מכתב: T-S 6J6.19

תיאור

Letter from Makhlūf b. ʿIwāḍ the judge, maybe somewhere in Ifrīqiyya, to his brother Ṣedaqa b. ʿIwāḍ the judge, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with some interesting spellings and with the rare interjection wa-hallāhi (והאללה, rare at least for Geniza documents). Dating: Probably 11th or 12th century. The letter also contains greetings and messages from several additional family members. Mentions: Hārūn b. [...]; previous correspondence and the hope that every ship would bear a letter from the addressee; how prosperity has returned in the country, and maybe that the silk dealers can't even keep up with the work to be done; how the addressee should act quickly (something to do with business); how Ibn Zaqṭūn gave them good news (also something to do with business), causing Makhlūf and their sister to rejoice. This sister may be Sitt al-ʿAshīr who greets Ṣedaqa in the next line, saying, "You would not know me if you saw me..." (cf. the same expression in a similar context in T-S 12.261). Where the text resumes on verso, the letter mentions 'what we suffer,' 'the children,' and a man's paternal aunt who does not enter אלי לאש (is "Lāsh" a place? a dialect word?). Yaḥyā sends regards. Makhlūf sends his regards. The addressee's cousin (ibn ʿamm) Ḥasan sends his regards. The letter concludes with a complaint that the other Jews are sending letters, but the addressee sends none. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE