Medieval Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Egypt
Etudes sur Ie Judalsme Medieval Fondees par
Georges Vajda Dirigees par
Paul B. Fenton
TOME XLIV
Karaite Texts and Studies Edited by
Meira Polliack Michael G. Wechsler
VOLUME 3
Medieval Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Egypt The Secular Poetry of the Karaite Poet Moses ben Abraham Darei
By
Joachim J. M. S. Yeshaya
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011
This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Medieval Hebrew poetry in Muslim Egypt: the secular poetry of the Karaite poet Moses ben Abraham Dar'i / by Joachim J.M.S. Yeshaya. p. cm.-(Etudes sur Ie judalsme medieval, ISSN 0169-815X; v. 44) (Karaite texts and studies ; v. 3) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-19130-3 (hardback: alk. paper) 1. Dar'!, Moses ben Abraham, 12th/13th cent.-Criticism and interpretation. 2. Hebrew poetry, Medieval-EgyptHistory and criticism. I. Yeshaya, Joachim J.M.S. II. Title. III. Series. PJ5050.D34Z752010 892.4)12-dc22 2010033346
ISSN 0169-815X ISBN 978 90 04 19130 3 Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change.
Voor Tineke Louagie) 51 Te6H OtIeHb JII06JIIO
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Transliteration of Arabic Transliteration of Hebrew Introduction
xi xiii xv xvii 1
Chapter One History of Research 1.1 Nineteenth-Century Scholarship 1.2 Twentieth-Century Scholarship 1.3 The Edition by Leon Weinberger
9 9 15 17
Chapter Two Manuscript Tradition 2.1 List of Available Manuscripts 2.2 Manuscript NLR Evr. I 802 2.3 Criteria for Editing and Selecting Poems
21 21 24 28
Chapter Three History of Fa~imid and Ayyiibid Egypt 3.1 Islamic Urban Civilisation 3.2 The Jewish Community 3.3 The Karaite Community
31 31 34 39
Chapter Four Moses ben Abraham Darci 4.1 Biographical Data 4.2 Social and Professional Life
47 47 53
Chapter Five Poetics and Poetry 5.1 The Arabic Poetical Tradition 5.2 Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Spain 5.3 Hebrew Poetry in the Muslim East 5.4 Is Karaite Poetry distinct from Rabbanite Poetry?
59 59 64 68 75
Chapter Six Secular Genres 6.1 Religiosity and Secularity 6.2 Praise Poetry
79 79 83
x
CONTENTS
6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6
Poetry of Complaint Wisdom Poetry Wine and Love Poetry Homonymic Poetry
88 89 93 97
Chapter Seven Motifs and Themes 7.1 Praise of Old Age 7.2 Time and World 7.3 Wealth and Poverty 7.4 Hypocrisy of Friends 7.5 Women and Marriage 7.6 Body and Soul 7.7 Memento Mori 7.8 Love and Rivalry
101 101 103 104 106 108 109 112 114
Chapter Eight Language and Style 8.1 Hebrew Lexicon 8.2 Grammar and Syntax 8.3 Style and Rhetoric 8.4 Poetical Form and Prosody 8.5 Quotations 8.6 Judaeo-Arabic Language and Style
119 119 121 122 128 131 135
Chapter Nine
139
The Significance of Moses Dar'i
Chapter Ten Edition: Poems Nos. 1-152) on the Basis of MS NLR Evr. I 802) with Commentary
145
Alphabetical List of Poems Nos. 1-152 Alphabetical List of Biblical Names Variant Readings Bibliography Index of Names and Subjects Plate Section
295 299 301 319 333 339
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study started life as a PhD dissertation entitled Moses ben Abraham
Dar'"i: A Karaite Poet and Physician from Twelfth-Century Egypt 1 defended at the University of Groningen) the Netherlands) in March 2009. On the appearance of this study) thanks are again due first of all to my Doktorvater Professor Wout Jac. van Bekkum) who graciously adopted me into the group of scholars of medieval Hebrew poetry and to whom lowe my entrance into every aspect of academic life. I am also grateful to my second supervisor Professor Klaas A. D. Smelik and to the members of my doctoral committee) consisting of Jonathan Deeter) Elisabeth Hollender) Naoya Katsumata) Ronit Nikolsky) Arie Schippers) and Irene Zwiep. Professor Elisabeth Hollender deserves a special mention here) as she has given me the great opportunity to continue my research in a postdoctoral DFG-project in Germany. I express my sincere respect and deepest gratitude to my editors) Meira Polliack) Michael Wechsler) Katelyn Chin) Michael J. Mozina) and Jennifer Pavelko) as well as to Tova Beeri) for their help during the preparation of this book. Catherine Romanik deserves my full gratitude for having carefully corrected the English text. I am also deeply thankful to Yechiel Kara and Smadar Hulyfor their indispensable help in realising this study. Other scholars who should be thanked for their assistance at the various stages of research are I}aggai Ben-Shammai) Uri Melammed) Livnat Holtsman) Peter Lehnardt) Raymond Scheindlin) Peter Cole) Boris Zaykovsky) and Peter Verkinderen. I was fortunate to consult a variety of libraries during my research. Mention should be made of the Ghent) Leuven) Groningen) Leiden) and Cambridge University Libraries; Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana) Amsterdam; School of Oriental and African Studies Library and British Library) London; Widener Library) Harvard University; the National Library of Russia) St. Petersburg; and the Jewish National
]. ]. M. S. Yeshaya, Moses ben Abraham Darci: A Karaite Poet and Physician from Twelfth-Century Egypt. Selective Edition ofthe Diwan on the Basis ofManuscript Firkovicz Heb. I 802, with Introduction and Commentary (University of Groningen, 2009).
xii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
and University Library (including the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts) Jerusalem. I do not remember having experienced from the staff of these libraries anything but willingness to help; I express my heartfelt thanks to them. Finally) I cannot thank my family enough for supporting me unconditionally throughout the writing process. My parents) Greet Nelis and David Yeshaya) were always very eager to hear about my progress and to share my accomplishments) as were my sister Sarah) my grandparents Anne-Marie Van Bortel and Juul Nelis) my uncle Hans and Josiane) and Tineke)s parents Danny Louagie and Christine Acx. As for the friends who have been close to me in the last few years) I am sure that they are aware of my gratitude and will excuse the omission of their names. Last but not least) it is to my beloved fiancee Tineke Louagie that this book) with love and gratitude) is dedicated. Without your support) advice and regular calls for fun) meditation and relaxation) during our trips to Lichtervelde) Antwerpen) Nijlen and our travels to Cairo) Jerusalem) Moscow) Palm Springs) and many destinations-to-come) it would have been impossible to successfully complete this book.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Genesis) n4tWNi~ = 'i~ Exodus) nl0W = 'OW Leviticus) Nii'4t l = 'i'4t l Numbers) i~"TO~ = 'O~ Deuteronomy) C4ti~"T = '~"T Joshua) VW1;,4t = 'Wl;,4t Judges) C4t t'!)1W = '!)1W 1 Samuel) 'N Z,Nl0W = N"W 2 Samuel) '~ Z,Nl0W = ~"W 1 Kings) 'N C4t~Z,O = N"O 2 Kings) '~ C4t~Z,O = ~"O Isaiah) ;,4tV~ = '~ Jeremiah) ;,4tOi4t = 'i4t Ezekiel) Z,Ni'tn4t = 'n4t Hosea) VW1;, = '1211;' Joel) Z,N14t = 'N14t Amos) 010V = 'ov Obadiah) ;,4t"T~1V = '~1V J0 na) ;,J14t = 'J14t Micha) ;,~4t0 = '~4t0
Nahum) ClnJ = '1nJ Habakkuk) i'1i'~n = '~n Zephaniah) ;,4tJ!)Y = '!)Y Haggai) 4t.1n = '.1n Zechariah) ;,4ti~t = '~t Maleachi) 4t~NZ,O = 'NZ,O Psalms) c4tz,;,n = ';,n Job) ~14tN = '14t N Proverbs) 4tZ,WO = '1210 Song of Songs) C4t i 4t W;, i 4t W = 121";'121 Ecclesiastes) nz';, i' = ';'i' Threni) ;,~4tN = '~4tN Esther) inON = 'ON Daniel) Z,N4tJ"T = 'J"T Ezra) NitV = 'tV Nehemiah) ;,4t onJ = 'nJ 1 Chronicles) 'N C4t 04t;, 4ti~"T = N";,"T 2 Chronicles) '~ C4t 04t;, 4ti~"T = ~";'''T Babylonian Talmud) 4tz,~~ "TloZ,n = ~"n Rashi) 4ti'n~ ;,oZ,W 4t~i = 4t"lVi
TRANSLITERATION OF ARABIC
t
~/\
1, .1;,
z
b t th
t tJ
gh f q k I m n h
[.
h
L
kh d dh r
J
r ~
t
.)
,)
J
Z
Jb
j
S
J
Y
~
'-'
j
J B
W
y
u
lY'
sh
~
~ UO
~
a/at
4
~
The sign) is omitted when initial and followed by a vowel (i.e.) without wa~la; thus: iqtidar for )Lxi9\) yet hasaba )qtidar for )\Ji91 ~) as well as when final in plural verbs (i.e.) when functioning as al-alif al-fa~ila; thus: yaCmalit rather than yaCmalit»).
Vowels
a t
it
r (and lS maq~itra) lS (yet ~; iW) ;-- (yet ~: uww)
a i
u
Before alif al-wa~l the vowels G t$~ and ; are respectively represented by a) i) and u (thus: calayhuma 'I-salam for r)l.J\ ~)fi 'l-kalam for ~ j, and abu 'l-kadhib for ,-:-,..i.SJi y.\)' Tanwtn, though generally not Indicated) is represented by un (for 11) an (for: \: lS: or) when denoting any of the previous) final N) or in (for os or) when denoting the previous) final ').
r
TRANSLITERATION OF HEBREW
Z,
m n s
N
b
0 J
~
0
V
, t
P f
!)
~
y
z
q r
i'
h t Y k kh
i
sh t
1v W
n/'FI
~
j./~
g d h v
!J
S
~
j/'i
;,
n t' ~ ~
The sign> is omitted when initial (e.g.) ish for 1U'~) yet la->ish for 1U'~7). Doubling with the article and biblical «vayyiqtol)) forms is generally not indicated (e.g.) ha-katit~) not hak-katitb; va-yo>mer) not vay-yo>mer).
Vowels a
:"1 / (gadol)
e
~.I.
T
a e
_(furtive: ii)
d
e ...:/:
(vocal)
0 0
i/·
0
it
~
u
T
(qatan/ha,titf)
The signs i and it are also generally used in cases of scriptio defectiva (e.g.) na~t for N~~ [= N4t~~ ] and qitm for OJ{ [= O~i']).
INTRODUCTION
Towards the end of his chapter on the poets of Damascus) in maqama no. 18 of Sefer ta1Jkemont «((The Book of ta1Jkemont))) the famous traveller Judah al-~arizi (1165-1225 CE) mentions an Egyptian poet living in Damascus at the time he visited the city:!
O.t;liN 1?QiwV r,f / ,Qino/7 ni'lO~ O'l''?l ;"lip-\, / 'l¥Q Vi'~ i'ip~lf Vi~l 'n'~l Nr, / ,Qi'Q ;"IJ7~~D Nr, 'W~ O'l-9iW ;:1 o'~~D~ / ,Qi'i?7 1'1~:;1 :l'~D '~ / lJi'1;'l nlr,~t?:;n· in!~J~ :lwin Nl;"ll / 1?i,? O:l¥Q fi~ r,~~. ;"I~0:t iJiVi7 !lin~ -r~~7 .-r~1? -r;.Lf 01~~1 / iJi'~Q tj~:;JQq Ti~i? Tt?iPV ~~r,o/ O'lllVJ1pV r,:tl I lJl'~D :l1t>7 ;"111;"1; ;"111;"1'1 / lJN3l ;"I~l' ;"I~Q ;"I1pnl I nJ.'Vl. in~. 'Dl~Vll O~9~;:1 i~'Vlf ,qiNQ .Nl;"l1 / iJ'-Pf o'~Q~ o'i?~~Q ;"Inr,o/l / ln9o/~ 'n~tp7 :llVJ~ Ttl: 'Ql!lrlJ;7f ':t1 ~:tl '11~t? / ;"In~o/ ;"I:Q '~ / in~Q'? T11'1 / inl''?l ~13t? ;"I~l~ -r.p / inl:J70 NQ~ r,.p :lW~ l'J~ r,.pl / l;"l~o/9 l'?~l=tl / f¥i?9 i:lJTi I f~i!)1? iViN'1 / f¥19 inin l;"l:J,r,Vi;"l n!)iJt>;"I n':l:ll / l;"l:J!);"I T
•
:.
.:
•
-
••
:
:
T
T -:
In Damascus there was a certain Egyptian who composed poems forbidden to be heard. All people who hear them must tear their garments. They are like rotten figs that cannot be eaten) they are so bad. I never saw their like in all the land of Egypt for badness. But he imagines in his arrogance and foolishness that Solomon the Little [Ibn Gabirol] is too small to comprehend his thought and Abraham [ibn Ezra] is very awkward compared with the purity of his language; that Moses [ibn Ezra] was the shepherd of his flock and Judah [ha- Levi] praises the beauty of his poetry; and that all poetic giants are as grasshoppers in his eyes. He is the one who says about his contemptible poetry: ((My poetry is like the poetry of Solomon) the Sepharadi) and each word in due season." Now would that his soul might return to the Sepharadi and Solomon [ibn
Judah al-ijarizi) a native of Toledo in Christian Spai~ arrived in Alexandria in 1215 CE; he travelled around the Muslim East until his death in 1225 CE in Aleppo. For more information on the latter part of his life in the Muslim East) see J. Sada~ "Rabbi Judah al-ijarizi at the Cross-Roads of Cultures/' [in Hebrew] Ptdmfm 68 (1996): 16-67; idem) "Un Intellectuel Juif au Confluent de Deux Cultures: Yehuda al-ijarizi et sa Biographie Arabe))' in Judfos y musulmanes en aI-A ndalus y el Magreb, Contactos intelectuales) ed. M. Fierro) 105-51 (Madrid: Casa de Velasquez) 2002); J. Yahalom and J. Blau) The Wanderings ofJudah AI/:larizi: Five Accounts ofhis Travels [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute) 2002); J. Blau) P. B. Fenton) and J. Yaha-
10m) Judah Alharizi: Kitdb al-Durar: A Book in Praise of God and the Israelite Communities [in Hebrew] Oerusalem: Ben Zvi Institute) 2009); J. al-ijarIzi) Ta/:lkemonf [in Hebrew]) ed. J. Yahalom and N. Katsumata (Jerusalem: Ben Zvi Institute) 2010).
2
INTRODUCTION
Gabirol] sit again upon his royal throne) that he might see the filth of his poetry and his unclean spirit! Truly) he would break his skull) crush his head) cut off his tait pull his legs) turn him on his face) and cast him into a latrine.2
Interestingly enough) it has been suggested that al-I:Iarizi had Moses Darci in mind when expressing this harsh criticism. 3 Regretfully) the identification was based solely on the fact that Darci) born in Egypt into a family of Jewish immigrants originating from Darca (presentday Morocco) was known to have made an ill-fated visit to Damascus) where he suffered from illness and a lack of hospitality. Whatever Egyptian poet may have been targeted by al-I:Iarizi) his derogatory comments are relevant to this study because they reflect his general tendency to characterise Andalusian-Hebrew poetry as superior to that of the rest of the Diaspora. Such emphasis on Spanish-Jewish poetic superiority was not new; the famous Andalusian poet and literary critic Moses ibn Ezra (1055-1138 CE) devoted an entire chapter to this theme in his famous treatise on poetics Kitab al-muiJa4ara wa-'lmudhakara ('
taiJkemoni): ni'~T:;1 OVQ~ / nir,i"l~ niJi'71? 0VQ / nir,.po Viq~7 i'7n~ "~D ':;l V11 " n7~O' N';:1 / ;-qi'7~ O?~p' ~.p N';:1 '0/ ~ I ;-uiVi N1~ ;i7~Q;:1 / nir,!)o/ / ;'~~';P~ '0/ ~ Vi' ~ 1'":, n~ N~ N;l / ;,~rpQ ;'71;'07 1'~ '~ 1'?i?;:1 ;,b'So/ "} N1T~ 1~ o~":'~~ "} '1~D ;'7~;'~ " n7~0 I Q't'~D n'~W;:1 ;'7~0;:1}
2 The Hebrew text is taken from J. Yahalom and J. Blau) The Wanderings) 183. The English translation is derived from V. E. Reichert) The TaIJkemoni ofJudah al-lfarizi (Jerusalem: Cohen Publishers) 1973») 2:63) with minor adaptations. 3 Joshua H. Schorr (He-lfalu$ 6 [1861]: 56-59) suggested this and Moritz Steinschneider refuted it in "Mose b. Zedaka) Imran b. Sadaka) und Mose Darci/' Judische Zeitschrift fur Wissenschaft und Leben 9 (1871): 178. See also J. Schirman~ Hebrew Poetry in Spain and the Provence [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: The Bialik Institute) 1954») 2:144 n. 276; J. Yahalom and J. Blau) The Wanderings) 183 n. 257. The problematic status of the identification is inherently part of a larger issue concerning the correct dating of Moses Darci) which this book will address in chapter 4) section 1. 4 A. S. Halkin) ed.) Kitab al-muhadara wal-mudhakara: Liber Discussionis et Commemorationis (Poetica Hebraica) fin 'Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Meqi~e Nirdamim) 1975») 54-87. Kitab al-mulJatJara was the subject of my unpublished MA thesis; some of its conclusions were included in J. Yeshaya) "Literary Criticism in the JudaeoArabic Culture of al-Andalus: Moses ibn Ezra as a Professional Literary Critic))' in Bacal MilUm: Liber Amicorum Julien Kiener) ed. K. De Graef: 241-55 (University of Ghent) 2004).
