Geniza Lab

Recto: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1218 CE or slightly before, based on the date listed in the accounts on verso. The writer is in desperate straits and asks the addressee to bring the case of Menaḥem (=himself?) to 'the Rayyis,' who may be Avraham Maimonides, and obtain from him 'what will release me (mā yubrīnī).' The writer wishes to move his children to Alexandria. He complains about R. Anatoli ('It is not concealed from you all the 'informing' (מסרות = מלשינות) that took place among us, nor the anger (khulq) of R. Anatoli and his impatience (? צגֿרה)." The writer mentions Manṣūr al-Miṣrī in the context of business matters; sends regards to Abū Zikrī; and the title of a lady (al-sitt al-rayyisa) appears on verso, apparently not as part of the letter. Information in part from CUDL and M. A. Friedman, "Maimonides Appoints R. Anatoly Muqaddam of Alexandria," [Hebrew], vol. 83 (2015), p. 155, n. 80. Join by Friedman.