Geniza Lab

Ledger of expenses and incomes of the Mustaʿrib congregation of Cairo, 1588–1607 CE, discovered and analyzed by Dotan Arad. Some excerpts that were noted in previous PGP records: "On several occasions the notebook mentions that that Mustaʿrib heqdesh treasurer in Cairo relayed money to finance weddings in the qahal. For example, in the month of Elul 1593, the treasurer wrote the following in his notebook: “Furthermore, paid by [the beadle] Samuel Tājir to Mordechai Jamīla, the tawwāb (returnee to the faith) to help pay for his wedding 20 fiḍḍa, Tuesday, 10 Elul [5353]." "This interpretation of the term tawwāb is supported by another entry in the notebook written in 1600, noting 15 fiḍḍa that were given to support “a tawwāb converso (anūs)”. The arrival of Sephardi conversos in Egypt and their return to Judaism within a Muslim environment is documented as far back as 1459, a process which increased following the expulsion from Spain." Bibliography: Arad (2017) Welfare and Charity in a Sixteenth-Century Jewish Community in Egypt: A Study of Genizah Documents, Al-Masāq, 29:3, 258–72, no. 19.