Geniza Lab

Draft of a letter or petition. In the hand of Shelomo b. Shemuel b. Seʿadya ha-Levi (active until c.1231). The first page is missing. Verso of this fragment is the cover page for a copy of Bava Meṣiʿa. This scribe is very prolific, and he used numerous blank margins of literary texts for pen trials (see Joins Suggestions). This letter/petition opens with a discussion of the least worthy among the patriarchs (the first line seems to be a reference to howAbraham, called Sayyid al-Kawnayn (! this is typically an epithet of Muḥammad), prayed for intercession on behalf of Lot, "the least worthy of the Avot; there is then mention of Esau); then mentions the superhuman humility of Moses especially at the time of Korah's rebellion. The sender gets to the point around line 10: he ask the addressee to change his mind (אבטאל מחשבתו הרעה) concerning letting people from outside the noble family (baytatnā) to join them for the memorial service (? tarḥīm) for a deceased woman (al-marḥūma). If the addressee doesn't go along with the request, the sender threatens to harass him by sending 20 nobles and 20 commoners his way. He also mentions "the people of Cairo and Fustat." (Identification of the scribe kindly provided by Amir Ashur.) ASE