מכתב: T-S 13J20.22

תיאור

Letter from Ḥalfon b. Menashshe's wife, in Fustat, to her brother Abū l-Ḥasan ʿEli b. Hillel, probably in Bahnasa (based on T-S 13J21.18). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1121–25 CE. She reports that the young son of Sitt al-Jamāl died immediately after ʿEli departed. They buried him in the 'desert' early on Friday, and when they returned, they found Sitt al-Jamāl's son Abū l-Mufaḍḍal sick as well, and he remains in a difficult condition (r6–11). She reports that later the same day, Abū l-Faḍl b. al-Neʾeman was fired from his post by the vizier al-Maʾmūn (1121–25) and was commanded to leave Cairo and take up residence in Fustat. Abū l-Faḍl cannot show his face now, and the rest cannot be explained in a letter (r11–14). "These things came to me upon emptiness of heart (farāgh qalb)" (cf. Quran 28:10)—perhaps she means that she could spare no attention for this matter, because she was so preoccupied on account of her children, who are still sick, as the addressee knows. "My heart became split, rising and falling, and if it weren't for your rebuke, I wouldn't have written you a single letter of all this" (r14–16). Abū ʿImrān is in the same state (probably of illness) that the addressee knows about (r16–17). She here describes the weaving of a checkered (mutakhkhat) shuqqa cloth and a complex deal involving a silk weaver (al-qazzāz) and the addressee and money to be sent (r19–25). Goitein understands that she owes the silk weaver 9.5 dirhams of wages for the piece of cloth 19.5 cubits long ("Nineteen and a half cubits were not ordered, but the proprietor had given the weaver a certain quantity of silk thread (most probably with the intention of getting 20 cubits) and was notified in the letter of the yield. Here the payment is not called ujra, as usual, but kirā, used today in Egypt for "rent" and "fare," but in other countries, e.g., Yemen, for "wages."). The addressee's elder son reminds him to send the Hebrew(-script) letter of condolence he had promised. At the very end of the letter, she complains about what they are suffering from the wife of Khalaf and how she is intending to do something (complain / raise a petition?) to the government. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards; also Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 90, 404, 412; II, pp. 183, 345, 558; V, pp. 243, 574.) ASE.