INTRODUCTION
3
n'Vl'7V?;:I ;,7.p~;:IJ / 00'?~ o'Qi"1;:1J P'1¥ l~ tt9i' "J Nlr,p l~ ;'Wb ;"N~r °l~ ttQi; "i ON~.Q ;,~n;,; " "1~t? '}?iw1? ~~ n7.\?o N';:J °;;J'l:}~n nCJ.go ;;J'D~tl n'~':;1?;;J ;,7.\?~;:Il / ;'7~~"J n~Q ''??~ 'J;;:I ;'~WT "1 '}'V!1 '1¥Q;:I 0 ;;J":I~~ " '1'V! 11.1:p / oQQ O'} 1;I~~;:I "":IrQ '1~lVJ1? r,f n'Vl'QD;:I ;,7.p~;:IJ / 00'?~ 0'Qi"1;:11 r,~:t:;1 'W~ ;,:t'V1~;:1 viN'1 P1;I¥? " piz71J.,:;i oi:,;, 0;' ,viN o',;ivin;, n~Dn N';'l I O;"~T:H O~:;)1J ;,r,!)vi °N';' 0: 0: - : o?tr:l1i f}o~l: ;,~ry~J ,~w~~i: I o:JQJ oj~J: ;,:tl~~~ / TO?J¥Q~o~ Know that poetry is divided into five grades: some of them of great loftiness) others of despised lowliness. The first grade) which is superior to them all) is the rank of R. Solomon the Little [Ibn Gabirol] for there is no rank above it. Nor did there come after him anyone who could reach it. The second grade) beneath it is the rank of R. Judah ha- Levi) R. Abraham ben Ezra) R. Moses ben Ezra) R. Joseph ben ~addiq) and poets like them. The third grade) beneath it is the rank of all the poets of Spain) such as R. Judah
reproached Eastern poets of his time for their lack of poetical ability and especially for the general decline in their knowledge of Hebrew. In a telling account) al-I:Iarizi relates how) when asked about a Hebrew word) Eastern Jews acted as if they were being addressed in a foreign language. 6 On the other hand) individual members of the Eastern communities earned al-I:Iarizfs praise for their moral authority) their literary talents) or their intellectualism. However) these praises and criticisms must be dealt with carefully) particularly if we want to derive from al-I:Iarizfs observations any historical clarity about the poetical standard in the Muslim East. Indeed) while some scholars have emphasised the historical facticity of the narrative) others have shown that Sefer ta/:lkemoni seems under no obligation to keep the real
The final place name is unclear, it could be Macarrah; for the Hebrew text, see 181-82. The English translation is derived from V. E. Reichert, The Ta~kemoni of Judah al-lfarizi, 2:64, with minor adaptations. 6 The account is present in an Arabic dedication to Sefer ta~kemonf which was translated by R Drory, Models and Contacts: Arabic Literature and its Impact on Medieval Jewish Culture (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 221-23. 5
J. Yahalom and J. Blau, The Wanderings,
4
INTRODUCTION
and the imaginary distinct from one another. 7 In other words) while the narrative undoubtedly reflects certain factual circumstances of the places al-~arizi visited) one cannot ignore how these intertwine with imaginative elements to mould the literary character of the work. As pointed out earlier) there is also an obvious element of cultural nationalism in al-~arizts observations. The Spanish-Jewish sense of superiority towards the Jews living in the rest of the Diaspora was by no means restricted to poetry; it marked various other Jews of Spanish descent) including the well-known philosopher and physician Maimonides (1135-1204 CE). 8 In other words) al-I:Iarizts criticism of the Eastern poets may partially reflect the personal prejudices of a Westerner in an unfamiliar environment where his true worth went unrecognised. Another factor could be his initial idealisation of the Muslim East) the region where Maimonides had written his major works. In contrast to this) he claimed that during his travels around the East he encountered a Jewish public that was not as familiar with the Hebrew language as he had expected it to be) but rather was profoundly influenced by Arabic culture.9 Regretfully) the Eastern poets have also suffered from prejudice in modern scholarly research. The achievements of the Andalusian poets in the (Golden Age)) have tended to obscure the production of Hebrew poetry in other lands. An unwanted side effect of this enthusiasm for Muslim Spain) particularly shown by nineteenth- and twentiethcentury Jewish scholars of Western European origin) was the fact that all non-Andalusian poets in the parallel or later periods were stigmatised
7 See Ross Brann)s criticism of Judith Dishon)s assertion that «Al1}.arizi was one of the Jewish travellers in the Middle Ages who wrote about his adventures and impressions in a poetical but nonetheless realistic and descriptive way)~ in R Brann) Power in
the Portrayal: Representations ofJews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain (Princeton: Princeton University Press) 2002») 140 n. 3. 8 He advised his son to avoid North African Jews and consort «with our beloved Spanish brethren) called Andalusians.)~ H. Z. Hirschberg) A History of the Jews in North Africa (Leiden: Brill) 1974») 1:361. 9 J. Yahalom and J. Blau) The Wanderings) vii; J. Yeshaya) «Your Poems are like Rotten Figs: Judah al-ijarizi on Poets and Poetry in the Muslim East))~ in Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk Eras) ed. U. Vermeulen and K. D)Hulster) 6:143-52 (Leuven: Peeters) 2010).
INTRODUCTION
5
as epigones lO or imitators of the «Golden Age» poets. ll Fortunately) contemporary scholarship is starting to reassess established criteria for «Golden Age» or «non-Golden Age» poetry. Alternatives to labeling non-Andalusian poets as mere epigones have been suggested for the poets of Christian Spain. 12 Scholars dealing with Yemenite poetry have taken up this approach) which should be applied to other Eastern centres of Hebrew poetry as well. Future research will show that their poets) distinctiveness as literary heirs to Arabic poetics and poetry is no less than to the Andalusian-Hebrew poetical tradition. 13 Not surprisingly) however) research on Hebrew poetry in the Muslim East is still very much in its infancy) as Judith Dishon noted with regard to Egypt in her book on the homonymic epigrams of Joseph ben Tan~um ha-Yerushalmi. 14 While portions of his diwan have been published) this major collection of poetry is still far from being
10 Epigone (Greek £1ttYOVTt) "ofI"spring/' "posterity))' or "successors)') is a term used to describe writers who are derivative) deprived of an independent) original talent and who work in and are influenced by the manner and tradition of distinguished predecessors. Hence the idea of a later generation which slavishly follows on. Its use is associated with Karl Immermann)s popular novel Die Epigonen: Familienmemorien in neun Buchern 1832-1835 (1836; repr.) Miinchen: Winkler Verlag) 1981). See J. A. Cuddon) The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory) 4th ed.) rev. C. E. Preston (London: Penguin Books) 1999») 274-75; S. Berger and I. Zwiep) eds.) Ep igonism and The Dynamics of Jewish Culture) Studia Rosenthaliana 40 (Leuven: Peeters) 2008). 11 A notable exception was Jacob Mann) who believed that the Geniza finds compelled researchers to revise their views about the claim of Spain to be the classic country of medieval Hebrew poetry. J. Man~ Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature (1931-1935; repr.) New York: Ktav) 1972») 1:264-65; I. Davidso~ "The Study of Medieval Hebrew Poetry in the Nineteenth Century))' Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 1 (1930): 33-48. 12 R Brann) A. Saenz-Badillos) and J. Targarona) '(The Poetic Universe of Samuel Ibn Sasson) Hebrew Poet of Fourteenth-Century Castile/' Prooftexts 16 (1996): 75-103; A. Saenz-Badillos) "Hebrew Invective Poetry: The Debate between Todros Abulafia and Phinehas Halevi))' Prooftexts 16 (1996): 49-73; R P. Scheindlin) "Secular Hebrew poetry in Fifteenth-Century Spain/' in Crisis and Creativity in the Sephardic World: 1391-1648) ed. B. R. Gampet 25-37 (New York: Columbia University Press) 1997); J. P. Deeter) Iberian Jewish Literature: Between al-Andalus and Christian Europe (Bloomington: Indiana University Press) 2007») passim (see especially pp. 13-16). 13 Cf. R. P. Scheindlin)s review on Schirmann-Fleischer (The History of Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Spa in) 1995; The History of Hebrew Poetry in Christian Spa in) 1997) in Zion 64 (1999): 384-400; for Yemenite poetry) see A. Tanenbaum) «Credit is Due to the One Who Completes It)" Journal ofJewish Studies 56 (2005): 101-19. 14 J. Disho~ The Book of the Perfumed Flower Beds by Joseph ben Tanchum Hayerushalmi [in Hebrew] (Beer-Sheva: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press) 2005).
6
INTRODUCTION
available to scholarly research. Is The same can be said about the works of a number of other poets active in the Muslim East) with the notable exception of Eleazar ha-Bavli. In addition to the pioneering edition by Brody) Wout Jac. van Bekkum published a new edition of all Eleazar)s secular poems) based on a Firkovich manuscript) in 2007. Besides composing secular and liturgical poetry) Eleazar wrote a JudaeoArabic theoretical essay on poetics) the surviving fragments of which were published by Joseph Yahalom. 16 As to Moses Darcrs dzwan) this book will show that Leon Weinberger)s edition is incomplete in its treatment of numerous unclear elements in both the Hebrew text and variant readings. 17 Weinberger based his edition upon nineteenth-century copies only) eliminating all fragments in Judaeo-Arabic (including the poem headings which often contain crucial information). The present study of Moses Darci aims to restore these omissions and so to provide a better understanding of this intriguing poet. It offers a selective edition of secular poems from Darcrs dzwan) taken from the earliest manuscript) NLR Evr. I 802) dated to the fifteenth century. These poems are fully vocalised and published in the original order attested in the manuscript. Curly brackets { } refer to additions within the manuscript; other additions are indicated by square brackets [ ]. Every poem comes together with a commentary section including an English translation of its Judaeo-Arabic heading) an English paraphrase) and Hebrew commentaries. The edition is followed by an alphabetical list of poems) a list of biblical names appearing in these poems) and variant readings from the works of Pinsker) Davidson) and Weinberger.
15 H. Sheynin, '(Der Literarische Nachlass des Josef ben Tanchum Ha-Jeruschalmi: Forschungen und Texte,)) Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 22 (1969): 245-71; idem, ((An Introduction to the Poetry of Joseph Ben Tanhum HaYerushalmi and to the History of its Research: A Study Based Primarily upon Manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah)) (PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1988). 16 H. Brody, Diwan ofEleasar ben Jaakob ha-Babli [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Meqi~e Nirdamim, 1935); W. J. van Bekkum, The Secular Poetry of Etazar ben Ya(aqov ha-
Bavli: Baghdad, Thirteenth Century, on the basis of manuscript Firkovich Heb. IIA, idem, ((The Research History of the Baghdadi-Jewish Poet Efazar ha- Bavli (Thirteenth Century),)) in Studies in Medieval Jewish Poetry, ed.
210.1 (Leiden: Brill, 2007);
A. Guetta and M. Itzhak~ 157-64, Studies in Jewish History and Culture 18 (Leiden: Brill, 2009); J. Yahalom, Judaeo-Arabic Poetics: Fragments of a Lost Treatise by Elazar ben Jacob ofBaghdad [in Hebrew] Oerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 2001). 17 L. Weinberger, Jewish Poet in Muslim Egypt, Moses Dar(i's Hebrew Collection (Leiden: Brill, 2000).
INTRODUCTION
7
The present edition includes the Judaeo-Arabic headings and thus responds to the call of contemporary scholars who have become aware that the Judaeo-Arabic texts in the dzwan have been generally neglected. While Arie Schippers has shown that it is important for further research to deal with the Judaeo-Arabic texts) I:Iaggai BenShammai analyzed some Judaeo-Arabic headings referring to a Bar Mi~va-like ceremony in a Karaite synagogue in twelfth-century Egypt. Uri Melammed has announced that he is preparing a critical edition (including a translation into Hebrew) of all the Arabic texts in Dar'rs collection: the two prose introductions) the poem headings) the Judaeo-Arabic poems) and the poems written in a mixture of JudaeoArabic and Hebrew. 18 The introduction to this edition attempts to recapitulate the current knowledge on Moses Dar'i) with a focus on historical, biographical, and socio-cultural considerations) in addition to providing observations on genre) motif and theme) language) and literary style. Another important aim is to lay bare the biased nature in the history of research on the Karaite movement in general) and on the Eastern Karaite poet Moses Dar'i in particular. Is it right to ignore the negative assessments by) for example) the nineteenth-century scholars Adolf Neubauer) who described Moses Dar'rs poems as (imitations) and often very bad ones))) and Heinrich Graetz) according to whom they are (ugly) wooden and without any poetical charm))? And: are these poems important) interesting) and rewarding enough to justify the time and effort that is spent on them? It is these awkward questions that we will address in the conclusion) by seeking to evaluate Moses Dar'rs dzwan in the light of the Andalusian-Hebrew poetical tradition and within the context of Hebrew literary activity in the Muslim East.
c
As made known at his lecture "The Arabic Portions of the Dzwan by Moses Dar }, the Karaite») given at the 13th Conference of the Society for Judeo-Arabic Studies, held in Cordoba. C£ A. Schippers) "Some Remarks on Judaeo-Arabic Poetical Works: An Arabic Poem by Moses DarCi,') in Studies in Medieval Jewish Poetry) ed. A. Guetta and M. Itzhak~ 141-56) Studies in Jewish History and Culture 18 (Leiden: Brill) 2009); ij. Ben-Shammai) ((On a Torah Case with Ornaments and a Bar Mizva (?) Ceremony in a Karaite Synagogue in Egypt in the 12th Century») [in Hebrew] Pe(amzm 104 (2005): 5-10. 18
CHAPTER ONE
HISTORY OF RESEARCH
1.1
Nineteen th-Century Scholarship
Western scholarship first noted the poetical collection of Moses Darci in a catalogue of Karaite manuscripts from the Crimea) published by Abraham Geiger (1810-74) in 1837. 1 Geiger reported that the collection by Moses ben Abraham R6fe) from Egypt consisted of 561 poems in two volumes) named TaJ:tkemoni ('<[the book of] Wisdom») and Sefer zeraJ:t ('
A. Geiger, "Ausgezeichnete Handschriftensammlung: Karaische Schrifte~)' Wissenschajtliche Zeitschrift fUr Judische 1heologie 3 (1837): 443, n. 9-10. For more information on the scholarly study of Karaism in the West, see ij. Ben-Shammai, "The Scholarly Study of Karaism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries," in Karaite Judaism: a Guide to Its History and Literary Sources, ed. M. Polliack, 9-24 (Leiden: Brill, 2003). 2 According to Tamani, the manuscripts were acquired in Cairo in 1843, on his first visit to the city: "La Tradizione del Canzoniere di Moshe Dari," Henoch 6 (1984): 214. On Firkovich and his activities, see the contributions by T. Harviainen and D. Sklare in Karaite Judaism, 875-92 ("Abraham Firkovich") and 893-924 ("A Guide to Collections of Karaite Manuscripts") respectively, and the literature cited there.
10
CHAPTER ONE
insignificant in proportion to the overall authenticity and importance of the collection. Even though Firkovich)s determination to prove the antiquity of the Russian Karaite community may have led him to adapt the dates in colophons or add postscripts to manuscripts) he never forged the actual text of the manuscripts. 3 Thus) the first Firkovich collection) including the poetical collection of Moses ben Abraham Dar(i) entered the Imperial Public Library in St. Petersburg in 1862. A second factor which may explain why the Firkovich manuscripts (NLR Evr. I 802-803) have been generally neglected has to do with historical circumstances. Access to the Firkovich collections was severely restricted during the Soviet period) particularly to Western researchers. Fortunately) the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989-90 removed this obstacle. As a result) researchers can now consult original manuscripts of several Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic texts in the National Library of Russia as well as microfilm copies kept at the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts in Jerusalem and in the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America) New York. The new accessibility of the Firkovich collections has led to a remarkable resurgence in the scholarly study of Karaism in recent years. 4 Moreover) the controversy surrounding the collections has been largely settled in favour of scholars defending their authenticity.s One of the first scholars to examine and describe several Firkovich manuscripts was Sim~ah Pinsker (1801-64) whom Firkovich had befriended on a visit to Odessa around 1850. Ten years later) in 1860) Pinsker published his innovative work entitled Liqqute qadmoniyyot ('
3 See s. Iakerson, "Abraham Firkovich de KaraIet en zijn verzameling Hebreeuwse en Samaritaanse manuscripten in Sint-Petersburg," in Leeser Rosen thallJuda Palachelezing 17 mei 2005, 5- 39 (Amsterdam: Vossiuspers, 2005). 4 See the contributions in M. Polliack, ed., Karaite Judaism: a Guide to Its History and Literary Sources (Leiden: Brill, 2003). 5 According to Iakerson ("Abraham Firkovich de KaraIet," 23-24), all manuscripts in the First Firkovich Collection can be used for scientific purposes. His arguments are reminiscent of those of the nineteenth-century commission mentioned above; while one has to be careful with some of the colophons and postscripts, Firkovich never presented forged texts as original medieval manuscripts. 6 Liqqute qadmoniyyot [Lickute Kadmoniot: Zur Geschichte des Karaismus und der karaischen Literatur] [in Hebrew] (Vienna: Adalbert della Torre, 1860).
