The Cairo (Egypt) Genizah is a collection of hundreds of thousands of documents preserved in the Ben Ezra Synagogue of Old Cairo (Fustat). According to Jewish practice, sacred writings that can no longer be used must be buried, and before their burial they are to be stored in a special repository called a “genizah.” For unknown reasons, the materials deposited in the Ben Ezra Genizah were never sent for burial, so the Genizah preserved discarded writings from the time of its original construction in the 9^th century to the time of its discovery by Europeans in the 19^th century. In addition, many of the documents found in the Genizah were not sacred writings. The community seems to have believed that Hebrew letters themselves are sufficiently sacred to require deposit of writings using these characters in a genizah, and since the Arabic speaking Jews of Cairo wrote their Arabic using Hebrew letters, many types of common documents wound up in the Genizah. 

Among the materials discovered in the Genizah were the archives of the most famous of all Jewish residents of Cairo, Maimonides (1135/8-1204), the great philosopher and rabbinic scholar. While in Cairo, Maimonides wrote his two most famous works: his comprehensive code of Jewish law, the Mishneh Torah (Hebrew), and his work of Aristotelian philosophy, the Guide for the Perplexed (Arabic). He also served as head of the Jewish community for part of his time there, as well as physician to the Sultan. 

Note the qualities of the page before you. It was written quickly, without the niceties of a sacred document written by a scribe working carefully. It is on paper, which was folded multiple times into a roll. This tells us that it was sent as a letter, for the moment and not for preservation. Though written in Hebrew letters, the language is Arabic, used for everyday communication by Jews as by their neighbors. 

If you look at the signature that appears at the bottom, you may be able to identify the name “bar Maimoni,” that is, Maimonides. Maimonides signs this letter but did not write it. The letter, evidently written in multiple copies, urged local Jewish communities to pay funds pledged for the ransom of Jews taken captive by armies of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1168. Maimonides lends his authority to the support of one of Judaism’s greatest mitzvot, the redemption of captives.