Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Possibly in the hand of the court clerk Yosef b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya. The letter opens with condolences for the addressee's loss. Then the sender goes into his own problems: his son Abū Manṣūr does not pay attention to what he says nor accept advice from him. The son has married, or plans to marry, a bad woman. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 122.) On verso there are accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. OZ. ASE.

Second folio of an irate letter addressed to a son. In Judaeo-Arabic. Possibly in the hand of the judge Eliyyahu b. Zekharya (and therefore might be addressed to his son Shelomo). Much of recto consists of pious exhortations and learned quotations, and these are also interspersed throughout verso. But there are also some additional details and accusations on verso: "How can you abandon. . . an old, sick man, worn out by communal duties, and a boy and a girl and [...] in my face. . . how have you lost your manliness? . . . as if I were not your father (? ṣāḥibak). . . such behavior is not fitting from you, that you [...] your soul against the one who is the reason for your existence, and that you seek the harm and humiliation of the man who wants to wash your clothing and help you. You have baffled us for 5 months. . . and we have burdened others. . . and you have saddled me with debts. . . the reason for all of this is. . . from your mind. . . . this is what leads to Gehennom, for the beginning of division is [...] and holding onto the ropes of falsehood and raving, namely mockery and recklessness. . . . And peace." AA. ASE.

Letter/petition from an unknown writer to the Head of the Jews. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer complains about ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz (probably his son) and his mistreatment of a woman in the house (the son's wife?) for whom he refuses to provide. When the writer confronts him, he shouts at him while chewing his mastic, "My mother left, and you stayed in my face." He refuses to sit like a normal person. The addressee is asked to arbitrate between them, for the wretched petitioners (al-suqamā') are perishing. The letter is written on a reused page of accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, of which a few lines are visible at the bottom of verso. ASE.