Letter: T-S 10J32.3 + T-S AS 153.115 + T-S 6J10.11 + T-S AS 169.74 + T-S Misc.29.44a

Description

Several fragments of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic with wide line spacing. From the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya (r. 1140–1159 CE) to Sason (b. Meshullam) the judge. Written in the hand of Mevorakh b. Natan. Refers to Mūsā b. ʿIwāḍ (in T-S 10J32.3); Abū l-Ḥasan the 'elder of the congregations' with several honorifics; and some gossip (rekhilut). T-S AS 153.115 mentions someone titled החכם המעולה אב החכמה, likely referring to Sason (as the address on verso refers to him only as Av ha-Ḥokhma; the same epithet is also applied to the judge Efrayim b. Meshullam in T-S 16.9, l. 10). In the continuation it describes the measures that will be taken to discipline a certain Mūsā (T-S Misc.29.44a, l. 1; probably the same as Mūsā b. ʿIwāḍ from the first fragment) who has persisted in spreading slander (וצאעף אלרכילות, l. 2). He will be sternly warned (ll. 2–4), but if he continues to persist (l. 5), the communal leader (אבירנו) will remove three Torah scrolls from the ark, dress them in black, and blow the shofar before the congregations and excommunicate him. Reused on verso for a commentary (taʿlīq) on Isaiah by the scribe Abū Naṣr Ibn al-Tabīb for a commentary or grammatical treatise, with biblical citations such as Deuteronomy 30:14, Isaiah 51:4–6, and Proverbs 12:19. Also citing Ibn Sargado's commentary on Haʾazinu. Has some resemblances to BL OR 5533.1, T-S 12.238, T-S 16.9, and T-S 10J9.22. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card.) Joins: Adiel Breuer (T-S Misc.29.44a and T-S 10J32.3) and Alan Elbaum (T-S AS 153.115 + T-S 6J10.11 + T-S AS 169.74).