Letter: ENA 4100.28a

Description

Letter from a communal leader to a Nasi. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer reports that he fulfilled what had been requested of him in the letter that the addressee had sent him with a certain woman. He accompanied her to the two synagogues and informed the two congregations about an error in a recent court session (majlis al-ḥukm). It seems that a ban of excommunication placed on this woman is being retracted, and that she is owed 4 sanja dinars from public funds. The writer accompanied her to the ṣarf, where it turned out that the money the Nagid (sayyidnā) had given her was 5 qirats short of the 4 dinars, and the writer had no money, whether rubāʿīs or dirhams, with which to pay the balance. Her brother-in-law and David al-Najjār then accosted the writer in the market and 'cried out' (istaghātha) against him, saying that they won't pay a penny until they see the woman's documents. The writer asks the addressee to send the documents with her—and possibly the remaining 5 qirats (verso)—so that everyone will be spared "their evil" (of the brother-in-law and David al-Najjār; this reading is not completely clear). Merits further examination.