Shemuʾel b. Yosef Ben Yijū
Description / Bio
Later known as Shemuʾel 'the Teacher'. One of the sons of Yosef Ben Yijū. He stayed with his parents in Mazara, Sicily while his brothers Moshe and Peraḥyā undertook a perilous journey to meet their uncle Avraham in Fustat. Later, Shemuʾel and his mother followed the rest of the family to Fustat, where she lived with him. At one point, his address was 'care of Abū l-Fakhr's [Ibn al-Amshāṭī, the Ibn Yijūs' patron] perfumery'. Shemuʾel and his brother Peraḥyā assisted each other with financial matters, though neither was of the most stable means. Peraḥyā helped Shemuʾel gain his position as a schoolteacher for the congregation (see IB III, 53 / PGPID 4741), and at one point repaid a debt "out of his own mouth" on Shemuʾel's behalf to the family's patron. At another, likely later, point, Peraḥyā asked Shemuʾel for help paying a capitation tax. Shemuʾel had at least two, and likely at least three, sons.