Geniza Lab

Beginning of the taqqanah (ordinance) of al-Mahalla, continued in T-S 16.135. See there for fuller description. Ed. Blau, Teshuvot ha-Rambam, vol. 2, 516-518.

Fragment of an ordinance (taqqana) concerning the Jerusalem community in Fustat. The community decides to choose ten men who will manage the community with Efrayim b. Shemarya. Probably written July 7, 1028; in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya. (Gil, Palestine, vol. 2, 594-596, Doc. #325) VMR

Beginning of the taqqanah (ordinance) of al-Mahalla, continued in T-S 16.135. This is an enactment passed by the Jewish community of al-Maḥalla, in which they pledge their loyalty to their judge Peraḥya [b. Yosef], to retain his position as long as he remains in the country and does not want to emigrate to the Land of Israel. Peraḥya was Avraham b. Peraḥya Ibn Yijū’s nephew (his brother’s son), and was married to his daughter Sitt al-Dar. He served as the muqaddam of al-Maḥalla. The enactment is authorised by Yehoshua b. Iyov, Moshe ha-Kohen b. Berakhot ha-Kohen, Shemuʾel b. Yefet, Natan ha-Kohen b. Mevorakh, ʿUlla b. Natan, and Berakhot b. Efrayim. The community passed this enactment in response to a power struggle that was taking place between Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā (later known as Mar Zūṭa), the head of the Jews, and local communities. Zūṭa had attempted to force the local judge Peraḥya to collect a tax from anyone approaching him for halakhic rulings - a fee that was to be passed on to Zūṭa. To prevent Zūṭa from appointing a different judge who would be loyal to him, the community of al-Maḥalla pledged their loyalty to Peraḥya in this enactment. (Information from CUDL) Ed. Blau, Teshuvot ha-Rambam, vol. 2, 516-518.

Statute (‘taqqana’) about the conduct of two slaughter houses, one at the Great Bazaar and one at the Bath of the Mice, issued by a committee of seven individuals elected by the community. The document records the decision to appoint Yefet b. David to be cantor and the supervisor of the slaughter instead of his father, who had passed away. Yefet will be responsible for these two markets in Fustat where ritually pure meat was available, and must send one-half of the weekly income to Yoshiyahu, the Gaon and head of the Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Goitein dates the document to after 1024. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2, 583-585, #319; Goitein, “The Social Services of the Jewish Community as Reflected in the Cairo Geniza Records” Jewish Social Studies (1964), 10; and Goitein’s index cards) VMR and EMS