رسالة: T-S 10J9.25

الوصف

Recto: Letter from Natan b. Avraham, in which he urges his supporters to be in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, lest their party be underrepresented, mentioning the ḥaver Avraham b. Shela. Dating: summer 1039 CE. (Information from CUDL.) See also T-S AS 151.160 (PGPID 38103). Gil summarizes this letter as follows: "It is therefore not surprising that Natan b. Avraham was anxious to recruit his followers in view of the imminent pilgrimage, as can be seen in his explicit letter to a certain ‘yedid [friend] of the yeshiva’, whose identity and location is not known to us. This letter contains a request to recruit as many supporters for the pilgrimage as possible, as I have already mentioned. We shall see that we have some indications that the pilgrimage and the congregation on Hoshaʿna rabbā on the Mount of Olives was a success (however passing) for Natan b. Avraham. In this letter, there are also further echoes of the flaring of passions. The letters of ‘the friend’ did not reach him, writes Natan, and he suspects that Shelomo b. Yehuda's supporters ('a congregation of hypocrites', Job xv:34) obtain them by deception. Natan b. Avraham appointed people to hold community offices and distributed titles to his followers. For instance, Mevasser b. Yishay is mentioned as ‘head of the communities’ and he is also called ‘faithful of the yeshiva'. This Mevasser visited Ramla and received writings from Natan for his followers. Natan also appointed Avraham b. Shela ḥaver, and he explains in detail how important it is that there should be ‘an ordained man’ in every community, meaning of course, someone loyal to Nathan. According to his statements, he enjoyed notable success in Ramla. The authorities were pressed lest they agreed to the demands of Shelomo b. Yehuda's backers: they even warned the local ruler that they would approach the mishnē, that is, the wazīr. The 'sixth' (it is not clear who this was at that time) went over to Nathan’s side, and even banned one of his rivals. It seems, then, that an optimistic mood prevailed in Natan b. Avraham’s camp in the summer and autumn of 1039 and that he had the upper hand in Ramla. We have no information about the recruiting of supporters for Shelomo b. Yehuda in anticipation of the month of Tishri and the pilgrimage, , but it seems that in his camp, too, there were considerable preparations for the impending events." Gil, History of Palestine, p. 701.