HISTORY OF RESEARCH
11
Judaeo-Arabic works. Leon Nemoy (1901-98) author of the epochmaking work entitled Karaite Anthology) states the following: It is these original texts which lend his work its permanent value. His own contribution is now largely antiquated) particularly his exaggerated idea of the role of the early Karaite scholars) whom he erroneously regarded not only as the sole founders of the study of Hebrew grammar and lexicography) but also as the pioneers in medieval Hebrew poetry and the precursors of the great Rabbanite poets in Spain) such as Ibn Gabirol and Judah Halevi. Some of Pinsker>s misconceptions were the result of Firkovich>s tendentious advice or were based on data forged by Firkovich in his zeal to magnify the otherwise very substantial contribution of Karaism to medieval Jewish learningJ
Nearly one hundred of Moses Darcrs poems can be found in those original texts. 8 The presentation of these poems is mainly a transcription of the Firkovich manuscripts with sporadic vocalisation but without analysis or commentary. Between 1861 and 1862 Pinsker published another twenty-two poems in the Viennese periodical Kokhebe yi~/:laq) this time including vocalisation and commentary.9 The publication of Liqqitte qadmoniyyot provoked a strong response from the scholarly community of that time. 10 We will discuss below how Pinsker)s dating of Darci to the first half of the ninth century led to vigorous debate. On the basis of a mistaken interpretation of the Hebrew colophon verses of manuscript NLR Evr. I 802 (fo1. 135b) Pinsker believed that Moses Darci finished the compilation of the first part of his collection in 843 CEo However) the correct date to be derived from these colophon verses is 1474 according to the Seleucid calendar) or 1163 in the Western (i.e.) Gregorian) calendar. l1
7 L. Nemoy, Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, 1972), 13:548-49; idem, Karaite Anthology: Excerpts from the Early Literature, Yale Judaica Series 7 (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1952). 8 S. Pinsker, Liqqute qadmoniyyot, 1:46-105, and 135-37. In part 2 (pp. 113-21) Pinsker published in alphabetical order the first lines of the liturgical poems of Moses
Darci 9 S. Pinsker, Kokhege yi~~aq, 26 (1861): 22-25; 27 (1861): 24-27; 28 (1862): 20-24. 10 Some scholars have even called it a "turning point in modern Gaonic studies)'; see G. D. Cohen)s introduction to the reprinted edition of J. Mann)s Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature (1931-1935; repr., New York: Ktav, 1972), I:XVIII. 11 1:1. Ben-Shammai, "On a Torah Case with Ornaments," 5 n 2.
12
CHAPTER ONE
Pinsker)s dating ran contrary to the prevailing views about the beginnings of Andalusian poetry and poetics. Had Pinsker been correct) Moses Darci would have lived well before the poets of the Andalusian Golden Age) who would then have been likely to have undergone his influence rather than influencing him. Nevertheless) some scholars) among whom was the historian Heinrich Graetz (1817-91) accepted Pinsker)s early dating. However) Graetz did not share Pinsker)s appreciation for Darcrs poetry.12 His negative judgment seems to reflect the biased opinions that Western European Jewish scholars at that time held of the Eastern poets. 13 The first scholar to reject Pinsker)s early dating of Darci was Geiger. His aesthetic evaluation of the poet stands midway between Pinsker)s and Graetz)s; Geiger criticises their judgments for being either unrichtig [inaccurate] or ungerecht [unfair]. Geiger characterises Darci as a technically accomplished poet) whose imitative poems generally lack ideas and never reach the level of those composed by the Andalusian poets. 14 Geiger)s primary argument for rejecting Pinsker)s dating was that Darci explicitly mentions Andalusian poems to indicate the metres of his own poems. It is interesting to note that Geiger accepted the trustworthiness of the colophon verses in manuscript NLR Evr. I 802: Also fur Dar(i selbst haben wir kein bestimmtes Datum) dennoch k6nnen wir seine Zeit ziemlich genau bemessen. 1163 wurde seine Doppelsammlung bereits abgeschrieben; aber er lebte auch nich fruher als in der ersten Halfte des 12ten Jahrhunderts) denn er war Nachahmer der spanischen Dichter bis auf Abraham eben Esra herab. [...] So steht mir
12 S. Pinsker) Liqqute qadmoniyyot) 1:46: O"'T,£J:1 t,"OO 'JN1 'J£Jt, nV:J lN1'"'Tj'l j'lt 1'n'£J1 1'nOY 1't:1 JJvn01 1:1n,t,1 1:J'Nt, j'ltj'l ("And this dfwan lies currently in front
of me and I walk all through this orchard and indulge myself in the splendour of its plants and its flowers.)') 13 "Trotz des Versmasses sind Mose Darai)s [sid] Gedichte nichts desto weniger unsch6~ h6lzern) ohne den geringsten poetischen Reiz und weiter nichts als Knittelverze mit Reimgeklinger' ("In spite of the metrical patterns) Moses DarCi)s poems are ugly) wooden) and without any poetical charm; they are nothing more than doggerel verses and rhyming jingles)') (Geschichte der Juden vom Abschluss des Talmuds (500) bis zum Aufbluhen der judisch-Spanischen Kultur (1027) [Leipzig: Oskar Leiner) 1890] 5:286). 14
A. Geiger) "Hebraische Zeitschriften: Moses Dar1))' Zeitschrift der Deutschen
Morgenliindischen Gesellschajt 15 (1861): 813.
HISTORY OF RESEARCH
13
das Resultat fest: Dar(i ist urn drei ]ahrhunderte jiinger) als Pinsker und Graetz ihn angeben. 15
In the same year) Joshua H. Schorr (1818-95) reached a similar conclusion) differing from Geiger only in that he accepted 1170 CE as the year in which Dar'Cs diwan was copied. 16 Schorr found additional evidence against the early dating of Moses Dar'i in poem no. 181 in the diwan (manuscript NLR Evr. I 802) fols. 42a-43a). This poem was written to mark the marriage of the physician Moses ben ~edaqa to a daughter from the Tara)ifi family. According to Schorr) this implied that Dar'i lived in the same period as Judah al-I:Iarizi) who in his Sefer ta/:zkemoni praises a Damascene physician bearing the same name. 17 Geiger pursued Schorr)s argument in an article published in 1862. Both poets were again assumed to have praised the same physician) although Dar'i did so when ben ~edaqa was young and newly-wed (i.e. the middle of the twelfth century) and al-I:Iarizi did so when ben ~edaqa had reached old age. 18 While Pinsker held his ground on the dating of Dar'i) his untimely death in 1864 foiled his intention to respond to Geiger and Schorr. This decided the argument in favour of scholars arguing for a late dating. In 1866) Adolf Neubauer (1831-1907) put forward his supposition that Moses Dar'i lived after al-I:Iarizi) in the second half of the thirteenth century. Neubauer based his dating on two arguments. First) al-I:Iarizi does not explicitly mention Dar'i; second) in many poems Dar'i prays for the deliverance of Jerusalem from Muslims and Christians) which points to a time when the two sides were contending for
15 A. Geiger) ((Hebraische Zeitschriften/) 818-19: ((Thus for Darci we cannot give a specific date) but nevertheless we can date him in a fairly precise way. Already in 1163) his two-volume collection was copied; but he cannot have lived earlier than the first half of the twelfth century) since he was an imitator of the Spanish poets until Abraham ibn Ezra. [...] The conclusion is obvious to me: Darei is about three centuries younger than Pinsker and Graetz state.») 16 J. H. Schorr) ((S. Pinsker) Liqqftte Qadmoniyyof) [Review], He-1falu~ 6 (1861): 56-59. 17 See maqama nos. 46 and 50 in Judah al-l:Iarizl, The Book of Ta1].kemoni: Jewish Tales from Medieval Spain) trans. D. Simha Segal (Portland: Littman Library of Jewish Civilizatio~ 2003») 340) 394) and 412. 18 It should be noted that according to Geiger Judah al-l:Iarizi travelled in the last quarter of the twelfth century and not after 1215 as scholars now agree (A. Geiger) ((Hebraische Zeitschriften: Moses DarC~») 287-95).
14
CHAPTER ONE
the city.19 Neubauer also pronounced harsh judgments on Moses Darci in particular and Karaite literature more generally. 20 In contrast to Neubauer) the major bibliographer Moritz Steinschneider (1816-1907) argued that Moses Darci visited Damascus before Judah al-~arizi did. His 1871 article concludes an intense decade of debate on the dating of Darcie Ten years after Geiger and Schorr had put forward their arguments) Steinschneider suggested shifting ben ~edaqa)s wedding date from the middle of the twelfth century to some time between 1180 and 1185 CEo Steinschneider based this on the identification of Moses ben ~edaqa with cImran b. ~edaqa) a physician believed to have been born in Damascus in 1165 or 1166 CE to a Rabbanite father. 21 Interestingly enough) Steinschneider also ascribed a Rabbanite background to Moses Darci) whom he identified with a namesake scholar that Maimonides mentioned in a responsa to the scholars from Lune1. 22 This scholar had immigrated from the Muslim West to Egypt and/ or Palestine) where he rejected his tefillin and) according to Steinschneider) became a Karaite. The same Moses Darci supposedly had briefly enjoyed the status of prophet in the mid-1120s when he announced the coming of the Messiah to his followers in Fez. In his Epistle to Yemen Maimonides relates how Darci would soon afterward be forced to leave Morocco for Palestine) where he died. 23 While Steinschneider 19 A. Neubauer, Beitrage und Documente zur Geschichte des Karaerthums und der karaischen Literatur (Leipzig: Oskar Leiner, 1866), 21-23, 115-17. In 1865 Neubauer published a single poem by Darci in his work Melekhet ha-Shfr [in Hebrew] (Frankfurt
am Main, 1865), 64. 20 Neubauer, Beitrage und Documente, 21: "Der dichter Moses Dari [sid] ist etwa der Nil der karaischen Literatur in Aegypten, denn so unbedeutend auch dessen Dichtergabe ist, so macht er das Feld etwas fruchtbare e) ("The poet Moses Darci could be described as the Nile of Karaite Literature in Egypt, because, even though his poetical ability is also insignificant, he made the field a bit more fertile»)); idem, 22: "Uebrigens wer nur irgendwie hebraische Gedichte angesehen, kann sogleich unterscheiden, dass die Darats [sic!] Nachahmungen und oft sehr schlechte Nachahmungen sind») ("Moreover, anyone who has any experience in dealing with Hebrew poems can immediately see that DarCi)s poems are imitations, and often very bad ones»)). 21 M. Steinschneider, "Moshe b. Zedaka, Imran b. Sadaka und Moshe DarCt, Judische Zeitschrift fur Wissenschaft und Leben 9 (1871): 172-83. 22 H. Brody, "Darci, Moses,») Jewish Encyclopedia, 4:440-41 (New York, 1903); A. Freimann, Teshugot hd-Rambam [in Hebrew] Oerusalem: Meqi~e Nirdamim, 1934), 9. 23 J. L. Kraemer, "Maimonides: Epistle to Yemen (1172)/) in Maimonides' Empire ofLight, ed. R. Lerner, 130-31 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000). It is likely that the famous Muslim historiographer Ibn Khaldlln referred to Moses Darci when he attributes to a Jew from Fez a mataba ("versified prophecy) that led to his
HISTORY OF RESEARCH
15
identified this scholar/prophet with the poet Moses Darei) others have found this identification to be unwarranted and unacceptable. 24
1.2
Twentieth-Century Scholarship
No progress was made on Darers biography during the final decades of the nineteenth century. Heinrich (I:Iayyim) Brody (1868-1942) the famous editor of medieval Hebrew poetry) published a survey of scholarly knowledge about the poet in a contribution in the 1903 edition of the Jewish Encyclopedia. 25 One year later) David Kahana (1838-1915) published an article which conclusively showed that Moses Darei could not have antedated the Golden-Age Andalusian poets. 26 Close examination by Kahana of Darers collection revealed a 21-stanza baqqasha (liturgical poem of petition to God for the forgiveness of sins) beginning with the words: C1Jl1 4t~t?1J M1J~ ('<Erase my sin and be mercifur)). In this poem) the las·t lin·e~ of e~ch strophe are refrains taken from a 22-stanza baqqasha by Judah ha-Levi beginning with the words: 4tl:ll~l) z,~ il~ 'M ('<0 LORD) all my desire is before YoU))).27 Kahana put forward three additional arguments in favour of a late dating for Darcie The first was the abundance of liturgical poems in Darers collection. A second was that Firkovich probably added the colophon verses to manuscript NLR Evr. I 802. The third was the existence of another work attributed to Darei) which an Egyptian Karaite leader named Abraham Kohen had brought to light in 1898. This maqama-style work was assumed to be an imitation of
assassination; see E. Alfonso, Islamic Culture through Jewish Eyes: AI-Andalusfrom the Tenth to Twelfth Century (New York: Routledge, 2008), 154 n. 56. 24 A. J. Heschel, Prophetic Inspiration after the Prophets: Maimonides and Other Medieval Authorities (New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1996), 29 and 75-76; J. H. Schorr, He-Halus 8 (1863): 127. 25 H. Brody, "Darci, Moses,») Jewish Encyclopedia, 4:440-41 (New York, 1903). 26 D. Kahana, "About the Karaite poet Moses Darci,») [in Hebrew] ha-ShUoii~ 13 (1904): 435-42. In 1896 Kahana had already published a less thought-provoking article on Darci in O~ar ha-Sifrut 5 (1896): 90-95. 27 For DarCi)s poem, see MS NLR Evr. I 803, fols. lla-13b (poem no. 5 of the second part of the collection). For Halevi)s poem, see D. Yarden, The Liturgical Poetry of Rabbi Judah ha-Levi [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem, 1985), 4:78. Publishing a poem by Samuel b. Nissim of Aleppo, a contemporary of al-l:Iarizi, with a similar practice, Kahana observed that Darci was not the only one to adopt ha-Levi)s poetry.
16
CHAPTER ONE
Judah al-I:Iarizts Sefer ta1Jkemonz) and) therefore) a clear indication that Moses Darci could not have lived before the thirteenth century.28 Israel Davidson (1870-1939» the compiler of the Thesaurus ofMedieval Hebrew Poetry) published this maqama in 1926. He used a manuscript of Abraham Kohen and called the work Maqama ofAlexandria and Cairo. Four years later) Davidson treated two other manuscripts) identified by the young Jefim (:f?:ayyim) Schirmann (1904-81» which shed new light on the maqama. 29 Relying on one of these) Abraham M. Habermann (1901-80) published his supplement to the Maqama of Alexandria and Cairo. 3D In addition to this maqama) Davidson had also intended to use a manuscript which he had acquired in 1926) again from Abraham Kohen) to publish the poetical collection of Moses Darci. However) only a small selection containing the first ten poems of the dzwan) in the original order attested in the manuscript) appeared in 1936. 31 Nemoy was the first scholar to publish translations of Moses Darcrs poems) when he included a selection of 24 poems in English translation in his Karaite Anthology (1952).32 Nemoy)s appreciation for Darcrs poetical talent was more positive than that of his predecessors: Moses Dar(i is justly regarded as the greatest poet of medieval Karaism. He was undoubtedly possessed of a genuine poetic talent and was a skilful master of the rather ornate and involved style used in medieval Hebrew poesy. It is no reflection upon his literary merit to state the simpIe fact that with all his accomplishments he did not attain the lyric heights and the stylistic brilliance of the best poets among his Rabbanite predecessors in Spain.33
28 A. Kohen, Ha-~efzrii 25 (1898): 490 and 518-19. Kahana's second and third arguments were repeated by S. Poznansk~ "Karaische Kopisten und Besitzer von Handschriften,') Zeitschrift fur hebriiische Bibliographie 19 (1916): 82 n. 17. 29 I. Davidson, "The Maqama of Alexandria and Cairo,') [in Hebrew] Maddii(e ha-Yahildat 2 (1926): 296-308; idem, "Note on the Maqama ofAlexandria and Cairo,') [in Hebrew] Tarbzs 2 (1930): 118-19. 30 A. M. Habermann, "Supplement to the Maqama of Alexandria and Cairo of Moses DarCr,') [in Hebrew] Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 33 (1965): 35-40. 31 I. Davidson, "The Dzwiin ofthe Karaite Moses DarCr,') [in Hebrew] lforeg 3 (1936): 28-42. Davidson also included several of Darcr's poems in his Thesaurus of Medieval Hebrew Poetry [in Hebrew] (New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1970), 4:445-47. 32 L. Nemoy, Karaite Anthology, 133-46 and 354-55. One poem by Darcr was translated by T. Carmi in his Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse (New York: Penguin Books, 2006), 360. 33 L. Nemoy, Karaite Anthology, 133. About twenty years on, his judgment had become more negative: "In Egypt, Karaite efforts to write Hebrew poetry produced
HISTORY OF RESEARCH
17
In 1981) Yosef Algamil published about ten poems by Darei) some of which Pinsker or Davidson had already edited. Interestingly enough) Algamil and other Karaite scholars have kept Pinsker)s early ninthcentury dating for Darei) which is now generally regarded as based on Firkovich)s forged date. 34 Giuliano Tamani should be credited for his articles on the manuscript tradition of Darers poetical collection. Nevertheless) his findings need to be completed with additional information unavailable to Tamani in the mid-eighties of the previous century) before the Firkovich collections became accessible. 35 According to Tamani) the diwan could only be evaluated correctly when published completely and analysed thoroughly in comparison with Andalusian models.
1.3
The Edition by Leon Weinberger
In 1998 Leon Weinberger partially responded to Tamanfs call by publishing a complete edition of Moses Darers Hebrew collection. 36 The primary merit of this edition was that it facilitated access to Darers poems) which until then had only been available in the selections published by Pinsker and Davidson. The edition has an English
(about the middle of the twelfth century) the most eminent poet of the earlier period, Moses Darei, who imitated, not very successfully, the great rabbinic poets of the Spanish school, and left an extensive Diwan of poetic pieces, both religious and seculae) (L. Nemoy, "Karaites,») The Encyclopaedia ofIslam, 4:605 [Leiden: Brill, 1973]). 34 Y. Algamil, History of Karaite Jewry [in Hebrew] (Ramla: National Council of Karaite Jews in Israel, 1979), 2:190-201; H. Halevi, Sefer toledot ~ayyfm [in Hebrew] (Ashdod, 1994), 90-101; S. Szyszman, Le Karaisme: Ses Doctrines et son Histoire (Lausanne: L)Age d)Homme, 1980), 51 and 63. 35 G. Tamani, "La Tradizione del Ca nzoniere di Moshe Dari,» Henoch 6, no. 2 (1984): 205- 24; idem, "Questioni di Storiografia Letteraria Ebraica: II Canzoniere di Moshe Dar~») in Atti del IV Congresso dell Associazone Italiana per 10 Studio del Giudaismo, ed. F. Parente, 249-60 (Rome: Carucci, 1987). 36 L. Weinberger, Jewish Poet in Fatimid Egypt: Moses Dar(f's Hebrew Collection (Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama, 1998). Two years later an exact copy of the work appeared, entitled Jewish Poet in Muslim Egypt: Moses Dar(f's Hebrew Collection (Leiden: Brill, 2000). It should also be pointed out that Weinberger is the only scholar to have edited and analysed a substantial corpus of Karaite poetry, with a special focus on Karaite piyyutim written in South-Eastern Europe dUring the Byzantine and Ottoman periods, c£ section 5.4; L. Weinberger, Rabban ite and Karaite Liturgical Poetry in South-Eastern Europe (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1991). We should also draw attention to Weinberger)s chapter on Karaite synagogue poets in his book Jewish Hymnography: A Literary History (London: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1998), 408-31.
