Cairo Genizah : Letter

Solomon b. Judah (Gaʾon)

Cairo Genizah

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Letter, dated 1020 CE, written by the Gaʾon Solomon b. Judah, to Abraham he-Ḥaver b. Sahlān, regarding the troubles he had faced in Jerusalem, which had prompted him to flee to Ramla. Solomon enumerates nine other letters that he had sent, including two carried by Ḵalaf b. Moses, a young man from the city of Tyre, two others addressed to Šemarya b. Yefet, regarding Isaac from Wadi al-Qurī, who had abandoned his family four years since and was living in Fusṭāṭ, and one delivered to Ephraim ha-Kohen, by Manasseh ha-Kohen. Greetings are sent to Abraham’s son Sahlān (note use of nickname ‘the straight one’, in a pun on his name), Abraham’s brother-in-law Saʿadya b. Ephraim, Mevasser, Obadiah and his son Joseph. Includes a brief list of perfumes and sweet odours in an allusion to the recipient’s trade as a perfumer; with allusions to Psalm 72:7, BT Beraḵot 6b, BT Šabbat 140b and BT Ḥullin 7b. </p>