Letter: T-S 12.392

Recto

1. … for he is master of this and has power over it, if God wills.
2. … on Monday 24
3. Ḥeshvan, (4)864, may God acquaint us with blessings 
4.  for us and the whole Jewish people. I departed from you (pl.) without having seen you, 
5. and this was very difficult for me. I arrived safely in Alexandria,
6. and I was determined to return to you (pl.). Then I went up to Fustat,
7. where I ran into Makhlūf b. //Moshe, known as// Happy Eyes. I talked to him about 
8. living in India, and he told me about its rural villages. It immediately entered
9. my mind to travel to India. We hadn’t read (the verse in) Proverbs (that says),
10. “The eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth” (17:24). So I left Fustat at the end of
11. Iyar of the year (4)863. We reached Qūṣ in two months; then
12. I entered the desert and stayed there for some days. Then 
13. I arrived in ʿAydhāb, which is truly a city of tribulations (ʿadhāb).
14. Then we departed, setting sail in a ship that contained not a single nail of iron, 
15. but rather was tied together with ropes, may God protect us with his shield.
16. We arrived at a city called Sawākin, which is really a most frightening 
17. place (akhaḍḍ mawākin). Then we arrived at a city called Bādiʿ (“the one that cuts”),
18. for it is just as the name says (cf. 1 Samuel 25:25), the most bitter, frightening, miserable of places.
19. Then we arrived at a city called Dahlak. The following adage is said
20. about it: “But you surpass them all (Proverbs 31:29).” It is a ruinous land (balad muhlik). In
21. any case, God, may he be powerful and exalted, didn’t destroy us, in his mercy. In my haste,
22. when I met up with Avraham, the son of my paternal uncle ʿAllūsh, I didn’t take
23. the bit of coral from him that he was keeping for you; it could have been a souvenir.
24. In any case, I swear to you by these very lines, by the [love] (between us)

Recto - right margin

1. by the bread and the cup
2. we’ve drunk and eaten (together):
3. don’t stop praying for me — not
4. you, not your mother, and not your maternal uncle
5. Yaʿqūb. I know you’d (sg.) pray
6. for anyone; all the more should you pray for me,
7. your dear friend, and God, may he be exalted, will be gentle
8. in his mercy. As for me: man!
9. I’m about to cross the great
10. Sea — no mere sea of Tripoli, this!
11. Who knows if we’ll ever meet again
12. or not? So I’m asking God and you
13. to pray for me, and to forgive me,
14. you and your maternal uncle Yaʿqūb, for
15. … on account of 
16. ...
17. ...
18. ...

Verso

1. to bring me letters in Tripoli addressed to me except for you. Let it be a secret of “steadfast faith” (Isaiah 25:1).
2. Don’t let anyone read them or be informed about them, not him and not anyone else. May God 
3. forgive and absolve you [singular] for what happened between us, you and your maternal uncle Yaʿqūb, in this world and the world to come. 
4. Have your mother convey greetings to my sisters, and have them pray
5. for me. Man! If I could pay 200 dinars to stop the ship
6. until the sea evens out, I would! But my trust in God alone is sufficient for me [as support]. Send
7. greetings to my blood-brother and your brother Abū Ismāʿīl. Then make him swear
8. that he won’t leave me out of his prayers. Send greetings to Rav Zachariah and his children,    
9. may God keep them alive, and to my paternal uncle’s son Moshe and his sisters. Send my maternal uncle
10.  Yaḥyā and ʿAllūsh b. Avraham greetings. When he/they read(s)
11. this letter of mine, burn it, I beg you. Your humble servant kisses your hand, my lord.
12.  I forgot to take my Seder Moʿed from the synagogue! If you need
13. it, take care of it, and if you think that it's better for it to stay in the house,
14. and that it’s better … that it be there, do that, may God reward you. Seek 
15. advice on this from my sister, my brother and your uncle Yaʿqūb. Send greetings to Khalfa,
16. the son of my son-in-law, and to Baqāʾ. Say hello to my sister’s children.
17.  God is my sufficiency and my trust.