18
CHAPTER ONE
introduction) which recapitulates Weinberger)s 1994 article. 37 This introduction places particular emphasis on the continuity between Andalusian-Hebrew poetry and Darers oeuvre) as Raymond P. Scheindlin noted in his review. 38 Weinberger applied a non-transparent procedure in editing and ordering the poems. With the exception of one nineteenth-century copy) which he describes in some detail) his description of the available manuscripts is vague. 39 He did not identify manuscript NLR Evr. I 802 as the first volume of the Firkovich manuscripts and erroneously described it as a nineteenth-century vocalised manuscript. Several other findings show that he did not consult the fifteenth-century Firkovich manuscripts) but relied only on nineteenth-century copies of Darers dzwan. 40 As to the ordering of the poems) Weinberger disregarded the original order of the poems as attested in the manuscripts) and rearranged them according to theme. However) the juxtaposition of poems is potentially relevant for their interpretation) especially when one takes into account that Darei compiled his own work. A section in his dzwan containing three contiguous poems whose Judaeo-Arabic headings reveal that they all praise old age is a fine illustration of this principle. In Weinberger)s edition) however) those three poems are treated separately as a philosophical poem) a complaint poem) and a poem of self-praise. 41 The poem headings do not appear in Weinberger)s edition because he excluded all Judaeo-Arabic text. This includes the prose introductions to both parts of the collection) the Judaeo-Arabic poems) and the poems written in a mixture of both Arabic and Hebrew. Weinberger)s approach to the Judaeo-Arabic headings is particularly problematic with regard to Darers secular poems; these can be distinguished from
37 «Moses Darci) Karaite Poet and Physician))) Jewish Quarterly Review 84) no. 4 (1994): 445-83. 38 R. P. Scheindlin, «L. Weinberger) Jewish Poet in Muslim Egypt: Moses DarCi)s Hebrew Collection))) [Review] Hebrew Studies 41 (2000): 343-47. 39 See) by way of illustration, his description of MS D (MS NLR Evr. I 802») E) and F: «The anonymous scribe of Ms. D) unlike the others) consistently vocalised the Hebrew text. Little is known about Mss. E and F)) (L. Weinberger) Jewish Poet in
Muslim Egypt) 2). 40 On the basis of the reproductions of manuscripts on pp. 34-35 in his edition) it can be concluded that Weinberger seems to have mistaken MS Evr. I 802 for the nineteenth-century vocalised MS D82) and vice versa In his 1994 article (446») he listed only three nineteenth-century MSS among his sources. 41 Nos. 54-56; MS NLR Evr. I 802: fols. 17b-18a (ed. L. Weinberger) 372) 420-2C 460-61).
HISTORY OF RESEARCH
19
the poems with a liturgical function by the fact that the latter generally lack headings. Although Gamil Ovadia translated the poem headings into Hebrew) this was done in an unsatisfactory manner) as Scheindlin noted in his review. 42 In other words) important information about poetical form and genre was effectively lost. For instance) one can learn that the first poem of the diwan is definitely a qa~ida and not a muwashsha~-like poem. Similarly) a poem heading which mentions the Arabic generic term hija> confirms that the genre of poem no. 10 should be considered a lampoon and not a complaint. 43 In other instances) we learn more about the addressee of the poem or the poet)s reason for composing it. The heading to poem no. 29 shows that it was a Hebrew translation of an Arabic original) that to poem no. 101 that it imitates a poem by Judah ha-Levi) and that to poem no. 207 that it was meant to praise a prominent Jew who drowned in the Nile. 44 The present study aims to restore these omissions in a selective edition of secular poems from Darers diwan) taken from the earliest manuscript) NLR Evr. I 802) dated to the fifteenth century. Within the stricture of our study) the current edition consists of a representative segment of poems) numbered 1-152) from the first section of the diwan. 45 The Hebrew text and Judaeo-Arabic heading of each poem are provided in full in the original order attested in the manuscript NLR Evr. I 802. Each poem is vocalized and accompanied by a translation of the Judaeo-Arabic heading into English) an English paraphrase of the poem) and Hebrew annotations.
42 R P. Scheindlin, Hebrew Studies 41 (2000): 346: "The Arabic poem headings are, to be sure, provided in Hebrew translation; but they are printed in the notes after the poems instead of at their heads, as intended, and the Hebrew translations accompanying them are often so opaque that they themselves had to be provided with explanatory notes, as if they were a primary source.») 43 MS NLR Evr. I 802, fols. 3b and 7b (ed. L. Weinberger, 317-20 and 371-72). 44 MS NLR Evr. I 802, fols. 12b, 26b, and 53b (ed. L. Weinberger, 436, 324-26 and 273-74). 45 The edition thus excludes the special sections of riddle poetry (poems nos. 160174), elegies and epithalamia (poems nos. 176-189, 205-213) and Judaeo-Arabic and bilingual poetry (poems nos. 190-204), which will be dealt with by Dr. Uri Melammed in a forthcoming publication. Poems nos. 215-237 are not included in this edition because of their usage in the Festival liturgies. The same can be said about the section containing 100 liturgical poems on the readings of the Torah, since these poems require a separate study. It should be pointed out that Weinberger included all of Moses DarCts Hebrew poetry in his edition, both from the dfwan itself and from the supplementary volume to his dfwan, Le., more than five-hundred poems all together, c£ chapter 2 below.
CHAPTER TWO
MANUSCRIPT TRADITION
More than five-hundred of Moses Darers poems have been preserved in two volumes that he compiled. The first is a dzwan to which he gave the Arabic title Firdaws azhar al-qa~a'id wa-'l-ash'ar ('
2.1
List of Available Manuscripts
A. St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia (NLR), MSS Evr. I 802 (270 x 180 mm) and 803 (210 x 160 mm); 138 and 166 fols. respec-
tively; fifteenth century [Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts (IMHM), Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, microfilm nos. F51008 and F51263]. On the basis of their Oriental Karaite square script) these manuscripts) comprising a complete
See) for the latter view) G. Tamani) "La Tradizione del Canzoniere di Moshe Dari,>' 213-14) and S. Poznanski, "Karaische Kopisten/' 82 n. 17. Aaron ibn Ezra)s family had as a patronymic the appellation Kdtib al-(Arab (see S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society) 2: 379; J. Mann) Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature) 278-79). 2 See the notes of possession in MS NLR Evr. I 802 (fol. 139a) and MS NLR Evr. I 803 (fol. 2a). There is some confusion as to the correct dates mentioned in these notes of possession, more particularly) whether one has to read respectively T":H"l (= 1267 CE) and :l"t,;, (= 1272 CE) instead of T":Jn (= 1667 CE) and :l"t,n (= 1672 CE). About the Firuz-family see S. Poznanski) ((Die karaische Familie Firuz»' Monatsschrift des Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschajt 57 (1913): 44-58) 620; and 60 (1916): 149-52.
22
CHAPTER TWO
copy of the two-part collection) are presumed to date from the fifteenth century. A characteristic Oriental feature) employed under the influence of Arabic calligraphy) is the use of a ligature for alef when followed by lamed. 3 There is) on the other hand) a clear difference in quality between the two manuscripts; while both are written in black ink on yellowish paper) only manuscript no. 802 is bound in brown leather) with Arabic vocalisation) and the numbers and markings in red. It is also illuminated with illustrations containing plant motifs in green) blue) red) white) and gold on fols. 44a and 138b.4 B. St. Petersburg, NLR, MS Evr. II A 203; 52 folios; fifteenth century [IMHM no. F65152]. This fragment includes a selection of 77 poems) also present in MSS Evr. I 802-803 but not corresponding to their organisation of poems. The Eastern script in this MS is comparable to that of the two aforementioned and seems to date from roughly the same period. C. St. Petersburg, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, MSS D 82 and 86; 92 and 95 fols.; 1843 CE [IMHM nos. F69620 and F69687]. These are fully vocalised) nineteenth-century copies of both parts of the collection) written in a square Karaite hand; the poems follow the original order attested in MSS Evr. I 802-803. D. St. Petersburg, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, MS B 424; 324 + 352 fols.; 1891 CE [IMHM no. F35929]. In 1891 Judah Sere~ copied MSS Evr. I 802-803 twice under the authority of Elias Kazas) founder of the Karaite theological school of Eupatoria in the Crimea. Tamani described both copies and rightly noted a clear difference in quality.5 The first is a rough copy made in the Imperial Public Library and then transferred in 1934
3 For more information on Oriental scripts see M. Beit-Arie (in collaboration with E. Engel and A. Yardeni), Specimens of Mediaeval Hebrew Scripts, vol. I, Oriental and Yemenite Scripts Oerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1987). My sincere thanks to Dr. E. Engel (The Hebrew Palaeography Project, Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem) who confirmed that the manuscripts can be dated in the fifteenth century, even if some uncertainties with regard to the colophons remain. See also the article by 1:1. Ben-Shammai, "On a Torah Case with Ornaments,» 5 n 2, 6 n 6. 4 Thanks to the curator of the Firkovich manuscripts, Boris Zaykovsky, for allowing me to work in the manuscripts department of the National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg, and for his help in obtaining reproductions of MS NLR Evr. I 802. S G. Tamani, "La Tradizione del Canzoniere di Moshe Dari,») 214-16.
MANUSCRIPT TRADITION
23
from Eupatoria to the library of the Institute of Oriental Studies in Leningrad. E. New York, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, MS 3442; 399 fols.; 1891 CE [IMHM no. F32127]. The second copy offers a more legible version in a square Karaite hand; it came into the possession of Abraham Kohen) leader of the Karaite community of Cairo. In 1926 it was acquired by Davidson through the offices of Joshua Finkel. F. RamIe, Karaite Community of Israel, MS 1; 200 fols.; 1892 CE [IMHM no. F38806]. Solomon ben Afida Cohen copied this partially vocalised manuscript in 1892) in a square Karaite hand) from a complete copy in S1. Petersburg. It contains an introduction in Hebrew concerning the two-part poetical collection based on Pinsker)s Liqqute qadmoniyyot. The manuscript originally belonged to the Karaite community of Cairo) but with the exodus of the Jews from Egypt in the 1950s and 1960s it passed on to the Karaite community in RamIe) Israel. G. Other minor fragments of Darcfs poems are included in MSS Oriental 10481 (London) British Library; fols. 27-28; IMHM no. F7843)) Firkovich Evr. II A 208/2 (NLR; 2 fols.; IMHM no. F64367)) Firkovich Evr. II A 1486 (NLR; 1 fol.; IMHM no. F66747)) Firkovich Evr. II A 2429 (NLR; 1 fol.; IMHM no. F67306)) Firkovich Evr. II A 2150 (NLR; 6 fols.; IMHM no. F66924; contains poems by Moses Darci as well as by Judah ha-Levi)) Firkovich Evr. II A 1493 (NLR; 1 fol.; IMHM no. F66745)) Firkovich Evr. II A 1846 (NLR; 1 fo1.; IMHM no. F67038)) Firkovich Evr. II A 209/2 (NLR; 30 fols.; IMHM no. F65159; contains poems from different Karaite authors including DarCi)) Firkovich Evr. II A 2578 (NLR; 2 fols.; IMHM no. F67458)) Firkovich Evr. II A 196/2 (NLR; 2 fols.; IMHM no. F64334)) Firkovich Evr. II A 1239 (NLR; 1 fol.; IMHM no. F66673).6 With the exception of the fragmentary manuscript NLR Evr. II A 203 (MS B)) the available manuscripts of the complete two-part collection listed above (MSS A) C) D) E) and F) represent a particularly uniform tradition as to the organisation and order of the poems. The organisation
6 M. Steinschneider signalled an additional fragment, consisting of 74 folios containing 30 liturgical poems, in 1871 (see his (CKaraitische Handschriften,)) Hebrii ische Bibliographie 11 [1871]: 14-15).
24
CHAPTER TWO
of another complete copy has confirmed this uniformity; the copy is no longer extant) but Geiger recorded its existence in 1837 in a catalogue of Karaite manuscripts from the Crimea. 7 The poetical collection in manuscripts A) C) D) E) and F) and in the manuscript listed in Geiger)s catalogue) contain exactly the same number of poems (Le.) 561) organised in two parts: 1. According to the table of contents) the first part of the collection (MS NLR Evr. I 802) consists of 337 poems. 8 Hebrew verse introductions and a Judaeo-Arabic prose introduction preface the dzwan. It is clearly subdivided into a first section containing 220 secular poems) of various lengths) and a second section containing 100 liturgical poems on the Torah readings. Instead of the Arabic title Firdaws azhar al-qa$a>id wa->l-ashcar ('l-asbaq ('<Supplement to the preceding dzwan)).
2.2
Manuscript NLR Evr. I 802
This study focuses on a segment of secular poems from the first section in the dzwan of Moses Darci. I have chosen MS Evr. I 802) from the First Firkovich collection in St. Petersburg (listed as MS A above) as codex optimus. It is the earliest manuscript with a complete copy of the original dzwan and generally offers the best readings. The present diplomatic edition based on this manuscript incorporates many
7
A. Geiger) Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift fur judische Theologie 3 (1837): 443) nos.
9-10. 8 However) only 320 poems are actually present in the first part of the collection) because 17 poems) which the copyist may have omitted or censured) are missing. Therefore) only 544 of the 561 poems (listed in the table of contents) are present in the manuscripts.
25
MANUSCRIPT TRADITION
amendments to Weinberger)s edition) as the following selection of exampIes illustrates. Weinberger
MS NLR Evr. I 802
1. Poem 311: 2 (p. 362) ~:n lJ ';" O:J~ ;'lJ:l O'l~l b'Q~ ~:in~ ,rrl~
inlt? 'V?~ / -ri"l -ri-r~ ~;l~' ;r~7 ;'9;l1 0";'1 0'1.J' ~ln:;)
2. Poem 311: 17 (p. 362)
2. Poem 12: 20 (fo1. 8b)
, ViN/ -ri"l -ri-rJ
": -:
1. Poem 12: 5 (fo1. 8b) " T :
" -
:
OV 0~1 / iNt?D:;1 -ri"l ~.p ~j?;l~n~ 0~1 " " " "O')=?~:p iniN tJ'J~iV
oV0 ~1 / iNt?D:;1 -ri"l ~.p ~j?;l~n? 0~1 " " " "O')=?~i iniN tJ'J=?iV
3. Poem 326: 1 (p. 372)
3. Poem 17: 2 (fo1. 9b) '~:1N 01' 'Ji:;'/-'l 0'1" n-r~vo~ 'nN:l
OJ? 'lP~l / 0'J?1 nJ~Vt?7 'nN~ [oi'] " ~nJ=?~ '7=?~
:":
""
"
"""
-
:"
"
T
~nJ=?~
4. Poem 370: 15 (p. 413)
4. Poem 19: 17 (fo1. lOa)
/ O.p'tp13 01:;1i?7 0-D'~Q 0' ~~ VJJ ntpj 1'7-9 lVli It'~ ~.p O'l'lP~
/ o.p'Q13 01:;1i?7 0.t;l'+.lQ O'~~VJ~ nV?~l ~.p vl11"ttDf ~.p O'l'lP~
5. Poem 310: 2 (p. 361)
5. Poem 47: 4 (fo1. 16b)
~J1)~Ol inryli?l / '~7 n~'DW 17 ;'Di?
;'lJ-r'l / ":
"
:":
6. Poem 378: 28 (p. 419) l'VJDlJ:l l':JN~lJ:;) ;':;)T' '11' T
:
-
i~ li~l~ -,~.t;ll¥~ ~~
7. Poem 446: 2 (p. 446)
ON7~ / O'J'1; tt~ O~'Q; ;'~i?.t;l ~~}
o.t;li n~0/ 1~~7 ~:1~~
?'
~J1)\?l in~'li?l / '~7 n~'nw
;'lJ-r'l / ":
:":
T
/ nliVG i-r; ;'7in7~
;'-91iJ
10. Poem 473: 34 (p. 462)
;,! ' liVJ1 / ;,7i?~ n;lJ ~~l ;,! n71;'O~
O'l~lJo/ Vi'l ~V ~~l
-
i:1i,~ ~~ 1"nlvf~
:
7. Poem 58: 4 (fo1. 18a)
oniV:l0 ' J:1N~ ~:1Jl T
:
-
"":
-:
: T
8. Poem 59: 12 (fo1. 18b) 'Q /
;'Ji' 'l~ "~f :1' ;'Ji' l'~i n~'~ n1J1' 'l~ Q'J'.p ;'~:;1¥ ''+'
9. Poem 447:7 (p. 447)
N~ ~~iVi Vi'~7~
:
ON7~ / O'J'J' tt~ O~'Q; ;'~i?.t;l ~~}
8. Poem 293: 10 (p. 351)
-riViQ / ;'~i:t:;1~ ~f ;'~i' l'.p~ nJ'.p n1J1' 'l~ ~'J'~ ;'~:;1¥
17 ;'Di?
