Cairo Genizah : Letter

Solomon b. Judah (Gaʾon)

Cairo Genizah

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Part of a letter, from 1035 CE, written by Solomon ‘the lesser, Head of the Yešiva’ (i.e. the Gaʾon Solomon b. Judah), in Jerusalem, to Ephraim ‘he-Ḥaver in the Great Sanhedrin’ b. Šemarya, in Fusṭāṭ, regarding the special collection to help restore ‘the cave’ (i.e. the Rabbanite synagogue in Jerusalem, that was damaged in the collapse of part of the Western Wall on the Temple Mount during Passover 1034 CE). The restoration of the synagogue is described, including the removal of rubble, and the use of 62 beams and 600 planks. Also mentions details concerning captives, as well as Joseph b. Yaʿqūb, a prominent member of the Fusṭāṭ Jewish community, who is loyal to the Babylonian academy of Pumbeditha and has the title Alūf. Greetings are sent to the recipient’s son-in-law, Joseph. </p>