Letter: Bodl. MS heb. c 72/22

Description

Letter from David (b. Yaʿāqov) al-Shammās to Moshe b. Yehuda of Alexandria. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Last quarter of the 15th century. Also signed by Aharon b. Ḥasde'el ha-Levi. "As for what you mentioned concerning your wife, it is not that she hates you and desires a bill of divorce for that reason. For she has been patient..." It seems that Moshe b. Yehuda promised to return on a certain date in a certain year and then delayed his return and failed to communicate properly with his wife when that date approached, and now people are getting anxious that he may have had a change of heart. The sender asked her about the raisins; she said they arrived with the son of Sehmuel al-Skandarī. Merits further examination.