, and want them to grace us by coming on the holiday, may God bring it to us and you for many years to come and let us see the joyous occasion of the sons of Ibrahīm in your lifetime. I want you to come and grace us in the joyous occasion we are making for Abuʾl-Khayr. All our lives we have come to you for the holidays. By God, O [my] brother Ibrahīm, come visit your daughter so that her heart may take pleasure during t[h]is holiday. Also (the writer is now addressing his mother-in-law), have regard for AbuʾI-Khayr and let her (her daughter) be fulfilled through you (your presence). May you not need to be commanded. Unlimited greetings especially to you and greetings to Umm Ibrahim and to Abuʾl-Faraj and to (verso) Umm ʿImrān, may I not be deprived of her favor, and to all those who are in Qalyūb. (We) have saved the girl for Abuʾl-ʿAlāʾ. If he is coming, have him send a message and inform us. If not, don't let him detain her. And Peace. She is not a poor girl. She is "concealed." And Peace. The scribe who wrote this letter, the teacher of Abuʾl-Khayr, sends you greetings. He asks for a little [...].