Letter: PER H 161

Recto

1. [lines 1-18 contain a poem, not translated in Goitein/Friedman]

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19. Your distinguished letter, my lord, arrived, and it was the most perfect thing which arrived and the most satisfying to

20. come. Learning of your well-being and the good state of your affairs, my lord, gave me pleasure.

21. I thanked God, the Exalted, much for this and pray that He—may His praise be glorified!—

22. increase all good for you and let me hear from you good news

23. always, perpetually, through His kindness and abundant benevolence. I, your servant, was distressed

24. very much by the causes of your complaint, your sorrow and grief over

25. what befell the late Sheikh Hiba b. Abū Saʿd, your son-in-law, my lord,

26. namely that he and his partner the Kohen drowned, and that you had to undertake the support

27. of your daughter—may God protect her!—his wife, from the time he set out on his journey until now.

28. We have been afflicted by the same grief as you, my lord, and more so,

29. for a number of reasons: the anguish over the ship and its contents, since it

30. and most of its cargo belonged to our Nagid Ḥalfon—may his grandeur be elevated and his honor increase!—

31. and there was no one here who did not have some merchandise on the ship, everyone according to his amount,

32. including me, your servant, and others. Also the anguish over our two coreligionists, mentioned above,

33. and over two of our Adenese coreligionists, who were in

34. the ship and who were married in Aden. So there was general grief, from every aspect. 

35. But there is no stratagem against what God, the Exalted, has decreed. This is what God decreed

36. for them. This was their destiny. Let it be far from us and

37. the house of Israel! God save us from an end like this!

38. I pray to Him, blessed be His name, that He make the outcome good for my lord 

39. and for us and for all of Israel, in His abundant mercy and benevolence. You requested, 

40. my lord, that I, your servant, inform you how the tragedy befell

41. the two men mentioned above when they drowned and that I endeavor for your sake to secure the release of

42. the young woman and her share in what remains from her husband’s estate,

43. in Aden. Be informed—may I never know of any bad day for you!—that my explanation 

44. to you can be divided into three categories, since they are what is called for

45. here. The three aspects are: eyewitness accounts,

46. news heard at second hand and

47. what legal pronouncements there might be, whether clear-cut or otherwise, based on proofs

48. found in the statements of our sages. These are the details of their drowning.

49. The ship they were in, that is the Kūlamī, sailed from Aden together

50. with the other ships that set sail. This ship and the

51. Barībatanī were in the same position. The two of them traveled together for about four 

52. days out of Aden. On the eve of the fifth day, the sailors of the

53. Barībatanī heard the cries of the sailors of the Kūlamī

54. and their screams and shrieks in the night as the water inundated

55. them. When morning came, the sailors of the Barībatanī

56. did not encounter any trace or evidence of the Kūlamī, because

57. from the time the two had left Aden they had kept abreast of each other.

58. The two did not separate until this tragedy befell

59. the Kūlamī. This happened before they entered the Maṣabb.

60. Afterwards there appeared a ship’s wood and furnishings,

61. which were new, on the shore of Abyan and Shiḥr, and some of them were conveyed 

62. to Aden. There was no new ship with new rigging other than

63. the Kūlamī among the ships of that year, the year of the sinking of

64. of the Kūlamī. \\This is the report of some of our coreligionists concerning this and the report of some of the Barībatanī men concerning//\\the Kūlamī as well, made in the presence of the signatories to this letter.// Also there arrived travelers in ships

65. from the year in which the Kūlamī sank and the next year as well. 

Recto, right margin

1. Travelers arrived in these two years in

2. ships from every sea: from all the lands of Hind and its provinces,

3. from the land of the Zanj and its provinces, from the inland region of Berbera and Abyssinia and their provinces

4. and from Ashḥār and Qamar and their provinces. All

5. the travelers came to Aden in those two years.

6. And no news came to light of the Kūlamī or whoever was in it.

7. Not even one man, at all,

8. no trace, no report, not anyone, who could tell an

9. eyewitness account from someone who had been in it, not anyone who

10. could tell a report in his name, he or anyone who was

11. in it, except the story of the sailors of the Barībatanī, 

12. which was sailing with it.

13. Nothing else. Some say also that the new furnishings

14. of the ship, which were found

15. on the shore of Abyan and Shiḥr, could

16. have been from one of the ships of the land of

17. the Zanj or from some other ship, which was not

18. from the ships of Aden. No one disagrees,

19. rather all concur, that any

20. ship that sinks in the environs of Aden,

21. between the Maṣabb and Aden, never

22. surfaces, nor does anyone who

23. was in it survive at all,

24. because of the turbulence of the sea and the f[orce of its waves]

25. at {alt. Tr.: …and the distance from} the beach and the abundance of

26. fish (sharks).

