Geniza Lab

Letter from Yaʿaqov b. Salīm to Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Natanʾel in al-Ghuwwa, Yemen, ca. summer 1131, concerning the controversy over the reshut of Maṣliaḥ gaʾon over the Jews of Yemen and the collection on behalf of the yeshiva in Fustat. Yaʿaqov b. Salīm, leader of a Jewish community in Yemen, having left Aden and moved to al-Ghuwwa, sends Ḥalfon a secret letter for Maṣliaḥ, head of the Jews in Egypt, and another letter for Abū Zikrī ha-Kohen, representative of the merchants in Fustat. Yaʿaqov b. Salīm had managed to get the Jews in the villages of Yemen to send contributions for Maṣliaḥ, and he asks Ḥalfon to beware lest the letters fall into the hands of his enemies. In case Ḥalfon is delayed on his journey to Egypt, he should ask Abū l-Yumn to deliver the letters personally. Yaʿaqov hopes he will receive an answer from Maṣliaḥ within the year. He also comments on books that he has sent to Ḥalfon, and notes that he had already copied the letter sent to him from al-Ghuwwa while he was staying in Aden. Yaʿaqov b. Salīm had left Aden for al-Ghuwwa because, like others, he was seceding from the authority of Maḍmūn b. Yefet and didn't want to be involved in controversy, all the more so given what we learn from his letter regarding contributions collected for the yeshiva of Palestine in this period of controversy. He himself had sent 34 dinars as an annual contribution from the villages of Yemen. The letter seems not to know that the villages had refrained from contributing that year — a rumor based on the exilarch's preventing the congregation from saying the reshut clause in the name of Maṣliaḥ gaʾon. Yaʿaqov b. Salīm points out that only two villages had not yet contributed, and that when their contribution came, the total contribution of the villages would be 404 dinars, a good amount according to Yaʿaqov b. Salīm, but also a much larger sum that any other geniza document mentions as a contribution to any reshut. Goitein read the sum as 600 (תר) rather than 404 (תד), but after the number the word danān(īr) appears, which in both classical Arabic and in this letter comes only after units. The regular contribution in the name of the gaʾon of Palestine demonstrates the attachment of Yemeni Jews to the central institution of learning. This seems to be the earliest document written from Yemen in the controversy over the reshut. It is exceptional that Yaʿaqov b. Salīm warned Halfon to handle the letter with secrecy and destroy it; fortunately, Halfon didn't obey the warning. The letter is difficult to decipher, but includes specific information about the affair, such as the copying of letters from the Davidic Persians and details about the collection for Maṣliaḥ, as well as greetings to Halfon's children ("his lion cubs"). Yaʿaqov b. Salīm was already known from Mann, Jews in Egypt and in Palestine, 2:366 (doc. 65; read al-Ghuwwa instead of אלגיוהומא). (Information from Friedman and Goitein)