מכתב: ENA 2896.15

תיאור

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to Mordechai Masis (? משיש) that has been reused for pen trials in square Hebrew letters and possibly a literary text on the verso. Overall, the fragment likely dates to the early modern centuries (16th-19th) although it is unclear how much time passed between its various points of reusage. The year is possibly mentioned with gematria on the recto where "מבי" is repeated after the phrase "יום ג במ" which could translate to the "third day of M[enaḥem]" or the month of Av. The letter fragment follows the conventions of epistolary etiquette in Judaeo-Arabic, for example, in line 9r of the document the author mentions hearing of good news about the recipient "נסמעו ענכום אכבאר אל כייר". The text on the verso appears to be that of a different hand (see esp. variation in aleph) and the tone shifts significantly from an epistolary one to a poetic descriptions with phrases such as "אן ייקול אל ן אדם לקלבו" or "that the son of Adam says to his heart" (l. 1v). It should be noted that "[be]n adam" can also be translated more generally as any human individual depending on the context. MCD.