رسالة: T-S G2.24

الوصف

Communal letter likely originating from the gaʾon in Jerusalem in the late 10th or early 11th century, concerning the appointment of local officials in an unidentified community somewhere in the Levant. Directly related to T-S 12.239 (PGPID 1636) but does not appear to be a join or a verbatim copy. The following names of officials are identical to those in T-S 12.239 and listed in exactly the same order, except for David b. Barhān and Yisraʾel b. David who are swapped: - Avraham and Saʿadya the sons of ʿAmram - Yosef [b. Avraham] - Yisraʾel b. Noaḥ - Ḥabīb b. Ḥasan - Yisraʾel b. Saʿadya - Efrayim and Wahb the sons of Suqayr - Hill[el b. Ḥadhaqa] - Yiṣḥaq b. Ḥasan - David b. Barhān - Yisraʾel b. [David ha-Rofeʾ] However after this point, T-S G2.24 continues listing several more names which do not appear in T-S 12.239: - Yeshuʿa b. ʿAmram - Khalaf b. Maʿālī (מעלי) - [...] - Saʿd b. ʿUmar - ʿAli b. Bashshār - Suqayr b. [...] - Hiba b. Yiṣḥaq - Ḥārith (חרת) b. Ḥasan - ʿUlayl (עוליל) b. [...] - Yaʿīsh b. Asad - Mevorakh b. Yiṣḥaq - MṢ[...] - ʿAmram b. [...] and somebody else בני אלתום(?) - Asad ha-[...] אלטרוש (= al-Uṭrūsh = the deaf?) There follows verbiage about what will happen if other people who are not known and not fitting should infringe on the rights of those listed above. A person named Maṣliaḥ is also mentioned. It is possible that this is actually the upper part of T-S 12.239, since the documents have identical layout, and T-S 12.239 also starts with verbiage about how no one else has the right to infringe on the appointees. But then it's unclear why T-S 12.239 would list only a subset of the officials mentioned in T-S G2.24. The other possibilities are that this document was issued later (when the number of officials increased) or that it was issued earlier (and in the interim the number of officials was whittled down). The name of Barhān is followed by זל in T-S 12.239 but not in T-S G2.24, which suggests either that T-S G2.24 is the earlier of the two, or that the writer was not particularly careful about noting which fathers were dead.