מכתב: T-S 32.7

תיאור

Long letter in Judaeo-Arabic, most likely written in Fustat and sent to (or intended to be sent to) Tinnīs. Sender and addressee: According to the Arabic address on verso, the addressee is a distinguished elder (al-ḥaḍra al-rayyisiyya) and the sender is his "son" Abū l-Bayān. There is also an Abū l-Bayān referred to as mawlāy al-rayyis multiple times over the course of the letter as someone closely associated with the addressee but who is in the sender's location. The body of the letter repeatedly refers to "your slave Abū l-Ḥusayn" who carries out orders of the addressee and sends him news. It is possible that the letter is from a young Abū l-Bayān Moshe b. Mevorakh to his father Mevorakh b. Saʿadya, and Abū l-Ḥusayn is a household steward who is actually writing the letter on behalf of Abū l-Bayān (as Abū l-Bayān would not include blessings for himself or refer to himself as mawlāy al-rayyis). These identifications are tentative. Dating: al-Wuḥsha is mentioned in the top margin (l. 13), and her dated documents range from 1095–1104. If we anchor the dating to this range, the mention of Friday, 9 Tammuz narrows the year to 1095, 1098, 1099, 1101, 1102, or 1105 (the closest options on either side would be 1085 or 1112). The dating to the period of Mevorakh b. Saʿadya is corroborated by the appearance of two people with unusual names: Sitt Ihtimām (cf. T-S 10J4.1 (PGPID 1554)) and Dhakhīrat al-Mulk (cf. T-S 13J14.14 (PGPID 3231)). There is a complication, in that the margin refers to "Friday the eve of the holiday" (יום אלגמעה ערבה אלעיד), seemingly the same Friday the letter arrived. However, there is no Jewish holiday (ʿīd) near 9 Tammuz. A compelling solution is that it is referring to ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā, which falls on the 10th of Dhū l-Ḥijja. This would require a year in which Dhū l-Ḥijja coincided with Tammuz and in which the 9th of both months was a Friday; the only viable option fitting these constraints close to al-Wuḥsha's period is 1078 CE. This would be early for al-Wuḥsha (~15 years earlier than her other dated documents) but still plausible. It would also be right at the start of Mevorakh's first tenure as head of the Jews (when he was known as Rayyis, not yet Nagid). If the identifications of sender/addressee and the 1078 dating are both correct, this would show that Abū l-Bayān Moshe b. Mevorakh was born closer to 1064 than 1080 CE (the range given by Mark Cohen in Jewish Self-Government, 148–55). The letter contains several distinct sections: (1) An update on the health of various family members. Sitt Ihtimām is still in the same state as when the addressee departed: one week sick, the next week healthy. Either she or another woman (sittnā) had a brief bout of colic (qawlanj). Abū l-Riḍā is still "in the same state" (presumably sick). A woman referred to as ṣāḥibat al-dār sent him 30 dirhams for 2 weeks, and a flask of olive oil, then a payment for another 2 weeks. Abū l-Mufaḍḍal is going about his business (mutaṣarrif) as he used to (from context, he was also ill and has now recovered). (2) The people of Damietta and Tinnīs were apparently clamoring for the addressee's presence on sabbaths and holidays. The sender tries to dissuade him by asking if it is right for him to exhaust himself on the nights of holidays and sabbaths just to satisfy others and sicken himself. But Abū l-Maʿālī Ibn al-Qasqās came and reported that the addressee's arrival in Tinnīs and Damietta was a great success. (3) A note (ruqʿa) from the addressee arrived with instructions to obtain the tax receipt (wuṣūl) from the son of the Ṣāḥib al-Dīwān. Abū l-Ḥusayn presented the ruqʿa to him and obtained the receipt. He says he will then deliver it to the tax farmer of the quarter/compound (ḍāmin al-rabʿ). (4) There follow detailed reports on business transactions and fluctuating prices. Mentions: a payment of 8 2/3 dinars to Abū Naṣr al-Kohen on the same day the addressee's letter arrived, which they would have delayed had they known the contents of the letter; leaving something in the house of Abū l-Riḍā; a payment of 1 1/3 dinars to al-Ḥayawānī; 130 jugs (kūz); cups (qadaḥ); 1/3 + 1/4 for Ismāʿīl; kaʿk and wood(?) related to Ibn al-Saqīl (= Ibn al-Siqillī?); a half dinar for the sister of Abū l-Manṣūr; the laying out of carpets and goods in Fustat and Cairo; the delivery of a saddle to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal; an intention to fulfill the addressee's orders regarding Dār al-Baḥr; Abū l-Munā obtaining a tray (ṣiniyya) from the brother of the craftsman (ṣāniʿ); an intention to deliver the addressee's letter to Zāhir after the sabbath; the price of sugar, SRY, DʾNSH(?); something medium-grade; qaṭāra; honey; jars; and raisins. There is a difficult passage (ll. 40–46) about what happened to the raisins en