Correspondence and social control in the Jewish communities of the islamic world: A letter of the nagid Joshua maimonides
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See, for example, Chan-Hie,Form and Structure of the Familiar Greek Letter of Recommendation, SBL Dissertation Series No. 4 (Missoula, Montana, 1972), and Hannah Cotton,Documentary Letters of Recommendation in Latin from the Roman Empire, Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie, H. 132 (Königstein/Ts., 1981).
Al-Qalqashandi,\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{S} \) ub \(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \) al-a' shā f \(\bar i\) \(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{s} \) inā' at al-inshā' vol. 8 (Cairo, 1915), p. 233.
The copyist of the Arabic epistolographic treatise was the Jewish court clerk, Halfon ha-Levi b. Manasse ibn al-Qa\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} \)ā'if, who flourished in Fustat during the first four decades of the twelfth century. See S.D. Goitein,A Mediterranean Society, vol. 2 (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1971), p. 231. The treatise copied by Halfon b. Manasse ought to be compared with Hilāl al-\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{S} \)ā\(\bar b\)i's (d. 1056)Ghurar al-balāgha, a work which, as far as I have been able to determine, has still not been published. An Istanbul manuscript (Laleli 1879) of the treatise is described briefly by Walther Björkman in the introduction to hisBeiträge zur Geschichte der Staatskanzlei im islamischen Ägypten (Hamburg, 1928), pp. 14–15, a study based on al-Qalqashan\(\bar d\)i's\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{S} \) ubh al-a'shā. Björkman lists the titles of the 21 chapters of Hilāl al-\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{S} \)ā\(\bar b\)i's work, and they correspond exactly to the table of contents in the Geniza fragment published by Gottheil. Dr. Geoffrey Khan kindly informed me that he has come across Geniza fragments in the Taylor-Schechter Collection containing exercises for writing letters in Arabic characters.
Some examples are to be found in the collection of model letters published from Geniza fragments by S. Assaf, “Letters of R. Samuel ben Eli and his Contemporaries” (in Hebrew),Tarbiz 1, No. 1 (1929): 102–130;ibid., No. 2 (1930): 43–84;ibid., No. 3 (1930): 15–80. Condolences: letters No. 7, 21, 22 (the termta'ziya occurs on p. 77, line 17), 28 (the term‘azā’ is used in the rubric), 35 (the noun‘azā’ and the verb'azzā occur several times, p. 37, lines 10, 14). Recommendation: letter No. 31, referring to the arrival ofshafā' a letters:wa-lammā [wara] dät al-shafā' āt (p. 31, line 21). A typical letter of congratulations employing the terminology oftahni'a is MS Taylor-Schechter Arabic Box 18 (1), fol. 34 (unpublished) congratulating Mevorakh b. Saadya on his restoration to the office of head of the Jews in the Fatimid empire. On sideb, lines 11–12 we read: “In congratulating you (\(\bar f\) itahni' atihä) I wish that my feet could substitute for my pen and my tongue for my finger tips.”
See Qalqashan\(\bar d\)i's long section onsul \(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} \) āniyyāt correspondence in\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{S} \) ub \(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{h} \) al-a'shā, VIII, 233–303.
A few have been published: see S.D. Goitein, “The Synagogue Building and its Furnishings according to the Records of the Cairo Geniza” (in Hebrew),Eretz-Israel 7 (1964): 97; idem, Sidrei\(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{H} \) inukh Bimei ha-Geonim U-Vet Ha-Rambam (Jerusalem, 1962), pp. 134–135 (Hebrew translation of an Arabic letter); E. Ashtor,Toledot Ha- Yehudim Be-Misrayim Ve-Suria tahat Shilton Ha-Mamlukim, vol. 3 (Jerusalem, 1970), pp. 82–87. Ashtor's brief discussion of Joshua Nagid, in vol. 1 (Jerusalem, 1944) pp. 298–300, discusses mainly his literary activities. Professor Goitein has published a long article on Joshua Nagid, “The Twilght of the House of Maimondies”,Tarbiz 64 (1985): 67–105.
See the description in Goitein,Mediterranean Society, 2:501–502 (Appendix C 101–112).
On the Islamic practice, see S.M. SternFā \(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} \) imid Decrees (London, 1964), pp. 123–165.
Stern,Fā \(\underset{\raise0.3em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\cdot}$}}{t} \) imid Decrees, pp. 131. 135.
Taylor-Schechter Additional Series (TS AS) 145. 15; TS Miscellaneous Box (Misc. Box) 28, fol. 64; and ENA NS 21, fol. 13 (discussed above, note to line 12 of the translation).
Mark R. Cohen, “Geniza Documents concerning a Conflict in a Provincial Egyptian Jewish Community during the Nagidate of Mevorakh b. Saadya”, inStudies in Judaism and Islam Presented to Shelomo Dov Goitein on the Occasion of his Eightieth Birthday, ed. Shelomo Moraget al. (Jerusalem, 1981), pp. 123–154.
Perhaps in the euphemism, “under a curse,”berākhā, “blessing,” substituting forkelāla, “curse”; see the note to line 14 of the text, above. I am grateful to Dr. Gideon Libson for the suggesting that the eupemismberākhā can refer to a ban (niddui).