List or table: T-S 8J7.9

Description

Document containing a list of blessings for a benefactor, Moshe ha-Kohen Ḥemdat ha-Sarim Tifʾeret ha-Kohanim Neʾeman ha-Soḥarim ʿAyn ha-ʿEda Ner Yisraʾel ve-Yehuda (Delight of the Nobles, Pride of the Kohens, Trustee of the Merchants, Eye of the Congregation, Torch of Israel and Judah). Intended to be publicly recited during service at the synagogue. The piece opens with a prayer (tarḥīm) on the ancestors and other deceased relatives of the notable. The ancestors include: Yosef ha-Kohen ha-Rav ha-Gadol; his son Yehuda ha-Rav ha-Gadol ha-Muvhaq Rosh ha-Seder; Saʿadya ha-Kohen he-Ḥaver; his son Ghālib ha-Kohen he-Ḥasid; his son Moshe ha-Kohen ha-Sar ha-Adir; his three sons, Yoshiyyahu ha-Kohen ha-Sar ha-Adir (and his son Shela ha-Kohen who died young), Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen, and Saʿadya ha-Kohen ha-Sar ha-Adir Peʾer ha-Kohanim; his two sons Meshullam ha-Kohen and Avraham ha-Kohen (who died young, based on T-S NS J39); Elʿazar ha-Kohen; and his son Meshullam ha-Kohen Kelil ha-Yofi Peqid ha-Soḥarim, and his brother Yehuda. The noble patron, a representative of merchants living ca. 1200 CE is a recipient of blessings in five other documents as well: CUL Or.1080 J148 (PGPID 3983), T-S K21.35 (PGPID 8530), T-S NS J39 (PGPID 4332), and T-S 8J21.3 (PGPID 7674). Out of the related documents, CUL Or.1080 J148 and T-S 8J7.9 must have been copied at the same time, as both contain the same interlinear insertion ("and his two sons Meshullam and Avraham") at the same place in the document. This allows reconstruction of some of the lacunae in the transcription below. Both also have accounts in Arabic script on verso. The CUL Or.1080 J148 version contains more abbreviations, while the T-S 8J7.9 version has more words written out in full. T-S NS J39 is also a very close copy. (Information in part from Goitein's index card and Med Soc 2:162, 554.) EMS