State document: T-S NS 320.45

State document T-S NS 320.45

Metadata

Shelfmark
T-S NS 320.45
Inferred Date
Primary Language
Arabic

What's in the PGP

  • Image
  • 1 Transcription
  • 2 Translations

Description

Petition submitted to the Fatimid caliph al-Mustanṣir upon his accession in 1036 CE. Requesting that he confirm the appointment of Yosef ha-Kohen, a judge of Alexandria. Goitein writes that the script and style are identical with Halper 354. (Information from Gil, Goitein, and Rustow, Heresy, p. 94 n. 58.) Alternate possibility (from DIMME database): Arabic-script draft of a testimony to be submitted to the government, written by Efrayim b. Shemarya in 1016 CE. Both potential years are therefore listed in the inferred dating of this shelfmark. On verso there is a legal deed in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya in which two partners release Yeshuʿa b. Seʿadel from all claims.

Related People

Mentioned
Yosef b. Yeshuʿa ha-Kohen ha-Dayyan

Related Places

Mentioned
Alexandria

Tags

Additional metadata

Provenance
Geniza
Collection
Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter
Input date
In PGP since 1986
Image
Transcription
Translation

T-S NS 320.45 1r

°
1r
Moshe Gil, Palestine During the First Muslim Period (634–1099)‎ (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv University, 1983), vol. 2.

Recto

  1. وفاته وبـ[ـعده تولى] يوسف الهارونى [
  2. [[رحمه الله]] ولم يزل يوسف الهارونى المقدم با[
  3. يوشيا راس المثيبة رضى الله عنه وبعد //وفـ[ـاته]// طو[ل ايام سليمان الهارونى
  4. ولما توفي سليمن الهارونى راس المثيبة وصر التصرف [لسليمن بن يهودا
  5. الفاسى الباقى الى اليوم ادام الله عزه قلد ليوسف الهارونى [
  6. فى ثغر اﻻسكندرية ناضر فى جميع ما هوه اليه من النضر في [
  7. في احكامهم وعقد نكاحاتهم وطلاقاتهم على سنن مذهبهم ونصب حزانين [في
  8. كنايسهم ومن يتوﻻ ما يرا[[هم]] لهم وعزل من يرا عزله منهم وعند مخالفة احدهم له
  9. [يرجع اﻻمر . . . . . . . . . .] اﻻ راس المثيبة الذى نصبه وقلده و[
  10. ] ولما سالنا سايل جاز سؤالنا كتب شها[دتـ]ـنا بما
  11. [ علمـ]ـنا به وكتبنا خطوطنا فى يوم [

Recto - right margin

  1. اذ ﻻ يجوز ﻻ[حد
  2. اعتزال [
S. D. Goitein, "New Sources on the Palestinian Gaonate," in Salo Wittmayer Baron Jubilee Volume (Columbia University Press, 1974), 503–37.

  1. …for Joseph the Aaronite...) 

  2. may God have mercy upon him.And Joseph did not cease to administer the affa(irs of the Alexandrian community until the times of) 

  3. Joshia, the head of the yeshiva, may God be pleased with him and after the latter's (death in the times of Solomon, the Aaronite). 

  4. And when Solomon, the Aaronite, the head of the yeshiva, died and the office passed (to Solomon b. Judah) 

  5. of Fez, the present incumbent – may God increase his splendor –, he appointed Joseph, the Aaronite, (to be chief of the Rabbanite Jews) 

  6.  in the port-city of Alexandria, namely as judge in all matters that he had administered up till then,(to wit,) decisions on 

  7. their civil cases, the conclusion of marriages and the enactment of divorces in accordance with the rites of their denomination, the appointment of cantors (and officiating in) 

  8. their synagogues, and of persons administering their emoluments, and the dismissal of anyone deserving it in his opinion. And when anyone opposes him, 

  9. (no action can be taken against Joseph) except by the head of the yeshiva, who has appointed him and invested him with his authority. 

  10. And when we were asked to testify by one who has authority to do so, we wrote this our testimony (.....) 

  11. (...) and we signed for him and signed ourselves on the day...

 

Translated by Brendan G. Goldman.

. . . his death, and af[ter him he ap]pointed Yūsuf al-Harūnī [the Kohen] . . . [may God have mercy on him], and Yūsuf al-Harūnī did not cease in administering [his orders] . . . [until today] Josiah [Ga’on; d. 1025], the head of the academy, may God be pleased with him. After [his death, in the days of Solomon al-Harūnī], when Solomon al-Harūnī [ha-Kohen Ga’on], the head of the yeshiva, died [also in 1025], the administration [of the academy] was in the hands of Solomon ben Judah al-Fāsī [of Fez], who remains until today [the head of the academy], may God make permanent his glory. [Solomon] invested Yūsuf al-Harūnī [with leadership of the Rabbanite Jews] of the port of Alexandria, so he may watch over everything that he has [to do] according [to his position] . . . [overseeing] their laws, organizing their affairs, contracting their weddings and divorces according to the practice of their school of law [i.e., Rabbanite Judaism]; and to appoint ḥazans [and] . . . [in] their synagogues [and to appoint] one who will oversee what is spent for them, and to dismiss those he decides to dismiss [from their communal leadership positions]. When someone is opposed to him . . . except for the head of the academy, whom he appointed and entrusted and . . . when we asked the questioner, he authorized his questions [Hebrew unclear]. We wrote our testimony concerning what . . . [what we knew] about it and we wrote his signature and signed on the day . . .

T-S NS 320.45 1v

1v
    Image Permissions Statement
    • T-S NS 320.45: Provided by Cambridge University Library. Zooming image © Cambridge University Library, All rights reserved. This image may be used in accord with fair use and fair dealing provisions, including teaching and research. If you wish to reproduce it within publications or on the public web, please contact genizah@lib.cam.ac.uk.
    Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter, T-S NS 320.45. Available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/documents/4468/ (accessed August 12, 2026).