6. Poem 51: 30 (fo1. 17b) l'VJDlJ:l i:JN~lJ:;) ;':;)T' '-rD
9. Poem 60: 9 (fo1. 19a)
N~ ~~iVi Vi'~7~
/ nliVq ;rl; ;'7~n~n ;'-91iJ
10. Poem 100: 36 (fo1. 26a)
;,! 'w-,0/1 /
;,7 i?~ n;L~ ~~1 ;,! n71;' o~ O'l~lJo/ Vi'l ryry ~~l
Below is a succinct description of MS NLR Evr. I 802: (cf Plate Section) • Fol. Ob: Judaeo-Arabic colophon mentioning the name of the copyist of either the original dzwan or the fifteenth-century copy) Aaron
26
•
• •
• • • •
•
CHAPTER TWO
ibn Ezra.9 According to Edna Engel folio Ob (including the colophon) was not written by Aaron b. Ezra himself) but was added later. 1o Fo!. 1a: Hebrew verse introductions mentioning) among other things) the poefs name (Moses ben Abraham ha-R6fe)) his origins (Darca) in (the kingdom of Fez))) and the place where he composed his dzwan (Egypt).l1 This first folio (la + 1b) is the only loose folio in the manuscript. Fols. 1b-3b: prose introduction in Judaeo-Arabic. 12 Fols. 3b-35a: secular poems nos. 1-152) of various lengths and genres) but always without a liturgical function. The poems are not arranged according to genre or rhyme words) but deliberately mixed. Fols. 36b-38a: section of riddle poems nos. 160-174. Fols. 38b-48a: elegies and epithalamia nos. 176-189. Fols. 48b-52a: Judaeo-Arabic and bilingual poems nos. 190-204. Fols. 52a-74a: elegies nos. 205-213) poems nos. 215-237 related to the Sabbath and Festival liturgies) as well as some homonymic liturgical hymns. Fols. 75a-135b: second section of the dzwan) prefaced with a JudaeoArabic prose introduction and containing 100 liturgical poems on the Torah)s weekly readings.
9 MS NLR Evr. I 802) fol. Ob: rl~1J [NJ:1]"1 [NJ]"O p"J:J 1:1 1,jlN "P!)~N ruN 'j'V'rl'N rlJO T10rl 'jlv) ttn~O~N N'j rl:1rl:J :1'V~N :1rlN:J tt1'VO~N N'TV N'pO 'J:1 .'~'N"'V)" "'J':1'1 'jl'V)'O ',','v)', 10'0 rl1't?V)~. Note that in this colophon the date
1163 CE is mentioned both explicitly (1474 in the Seleucid Calendar = 1163 CE) and by way of gematria (on the basis of Exod 15:1). 10 H. Ben-Shammai, "On a Torah Case with Ornaments/' 5 n. 2. Note that it has been often stated that this colophon was a falsification added by Firkovich. The first scholar who put forward this argument was Kahana in his article "About the Karaite c Poet Moses Dar !)" [in Hebrew] ha-Shfloa/:l13 (1904): 435-42. 11 The follOWing passage is particularly revealing: ~iV n~ '\'?~ 1'~'W~ C~1¥Q~
nlT~ io~ :11~~~
'lPllPl
'lijl rl9~~ C~l
ClP :1lP irl l
'~~ '~1 [...]
:11
W11 '7~ '~V?
O~ rl1:J~~~ N~11~ CD N~l~~ ("In Egypt I made [the book]) and there I suffered from the burden of exile and great poverty; a foreigner and resident am I there [in Egypt] whereas in reality my parents and roots are from the West) as natives of the land of Darca in the kingdom of Fez"). c 12 Moses Dar ! was aware that it was a literary convention to introduce dfwans with a prose introduction) see fol. 3a: NV':1Nrl rlJ:J jl'jjl 'rlO~O~ '!)'~Nrl '!) 'JJN '~V1 10'~rlO / N'~ Cjl,VV) 10 1N1'j ~:J~ Cjl~NV'JN '!) / N'Vv)~N jljNO~N '~~j~ N':1':JO jlJV1 tt'~Nrlt,N ,r;'j ~N'~!) rl1N~rl ("Although I wrote this preface) I followed as my guide the leading poets in the way they made for every dfwan of their poetry an introduction, which includes a specification of the merits of that work and informs about it").
MANUSCRIPT TRADITION
27
• Fo!. 135b: Hebrew colophon verses) on the basis of which one may conclude that the final compilation of the original diwan by Darci took place in 1163 (or 1171) CE.13 • Fols. 136a-137b: index of incipits of poems nos. 1-242 from the first section of the diwan. Poem no. 22 in the index corresponds to poem no. 23 in the manuscript because of a mistake in the numbering of the manuscript (continues to poem no. 69 in the index = poem no. 70 in the manuscript). Poems whose incipit is left blank in the index are not included in the collection-Le.) nos. 153-59) 175) 183-84) 202-03) 211-12) 214) 218) 238-42. It is possible that these poems could not be deciphered or were omitted or even censured by the copyist of the manuscript (because of their hedonistic content). Poem no. 174) on the other hand) is present in the manuscript but its incipit is left blank in the index of poems. Altogether) 220 poems are present in the first section of the diwan. It should be noted that the missing poems cannot be found in any of the other abovementioned manuscripts. • Fols. 137b-138a: index ofincipits of poems nos. 1-100 on the weekly readings of the Torah) all present in the manuscript. • Fo!. 138b: illustration containing plant motifs in green) blue) red) white) and gold. • Fo!. 139a: note of possession in Judaeo-Arabic by Abraham ben Eliyah Firiiz) who acquired the original version of the diwan in 1267 CE.14
13 The colophon verses read: roV):l n"'v)jl jlr,N r,:J nN ':lnr, '-W:l 'O,Jjl ", ",:l pr,njl OJ "N~ N'~'jlr, '"'TV:l ,'OJ' 1:J n"ov; fJOr, ,r,'N"'V)" "'J':l', 'jl'V)'O ',','v)', TN n,,'jlO:l 'JV)jl ("Praise the LORD who helped me in completing the composition of all
these poems in the year '[then] Moses and the Israelites sang (Exod 15:1) according to the Seleucid Calendar; so may He help me to also qUickly finish publishing the second parf). One has to take into account all the letters of 'Moses and the Israelites sang,> unlike Pinsker, who based his calculation on the assertion that the first three letters do not bear dots in the manuscript. However, firstly my research in the National Library of Russia confirms that Firkovich seems to have included these dots in pencil to falsify DarCts dates. Secondly, Pinsker did not pay attention to the fact that the Judaeo-Arabic colophon at the beginning of MS Evr. I 802 (fol. Ob) includes the same date 1163 CE, mentioned both explicitly and by way of gematria (on the basis of Exod 15:1). H. Bornstein (ha-Tequfa 9: 254) suggested 1171 to include TN [then] in the gematria of the date. I follow 1:1. Ben-Shammai in accepting the trustworthiness of the colophon verses (see his "On a Torah Case with Ornaments,») 5 n. 2). 14 There is some confusion as to the correct date mentioned in this note of possession, more particularly, whether one has to read TlI:Jjl (= 1267 CE) instead of TlI:Jn (= 1667 CE); see footnote 2 above. Another Firllz, Elia ben l:Iesd>el ben Moses, left a colophon in MS NLR Evr. I 802, fol. 60a.
28
CHAPTER TWO
2.3
Criteria for Editing and Selecting Poems
The manuscript tradition of the diwan of Moses Darci) discussed above in section 2.1) requires the present-day editor to adhere to the principle that the integrity of the entire collection deserves the same respect as do the individual poems. In other words) it is essential that the present selective edition follows the highly uniform organisation and order of poems attested in the manuscripts. This principle is particularly valid in the case of Darcrs diwan since he compiled his own work. Interestingly enough) in contrast to the majority of medieval Jewish and Arabic compilers of diwans) Moses Darci did not choose to order his poems thematically in chapters nor alphabetically according to rhyme endings. Rather) in the following fragment from the Judaeo-Arabic prose introduction to his diwan) Moses Darci explicitly argues for the mixture of poems with themes of different inspiration: 15 ~::l / ~~nNn N::lN1::lN ;'"'TV::l NnNnT IN1"'~N ON'~J~ ~V'.1N 0~1 ,'~pn~N1 / "'T'.1~N::l ~T;'~N ;"!l n"~':JN1 . ~~n':Jn NV'::l' ';'T:J ;,n:J,n ;"Nn1 Nn!l~ ;"Nn :::l'N'~ ;,nN'~J O'N~ n"~1 / "'Tn~N1 ;'~N"N~N::l NP"::l NJN'nN1 ;'j71Vln NonVl NJN'nN ;"JNvn 1~!l '!l nvr,oN1 / "'Tn / "'T'::l1 ;'1N'" 1~' '!l"~1 Nn1n01 N",n ;,nN~Npn ~1~!l '!l1 / "'TV" ':JVl~N::l Nnp" O'~N ~NnVl n', ;,n'N!l Nnp1 ;"~N" O'OJ nNVlJ1 "'TV::l1 / n"'Tn T'.1;'~N "'TV::l ;"!l "'T'.11 Nn ~"n:J1 ."'TJ1 ~'::lV NJ'n~N1 •n"'Tp1 ;"NON 0":J!l~N1 ON':JN~N
And I did not turn the arrangement of the dfwan into a well-ordered structure consisting of a number of chapters; on the contrary) I let it be as variegated as springtime flowers; and I mingled therein jest and earnest, 16 as well as brevity) elaborateness) and extension. I made the sword of its arrangement at times flattened and at other times sharpened; and in the celestial sphere of its themes I sometimes introduced a radiant sun and sometimes lightning and thunder. In the sections of its sayings there is heat and a hot wind) and in order to ease this-freshness and coolness. At times I made the breeze of its gardens-in the case of rebuke-a diffusive smell of northern wind) and at other times-in
15 MS NLR Evr. I 802: fols. 3a-3b. Thanks to Dr. U. Melammed for giving me access to his (unpublished) critical edition of the Judaeo-Arabic introduction (including a translation into Hebrew). For my translation of passages from this introduction) I also consulted A. Schippers' English translation in "Some Remarks on Judeo-Arabic Poetical Works: An Arabic Poem by Moses Darei)') In Studies in Medieval Jewish Poetry) ed. A. Guetta and M. Itzhak~ 141-56) Studies in Jewish History and Culture 18 (Leiden: Brill) 2009). 16 See G. J. van Gelder) "Mixtures ofJest and Earnest in Classical Arabic Literature)') Journal of Arabic Literature 23) no. 2 (1992): 83-108; and 23) no. 3 (1992): 169-90.
MANUSCRIPT TRADITION
29
the case of praise and eulogy-perfume and incense. Often after satire you will find therein praise) and after appreciation and magnificationhumiliation and defamation.
It clearly follows that the editor should strive to edit the diwan in a form as close to the original as possible) by taking into account metatexts and the original order of poems found in the manuscripts. A selection of the secular parts of the diwan) which are most urgently in need of reappraisal) is justified) first) in view of the clear difference in function between secular and religious poetry.17 It is significant to recall the clear division of the first volume of the collection) in which secular poems and religious poems on the Torah readings are grouped together under the rubric of a Judaeo-Arabic preface. Emphasising Darers secular poems may also help to counter the distorted view that secular poetry was composed only in Muslim Spain instead of being part and parcel of Judaeo-Arabic culture. 18 Another justification for focusing on the secular poems (and not on the liturgical poems) which generally lack headings) is the need to add the Judaeo-Arabic headings. While various diwans by Jewish poets in the Islamic West and East had such headings) Darei explained why he added them to his poems in the following passage from the Judaeo-Arabic introduction to his diwan: 19 Tl:J'r, / TNvnr,N Tn ;"!) Nn ,r,v ;':LJn / TN1JV N'VVJ r,:Jr, nno, 'IN o'n rur,:l TN1JVr,N nr,V'.11 / TN1"r,N N';' ;'Nln Nn r,:J / TN':lr, N:l:lO lr" ,o'nl / :l'Nr,N:l l'ru~r;N Tn TN[ n]!) lr" ,r,v ttPNlr;N Tl:J'r, / :l'Vr,N ON;'!)Nr, ':l'Vr,N TN1JVr,N lr" Tl:J'l / :lvn ,'.1:l T"NJvnr,N O;,!) ;,r, n3lNJl l";'Tr, '''NJ r,:J TN!) / :l:lO ;''IN':lV 'Jvn ;'-Pr,:lr,N TN;"Nr,N .:lOJN ;'.1Nr,:lr,Nr,l / :l'PN 'l'Or,N Tn T"NJr,
17 Both medieval and modern editions of medieval Hebrew poetry distinguish between religious and secular poetry. In practice, however, the term shfre qodesh indicates poems written for incorporation into the liturgy, or piyyutfm. The term shfrat ~ol or "secular poetry») indicates poetry composed for a non-liturgical setting, but may still involve religious concerns. In a yet unpublished paper presented at the fifth Medieval Hebrew Poetry Colloquium, held in Groningen in 2008, J. P. Deeter pointed towards the need to revisit the division of shfrat qodesh and shfrat ~ol. Deeter also warned scholars against the tendency to specialize in one of these categories only (see seetion 6.1 and T. Rosen)s article in The Oxford Handbook ofJewish Studies, ed. M. Goodman, 248-70 [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002]). 18 For a discussion of (secular) poetry as an inseparable part ofJudaeo-Arabic culture, see Y. Tobi, Poetry, Judeo-Arabic Literature and the Geniza [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 2006), 9-10, 41-48. 19 MS NLR Evr. I 802, fo1. 3a.
30
CHAPTER TWO
Then I wrote down for every poem a heading that indicates which themes are in it, so that it may be a means of making clear everything that this dfwan contains. I made the heading in the Arabic language so that the one who takes an interest in it may grasp the purpose [of the poem] from both languages; this may facilitate his comprehension of the themes of both without any difficulty. This Arabic heading will also be a means to explain the meaning of the Hebrew to the most stupid minds) for everyone who looks at a pair of flowers) and who listens to a pair of flutes) is closer to pleasure and more fit to grasp the stylistics.
Due to their composite nature) it is preferable that Darers poems be published in their original state-that is to say) including the JudaeoArabic headings. However) apart from the exploratory work by Pinsker and Davidson in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries) this has so far not been done which has left a void which the present study hopes to fil1. 20
20
c£ the introduction and chapter 1 (especially section 1.3).
CHAPTER THREE
HISTORY OF FA'tIMID AND AYYUBID EGYPT
3.1
Islamic Urban Civilisation
From the ninth century onwards) Egypt became increasingly important in the Islamic world. The process of Arabisation and Islamisation stimulated Fustafs development from a garrison town into a significant centre of Islamic learning.! Similar demographic and cultural processes taking place in North Africa and Spain enhanced Egypfs position) since it was a natural intermediary of economic and intellectual exchange between eastern and western Islamic lands. This intermediary role gained importance as Egypt moved from cAbbasid control under the Tiiliinids (868-905 CE) to autonomy under the Ikhshidids (935-69 CE) and then to being the central province of a new state) the Fatimid caliphate (969-1171 CE).2 When the Fatimids conquered Egypt) they had already changed from a Shi'i missionary group3 into an expansionist caliphate) which challenged the political hegemony of the Sunni cAbbasid caliphate. At first) the Fatimids controlled only parts of (modern-day) Tunisia) Algeria) Libya) and Sicily. A turning point came when the fourth Fatimid caliph) al-Mucizz ascended to the throne in 953 CEo After his predecessors) three unsuccessful attempts) his generat Jawhar) conquered
See I. Lapidus, "The Conversion of Egypt to Islam,» Israel Oriental Studies 2 (1972): 248-62. 2 See H. Kennedy, "Egypt as a Province in the Islamic Caliphate, 641-868,») 62-85; and T. Bianquis, "Autonomous Egypt from Ibn TU1lln to Kafllr, 868-969,» 86-119. Both articles can be found in C. F. Petry, ed., The Cambridge History ofEgypt: Islamic Egypt, 640-1517 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998). 3 The Fatimids were one of several Shti groups who argued that cAli ibn Abi Talib was the sole legitimate heir of the Prophet MtiQammad. They also claimed that the headship of the Muslim community should rest with the descendants of cAli and his wife Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet (as their name Fatimids indicates). The Fatimids are often called IsmacUis, as they traced their own descent through IsmacU, one of the early Shti religious leaders (see P. E. Walker, "The IsmacUi Dacwa and the Fatimid Caliphate,») in The Cambridge History ofEgypt, 120-50). For a recent overview of Fatimid political history see P. E. Walker, Exploring an Islamic Empire: Fatimid History and its Sources (London: I. B. Tauris, 2002).
32
CHAPTER THREE
Egypt in 969 CE and founded a capital just two miles north of Fus~at. Four years later) when al-Mucizz moved his court to Egypt) this city became known as the City of al-MuCizz)s Victory (al-Qahira 'l-MuCizziyya) or Cairo. Cairo remained the capital of the Fa~imids; they proved unable to conquer Baghdad and supplant the cAbbasid caliphate. The Fatimids never did rule a large domain. At its peak) between 975 CE and 1020 CE) their empire reached from Tunisia and Sicily in the West to I:Iims (Syria) in the East. By the middle of the eleventh century) the Fatimids were losing influence in North Africa) and after the loss of Jerusalem in 1099 CE to the Crusaders) the Fatimids were forced to retreat within Egypfs borders. In the aftermath of the Second Crusade (1147-1148 CE)) they became progressively unable to defend Egypt itself. This being so) the Fatimids) demise in 1171 CE and the deposition of the last Fatimid caliph al-cA~id by his own vizier ~ala~ aI-Din b. Ayyiib did not come as a surprise. During the eighty years of Ayyiibid rule (1171-1250 CE)) Egypt became a frontier state in the contest between Muslims and Crusaders. ~ala~ aI-Din (Saladin) is best known as the heroic figure who in 1187 CE successfully recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders. On the other hand) he was a successful empire-builder who made Egypt the centre of a rapidly expanding empire. At his death in 1193 CE) the Ayyiibids ruled in Egypt and Syria) part of Mesopotamia) the I:Iijaz) Yemen) and the North African coast as far as Tunisia. Saladin and his Ayyiibid successors were determined to root out the Shi'i heresy of the Fa~imids and turn Egypt into a major centre of Sunni learning. This proved very successful; by the end of Ayyiibid rule Cairo had already surpassed Damascus and Baghdad as the principal centre of Sunni scholarship in the Islamic world. 4 Islamic civilisation in general and Fatimid and Ayyiibid culture in particular were highly urbanised. Yaakov Lev states the following: Cities and city-life embody Islamic medieval civilisation. The cities were the seats of the rulers and their courts) of generals and their armies and of administrators and administration. The civilian elite composed of the
4 See M. Chamberlain) "The Crusader Era and the Ayy11bid Dynasty)) in The Cambridge History of Egypt) 211-41; M. Barber) The Two Cities: Medieval Europe 10501320 (New York: Routledge) 1992») 119-40; Y. Lev) Saladin in Egypt (Leiden: Brill,
1999); R. S. Humphreys) "Ayy11bids) Mamlfiks) and the Latin East in the Thirteenth Century)) Mamluk Studies Review 2 (1998): 1-17.
