Material from Aaron b. Asher, Diqduqe ha-Ṭeʿamim (‘Rules of the accents’). The material begins on f. 2r with the latter half of Dotan’s שער ה (Dotan 1967: 115, line 6 to 116, line 12). It continues with material similar to that of Dotan’s שער כא (Dotan, 1967, 140, lines 1-5). Then follows a section entitled שער טעמים שמונה אשר בשלושה ספרים (‘The Section concerning the eight accents of the three poetic books’), corresponding to Baer and Strack’s §18 (Baer and Strack, 1879: 19-20). Thereafter follows material from Dotan’s שער ט, though with multiple variant readings and additions (Dotan, 1967, 120, line 1 to 123, line 16).
Recto: Aaron b. Asher, Diqduqe ha-Ṭeʿamim. The text contains a somewhat expanded version of שער ח (according to Dotan’s enumeration of the sections: Dotan 1967: 119). Verso: masoretic notes on חלל, ירידה, וירא, ויראה, observing that in each case the preferred preposition for these terms is אל, and listing the exceptions to this general rule (where על occurs instead).
Condition: Slightly torn
Layout: 12 lines in 2 columns (recto); 13 lines in 2 columns (verso)
Piyyut, אהבוך עלמות, by Aaron b. Jacob, and the first few lines of a piyyut אויב בעת נמחק בעברה, by the same author. Both piyyuṭim may have been intended for recitation on Passover.
Recto: part of a letter, from Aaron ha-Mūmḥe the cantor b. Ephraim, from Ṣōʿan (i.e. Fusṭāṭ), to the Nagid Solomon. It appears that the name Solomon was inserted, subsequent to the composition of the letter and in a different hand, into a gap that had been left by the original scribe. Verso: piyyuṭ in honour of Solomon, the recipient of the letter on the recto, written by the same scribe.
Recto: family letter, ca. 11th century, from Abraham to his son-in-law Elijah and his daughter אתוכלי, Itwakkilī (Arabic, but unattested as a name). There are many greetings and good wishes from various family members. The writer states that Elijah’s brother wanted to visit him, but had been prevented by the grape harvest (הבציר). He wants the couple to send a letter at the next opportunity. Also mentioned is a debt and ‘the time that the river rises’, probably a reference to the flooding of the Nile. A number of different names are mentioned: Elijah’s sister is Sitt al-Rūmī (שטירומי); also mentioned are Irini (אריני), Leon (לאון) and his wife Sitt al-Bayt (שטילבית), another son-in-law Kalev, a wife Meršini (מרשיני, vocalised) and a son Šemarya. Verso: address and several lines of unrelated Arabic.