Apparently Jacob had left Jerusalem some time before, bearing a commission from
Solomon Ben Khalaf al-Bukl in Jerusalem to his wife in Fustat. Solomon had given
Jacob two gold-pieces with which to pay her
way to Jerusalem. Evidently he expected trouble, for he gave to Jacob
a statement of his possessions in his house at Fustat and directions to take
possession of these. The only response that came was another messenger,
Nathan or Hibah by name, son of Zachariah, who arrived in Jerusalem with
a protest from the wife that Solomon had no grounds for his action. Nathan
next undertook to carry to the wife in Fustat a letter of divorce, which he
promised to deliver to her in the presence of a certain Abraham the Hazzan.
Nathan appears with all the documents and with Solomon’s statement
that it was in the house of the writer that Jacob had sworn to carry the
original message to the wife. The writer is equally certain that nothing of
the kind ever took place under his roof, nor had he heard of the affair at all.
He now writes in great haste to Jacob and tells him that he is sending by
a Spaniard, al-Azhar, a copy of the wife’s protest, which is to be delivered
to Abraham, the intended witness of the divorce proceedings.
Incidentally
it is said that a certain “glorious place” in Jerusalem has collapsed.
