Letter from the Cairo Genizah – Sent from Ramla to Jerusalem in 1054 (End of the Geonic Era in Eretz Israel, During ...

Letter from the Cairo Genizah – Sent from Ramla to Jerusalem in 1054 (End of the Geonic Era in Eretz Israel, During Rashi's Youth) – Mentions of the Gaon Daniel ben Azariah and the Gaon Eliyahu HaKohen, and of the Yeshiva of Eretz Israel – From the Collection of Professor Bernard Chapira

Letter found in the Cairo Genizah, from Salama son of Yosef al-Haruni of Ramla, addressed to "the Chaver" Shemaya Abu Faraj in Bab al-Maghara (the Cave Gate) in Jerusalem. [Ramla, May 1054]. Judeo-Arabic.
Complete letter. Ink on paper. One leaf, written on both sides. Oriental script.
The letter was written at the end of the Geonic era in Eretz Israel, at the time when the Rishonim era had already begun in other Torah centers (as an indication, at the time this letter was written Rashi was a youth of 14 years). The letter mentions two Geonim who served as heads of the Yeshiva of Eretz Israel: the Gaon Daniel ben Azariah (mentioned in the letter with the title "the Head") and the Gaon Eliyahu HaKohen (the Yeshiva of Eretz Israel, or Yeshivat Geon Yaakov, served from the 6th century until the 12th century as the center of authority and leadership for the Jews of Eretz Israel, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt).
The present letter contains a wealth of information. The letter centers around the request of the writer, Salama HaKohen son of Yosef al-Haruni of Ramla, from "the Chaver" Shemaya Abu Faraj, to collect on his behalf the money he had lent to the tradesman Abu Sa'id Khalfa "the Maghrebian", son-in-law of Yachye al-Ammani, since the repayment of the loan was overdue. He relates at length how the loan, which in fact was a business partnership, came about: he had met Abu Sa'id while the latter was travelling from Jerusalem to Ramla on his way to Ashkelon, and gave him five dinars to trade with until the end of the year (the civil year), and later return the principal along with part of the profits. He adds that they drew up an official contract between them in the presence of "the Head" – the head of the Yeshiva (the Gaon Daniel ben Azariah). Abu Sa'id travelled from there to Ashkelon, purchased wares and brought them to Jerusalem. When he returned to Ramla, he informed Salama that he had profited one dinar over the past months, but didn't have the money available to repay him. He promised to repay the loan when he would next be in Ramla, after Passover. Meanwhile, that time had passed and Salama asks Shemaya, who was in Jerusalem, to collect the loan on his behalf. Before stating his request, Salama expresses his pain over the difficulties Shemaya was experiencing (perhaps with his son's illness), and also discusses other topics, which indicate that he was actively involved in matters of the Head of the Geon Yaakov Yeshiva, and served as intermediary between him and various people in Ramla.
The name of the sender is not known from other documents, however the name of the recipient – "the Chaver Abu Faraj Shemaya" – is mentioned in other documents found in the Genizah: Abu Faraj Shemaya the Chaver Ibn Faraj (son of Yeshua) was the grandson of R. Shemaya Gaon, who lived at the beginning of the 11th century and served as Head of the Geon Yaakov Yeshiva in Jerusalem. The name of one of the sons of the recipient, Avraham son of R. Shemaya the Chaver, appears in a document dated 1116 in Fustat, Egypt, and one can assume that this letter reached the Cairo Genizah through him.
The letter also mentions: "the Head" – in reference to the Head of the Geon Yaakov Yeshiva, R. Daniel ben Azariah; R. Yosef [HaKohen], Av Beit Din in the Geon Yaakov Yeshiva (d. December 1053); and R. Eliyah "the Third" (R. Eliyahu HaKohen Gaon, who succeeded R. Daniel ben Azariah as Head of the Yeshiva in 1063). See below for more information about the Av Beit Din R. Yosef HaKohen, his brother R. Eliyahu HaKohen Gaon and the dating of this letter.
Also mentioned in the letter are Ibn al-Hasan Amar the physician (from the Karaite community in Ramla), Abu Ali Ibn al-Dabbab, and other figures.
Researchers differ regarding the address of the recipient – Bab al-Maghara: the name "Cave Gate" may refer to Zedekiah's Cave, close to Damascus Gate, though according to another opinion, "the Cave" was the appellation of the main synagogue in Jerusalem and the hub of the Jewish quarter in those times.
[1] leaf. 13X16 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Tears and wear, slightly affecting text.
The letter was part of the collection of Prof. Bernard (Eliezer Dov) Chapira (1880-1967). In 1910-1912, Chapira participated in the expeditions which the Société des études juives in Paris sent to Egypt, and on behalf of the researcher and collector Jacques Mosseri. During these expeditions, they discovered and catalogued thousands of fragments from the Geniza, which had been left by Sh.Z. Schechter. Most are found in the Mosseri collection, the largest private collection in the world of Genizah fragments, and some were sold to the National Library in Jerusalem.
The present letter was published by Chapira in 1953, in the anthology Yerushalayim: Review for Eretz-Israel Research, in his article: A Letter from Ramle to Jerusalem of the Middle of the Eleventh Century (enclosed). His article contains for the first time a transcription of the letter in Judeo-Arabic, full translation to Hebrew and information about the names and details mentioned therein. When it was published again by the historian Moshe Gil in 1983, Gil dubbed the letter "MS Chapira 1", and stated that the original manuscript was not available.
Literature:
1. Michael Ish-Shalom, Meir Benayahu, Azriel Shohet (editors), Yerushalayim: Review for Eretz-Israel Research. Jerusalem: Rabbi Kook Foundation, 1953. Pp. 118-122.
2. Moshe Gil, Palestine During the First Muslim Period (634-1099), Part III, Cairo Geniza Documents. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University and the Ministry of Defence, 1983. Pp. 319-322.
3. Joshua Prawer, The History of Jerusalem: The Early Islamic Period (638-1099) [Vol. I]. Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1987. Pp. 40, 45-46, 63, 143.
4. Moshe Gil, The Jewish Quarters of Jerusalem (A.D. 638-1099) According to Cairo Geniza Documents and Other Sources. In: Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 41, No. 4 (October 1982). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Pp. 265, 271-272.

