Language:
Hebrew
Year of publication:
2015
Titel der Quelle:
תרביץ
Angaben zur Quelle:
פג,א-ב (תשעה) 135-161
Keywords:
Maimonides, Moses,
;
Anatoly Ben Yoseph
;
Jews History
;
Hebrew letters History and criticism
;
Cairo Genizah
;
Manuscripts, Judeo-Arabic
Abstract:
A muqaddam was the judge appointed by the Head of Egyptian Jewry to serve in a city as the communal leader for religious affairs. When Maimonides' son R. Abraham was Head of Egyptian Jewry, and the muqaddam Judge Anatoly, an immigrant from Provence, died, some members of the community of Alexandria objected to the appointment of R. Samuel, a savant from France, as his replacement, claiming that it had been agreed upon in an old enactment not to give the office to an immigrant from Christian Europe. S.D. Goitein, who discovered the Judeo-Arabic letter from the Geniza that relates to this episode, also discovered a similar letter, which he believed to refer to the same affair. This item had not yet been assigned a permanent shelf mark at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library, and when Goitein went back to reexamine it, the manuscript was missing. I have now identified the letter, which is presented here. It was written in ‘Sivan 159' [4800 + 159 = 4959 AM], i.e., June 1199 C.E. Subsequently, ‘our master, may he live forever' (לעד יחי רבנו), who is mentioned twice, was obviously Maimonides rather than his son. From an analysis of the letter and other sources, it is evident that when serving as Head of the Jews for a second term, Maimonides appointed R. Anatoly as muqaddam of Alexandria despite the opposition of the ‘rebels' (מורדין) to the appointment of an immigrant. The identity of the writer of the letter and the recipient and their backgrounds, the biography of R. Anatoly and his association with Maimonides and other relevant matters are also examined.
URL:
אתר את הפרסום בקטלוג המאוחד של ספריות ישראל
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