Letter: Bodl. MS heb. f 56/82–83

Description

Three letters from Se’adya b. Yosef to his students in Fustat in the course of the 921-922 calendar controversy between Palestinians and Babylonians. Original letter was written in February or March 922. This copy probably dates to the 11th century. Describes the events of summer and fall 921, when Se’adya was in Aleppo and heard about Aaron b. Meir’s intention to change the calendar. Also describes the Iraqi scholars’ opposition to his plans. Seʿadya urges his addressees to uphold the dates of the Babylonians, and ensure that Jews do not eat leaven on Passover and desecrate the Day of Atonement. There is an address in Arabic script. The letters are addressed to Saadya’s disciples Shelomo, ʿEzra and ʿEli in Fustat, in care of the shop of ʿAlī b. Sulaymān—incidentally, according to Moshe Yagur, the earliest reference we have to the presence of Jews in Fustat, although it is unknown whether this was the home or only the shop of ʿAlī b. Sulaymān. (Information from Rustow and Stern, "The Jewish Calendar Controversy of 921-22," in Stern and Burnett, eds., Time, Astronomy, and Calendars in the Jewish Tradition; Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 17; Goitein notes; and Moshe Yagur, "Living in the City: Jews and Their Residences in Medieval Fusṭāṭ," Medieval Encounters 27 [2024].)