27. This 

Verso

Verso

1. is what we heard and what we verified from the sea travelers,

2. from men of experience and from captains. And I have written this. Afterwards

3. I investigated the details of the matter for two Sabbaths in the synagogue, in the presence of

4. our Nagid Ḥalfon—may his grandeur be elevated and his honor increase!—and in the presence of the congregation

5. and in the presence of our coreligionists who had arrived from Egypt. And we affixed

6. our signatures to what we had heard, the report of the sailors of the

7. Barībatanī, a report related one from another, and to what we heard

8. from experienced and knowledgeable men about the drowning of

9. a ship and its contents between the Maṣabb and Aden, namely that it does not survive 

10. nor does whoever was in it. People verified that the water inundated the

11. Kūlamī, in this dangerous place, between

12. the Maṣabb and Aden, and it went down with whoever was in it. There did not surface from them

13. any man at all. Not only this ship, but also every ship

14. that sinks in this dangerous place and in the Maṣabb, never surfaces,

15. nor does what was in it. Should we suppose—and this is something that will never be—that someone surfaced

16. from the Kūlamī, which sank in the place mentioned above, he would not

17. emerge anywhere but at Abyan, Shiḥr or the city of Qamar.

18. Travelers journey back and forth from these places to Aden and vice versa.

19. There is no one there who says anything about the Kūlamī, nothing

20. about its survival or that of whoever was in it, only its total loss.

21. This is all that we have clarified concerning

22. this in the presence of the congregation. One should take action accordingly. As to

23. proof texts from the teachings of our sages, which are written concerning this. This is 

24. what they of blessed memory stated in the chapter ‘A woman whose husband and co-wife went

25. abroad’ in the Mishna: “If he sank in water, whether in

26. a finite or infinite expanse,” and what was written by the Geonim and the

27. writers in their compositions concerning this, whether a leniency or stringency,

28. and if a woman contravened the rule and married, “in the case of a bound woman the sages were lenient.” This

29. and the like. We may not make a ruling to permit or prohibit in this

30. case before those who are greater than us, our rabbis 

31. the judges of Egypt—may they be mentioned for a blessing!—because our responsum 

32. will arrive there. As far as we in our country are concerned, we have already verified

33. from the words of experienced and knowledgeable people from earlier generations

34. until the present, that whatever sinks in the aforementioned locality cannot

35. surface, neither it nor whoever was in it, other than wood and furnishings, which might 

36. or might not happen. The waves cast them only on the shore of Abyan,

37. a distance of one night from Aden, or at Aḥwar, a distance of about

38. three days, or at Shiḥr and the city of Qamar, a distance of about eight

39. days at most or even less. From al-Sīf to these

40. places, there being one beach to the Maṣabb, it is seven days. The sinking of

41. the Kūlamī took place near the Maṣabb on the eve of the fourth day or the fifth, after it had set sail

42. from Aden. In this situation one cannot say “The waves submerged him,” because of the turbulence

43. of the sea in that place and the abundance of the fish (sharks). And were the waves to submerge him

44. and carry him to another place, there are there no waves

45. which could submerge him (and carry him) to another place other than to those places mentioned above,

46. Abyan, Aḥwar, Shiḥr and the city of Qamar, because the wind blows

47. towards them. But when the ships sail, the kaws wind carries the ships

48. away from Aden and from those places towards the Maṣabb and India. And whatever sinks at the Maṣabb

49. and nearby does not surface, ever, at any place whatsoever. This is

50. what any non-Jew says en passant and what experienced and knowledgeable people say about

51. the sea in those places mentioned above. I have gone into detail at length concerning 

52. this after investigations in public gatherings, so that

53. our rabbis the judges in Fustat—may they be remembered for a blessing!—might grant permission to you, my lord, accordingly. As to us in our place,

54. we will act according to what is clarified and apparent to us, for permitting this or forbidding it.

55. This is for your knowledge. This exposition has been written in two copies, this letter and a second

56. letter, because of the safe journey. To what we have verified and heard from

57. experienced and knowledgeable people, as detailed above, we have affixed

58. our signatures, so that action can be taken accordingly. May the well-being of all our rabbis and your well-being,

59. my lord, increase and never decrease! Much peace! May salvation be near! Adar I, 

Verso - margin

1. 467, in the city of Aden. Salvation! 

2. All of the estate was taken by the king.

3. The court appointed by order of 

4. our prince (nāsī) the Exilarch, 

5. and by order of our late Nagid—may he rest in Eden!— 

6. and by order of our Nagid Ḥalfon

7. his son—may his 

8. esteem increase forever! 

9. Saʿīd b. Marḥab—may the memory of the pious be for a blessing!

10. Solomon b. Nathan—may he rest in Eden!

11. Samuel b. Moses—may the spirit of the Lord give him rest!—b. Eleazar—may he find mercy! May he live forever and merit life!

12. Maḍmūn b. Sālim!—may he rest in Eden!

13. Yaḥyā b. Muqbil—may his end be good, his Rock protect him!

14. [spread across lines 14-25:] The witnesses mentioned above testified in our presence, the signatories at the end of this letter.

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25. Solomon ha-Levi b. Judah—may he rest in Eden! Moses b. Japheth—may his end be good!

Verso - address

1. To his honor, the great and holy 

2. respected elder, our master and lord Hillel 

3. son of our master and lord Naḥman the pious—[may his memory be] for a blessing! 

4. From the court established in the city of 

5. Aden. Saʿīd b. Marḥab— 

6. may the memory of the pious be for a blessing!