Welfare and Charity in a Sixteenth-Century Jewish Community in Egypt: A Study of Genizah Documents

Musta?rib is a term that refers to the local Arabic-speaking Jews in Syria, Palestine and Egypt. The article discusses the Musta?rib community of Cairo in the late sixteenth century. Like other Medieval Jewish communities, the Musta?rib of Cairo had an advanced system for support of the needy. It included regular support for the poor, for widows and orphans, and occasional help for foreign travellers, captives, and more. Based on Genizah documents in Judaeo-Arabic, the article discusses the mechanism of welfare in that community and proves the influence of European Jewish immigrants on the construction of this system.

The Musta?ribs are romanticised in classic Zionist historiography as deeply rooted farmers. The article argues that the Musta?ribs were first and foremost members of an urban population. It also suggests that contrary to the classic image of them as a fixed and unchanging population, which resided in the same area for successive generations, the Musta?rib society should be viewed as a society in motion. They adjusted to historical changes, were influenced by other Jewish cultures, and applied changes to improve their welfare system.