Letter to His Brother-in-Law, Faḍl ibn Khalaf

In this Judeo-Arabic letter, Judah ha-Ma‘ārāvi implored his brother-in-law Faḍl ibn Khalaf, who was possibly living in Alexandria, to urge his wife, Sitt al-Sāda (“Mistress over the Lords”), to return home to Cairo. Sitt al-Sāda seems to have wanted to spend more time outside of her home—perhaps working—than her husband deemed to be appropriate, a frequent source of tension in marriages of the time; Jewish and Muslim legal codes regularly expected women to refrain from leaving the house except under specified circumstances. Judah explained that he would accept a divorce should his wife not accede to his requests. Both husband and wife were Karaites, as this text makes clear. Many of Judah’s formulas, written as part of this formal letter to be presented for litigation, also echo the language of Karaite marriage contracts. Italics indicate words in Hebrew or Aramaic.