route and how the camels left behind one unit of them and the sender obtained a quantity and covered them with a tablecloth and cleaned them and locked them in the warehouse of the saddles with an iron lock, and also ate 5 raṭls of them; there is a discrepancy over the expected weight, and so the writer will have them weighed. Mentions Masʿūd and the family of Saʿd al-Rikābī; rent for Ramaḍān and someone named Tashīsh(?); a payment of 3 dinars to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal until obtaining the 10 dinars from the ḍāmin al-rabʿ (the same one mentioned above in Section 3); Abū Saʿd the goldsmith (al-ṣāʾigh) has completed the setting for the gem (qālib al-faṣṣ), and only the polishing remains. The rosewater arrived. Ibn Futayḥ (or Futūḥ) arrived in Fustat and stayed only a week. Benaya is "all over the place" and the sender is trying to obtain Benaya's letter for the addressee. The sender has conveyed the addressee's greetings to Dhakhīrat al-Mulk and Sharaf al-Dawla, who greet him back and kiss his hand. He has previously written about the price of sheep (? al-khirāf). As for the packsaddle (bardhaʿa), 2 dinars were spent for it. As for the headdress (bukhnuq) and niṣāfiyya (probably a variant spelling for the garment usually known as niṣfiyya), only a meager amount was paid or offered. As for the addressee's instruction that no one should enter—the sender explains that he was exaggerating when he previously said that "they are knocking down our door." However, these people are in fact in the synagogue and the markets and "in every place." He previously informed the addressee of the divorce of Abū l-Mufaḍḍal and was perplexed at the lack of acknowledgment to this in the addressee's letter. Everyone in "both of the houses" (kull man fī l-dārayn) is in good health. Greetings from Abū Isḥāq b. Pinḥas, Abū Ṭāhir, "your slave Abū l-Ḥusayn," and his brother. (5) A passage regarding the enforcement of market practices (ḥisba). Dhakhīrat al-Mulk identified two vendors in the markets of Cairo (one baker and one watermelon seller) whose weights were short; he disciplined them and paraded them in Cairo (darrabahum wa-ashharahum). Similarly, Sharaf al-Dawla found a Jerusalemite Jewish baker and his son in Fustat, in the little market of Ḥabs Bunān, using short raṭls "to an indescribable degree." He had them arrested and was about to parade them, until Abū l-Ḥusayn went and intervened with Sharaf al-Dawla and "took them from him, may God the exalted never remove your protection from the community. Your slave Abū l-Ḥusayn did not do this as a kindness to them, rather we feared that it would damage the standing of the Jews among the gentiles, and particularly with you not being present." This passage suggests that the addressee was someone of high standing and power both within the Jewish community and with Muslim state or judicial officials, which would again be consistent with the addressee being Mevorakh b. Saʿadya himself. (6) A report that Abū l-Bayān "from the day of your travel until this day" has not ridden either of the mules. The sender purchased a new saddle for his donkey. "If al-Shams is present when you arrive, I will ride it and go around the house" (this is somewhat unclear). (7) Various additional postscripts: "I wrote this letter on Friday when the courier arrived because he said he could not wait, but he did wait until after the Sabbath. Mentions a payment of 1/2 dinar to Ibn Nufayʿ on Friday "the eve of the holiday" (refering to the sabbath?). He had four camel-loads of firewood removed from the house in Fustat, and half a wayba of almonds. "Their prices are moving due to the shortage of ships." He will pay Abū l-Yaʿaqov al-Jahbadh and obtain the receipt from him. After he meets with Zāhir and obtains his response, he will go up to Cairo to obtain or deliver the wheat to Ibn al-Qāḍī. He asks about how long the rosewater should sit in the sun and what vessels to use for storing it. Mentions Tashīsh(?) the miller who is asking the sender to make "teeth" (adrāṣ, i.e., aḍrās) for his mill as well as a water bucket (? qādūs) "that will be for the tongue (? lisān) of the mill." He will pay his rent when the addressee arrives. The packsaddle brought 2 dinars, but as for the bukhnuq and niṣāfiyya (which as mentioned earlier did not obtain a good price), he will deliver them to al-Wuḥsha, and he will collect whatever they bring. He does not think it is a good idea to give them to Umm Abū l-Khayr because she wore them out previously. As for Abū l-Ḥasan al-Khādim, he went to Tinnīs with a power of attorney. Abū l-Mufaḍḍal sent a letter with him for the addressee. The contents of the uppermost margin are obscure but contain a request for further instructions, and another assurance that further details will be sent in the forthcoming letter of Abū l-Ḥusayn.