Description of Center for Advanced Judaic Studies Library, Halper 397: Letter to 'Alun ben Ya'ish, "The Benefactor", Fustat
Center for Advanced Judaic Studies Library
These images and the content of Center for Advanced Judaic Studies Library, Halper 397: Letter to 'Alun ben Ya'ish, "The Benefactor", Fustat are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.
Metadata is ©2017 University of Pennsylvania Books & Manuscripts and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Verso has 3 lines of postscript, plus 3 lines in Arabic characters of address; The addressee is known elsewhere by his Hebrew name, 'Ali ha-Kohen ben Ḥayim. The writer praises '"Abu Zikhri", as a great benefactor to foreigners coming to Egypt from Iraq, Erets Israel (אלשאם), Maghreb and Byzantium, particularly Solomon ha-kohen the grandson of R. Solomon Gaon, (the head of the Jerusalem Community, d. 1051, see Mann: The Jews in Egypt and in Palestine under the Fātimids / Jacob Mann. London : Oxford University Press, 1920-1922, v. 1, p. 75-152); "Abu Zikhri" may refer to Judah Ben Sighmar, who emigrated to Fustat around 1050, or possibly Judah ben Sa'adia, who served as Nagid between ca. 1064-1075. See M. Cohen: Jewish self-government in medieval Egypt : the origins of the office of head of the Jews, ca. 1065-1126 / Mark R. Cohen. Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1980, p. 133 n. 91; The Yeshiva of Jerusalem will reward him by praying on his behalf at the gates of the Temple Mount and on the Mount of Olives. In the postscript on the verso, 'Ali sends regards to Abu Natsr of Syracuse, Sicily; The address is in Arabic characters, the names of the three mail agents are also written. The same agents are also found on a different letter from 'Ali to Allun, Cambridge T-S 12.54 (Gil. Ibid. no. 444).
Condition: torn, faded; 5 uneven folds; marginal postscript on recto.
United States
Philadelphia
University of Pennsylvania
Center for Advanced Judaic Studies Library
Cairo Genizah Collection
Halper 397
https://franklin.library.upenn.edu/catalog/FRANKLIN_9940420753503681
Judeo-Arabic; Hebrew; Arabic
Letter to 'Alun ben Ya'ish, "The Benefactor", Fustat
Yeḥezḳel ben ʹAli, 11th cent.
Paper
15 X 22 cm
Lines: 18 (recto), 6 (verso); ruling method: in mail format.
Hebrew Arabic Oriental semi-cursive
Black ink
1060?
Jerusalem
Cairo Genizah Collection (University of Pennsylvania. Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. Library).
Cairo Genizah Collection (Dropsie College. Library).
Amram.
Judeo-Arabic letters , Temple Mount (Jerusalem)