Letter: T-S NS J287

Letter T-S NS J287

Metadata

Shelfmark
T-S NS J287
Primary Language
Judaeo-Arabic
Secondary Language
Hebrew

What's in the PGP

  • Image
  • 1 Transcription
  • 1 Translation

Description

Petition from Cairo to Gaon Sar Shalom (ca. 1177–95) in which the wife of Abū l-Ḥasan the miller (al-Ṭaḥḥān) Ibn alMaghāzilī requests that he not be permitted to order his wife to do embroidery in other people's houses and bring him her earned money. Instead she should be permitted to retain her wages if she chose to work. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 133) The stipulations about the deferred payment, the right to her own earnings, and protection from his family suggest a marriage agreement being renegotiated or drawn up. (MR)

Related Places

Mentioned
Cairo, Fustat

Tags

Additional metadata

Provenance
Geniza
Material support
Paper
Collection
Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter
Input date
In PGP since 2004
Image
Transcription
Translation

T-S NS J287 1r

°
1r
S. D. Goitein's unpublished edition (1950–85).

Recto

  1. ור]בצת ואין מחריד וחלו פניך רבים:
  2. כי ייי יהיה בכסלך ושמר רגלך מלכד
  3. ייי ישמרך מכל רע ישמור את נפשך
  4. ייי ישמור צאתך ובואיך מעתה ועד
  5. עולם כי אורך ימים ושנות חיים ושלום
  6. יוסיפו לך: ומצא חן ושכל טוב בעיני אלהים
  7. ואדם:
  8. עבדה הדרת גאונינו ירום הודו ויגדל כבודו [. . . .] תנהי אלי
  9. סאמיהא אדאם אללה גלאלהא מא קד עלמתה אלחצרה
  10. מן אמר אבו אלחסן אלטחאן באל[ק]אהרה אלמעזיה והי תסל
  11. ותצרע בין ידיהא אן תם בינהם כתאב פיכון פיה הדה
  12. אלשרוט אחתראז מן עאקבתה וגאולה אהלה מ[נהא
  13. והי אלנאמנות עלי אלתמאם ואלכמאל עליה ועלי ו[ראתה
  14. בעדה . . תקים במצר אלי אלפסח וקד דכר אנה יריד
  15. ח]ל אלח/. . .[. .] ולם יעין לי ולא דפע איצא שי ממא יחתא[ג
  16. אל]יה מן צלאח [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .].סאל[. .]מא[. . . .
  17. . .] ידיהא וא[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  18. וזנה לא אנא [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  19. אלכרים [. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
  20. בא לא[. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Recto, right margin

  1. אן מוכרהא בידה[א
  2. ואן לא יטלב מנהא עמל
  3. ואן עמלת פיכון עמלהא להא
  4. ולא יכון לה אן יקול להא
  5. ארקמי פי ביות אלנאס וגיבי לי
  6. בחסב או אכתה כדלך
  7. ולחצרתהא
  8. אדאם אל[ל]ה גלאלה עלו ראיהא
  9. פי דלך
  10. ושלומך
  11. יגדל לעד

Recto, top margin

  1. אלממלוכה זוגה
  2. בן אלמגאזלי
Marina Rustow's digital translation.

Recto

  1. [ … and you shall] lie down, and none shall make you afraid, and many shall entreat your favor (Job 11:19).
  2. For the Lord shall be your confidence and shall keep your foot from being caught (Prov. 3:26).
  3. The Lord shall keep you from all evil; He shall keep your soul.
  4. The Lord shall keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and
  5. forevermore (Ps. 121:7–8). For length of days and years of life and peace
  6. shall they add to you (Prov. 3:2). And you shall find favor and good understanding in the sight of God
  7. and man (Prov. 3:4).
  8. The slave of his excellency our gaʾon, may his majesty be exalted and his honor increased, […], reports to
  9. his loftiness, may God perpetuate his majesty, what the excellency already knows
  10. regarding the affair of Abū l-Ḥasan al-Ṭaḥḥān (the miller) in al-[Q]āhira al-Muʿizziyya (Cairo). She asks
  11. and implores before him that, if a contract (kitāb) is concluded between them, it should contain these
  12. conditions as a safeguard against its consequences and against the mischief (ghāʾila) of his family t[oward her]:
  13. that she shall have neʾemanut (trusted status) fully and completely, binding on him and on [his] h[eirs]
  14. after him. .. She is to reside in Miṣr [Fusṭāṭ] until Passover. He has said that he wants
  15. [ … ] and he has not specified anything for me, nor has he paid anything of what is need[ed]
  16. [fo]r it by way of upkeep [ … ]
  17. [ … ] her hands and [ … ]
  18. its cost, not I [ … ]
  19. the generous [ … ]
  20. [ … ]

Recto, right margin

  1. … that her deferred marriage payment remain in [her] hand;
  2. that no work be demanded of her;
  3. and if she does work, her earnings belong to her;
  4. and he shall not have the right to say to her,
  5. "Embroider in people's houses and bring me
  6. the proceeds," or anything similar.
  7. And to his excellency,
  8. may G[o]d perpetuate his majesty, belongs the exalted judgment
  9. in this matter.
  10. May your peace
  11. increase forever.

Recto, top margin

  1. The slave (i.e., the humble petitioner), wife of
  2. Ibn al-Maghāzilī

T-S NS J287 1v

1v
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    Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter, T-S NS J287. Available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/documents/4307/ (accessed October 17, 2026).