Letter to His Wife

Unknown

11th or 12th Century

And the . . . was destroyed . . . property that was owed by my brother—may his memory be blessed. And I did not depart from Qal‘at Banī Ḥammād [a town in what is now Algeria] until I weighed out what was due to his wife: two hundred mith[qal] in addition to the three hundred mithqal . . .

I made a vow that I will not wash the clothes that I wear . . . until I come to you, and I will not shave the hair of my head, nor will I drink wine or enter a bathhouse until I come to you, and the people will let you know about my weeping, crying, and moaning.

[I swear] by the Torah of Moses—peace be upon him—that I did not forget you, I did not replace you with someone else, I have never forgotten your faith and your love. May God not put me to death in my longing for you [i.e., may I never cease longing for you]!

I ask you not to forget me in your prayers and to bear in mind my love for you and the acts of grace that I want to do with you. May God grant me my hope regarding this! I wish to make you the proudest from among all the daughters of Sicily, with jewels and ornaments.

May God witness . . . this . . . so do not worry your heart since I wish . . .

Source: CUL Mosseri VII, 162.3 (L 23).

Translated by Nadia Vidro.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.

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This badly torn letter, written in Judeo-Arabic and sent from North Africa to Sicily, is notable for its expression of the warm feelings of a traveling businessman toward his wife, whom he had not seen in some time. It was not uncommon for a wife to seek a divorce in cases where her husband’s travels detained him for lengthy periods, and this letter might have sought to prevent such a possibility. Although, as in many similar letters, the husband describes his financial state, he also mentions religious oaths he had made, apparently in order to gain merit for a safe return home. The dating of this text is uncertain. Ellipses indicate lacunae in the manuscript.

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Correspondence in the Early Medieval World

7th to 12th Century

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