Geniza Lab

Letter from ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Yeḥezqel, Jerusalem, to ʿEli ha-Kohen b. Ḥayyim, Fustat. Dating: ca. 1060. The address says the letter should be delivered to a man called Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlūn in Fusṭāt. The addressee is known elsewhere by his Hebrew name, ʿEli ha-Kohen ben Hayyim. The names of the three mail agents are also written. The same agents are also found on a different letter from ʿEli to ʿAlūn, T-S 12.54 (Gil, Palestine, doc. 444). The writer praises Abu Zikri as a great benefactor to foreigners coming to Egypt from Iraq, the Sham, the Maghrib and Byzantium, particularly Shelomo ha-kohen the grandson of Shelomo b. Yehuda. Abu Zikri is most likely Yehuda ben Sighmar, who emigrated to Fustat around 1050, or possibly Yehuda ben Se'adya, who served as head of the Jews ca. 1064-1075. The yeshiva of Jerusalem will reward him by praying on his behalf at the gates of the Temple Mount and on the Mount of Olives. In the postscript on the verso, ʿEli sends regards to Abu Nasr of Siracusa (Sicily).

Declaration of a patronage relationship? After quoting Isaiah 50:7, several lines of eloquent prose in artfully arranged lines, starting with, "I am your slave, never to be released." ASE.

Letter of gratitude. In Arabic script. Full of expressions of patronage and no specific details. The sender's name may be Zayn and the addressee's name may be Bū l-Makārim—though paleographically it looks more like بو المكالر.