HISTORY OF FATIMID AND A YYUBID EGYPT
33
high mercantile class and people of religion and learning concentrated in cities which were emporia of trade as well as focal points of cultural and religious life. Islamic medieval historiography and belles-lettres are by-products of this urban world and depict city life.s
Nevertheless) the relative absence of the rural world in the medieval source material should not mislead us. The majority of people in medieval Egypt lived in the countryside and Egypt would continue to be primarily rural until fairly recent times. In medieval times people used the term aI-Rtf ('
5 Y. Lev) "Aspects of the Egyptian Society in the Fatimid Period))) in Egypt and Syria in the Fa timid, Ayyubid and Mamluk Eras) ed. U. Vermeulen and J. Van Steenbergen,
3: 1 (Leuven: Peeters) 2001). 6 Even large cities like Damietta) the Mediterranean Sea port on the Eastern part of the Nile) were part of the so-called Province; see S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society) 4:9-10. 7 P. Sanders) Ritual, Politics and the City in Fatimid Cairo (New York: State University of New York Press) 1994); A. Udovitch) "Fatimid Cairo: Crossroads of World Trade from Spain to India/) in L'Egyptefatimide: Son Art et son Histoire) 681-91 (Paris: Presses de rUniversite de Paris-Sorbonne) 1999); N. MacKenzie) Ayyubid Cairo: A Typographical Study (Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press) 1992). 8 S. D. Goitein) A Mediterranean Society) 4:1-12; A. Udovitch) "L)Enigme d)Alexandrie: Sa position au Moyen Age d)apres les Documents de la Geniza du Caire))) Revue de l'Occident Musulman et de la Mediterranee 46 (1987): 71-79.
34
CHAPTER THREE
The Fatimid policies towards non-Muslims were generally tolerant) with the exception of the period of government of the caliph al- ~akim (996-1020 CE).9 Jews and Christians served in the Fatimid administration and were well represented in the professional occupations) particularly medicine. The Fatimid period also marked the time when Egypfs Christian and Jewish communities became Arabophone and began to produce a significant literary output in Arabic. This allowed debate among the different religious communities) even at the highest levels of the Fatimid court. However) the Fatimid regime maintained stricter rules of social segregation when it came to the everyday life of the masses. 10 Generally speaking) religious strictness increased under Ayyiibid rule) even when much of the Fatimid)s tolerance still prevailed. Most scholars) including Shlomo Dov Goitein) the great historian of medieval Mediterranean society) agree that the rule of the Mamliik soldier caste would result in many repressive measures and restrictions on the freedom of minority groups after 1250 CE. ll
3.2
The Jewish Community
The transformation of the Egyptian Jews into a primarily urban people was completed during the first centuries of Muslim rule. From the ninth century onwards the Jewish community must have had some educational facilities) given the fact that Isaac Israeli (ca. 855-ca. 955 CE) and SeCadya Gaon (882-942 CE) were born and educated in Egypt. However) it is no coincidence that both scholars became famous
9 Al-ijakim introduced numerous repressive measures against Jews, Christians, and Sunnis. The general tolerance of the Fatimid regime towards minority groups has been attributed to the fact that the Fatimids represented only a small minority among the predominantly Sunni Muslim population of Egypt and Syria; see S. D. Goitein,
A Mediterranean Society, 1:31. 10 Y. Lev, "Aspects of the Egyptian Society,)· 11-12; P. Sanders, "The Fatimid State"· 169-70. 11 S. D. Goitein, A Mediterra nean Society, 1:29- 38. Goitein (1900-1985) was a preeminent Geniza scholar known for his six-volume A Mediterranean Society: The Jew-
ish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967-1993). See also the recently published
India book by S. D. Goitein and M. A. Friedman, India Traders of the Middle Ages: Documents from the Cairo Geniza, Etudes sur Ie Judalsme Medieval 31 (Leiden: Brill, 2008).
HISTORY OF FATIMID AND A YYUBID EGYPT
35
outside their homeland in more flourishing Jewish communities)12 for the Jewish community of Egypt began to have a major impact upon the Jewish world only after the Fatimid conquest. 13 Many Eastern and Western Jews were attracted by the generally tolerant Fatimid policies towards non-Muslims) their liberal economic policies) and the opportunity for service in the Fatimid bureaucracy. Consequently) by the turn of the millennium) Egypt had a sizable Jewish population. This would remain the case until the beginning of the thirteenth century) when it would be decimated by plague and famine. Most Jews lived either in Fustat-Cairo or in Alexandria) but could also be found in many other towns and villages in al-Rif ('
12 The first among the Jewish communities of Qayrawan (in Tunisia) and the other in Babylonia (Iraq) (see, inter alios, M. Ben-Sasson, The Emergence of the Local Jewish Community in the Muslim World: Qayrawan, 800-1057 [in Hebrew] [Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1997], and R. Brody, The Geonim ofBabylonia and the ShapingofMedieval Jewish Culture [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998]). 13 The documents of the Cairo Geniza offer a great deal of information about the Jewish communities of Fatimid and Ayyl1bid Egypt (see S. Reif, ed., The Cambridge Geniza Collections: Their Contents and Significance [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002]). J. Mann was among the first scholars to use Geniza sources for historical purposes in his The Jews in Egypt and in Palestine under the Fatimid Caliphs: A Contribution to their Political and Communal History (Oxford, 1920-1922; repr., Oxford University Press, 1969). Later Geniza scholars include Z. Ankori, Karaites in Byzantium: The Formative Years 970-1100 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1959); S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society; M. Gil, A History of Palestine (6341099) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992); idem, Jews in Islamic Countries in the Middle Ages (Leiden: Brill, 2004). More recent scholars who have based their (socio-)historical studies on Geniza sources include E. Bareket, Fustat on the Nile: The Jewish Elite in Medieval Egyp t (Leiden: Brill, 1999); M. Frenkel, «The Compassion-
ate and the Benevolent" The Leading Elite in the Jewish Community of Alexandria in the Middle Ages [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 2006); M. Rustow, Heresy and the Politics of Commun ity: The Jews of the Fatimid Caliphate (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008). 14 According to Goitein)s calculations, more than 4000 Jews lived in Fustat-Cairo. Alexandria)s Jewish community was probably about half as large as the capital)s (see his Mediterranean Society, 2:139-40, 89-293; and cf. E. Ashtor, "The Number of the Jews in Medieval Egypt") Journal of Jewish Studies 18 [1967]: 9-42; and 19 [1968]: 1-22). As to the Province, more than ninety names of cities and villages with Jewish populations are mentioned in the Cairo Geniza documents (see N. Golb, ((The Topography ofthe Jews of Medieval Egypt,)) Journal ofNear Eastern Studies 24 [1965]: 251-70; and 33 [1974]: 116-49).
36
CHAPTER THREE
communal groups to be part of the Jewish population. However) unlike the Karaite Jews) the Samaritans did not consider themselves Jews) nor did other Jews consider them part of the Jewish community.ls In a recent book based on Geniza documents) Marina Rustow redefines the complex relations between the Rabbanite (Palestinian and Babylonian) and Karaite communities of Fatimid Egypt. 16 Immigrants from the Muslim East (Iran) Iraq) and Syria) and the Muslim West (North Africa and Spain) and) in Ayyiibid times) also from Christian Europe) contributed to the heterogeneous character of the Jewish community. The migration of Jews from the West to Egypt is particularly noteworthy. Already in the wake of the Fa~imid conquest) many Jewish traders were leaving North Africa or Spain for Egypt. This process of migration would reach its climax in the eleventh and twelfth centuries) when large numbers of middle-class Jews found their way to Egypt) as testified by the abundance of both Andalusian and Maghribi family names in the Geniza sources. Many of the Western immigrants settled in Alexandria) and the elite among their merchants and scholars were involved in community and governmental matters. In a socio-historical study of the Alexandrian Jewish elite) Miriam Frenkel offers both a new approach to the Cairo Geniza and a new perspective on medieval Jewish leadership in the Islamic world. 17
15 N. Stillman, "The non-Muslim Communities: The Jewish Community,)' in The Cambridge History ofEgypt: Islamic Egypt, 640-1517, ed. C. F. Petry, 200 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1998). 16 See M. Rustow, Heresy and the Politics of Community: The Jews of the Fatimid Caliphate (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008), in which she questions the traditional depictions of medieval Judaism as a monolithic faith centred on the authority of the rabbinic traditio~ which found itself challenged by Karaite sectarianism; on the inadequacy of the term "sect)' as applied to Karaism, see therein pp. xv-xvii and xxvi-xxix. For other recent works that conceptualize Karaism as a religious movement inherent to medieval Judaism, not a "sect/' see J. Olszowy-ScWanger, Karaite Marriage
Documents from the Cairo Geniza: Legal Tradition and Community Life in Medieval Egypt and Palestine (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 5-8; M. Polliack, ed., Karaite Judaism: A Guide to Its History and Literary Sources (Leiden: Brill, 2003), esp. Polliack)s preface, xvii-xxvi; F. Astren, Karaite Judaism and Historical Understanding (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2004), 5-10 and 17-19 (note that the latter two books employ the term "Judaism)' when describing Karaism in their titles); and Y. Erder)s
The Karaite Mourners ofZion and the Qumran Scrolls: On the History ofan Alternative to Rabbinic Judaism [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Ha-qibbt1~ Ha-me\ll;1ad, 2004), in which he describes Karaism as an "alternative)' Jewish stream. 17 See M. Frenkel, «The Compassionate and the Benevolent" The Leading Elite in the Jewish Community ofAlexandria in the Middle Ages [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 2006). This book also describes the milieu of Maghribi merchants to which,
HISTORY OF FATIMID AND A YYUBID EGYPT
37
The eighty years of Ayyiibid rule witnessed a decline in Jewish prosperity) reinforced by a growing marginalisation of non-Muslims in the economy. Yet this period also witnessed a flourishing intellectual and cultural climate) and marked the time when another immigrant from the Muslim West) Moses Maimonides (1138-1204 CE) lived in Egypt. Maimonides served as a physician in the Ayyiibid court; by the 1180s he had become the supreme Jewish leader in Egypt) known as Ra>is al-Yahitd ('
among many others, Abraham ben Jacob Darci (documents dated from 1060-1103) belonged (see pp. 86-91); however, it does not treat Moses ben Abraham Darci 18 C£ J. L. Kraemees recent biography entitled Maimonides: The Life and World of One of Civilization's Greatest Minds (New York: Doubleday Religious Publishing Group, 2008), and the literature cited therein For yet another illuminating though different approach to Maimonides) life see S. Stroumsa, Maimonides in his World: Portrait of a Mediterranean Thinker (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009). 19 P. B. Fenton, "Abraham Maimonides (1186-1237): Founding a Mystical Dynasty," in Jewish Mystical Leaders and Leadership in the 13th Century, ed. M. Idel, 127-54 (Northvale: Jason Aronson, 1998). 20 See M. Frenkel, "The Compassionate and the Benevolen t," 128- 33. 21 For more information on the legal position of the Jews under Islam, see N. Stillman, "Subordinance and Dominance: Non-Muslim Minorities and the Traditional Islamic State as Perceived from Above and Below," in A Way Prepared: Essays on Islamic Culture in Honor of Richard Bayly Winder, ed. F. Kazemi and R McChesney, 132-41 and the literature cited therein (New York: New York University Press, 1988).
38
CHAPTER THREE
of each religious community.22 Little is known about the internal organisation of the Egyptian Jewish community before the Fatimid period. Fortunately) much more information may be gathered about Jewish self-government in Fatimid and (to a lesser extent) Ayyiibid Egypt. Nevertheless) the great deal of scholarly debate on this matter has produced no conclusive answers. 23 A central issue in the debate is related to the origins of the office of Ra>is al- Yahitd ('
22 For a detailed picture of the Jewish charity service see M. Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community ofMedieval Egypt (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005), 189-242; and see also M. Gil, Documents ofthe Jewish Pious Founda tions from the Cairo Geniza (Leiden: Brill, 1976). 23 See M. Rustow, Heresy and the Politics of Community, 104-107. 24 J. Mann, The Jews in Egypt and in Palestine under the Fatimid Caliphs, 251-57. 25 S. D. Goitein, "The Title and the Office of the Nagid: A Re-Examination,» Jewish Quarterly Review 53 (1962): 93-119; M. Cohen, Jewish Self-Government in Medieval Egypt: the Origins of the Office of Head of the Jews, ca. 1065-1126 (Princeton: Princ-
eton University Press, 1980), 3-49; M. Cohen, "Jewish Communal Organisation in Medieval Egypt: Research, Results and Prospects,» in Judaeo-Arabic Studies: Proceedings of the Founding Conference of the Society of Judaeo-Arabic Studies, ed. N. Golb, 73-86 (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1997). 26 M. Gil, A History of Palestine (634-1099) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), sec. 780.
HISTORY OF FATIMID AND A YYUBID EGYPT
39
Mann)s claim that the office of Head of the Jews was established with the inception of Fatimid rule in Egypt. 27 In any case) all scholars agree that Ra>is al- Yahitd eventually became the principal Jewish authority within Egypt with unprecedented powers over every aspect of Jewish communal life. Moreover) the Fatimid and Ayyiibid authorities regarded him as the sole representative of the Jewish community (including Karaites and Samaritans). Like other communal positions in the medieval Islamic world) this office tended to be dominated by a single family. The most illustrious example of such a family was the dynasty founded by Moses Maimonides. Besides the Head of the Jews) many other Egyptian Jews were connected with the government bureaucracy) particularly in Fatimid times. Being a Shi'i minority ruling over a Sunni majority) the Fatimid rulers in many cases preferred to recruit Christians and Jews for high positions in the government and the court. 28 Many Jewish courtiers were active either in medicine or in the field of finance and commerce. However) the highest offices) such as the vizierate) were reserved for Muslims. As such) individuals of Jewish birth who held the office) like Jacob ibn Killis (d. 991 CE) and ~asan ibn Ibrahim al-Tustari (d. 1064 CE) had converted to Islam prior to becoming vizier. Egyptian Jews continued to serve in the administration under the Ayyiibid rulers) but in lesser numbers and less prominent positions than under the Fatimids. 29
3.3
The Karaite Community
Scholarly discussions on Karaism have often adhered to the principle of an absolute Karaite scripturalism. Two explanations have been highlighted in the research history.3o One identifies the major impetus
27 S. Sela, "The Head of the Rabbanite, Karaite and Samaritan Jews,» Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 57, no. 2 (1994): 255-67; E. Bareket, "The Head of the Jews (ra'fs al-yahud) in Fatimid Egypt: A Re-Evaluation,») Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 67, no. 2 (2004): 185-97. 28 On Christian courtiers, see L. Cheikho, Wuza"r al-Na~aniyya wa-kuttabuha fi 'I-islam, 622-1517 (Jounieh, Lebanon: al-Maktaba al-BUlusiyya, 1987).
29
N. Stillman, "The non-Muslim Communities: The Jewish Community,») 205-
207. 30 See M. Polliack, "Rethinking Karaism: Between Judaism and Islam,» AJS Review 30, no. 1 (2006): 67-93; idem, "Medieval Karaism,» in The Oxford Handbook ofJewish Studies, ed. M. Goodman, 295-327 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). For good
40
CHAPTER THREE
underlying Karaism as intrinsic to Judaism) drawn from earlier scriptural models (such as the Sadducees or Qumranites); the other identifies it as external to Judaism) borrowed from Islamic models of scripturalism (such as early Shi'ism). While the emergence and development of Karaism cannot be analyzed without understanding its Islamic and ancient Jewish contexts) as well as the influence by MuCtazilite kalam and Arabic linguistics)31 it has gradually been recognized that many of Karaism)s driving factors lie within the intellectual world and mentality of medieval Judaism. As several recent works have pointed out) the Karaites gave expression to intellectuat literary) and religious trends and tensions which are inseparable from those of the Jews of the medieval Islamic world at large. 32 While the Karaites rejected the authority of Talmudic law) this did not mean that they regarded the Bible as the only source of legal authority. The leading Karaite scholar in Iraq in the first half of the tenth century) Jacob al-Qirqisani) distinguished between three sources of legal authority: the Bible) analogy) and consensus. This system was
overviews of scholarship on Karaism, see 1:1. Ben-Shammai, "Karaites and the 0 rientTrends in the Study of Karaites and Karaism/) [in Hebrew] Pe(dmlm 89 (2001): 5-18; idem, "The Scholarly Study of Karaism in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries/) in Karaite Judaism, 9-24; D. Franl<, "The Study of Medieval Karaism, 1959-1989: A Bibliographic Essay,)) Bulletin of Judaeo-Greek Studies 6 (1990): 15-23; and idem, "The Study of Medieval Karaism, 1989-1999,)) in Hebrew Scholarship and the Medieval World, ed. N. de Lange, 3-21 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001). 31 See F. Astren, "Islamic Contexts of Medieval Karaism/) in Karaite Judaism, 145-77; 1:1 Ben-Shamma~ "The attitude of some early Karaites towards Islam,)) in Studies in Medieval Jewish History and Literature 2, ed. I. Twersky, 3-40 (Cambridge, MA: Center for Jewish Studies, 1984); Y. Erder, "Daily Prayer Times in Karaite Halakha in Light of the Times of Islamic Prayers/) Revue des etudesjuives 153, nos. 1-2 (1994): 5-27; D. Lasker, ((Islamic Influences on Karaite Origins,)) in Studies in Islamic Origins and Judaic Traditions, ed. W. M. Brinner and S. D. Ricks, 2:23-47 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989). 32 See 1:1. Ben-Shamma~ "Major Trends in Karaite Philosophy and Polemics in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries)), in Karaite Judaism, 339-62; R. Drory, Models and Contacts: Arabic Literature and its Impact on Medieval Jewish Culture (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 126-57; Y. Erder and M. Polliack, "The Karaite Canon between the Ninth and Eleventh centuries,)) [in Hebrew] Ttadd 23 (2009): 165-210; D. Franl<, "The Limits of Karaite Scripturalism: Problems in Narrative Exegesis/) in A Word Fitly Spoken:
Studies in Mediaeval Exegesis of the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an presented to Haggai Ben-Shammai, ed. M. Ben-Asher, et al., 41-82 (Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 2007); M. Polliack, "Rethinking Karaism: Between Judaism and Islam,)) AJS Review 30, no. 1 (2006): 67-93; idem, "Medieval Karaism/) in The Oxford Handbook ofJewish Studies, ed. M. Goodman, 295-327 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002); idem, "Major Trends in Karaite Biblical Exegesis in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries,)) in Karaite Judaism, 363-416.
