Letter: MIAC 33

Description

Letter sent by the Adath Sefardim congregation of Safed to Avraham b.(?) David Naḥmias in Alexandria. Dated 22 Elul 5685 AM (1925 CE). At first glance the final letter in the year appears to be ח (8), but this yields a later date than the c. 1925 CE stamp within the signatures section (therefore the intended letter is more likely ה). The letter also bears an earlier stamp from 1903 CE, but the reason for its presence on the document remains unclear. Five communal leaders in Safed signed the letter: Shimʿon Darūsh(?), Raḥamīm ha-Kohen, Shelomo Adarʿī, Saʿadiya Luḥana(?), and ʿEzra ha-Kohen. NB: This document does not appear in the original MIAC catalogue that Ḥassanein Muḥammad Rabīʿa published in 1993 but it follows the same numbering system as the other fragments that were transferred from the MIAC to the Egyptian National Library (ENL). A scan and partial transcription of this document is available in: Saʻīd ʻAbd al-Salām Al-ʿUksh and Jahlān Ismāʻīl Muḥammad, Wathāʾiq al-Janīzā al-Yahūdiya fī Miṣr (2017), 86.