Geniza Lab

Letter from Khalfa to his 'brother' (brother-in-law?) Mūsā b. Sāmiḥ, in Cairo. Concerning various family matters. (1) No answer to letters. (2) Abū l-Faḍl came and informed the sender about the death of the little boy. (3) "My brother, I do not need to urge you concerning my sister... for I know that her character is difficult (akhlāqhā ṣaʿba)." She had not received her farḍ (a part in an inheritance, or perhaps alimony). (4) Mardūk brought the מסדיה but the אמשאט were impossible. (5) Greetings to Abū ʿImrān, the wife of the sender's maternal uncle, Abū Naṣr, Faḍā'il, Shibl, and Bū Saʿd. Abū Saʿd. (Information in part from Goitein's index card)

Letter or legal document. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions someone's (probably bad) character (akhlāq). Narrates a series of events ('on Sunday... and then...').

Letter from Abūn b. Ṣadaqa al-Maghribī, in Jerusalem, to Abū Zakariyyā Ḥayyim b. ʿAmmār b. Madīnī ("Palermitan"), in Fustat. Dating: ca. March 1055 CE, according to Gil. Abūn first consoles Ḥayyim on the death of a son, and he then vehemently refutes allegations against his integrity (charges of debts to the government and the office of the inheritance up to 1000 dinars). He curses his enemies with ṣaraʿat, the biblical disease akin to leprosy, citing a rabbinic dictum: "Anyone who suspects an innocent man is afflicted in his body." Abūn wrote this letter in "bitterness of spirit." He excuses Ḥayyim's bad behavior, as he knows he Ḥayyim is not himself due to his grief; "The afflictions of Fate change one's akhlāq, especially such a disaster as that which afflicted your heart." Abūn complains that Nahray b. Nissim has received his letters but does not respond. Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.