HISTORY OF FATIMID AND A YYUBID EGYPT
41
likely influenced by MuCtazilite kalam theologians (mutakallimun) whose rationalistic approach rejected tradition as a source of legal authority.33 AI-Qirqisani was one of several Karaite scholars engaged in harsh polemic exchanges with SeCadya Gaon (882-942 CE) one of the great rabbinic authorities of the Middle Ages) who nevertheless shared with the Karaites a newly-found Jewish concern with the study of the Bible) the interest in Hebrew language and grammar) and the use of Arabic for writing non-fiction. Their controversy is one of many) showing that the alternative voice of medieval Karaism seriously undermined the precepts of rabbinic Judaism in the tenth and eleventh centuries. 34 The developments in the scholarly research of Karaism are closely related to new theories on the origins of the Karaites. The long-accepted opinion was that the Karaite movement grew out of the cAnanite sect) whose founder was cAnan ben David) a descendant of the family of the Exilarchs. Relying on Geniza sources) Gil has demonstrated the conglomerate nature of Karaism as an outgrowth of the joining of two distinctive forces. The first was the Babylonian-Palestinian branch of the descendants of the House of cAnan; the second was composed of
33 Kalam is the common designation of medieval Islamic, mostly rationalist, and sometimes polemic, religious philosophy. The literal meaning of the Arabic word is "speaking,)~ "speech," or "discussion." Kalam rejected the Aristotelian system as well as its medieval Neo-Platonicized brand, and is commonly identified with two rival schools in Sunnite Islam: the Mu(tazila and the Ash(ariyya. The influence of kalam, albeit in its M u(tazil ite version 0 my, on Jewish and particularly Karaite thinkers was considerable; see G. Vajda, "Etudes sur Qirqisani,)~ Revue des etudes juives 106 (1940-45): 87-123; idem, 107 (1946/47): 52-98); idem, 108 (1948): 63-91; idem, 120 (1961): 211-57; idem, 122 (1963): 7-74; 1:1. Ben-Shammai, "Kalam in medieval Jewish philosophy,'~ in History of Jewish Philosophy, ed. D. H. Frank and o. Leaman, 115-48 (London: Routledge, 1997); D. Frank, "Karaite Exegesis," in Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament: The History of its Interpretation, ed. M. Saebo, 1:116-19 (Gottingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2001); G. Khan, "Al-Qirqisani)s Opinions concerning the text of the Bible and parallel Muslim attitudes towards the text of the Qur)an," Jewish Quarterly Review 81, nos. 1-2 (1990): 59-73; W. Madelung and S. Schmidtke,
Rational Theology in Interfaith Communication: Abu-I-I:Iusayn al-Basri's Mu(tazili Theology among the Karaites in the Fatimid Age (Leiden: Brill, 2006); and C. Adang, S. Schmidtke, and D. Sklare, eds., A Common Rationality. Mu(tazilism in Islam and Judaism (Wtirzburg: Ergon, 2007). 34 On the polemics between SeCadya Gaon and the Karaites, see S. Poznanski, "The Anti-Karaite Wdtings of Saadiah Gaon,'~ Jewish Quarterly Review old series 10 (1897-98): 238-76; idem, "The Karaite Literary Opponents of Saadiah Gaon in the tenth century,'~ Jewish Quarterly Review old series 18 (1905-06): 209-50. On the polemics between Judah ha-Levi and the Karaites, see D. Lasker, From Judah Hadassi to Elijah Bashyatchi: Studies in Late Medieval Karaite Philosophy, Supplements to the Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 4 (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 141-54.
42
CHAPTER THREE
adherents of various Jewish groups in the Muslim East having a common history of pronounced messianic expectation-represented by such figures as Benjamin al-Nahawandi and Daniel al-Qiimisi (both of Persian origin). These heterogeneous groups consolidated into what has become known as Karaism during the second half of the ninth century.35 Convinced that the End of Days was near) Daniel al-Qiimisi headed a Karaite movement of return to Palestine and immigrated to Jerusalem from his native Tabaristan (northern Iran) during the last quarter of the ninth century. He was also the first Karaite to explicitly advocate scripturalism and polemicise against rabbinic Judaism. His rationalistic) philologically orientated and literal approach to the Bible exerted a strong influence on the Karaite movement. 36 During the second half of the tenth century) Jerusalem emerged as the Karaites) spiritual and intellectual centre. The name by which the Jerusalem Karaites are best known) Abele $iyyon «Mourners of Zion») reflects their self-perception as a pioneering community that pursued an ascetic life of mourning) prayer) and Bible study.37 During the «Golden Age» of Karaite literary activity in Palestine) in the tenth and eleventh centuries) the Karaites produced major Judaeo-Arabic works on Hebrew grammar) Bible translation) exegesis) law) and philosophy. This «Golden Age» ended abruptly with the Crusaders) conquest of Jerusalem in 1099 CE) after which the Eastern centre of Karaism
35 M. Gil) "The Origins of the Karaites))) in Karaite Judaism) 73-118; idem, Jews in Islamic Countries in the Middle Ages) 260-69. On the influence of Palestinian Masoretic circles on the Karaite grammatical tradition see G. Khan) The Early Karaite Tradition of Hebrew Grammatical Thought (Leiden: Brilt 2000); idem) Exegesis and Grammar in Medieval Karaite Texts (Oxford: Oxford University Press) 2001). 36 D. Frank, ((Karaite Exegesis/) 112-14; cf M. Polliack) "Major Trends in Karaite Biblical Exegesis in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries))) in Karaite Judaism) 363-416. 37 Y. Erder) "The Mourners of Zion: The Karaites in Jerusalem in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries))) in Kara ite Judaism) 213- 35; idem, The Kara ite Mourners of Zion and the Qumran Scrolls [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Ha-qibbu~ Ha-me)u~ad) 2004); D. Frank) "The Shosha nim of Tenth-Century Jerusalem: Karaite Exegesis) Prayer) and Communal Identity))) in The Jews of Medieval Islam) 199-245; idem) Search Scripture
Well: Karaite Exegetes and the Origins of the Jewish Bible Commentary in the Isla mic East) Etudes sur Ie judalsme medieval 29 (Leiden: Brill) 2004») 165-203. A towering representative of this circle) on which much recent work has been published) is the Jerusalem exegete Yefet ben cEI~ on whom see the recent works by M. Wechsler) The
4rabic Translation and Commentary ofYefet ben <Eli the Karaite on the book ofEsther) Etudes sur Ie judalsme medieval 36) Karaite Texts and Studies 1 (Leiden: Brill) 2008); and M. Polliack and E. Schlossberg) The Commentary ofYefet ben <Eli on the book of Hosea [in Hebrew] (Ramat-Gan: Bar-Han University Press) 2009).
HISTORY OF FATIMID AND A YYUBID EGYPT
43
moved to Egypt) while its literature also dispersed to the Byzantine Empire and Spain. 38 For the sake of completeness) we should note other periods of Karaite literary creativity in the later medieval and early modern eras-in the Ottoman Empire) the Crimea) and Eastern Europe. 39 At present) most Karaites) who consider themselves Jews and are largely of Egyptian descent) live in Israel. How they will adapt themselves to living in a country dominated by rabbinic Judaism remains an open question. 40 Many Karaites came to Egypt from Persia and Iraq in the second half of the tenth century) as part of the wave of immigration that accompanied the rise of the Fa~imids.41 By the turn of the eleventh century Fusta~ had become the Karaite movement)s economic and political centre. Other Karaites settled in Cairo) which would become the most important Karaite centre from the thirteenth century onwards. Alexandria also had an important Karaite community; other cities in the Nile Delta like Tinnis) Damietta) and cArish had smaller communities. 42 The Egyptian Karaites formed a distinct communal group) with their own legal courts and places of worship.43 Their legal and religious independence was administered by the nest'tm) the Karaite counterparts of the rabbinic religious leaders. 44 Nevertheless) from the
38 Z. Ankori) Karaites in Byzantium (New York: Columbia University Press) 1959); D. Lasker) "Karaism in Twelfth-Century Spain/' The Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 1 (1992): 179-95. 39 T. Harviaine~ "The Karaites in Eastern Europe and the Crimea/' in Kara ite Judaism) 633-55. 40 See E. Trevisan Semi) "From Egypt to Israel: The Birth of a Karaite <Edah in Israel)" in Karaite Judaism) 431-50. 41 The scholarly opinion is that most of these Eastern Karaites reached Egypt via North Africa. The name ofthe tenth-century Karaite grammarian David ben Abraham al- Fas! (from Fez) Morocco) shows that Karaite communities existed in North Africa at this early stage; see E. Bareket) "Karaite Communities in the Middle East During the Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries))' in Karaite Judaism) 237-52; idem, Fustat on the Nile: The Jewish Elite in Medieval Egypt (Leiden: Brill) 1999») 9-13. 42 See ]. Olszowy-Schlanger) Karaite Marriage Documents from the Cairo Geniza) 59-68. 43 P. B. Fenton has discovered a document relating to the ancient Karaite synagogue in Cairo: "La Synagogue Qaralte du Caire d)apres un Fragment Historique provenant de la Genizah/' Henoch 14) nos. 1-2 (1992): 145-51. 44 See]. Olszowy-Schlanger) Karaite Marriage Documents from the Cairo Geniza) 143-55. On the nestlm) see the relevant articles by A. Franklin) "Cultivating Roots: The Promotion of Exilarchal Ties to David in the Middle Ages/' AJS Review 29) no. 1 (2005): 91-110; and ((Relations between Nesfim and Exilarchs: Competition or Cooperation?))' in Esoteric and ~xoteric Aspects in Judeo-Arabic Culture) ed. B. Haryand Ij. Ben-Shamma~ 301-21) Etudes sur Ie judalsme medieval 33 (Leiden: Brill) 2006).
44
CHAPTER THREE
Geniza sources it may be inferred that the Karaites did not consider themselves as separate from mainstream Judaism) nor did the Rabbanites consider them as such. The actual differences between the two groups focused more on theoretical issues than on matters of daily life. While they differed in dietary customs and on calendrical issues) this did not prevent intercommunal contact) as is evident from the intermarriage between Karaites and Rabbanites in eleventh- and twelfthcentury Egypt. These marriages did not necessarily entail conversion. Marriage contracts contained special clauses showing how mixed marriages should be arranged so as to guarantee respect for one another)s religious requirements. 45 It has been noted that the Egyptian atmosphere of cooperation stood in contrast to the generally more strained relations between Karaites and Rabbanites elsewhere in the Muslim East. This has been ascribed to the Egyptian Karaites being on average richer and better connected to the authorities. 46 Indeed) several Egyptian Karaite families held a privileged social and economic status) particularly during the Fatimid period. This status gave them an important role in the political life of the court and the internal affairs of the Jewish community. The most striking example consisted of a family of international merchants and financiers from the Persian city Tustar. 47 Some of the Karaites held leading positions as mediators between the Jewish community and the Fatimid court. However) the claim that Karaites served in the position of "Head of the Jews» for four decades in the early eleventh century has been recently challenged. 48 In the Ayyiibid period) the relations between Rabbanite and Karaite Jews became increasingly troubled. Symptomatic is that intermarriage between Karaites and Rabbanites became less frequent. A crucial factor
45 See J. Olszowy-Schlanger, Karaite Marriage Documents from the Cairo Geniza, 252-55. 46 See S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 2:7; E. Bareket, "Karaite Communities in the Middle East During the Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries/' in Karaite Judaism, 237-52. 47 On the Tustari family see M. Gil, The Tustaris: Family and Sect [in Hebrew] (Tel-Aviv, 1981). 48 S. Sela, "The Headship of the Jews in the Fatimid Empire in Karaite Hands,)' in Studies in Jewish and Islamic Culture Presented to Moshe Gil, ed. E. Fleischer, M. A. Friedman, and J. L. Kraemer, 256-81 (Jerusalem, 1998). On Sela)s thesis see M. Rustow, Karaite-Rabbanite Relations in Fatimid Egypt and Syria, 218-22; idem, Heresy and the Politics of Community, 100-03; and M. Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community ofMedieval Egypt, 22 n. 49.
HISTORY OF FATIMID AND A YYUBID EGYPT
45
might be that Maimonides) at the end of his career) ruled that the Karaite letter of divorce (get) was invalid according to Rabbanite law. While he never in fact outlawed mixed marriages) and RabbaniteKaraite marriages continued even after Maimonides) ruling) this ruling nevertheless brought about a legal (halakhic) separation between Karaites and Rabbanites from the early thirteenth century onwards. 49
49 J. Olszowy-Schlanger, "La Lettre de Divorce Caralte et sa Place dans les Relations entre Caraltes et Rabbanites au Moyen Age,») Revue des etudes juives 155 (1996): 261-85; M. Rustow, Heresy and the Politics of Community, 345. On Maimonideswhose attacks on kalamic theological philosophy were intended to reveal its scientific shortcomings-and his influence on Karaite thought from the twelfth to sixteenth centuries, particularly in the Byzantine Empire, see D. Lasker, From Judah Hadassi to Elijah Bashyatchi: Studies in La te Medieval Karaite Philosophy, Supplements to the Journal of Jewish Thought and Philosophy 4 (Leiden: Brill, 2008). This recent study also outlines the impact of Karaism on the major Rabbanite thinkers, especially Maimonides.
CHAPTER FOUR
MOSES BEN ABRAHAM DAR'I
4.1
Biographical Data
The biographical data concerning Moses Dar'rs life are few and must be extracted from his own oeuvre. As such) the available sources are his diwan and the maqama-style work attributed to him.! According to these sources) Moses Dar'i may be described as a productive poet with Moroccan roots who lived in the Karaite community of Egypt during late Fatimid (and early Ayy1ibid) times) i.e. the middle of the twelfth century. Opinions on the historical dating of Dar'i have varied) ranging from the ninth century to the thirteenth century. However) the final version of the original diwan can be dated to the year 1163 (or 1171) CE.2 It is) accordingly) a well established fact that Dar'i cannot have lived earlier than the first half of the twelfth century. The exact period of his life will remain uncertain until new information is discovered or one of the addressees of Dar'rs poems (the names of whom will be presented below) is correctly identified.
I. Davidson, "The Maqama of Alexandria and Cairo," 296-308. According to some scholars (such as Schirmann in his contribution on "Moses ben Abraham DarCi)' for Encyclopedia Judaica 5:1302-1303 [1972]), the work was attributed to Darci without any substantial reason. The problem is that there is a St. Petersburg manuscript (NLR Evr. II A 384) with a variant reading of the author)s name: Solomon ben Aaron Kohen. However, Davidson)s reading of the name, Moses ben Abraham Rofe), is confirmed in a manuscript (MS Or. 2538) in the British Library. See A. M. Habermann, "Supplement to the Maqama of Alexandria and Egypt of Moses Darci," 35-40. Other manuscripts from the second Firkovich collection include the following: A 507, A 536, A 579 and A 1314. According to U. Melammed (personal correspondence on 27 Nov 2007), the maqama can be attributed to Moses Darci on the strength of linguistic and stylistic factors. 2 See chapter 1 for the history of research and section 2.2 on the Hebrew colophon verses that are a crucial source of information for dating the poet. L. Nemoy confirms a date in the mid-twelfth century. See "Karaites," in Encyclopaedia of Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1973), 4:605. See also my entry on Moses ben Abraham Darci in Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World, ed. N. Stillman et al., 2:29-30 (Leiden: Brill 2010).
48
CHAPTER FOUR
The places that feature in Darcrs biography are Darca) Alexandria) Fustat-Cairo) Jerusalem and Damascus. As their name reveals) the Darci family immigrated to Egypt from Darca. This town) situated in the South Moroccan Darca valley) was known to have had a considerable Jewish population between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries. 3 Jewish immigrants from Darca can be found in Egypt from the eleventh century. Among them was Abraham ben Jacob Darci (documents dated: 1060-1103 CE) who settled in Alexandria and was involved in communal and governmental matters. 4 Maimonides wrote an autograph letter of recommendation in the second half of the twelfth century on behalf of another scholar called Isaac Darci) who was a newcomer to Egypt and needed help from the local Jewish community. Interestingly enough) the letter mentions the title of the addressee) al-Shaykh althiqa ('
3 The well-known Arabic geographer Yaqllt (1179-1229) reported that most merchants in the Darca valley were Jews. H. Z. Hirschberg, A History of the Jews in North Africa (Leiden: Brill, 1974), 1:138. 4 M. Frenkel, "The Compassionate and the Benevolent,») 86-91. 5 This letter is catalogued in the Cambridge University Library as MS T-S 12.192, see J. L. Kraemer, "Two Letters of Maimonides from the Cairo Genizah,») Maimonidean Studies 1 (1990): 87-98. According to Goitein (A Mediterranean Society, 4:437), the title al-Thiqa starts to appear in the twelfth century and is frequent in documents of the thirteenth century. 6 S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 2:429. 7 It is possible that before settling in Darca and going to Egypt, Moses DarCi)s family originally came from Andalusia In the maqama, the poet states: '~1-ry; Tio~ NiJ~ "'Tl~9 ":P9 :l1~7;) 1'1~~ 'Wlv?1 ("I was born in Alexandria while my roots lie in a land in the West, from a city in Spain»)). See I. Davidson, "The Maqama of Alexandria and Egypt,» 302. Moreover, verse 21 from the bilingual poem no. 190 in the first part of the collection (MS NLR Evr. I 802: fo1. 48b) reads (in Judaeo-Arabic): ':l,JO '~~N
MOSES BEN ABRAHAM DAR C!
