University of Pennsylvania, Halper 397

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Metadata

DS ID:

DS26087

Shelfmark:

Halper 397

Title:

Letter to ʻAlun ben Yaʻish, "The Benefactor", Fustat

Letter

Author:

ʹAli ben Yeḥezḳel, ha-Kohen, 11th century

Place:

Jerusalem

Jerusalem TGN

Date:

1060?

eleventh century (dates CE) AAT

Language:

Judeo-Arabic, Hebrew, and Arabic

Judeo-Arabic WIKIDATA

Hebrew WIKIDATA

Arabic WIKIDATA

Material:

torn, faded; 5 uneven folds; marginal postscript on recto

Physical Description:

Extent: 1 folio : torn, faded; 5 uneven folds; marginal postscript on recto

Note:

Verso has 3 lines of postscript, plus 3 lines in Arabic characters of address.
The addressee is known elsewhere by his Hebrew name, ʻAli 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...
"Abu Zikhri" may refer to Judah Ben Sighmar, who emigrated to Fustat around 1050, or possibly Judah ben Saʻadia, 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, ʻAli 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 ʻAli to Allun, Cambridge TS 12.54 (Gil. Ibid. no. 444).
Cairo Genizah Collection (University of Pennsylvania. Center for Advanced Judaic Studies. Library).
Cairo Genizah Collection (Dropsie College. Library).
Amram.

Keyword:

Personal correspondence

Correspondence

Yehudah ben Seʹadyah. 11th century

Yehudah ben Sigmar, 11th century

Middle East--Jerusalem--Temple Mount

Institutional Record:

https://find.library.upenn.edu/catalog/9940420753503681

IIIF Manifest:

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3r49gt81/manifest

Holding Institution:

University of Pennsylvania