Geniza Lab

Two paper leaves, very damaged, which form a part of a collection of letters from Evyatar ha-Kohen Gaon b. Eliyyahu, sent from Tyre. The first letter is addressed to Isaac b. Shemuel, the Spaniard, a Dayyan in Fustat. Evyatar appeals to Isaac to help the parnas "ha-Kohen we-ne'eman" ("trustee"), referring to Eli b. Yahya of Fustat. Greetings are sent to a certain parnas Abu al-Ridha and to the Hazzan Abu al-Mu'mar. Dated 1091. The second epistle is evidently addressed to a priestly scholar in Iraq who was authorized by the exilarch Hezekiah. It appears he had written Evyatar about a widow who had become liable to the levirate as her husband Yefet had died without issue. Evyatar sends greetings in the names of his two sons, Eliyyahu and Sadoq, and the banker Shemuel b. Aaron and the shaykh Abu 'Ali Ḥasan are also mentioned. (Jacob Mann, The Jews in Egypt and Palestine under the Fatimids, NY: Ktav Pub., 1920-22, rpt. 1970, 1:192-4, 2:228-9; and Mark Cohen, Jewish Self-government in Medieval Egypt, Princeton University, 1980, 112) EMS

Colophon in the handwriting of Evyatar Ha-Kohen b. Eliyyahu Gaon.