Yosef b. Peraḥyā b. Yijū

Description / Bio

A teacher and cantor; the brother of Avraham Ben Yijū. Apparently, the earnings of a teacher and cantor did not go far--at once point, Yosef's brother Avraham (then in India) sent along as assistance twenty Malikī dinars via the trader Maḍmūn. After the conquest of Tunisia by the Normans of Sicily, including his hometown of al-Mahdiyya in 1148, Yosef and his family, alongside his siblings Mevassēr and Berākhā and their families, went into exile in Mazara, Sicily. At the time, non-Christians in Sicily were treated with notable tolerance; from a forty-year rental contract, it seems that Yosef intended to stay there long-term. During Yosef's time in Mazara, he and Avraham lost touch due to their mutual moves. This period of non-correspondence was extended by their irresponsible brother Mevassēr, who failed to pass along Avraham's initial letter requesting that one of Yosef's sons marry Avraham's daughter Sitt al-Dār and become his heir. Avraham repeated this request in 1153, at which point Roger II, the ruler of Sicily, had changed his mind and begun to persecute non-Christians. Yosef's elder sons, Moshe and Peraḥyā, thus set out to meet Avraham and his daughter in Egypt through many additional trials. Yosef missed his sons bitterly, and had hoped that they return to Sicily with their cousin, the bride. However, due to the changed political situation, he began to make moves towards joining his sons in Egypt, including requesting help from the Nagid of the Egyptian Jews. Whether or not Yosef himself ever made the trip, his wife and youngest son Shemuʾel are known to have made Fustat their home. SBS (Information from Goitein & Friedman, India Book, pg. 72-73, 79-81)