Geniza Lab

Strongly worded circular letter sent by Moses Maimonides to the country-side community, soliciting them to contribute to the ransom of captives. The two senior judges of Fustat, Hiyya b. Yiṣḥaq and Efrayim b. Meshullam had been sent to Palestine, probably to approach the Franks, who might have taken captives when they sacked Bilbays on November 3, 1168. A sermon in Hebrew is written in the wide spaces between the lines. verso, in Hebrew, unrelated. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 548, 549; V, pp. 54, 55.) BL OR 5533.1, T-S 12.238, and T-S 16.9 are all versions of the same letter.