Ma‘aseh sadiqîm: A Corpus of Tunisian Judeo-Arabic Tales of Contemporary Times

Abstract

The article presents a Judeo-Arabic collection entitled Ma‘aseh Sadiqîm, published in Sousse in 1943. It collects a total of sixty-eight didactic legends of leading figures of Tradition, trying to compile all the wealth which derives from talmudic-midrashic, Sephardic and Yiddish literatures. Together with Ma‘aseh Sadiqîm, Ma‘aseh Eldad ha-Danî and Ma‘aseh fî shan hokmat Shlomo ha-Melech, two close works have been analyzed. The tales, bearing universal values, remind us of medieval exempla that were transmitted orally from generation to generation.