Letter: T-S NS 226.185 + T-S NS 226.162

Description

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Perhaps late 11th century or early 12th. This is a long and fairly well-preserved letter from somebody close to the Jewish communal leadership. On verso may refer to the late Yehosef [b. Shelomo ha-Kohen] (d. 1053) and his late brother Eliyyahu Av Bet Din (who served as Gaʾon 1062–83). Also mentions people such as Ibn Barukh, "the judges," Rabbenu Yeshuʿa, Rosh ha-Qehillot, Salāma al-Maqāniʿī, [Rosh] ha-Gola, Ibn Maʿālī, and Ibn Maṭar(?). Join: Alan Elbaum. Same hand as (but probably not a join with) Moss. V,334.2 (PGPID 6963). Needs further examination. Some of the same phrases (e.g. the reference to ארבע וסדס) and potentially the same subjects appear in T-S 10J25.7 (PGPID 2977), another letter by Elʿazar b. Shelomo ha-Kohen.