Cairo Genizah : Letter; legal document

Cairo Genizah

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Recto: widely-spaced letter, in a neat, distinctive square hand. Only blessings are preserved, directed towards ‘our nagid’ and his sons. A long quotation from Isaiah is marked by 3 supralinear dots on each word. Verso: text written in different directions. It includes Arabic jottings and two Judaeo-Arabic court records in an uncertain hand. One is a copy of a misplaced document issued by the court of Samuel ha-Nagid, signed by Ephraim b. Mešullam, Nathan b. Samuel he-Ḥaver and Samuel b. Ḥananya. The original document addressed Isaiah ha-Levi and mentioned the synagogues of Egypt, including the synagogue of Dammūh. The second record explains how the lost document was found again. It contains a number of names including that of the Nagid Abraham b. Moses (Maimonides), and refers to the charitable institution, the waqf al-heqdeš. Ca. 1252 CE.</p>