Last Geonim of Eretz Israel – The "Lions Who Dwell in Jerusalem" Who Corresponded with Early Torah Scholars of Ashkenaz
"R. Eliyah the Third" mentioned in this letter is R. Eliyahu HaKohen Gaon (d. 1083), son of R. Shlomo HaKohen Gaon (the first), and father of R. Eviatar HaKohen Gaon, author of Megillat Eviatar; all three of them served as heads of the Geon Yaakov Yeshiva in Eretz Israel. They were members of a family of Kohanim who trace their lineage to R. Elazar ben Azariah. R. Eliyahu Gaon was one of the last Geonim in Eretz Israel, in the times of Rashi.
"R. Yosef Av Beit Din" mentioned in the letter was the brother of R. Eliyahu HaKohen Gaon. He served as Av Beit Din of the Yeshiva, the second highest office after the Yeshiva Head.
R. Eliyahu is named "the Third" in this letter, since at the time of its writing, he held the third highest ranking position in the Yeshiva, after "the Head" R. Daniel ben Azariah and "the Second" R. Yosef HaKohen, the Av Beit Din. R. Yosef passed away on Chanukah 1053, and therefore when R. Daniel passed away (in 1062), R. Eliyahu succeeded him as Head of the Yeshiva (regarding the hierarchy in the Yeshiva and the titles of its heads, see: Moshe Gil, Palestine During the First Muslim Period [634-1099], Part I – Studies, Tel Aviv, 1983, p. 417).
Researchers established the date of this letter based on the fact that the writer requests that the loan be collected in the presence of R. Eliyahu "the Third", seeming to indicate that R. Yosef HaKohen was no longer alive.
Rashi's disciples refer to R. Eliyahu and his son R. Eviatar as "lions who dwell in Jerusalem" (see for instance Machzor Vitri, Goldschmidt edition, Part III, p. 709), and the latter responded to questions R. Meshulam son of R. Moshe of Mainz sent to them on several topics, such as what one should eat on Erev Pesach which falls on Shabbat (the responsum was published in REJ, 73, 1921, pp. 84-92; see also: Avraham Grossman, Chachmei Ashkenaz HaRishonim, pp. 391-392).
In 1071, Eretz Israel was conquered by the Seljuks and the Geon Yaakov Yeshiva was compelled to relocate to Tyre, where R. Eliyahu served as Head of the Yeshiva until his passing.
R. Eviatar, son of R. Eliyahu and his successor as Head of the Yeshiva, was the last Gaon of Eretz Israel. He composed Megillat Eviatar, where he describes his tribulations and the affairs of the Geon Yaakov Yeshiva. He also portrays there the great honor accorded to his father R. Eliyahu upon his passing:
"He passed away in Kislev 1083 in Tyre, and the Jewish people carried him on their shoulders rather than on horses for a three-day journey to the mountain of the Galilee, to Dalton, where he was buried at the top of the mountain near R. Yose HaGelili, in proximity of Yonatan ben Uziel, Hillel and Shammai, Elazar ben Arach and Elazar ben Azariah our ancestor and many other Tzaddikim, and the Jewish people throughout Eretz Israel, Syria and the Diaspora eulogized him, tore their clothes, wore sackcloth and sat on the ground, since their crowning glory had been removed from their heads".
(For further detail about R. Daniel ben Azariah, the Geonim from the family of Kohanim and the history of the Yeshiva in that period, see Gil, ibid, pp. 583-606).

Ramla – A Torah Center During the Fatimid Rule in Eretz Israel
During the Fatimid rule in Eretz Israel, Ramla became the capital of the Filastin (Palestine) district (which also included Jerusalem). It was a large and prominent city, home to a Jewish community and Torah center. As it lies on the route to Jerusalem, it served as a gathering point for pilgrims, and at certain times boasted a larger Jewish population than Jerusalem. In the 1020s, the Geon Yaakov Yeshiva relocated for a time from Jerusalem to Ramla, and at various points some of the Torah scholars and heads of the Yeshiva of Eretz Israel resided in Ramla.