Incomplete court record from Minyat Zifta dated Adar II 1543 (= March 1232 CE), concerning three former partners in a tannery - Rāḍi ha-Kohen, Mufaḍḍal ha-Kohen and Ṭāhir - who quarrelled and appeared before the local judge, Gamliel b. Simḥa, contesting the breaking up of the partnership. The case had already been brought to the Muslim courts and before the Nagid Abraham Maimonides without a settlement being reached between the three men.Condition: Torn, holes, stainedLayout: 21 lines (recto; verso is blank)
Rect: letter sent from Saʿadya the cantor b. Ṣedaqa in Minyat Zifta to Jacob b. Isaac. Verso: Samaritan alphabet, and unidentified marginalia.Condition: torn, holes, stained, rubbed, fadedLayout: 13 lines (recto); 3 lines + marginalia (verso)
Letter from Abraham b. Šabbetay, judge of Minyat Zifta, to Abū Isḥāq ha-Kohen b. Samuel. It’s a personal letter that discusses various bits of news, including an annoying house guest is an inveterate gambler. It mentions a number of people, including Abū l-Faraj, Abū l-Ḵayr, Abraham Ibn al-Azhar and his son Ibrahim the cantor.Layout: 20 lines + marginalia (recto); 16 lines + marginalia (verso)
Letter from Abraham b. Šabbetay of Minyat Zifta, Egypt, to various congregations, including Bilbays and Benhā, concerning the preparation of cheese for Passover.Condition: holes, rubbedLayout: 19 lines (recto; verso is blank)
A Hebrew letter by the muqaddam of the community in Minyat Zifta, announcing that he had excommunicated a debtor according to an instruction by the Nagid. The Nagid had previously arranged for the debtor to repay part of what was owed to his creditors, but he reneged on his agreement and an excommunication was about to be enacted against him as per the Nagid’s instructions. The muqaddam, however, asks for a respite of one or two months for the debtor. Mentions ‘our lord R. ʿUzziel [...], meleḵ Minyat Zifta’. Ca. 14th century.Condition: TornLayout: 44 lines + marginalia (recto; verso is blank)
A letter from Minyat Zifta (Egypt) addressed to Abraham II Maimonides. A physician in a small town who undertook the teaching of schoolchildren in addition to his medical work, became so enthusiastic about the additional income that he did not let the children go back to their former teacher, when he returned from being away in Cairo, where he had had to pay his poll tax. On verso a draft of another letter in a different handLayout: 54 lines (recto); 36 lines + marginalia (verso)