Legal document: T-S G1.52

Description

Legal declaration, probably the concluding page of a deposition, signed by Shem Ṭov al-Ḥāmī. In Hebrew and Ladino. Dating: Late. Shem Ṭov declares that he vowed to undertake the nezirut of Samson (i.e., abstain from wine and let his hair go wild) when his son had an eye disease. He wanted his mother-in-law to come visit her daughter and sick grandson, so Shem Ṭov told her that he had beaten her daughter. This had the desired effect, but led to a great quarrel, in which both Shem Ṭov and his wife denied any beating, and the mother-in-law asks, "Why are you denying the truth?" At this point they wanted the mother-in-law to leave them alone, but she refused to leave without her daughter. Shem Ṭov made a fist and threatened her in order to end the argument. The husband concludes by reporting the words of his vow to refrain from wine and, it seems, not to leave his wife alone on Sabbath (meaning that he would fulfill his conjugal obligations), "Yo recibo nezirut Shimshon bar Manoaḥ baʿal Delilah con todos sus tena'im de non dexarla עלא דומתי (?) on the Sabbath." He signs Shem Tov ("Good Name") al-Ḥāmī, watchman of a quarter. "The purpose of the declaration was, of course, that the impulsive watchman thirsted for wine and wished to be absolved from his overhasty vow." Information from Weiss and Goitein (Med. Soc, II, 608 n. 41 and Med Soc V, 110 and 536–37). Weiss has full transcription and translation of the document to English (JQR 68 [1977]:99-103). ASE.