Geniza Lab

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Letter from Alexandria written by Zadoq from 1200. this is the upper part of a letter already published by Miriam Frenkel. The join was made by MAF in his article הרמב"ם ומינוי של אנטולי, תרביץ פג.

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Letter from a prominent public figure in Alexandria to Fustat in the year 1200. The letter reports of terrible hunger as well as water and wheat shortage. This indicates that Alexandria suffered from severe food shortage before the great famine that struck Egypt in 1201/2. (Information from Frenkel. See also partial translation in Goitein, Med. Soc. 4:238-239, 5:550. Goitein notes on the document: Important letter dated September- October 1200, sent by a notable from Alexandria. The writer describes the great famine in Alexandria, orders ten irdabbs of wheat and gives personal greetings to Moses Maimonides and to the French Rabbi Anatoli).

Ed. Miriam Frenkel, The Compassionate and Benevolent: The Leading Elite in the Jewish Community of Alexandria in the Middle Ages‎ (in Hebrew) (2006).