Cairo Genizah : Letter 

Surūr

Cairo Genizah

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Letter from a son, Surūr, to his mother. He is distressed to hear his mother has been unwell and says he was unable to visit her because of the price to hire a mount and moreover his eyes have been sore. He reports that four months ago he had married, and that all was going well with his new wife. He then turns to the matter of a prayer book which he had pawned. His mother had repaid the debt but had not received the book back from a certain Faḵr. He tells his mother to enlist or coerce Sulaymān the druggist, Muwaffaq the cantor, Saʿīd the son of the government clerk, Nāṣir b. Ṭayyib, Joshua ’son of the drowned’, and Mūsā b. Mardūk, and the son of Abū Saʿd the beadle to help her get the book back from Faḵr. If he will still not give it back, Faraj Allah and Abū Saʿid the beadle should go to Joshua the Nagid (i.e. Joshua Maimonides, 1310-1355) and say ‘Remember what you have said to your servant Surūr in Bilbays with regard to the copy belonging to the elder Jacob, the brother of the school teacher. Remember how a divorce was arranged for your maidservant. Remember how I went to the chief of police in Bilbays and how he referred be to the qāḍī of Bilbays, whom I did not find. So please get that book out of the hands of so-and-so’.</p>