Letter: ENA 4009.15

Description

Two copies of letters. (1) From Sherira Gaon and his son Hayya to Shemuel b. Yosef ha-Kohen, the Palestinian Gaon. Little of the substance is preserved, but it is interesting that the senders ask for the letter to be read aloud in public (in Ramla or Jerusalem). (2) Letter from Yosef b. Ibn Abitūr to Shemuel ha-Kohen b. Yosef. This one is not digitized on PGP yet. Ibn Abitūr's main goal in this letter is to get the Gaon to reiterate an excommunication on a certain person which Ibn Abitūr already excommunicated, but who refuses to repent. Ibn Abitūr also asks the Gaon to excommunicate other persons, "who are aiding this wicked man, inciting him to remain streadfast and to further claim that he will be flogged, he will apostatize" ( yeṣē mi-dīnō le-tarbūt ra̔ah יצא מדינו לתרבות רעה). It was edited by Mann, "Varia on the Gaonic Period (conclusion)," Tarbiz 6, no. 1 (1934), 84–88.