49
considered himself more of a Westerner than an Egyptian. A passage in the Hebrew verses introducing his diwan is particularly revealing. While he notes that he composed his collection in Egypt) where he allegedly suffered from great poverty) he calls himself a foreigner in his homeland) since his parents came from '
':l'-rJt,N np, 'O-rpt,N -rNt,:l 10 n,t,'JN 'OJ'Jt,N "':J 'Ot,-rJN ("My origin is Moroccan I Andalusian, from the best lineage; I was driven away from the Holy Land in the time ofwrath.»)). This final remark might be a reference to Moses DarCts attempted pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which will be dealt with below. 8 For the Hebrew original, see section 2.2. l) I. Davidson, "The Maqama of Alexandria and Egypt,» 300-301. For similar descriptions by other heirs of Andalusian culture, see J. P. Decter, "A Myrtle in the Forest: Landscape and Nostalgia in Andalusian-Hebrew poetry,») Prooftexts 24, no. 2 (2004): 135-66. 10 Two of his sons were lamented in poem no. 152, MS NLR Evr. I 803: fols. 146b148a. One ofhis daughters was the object of elegies nos. 138-141, MS NLR Evr. I 803: fols. 135a-138a. 11 J. Yahalom and J. Blau, The Wanderings, 183; for more information, see the introduction 12 No. 70; MS NLR Evr. I 802: fo1. 21a; ed. L. Weinberger, 369, no. 322. See also section 6.3. 13 MS NLR Evr. 1802: fo1. 52a. This poem is dealt with by A. Schippers in his article "Some Remarks on Judaeo-Arabic Poetical Works: An Arabic Poem by Moses Darci,») in Studies in Medieval Jewish Poetry, ed. A. Guetta and M. Itzhaki, 141-56, Studies in Jewish History and Culture 18 (Leiden: Brill, 2009).
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visit Moses Dar'i apparently suffered from diarrhea and nosebleed) as poem no. 144 reveals: 14
'In,'nVN T'n ONWr,N ;':1 n'IJ'"1 NIJ N'"l;'l ttN~r,N1 r,N;'ONr,N ttNV'~N N;':1 . Pi?!91 "~ / 'nNf oi~ N~ / 'nQ~~ ~~ / 'W~~ r,~D P"P '17~ r,.p / 'nl;l~ 00/ / 'D~J nf 01' / 'Dt:';lo/ :110 PWV n~i.:V -':1 '7 ;,:~ / ':;1~7~ :11 / ':;1~~ Ti.1'1 PQ~ r,~~N / Nr, '7~1:;1~ / ir,DO :ii'9 / ir, ,~ '~t~ pwn "liV hf / 19.1:'r 1V~ ·O'Vl / 19~~+'D7~ / 190/7 r,~~ Herewith I criticised Damascus, at the time when I was afflicted therein with weakness due to diarrhea and nosebleed. The pain of my sorrow) with my lament) came on the day I reached the city of Damascus; I forgot welfare on the day I dwelled in it) there I sewed sack-cloth upon my skin (Job 16:15); The grief of my pain was great and my heart was distressed by it; My body was emaciated because of grave illness) I could not lift my leg; a God) for the sake of Your Name and Your strength) cause the fire of Your anger to be kindled against it!
Moses Dar'rs attempt to reach Jerusalem on the back of a camel was clearly motivated by a religious desire to visit the spiritual centre of Karaism: 15
:11:J' nNONpIJ TIJ 'Jr,NJ NIJ '!) N'~'N ;,nr,p NIJIJ1 r,NIJ'.1r,N1 Tonr,N 1'"1 tt"Wr,N O"lpr,N iTlN'T :1r,or, ~NIJ'.1r,N ;"01 ;,r,TN nNT:;l 'nNOn1 / 'n'JDJ O'~IJl :1.1 ':;l:J,:;l ;i,~:;):i: lV~J:;l -1:;l;; nlrJ-l / 'n~i) -r,:;) Or1,r,li 'n,b;:l ~!P~ h!~~1 n~J~1- / O';j~~ ,,~ -:N~T '0~ 01:' T~ ~~i ;'19~ ;'~J;77 r,7:;l 1V;l1~ tt~~~ / ':;lD7 tt'7DV 'W~ ,~~ 1l:t~
~'D~ .n';.L O'l'D;· :1'Vli;; OJ1 / bj 1TiN oip ;r~ tt~+' fj~1 ;'1+'9 nr~ iIJ? '~D~~1 / ':;l11. 'J;7~~7 ,~~ '¥i?; ;'1~:1~ o~ 121'T 1~ '~ T1V~ / 'D1:1flO 0'i?1~~ .1V~?1
n7
14 No. 144, MS NLR Evr. I 802: fols. 33b-34a; ed. L. Weinberger, 370, no. 323. The poem was also translated by L. Nemoy, Karaite Anthology, 134; and by L. Weinberger, introduction, 16. 15 No. 148, MS NLR Evr. I 802: fo1. 34b; ed. L. Weinberger, 370, no. 324. It is unclear if Darer's pilgrimage to Jerusalem was successful or not.
MOSES BEN ABRAHAM DAR C!
51
What I also said about the sufferings I endured from riding camels in an attempt to visit Jerusalem, the Exalted, endowed with excellence and beauty. While riding camelback I was afflicted) but thereby my sin flowed away and turned aside; I imagined) while on them) as if all my bones were like grain shaken in a sieve (Amos 9:9); Therefore) the day I would reach God>s city) and dwell there and see the Temple court I would praise the Rock) who in my palate transferred into nectar and honey) all bitterness and gall) And to the weary then gave power and strength) and also seated the solitary in the Chosen House (Ps 68:7); May the Rock shorten my way to reach it and may He guide me like a stormy wind; May He lead my chariots forth like flashes of lightning) with strength) for He has a mighty arm (Ps 89:14).
Moses Darci has attained great fame in medieval as well as in modern Karaism) given the fact that as recently as 1934 CE a new Karaite synagogue) located in Sabil al-Khizindar in Cairo)s cAbbasiyya quarter) was named after him. 16 However) on the basis of evidence from his maqama-style work) Davidson suggested that Darci was probably not born a Karaite but joined the movement in his youth after travelling from Alexandria to Fustat-Cairo) the foremost centre of Karaism of that time. 17
16 It was the Karaite leader Tuviah Simcha Levi Babovich, born in the Crimea in present-day Ukraine and ~akham akbar (Grand Rabbi) of the Karaite community of Egypt for more than 20 years, who gave the synagogue its present name. The synagogue was built by the Karaite community in the 1920)s under Babovich)s predecessor as Grand Rabbi, Ibrahim Kohen, who was born in Istanbul. It was built for the Karaites who in the beginning of the twentieth century had acquired some wealth and education and who had moved out of the Harat al- Yahlld to the middle-class neighbourhoods of cAbbasiyya, al- Dahir, and Ghamra, see J. Beinin, "The Karaites in Modern Egypt,») in Karaite Judaism: A Guide to Its History and Literary Sources, ed. M. Polliack, 421-22 (Leiden: Brill 2003). The synagogue has a plan reminiscent of Ottoman mosques with its dome supported on pillars covering the entire central prayer space. There is also a courtyard and a library (which used to be a Bet Din or communal court), with a collection of about 4000 books and manuscripts. The synagogue is described in some more detail in Y. Meital, Jewish sites in Egypt [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 1995), 81-86. 17 C£ I. Davidson, "The Maqama of Alexandria and Cairo,») 298-99. Davidson based this suggestion on the followipg passage from the maqama: '01t,:J] jl:l '''V:l1
CV1 '1jlO '1J ... C"~O:l ':J ,:lnJ ,~ jl'jl VJ'NO ,:l-r roVJ 'JTN jlnpr, [110N NJ:l C'N':lJjl 'NVJ:l1 1-r:lV jlVJO:l1... -rnN N1jl ':J 'jl:l rONOjl N'PO 'J:l CV N'pJ ... jlt,JO jlT 'VOVJ:J1 ... jlJVJO Nt,1 -r10t,n Nt, jlnt,n fN1 ... C"VJV1 jlV:l'N:l C":JTJ jl C',n:lJ jl
52
CHAPTER FOUR
The maqama relates how his poetical talent gained him effortless entry into the Karaite community) to which Darci became a sort of house poet. Interestingly enough) some of the leading contemporary Karaite figures in Fustat-Cairo are mentioned by name in the maqama. Unfortunately) their identities are uncertain since most of the names are very common: • Samuel ha-Rofe» physician and head of the local Torah academy. He wrote a commentary on the Torah) a Sefer mi~vot) medical treatises and liturgical poems; • Moses ha-Levi) reader of the Torah on Sabbaths) scribe and government official. There may be a reference to him outside the maqama) in a memorial list of Karaite families from Cairo and Damascus. 18 • Samuel ha-Kohen ha-Rofe» physician) Bible expert) scribe and liturgical poet; • Isaac ha-Rofe» court physician • Eliyah ben Samuet grammarian and poet; • Samuel ben Eliyah ben Sinni) young poet and cantor; the Karaite family name Sinni is also found in fifteenth-century sources. 19 As his diwan testifies) there is no doubt that Darci was a committed Karaite; he regularly professes his Karaite identity in the name-acrostics of his liturgical poems-for example: (Moses) Karaite physician)) (4t~1i? N~;' M~b).
'njlOjlonjl Nt" 'nwn 'nvow 'WN "wt" 'now jlV'OJt, ':1t" 'nop 'o,p00 ,:1jjl 0'0:1 UN'N' jl:Jt,N ... jltjl t"jJjl jltnOjl nN jlN'N 'n:Jt,:1 ,t,'N 'W£JJt, 'n'ON ':J n'ON "While still there [Le., in Alexandria] my ear caught a whisper of a matter from one of my friends, that in Egypt [le., in Fustat-Cairo] ... there is a pure nation and a treasured people ... a people called the Karaites who believe in the LORD because He is one ... and in Moses His servant and in the rest of the chosen prophets that are mentioned in the 24 [books, Le., the Scriptures] ... besides these, there is nothing, no Talmud or Mishna ... and when I heard this matter, I stood up from my place and made my heart ready for the travel and hurried to see what I had heard-without delay- because I said to myself: Maybe on my travel I will see this great phenomenon, so let me go and see it before I die.») It is unknown whether other members of Moses DarCi)s family showed sympathy for the Karaites. In any case, the Egyptian atmosphere of cooperation between Rabbanite and Karaite Jews guaranteed ease of movement between the communities, see E. Bareket, "Karaite Communities in the Middle East during the Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries,») in Karaite Judaism, 241. 18 J. Mann, Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature, 2:283. 19 A certain Samuel ben Moses Sinni lived in fifteenth-century Cairo, see L. Nemoy, Karaite An thology, 196; L. Weinberger, "Moses Darci: Karaite Poet and Physician,») 455.
53
MOSES BEN ABRAHAM DARe!
4.2
Social and Professional Life
Moses Darei may be described as house or family poet to the Karaite community of Fustat-Cairo. Many of his compositions were intended for that community) primarily for liturgical purposes. It is not inconceivable that Darers recognition of the poetical void he could fill in the community also influenced his decision to join Karaism. Darei composed poems for the Torah readings on each Sabbath as well as the holidays. He also has a remarkable series of poems about a boy) David ben al-Shaykh Moses al-Iskandari) who read the haftara in public for the first time. These poems provide rare evidence of the existence of a Bar mi~va-like rite de passage for Karaite adolescents in medieval Egypt. 20 Moreover) the following passage (lines 24-27) from poem no. 176 includes detailed references to the ritual objects to be found in a Karaite synagogue of the time: 21
ow
iJ'~1 "~ o~ 'W~ / 0'1~O~ 0'1i?7 OD 0'1~~ iJi'N:l jl:JNt,O jl£J1t jl01 / 'Ji-rN n,ir-t nON i:!l ,£JO, i3~r '1~io ";D7 t;ip n~N~~ / c'~1i? Vi1!? ,~~ i:!l 199~ iJ9~~ ~ '?~ "1ijl 'W~ / ni-noqD r,~ ni'~1 'w~n The coverings [of the Torah scrolls] are precious and elegant and (embroidered with) the name of the master and his son; The book which contains the true Law of GodHow beautifully crafted is its case! The curtain [of the Holy Ark] is (embroidered with) the holy vesselsA work of art by a master who is unique amidst the scribes of his time; And (embroidered with) God>s delightful Ten Commandments which he brought down in the hands of His trustee [Moses].
In another poem Darei praises a certain Moses who apparently constructed the community)s catacombs: 22
'NJO NJn:lN l":JVJ '£J N'~'N nt,p -rp, 'NJ~' 'N:l:J NnN'ON 1£J-rt, '1~D o~ jlWO 'W/-D 17 11£Jil ':;»i!? :li~ jl~ O'~~D t,~ n1~: Nt, / -rp7 :lit? 17 11;liiv~~
0'7;)%;\
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20 Poems nos. 176-179., 186 (first part of the dzwan): MS NLR Evr. I 802: fo1s. 38b-41a; 46a-46b. According to Scheindlin., this occasion was not yet a bar mi~va ceremony., see his review in Hebrew Studies 41 (2000): 345. Compare to the findings of H. Ben-Shammai., "On a Torah Case with Ornaments.,» 5-10. 2i Poem no. 176: MS NLR Evr. I 802: fo1. 38b; H. Ben-Shammai., "On a Torah Case with Ornaments.,») 9-10. . 22 No. 50., MS NLR Evr. I 802: fo1. 16b; ed. L. Weinberger., 482., no. 513.
54
CHAPTER FOUR
C'~7~~ c'n~ n~in 'i~-i?? l;l'~~~ j11~9~ c'~7iV n'~ l;l'~~ T;l~ / '9 n:;1 it, "\' vr~ t,:p ci'
(What) I also said about a person who built a cavern to bury the dead, both adults and children. How good is the reward in store for you) o master Moses) with the Rock-who is perfect (Deut 32:4); By making a good name for yourself: forever) which will never be cut off (Isa 56:5)! Because of the cavern which you built in order to bury therein dead people) struck dumb; The day everyone plastered for himself a moveable house) you built an everlasting house!
Other poems were written on the occasion of a wedding or death. Some of the Judaeo-Arabic headings to Dar'fs epithalamia and elegies provide the names of the persons for whom the poems were written. While it is difficult to identify everyone mentioned from only these brief headings) it is clear that Dar'i was a professional poet who was involved in promoting the Jewish elite of Fustat-Cairo. Most addressees appear to have been prominent figures in the Karaite community; they may have been the poet)s patrons or friends. However) that he also eulogised a Rabbanite personality points to the general atmosphere of cooperation between the two groups in Egypt. Several addressees have Arabic epithets such as al-Najzb C(the Noble)))) al-Shaykh «((the Elder)))) or al-Thiqa «((the Reliable))). A notable honorary title is Ra'zs al-rabbanzn C(Head of the Rabbanites))). In some instances) he explicitlymentions public professions like rote' (physician) and iJazzan (cantor). As to the epithalamia or wedding songs) Dar'i immortalised the weddings of the following grooms plus their brides:
• Abraham ha-Rofe> + a daughter of Abraham ben David ha-Kohen (poem no. 180: MS NLR Evr. I 802: fols. 41a-42a)
• Moses ben ~edaqa ha-Rofe> + a daughter of al-Shaykh al-Tara>ifi23 (poem no. 181: MS NLR Evr. I 802: fols. 42a-43a)
• Samuel ben al-Shaykh al-Tara>ifi + a daughter of al-Shaykh Moses al-Iskandari (poems nos. 182 and 187: MS NLR Evr. I 802: fols. 43a-44a) 46b-47b)
23 The family name al- Tarifij seems to reflect the profession of a local Karaite family of merchants) specialised in rare) exquisite objects) in Arabic: tarifa) pI. tara'ij.
MOSES BEN ABRAHAM DAR'!
55
• Moses ben aI-Shaykh al-As'ad ben Firiiz + a daughter of his uncle aI-Shaykh aI-Shams 'Abd aI-Karim (poem no. 185: MS NLR Evr. I 802: fols. 45a-45b) There may be references to these people outside Dar'rs diwan) especially for Moses ben ~edaqa. Several nineteenth-century scholars like Schorr) Geiger) and Steinschneider identified him with a physician whom al-~arizi praised during his visit to Damascus. 24 According to Poznanski) another bridegroom) Moses ben al-Shaykh al-As'ad ben Firiiz) may be the earliest known member of the well-known Karaite Firiiz-family) originating from Persia but active mostly in Damascus. 25 As to the elegies) Moses Dar'i eulogised the following personalities:
• Al-Thiqa b. aI-Shaykh (poem no. 207: MS NLR Evr. I 802: fo1. 53b)
• Al-Najib Joseph b. Saydham26 (poem no. 208: MS NLR Evr. I 802: fols. 54a-b)
• Al-Najib b. aI-Shaykh al-Sadid (poem no. 209: MS NLR Evr. I 802: fols. 54b-55a)
•
Is~aq
aI-Maghribi Ra>is aI-Rabbanin (poem no. 210: MS NLR Evr.
I 802: fols. 55a-b)
• Samuel lJazzan Melammed (poem no. 128: MS NLR Evr. I 803: fols. 127a-b)
• Samuel ha-Rofe> (poem no. 129: MS NLR Evr. I 803: fols. 128a-b) AI-Najib b. al-Shaykh al-Sadid may be identified with the Karaite physician Abu I-Bayan al-Sadid b. al-Mudawwar) who served under the last Fatimid rulers. 27 An interesting personality is Is1).aq al-Maghribi '
24 See maqama nos. 46 and 50 in Judah al-ijariz1, The Book of Ta~kemoni: Jewish Tales from Medieval Spain, trans. D. Simha Segal (Portland: Littman Library of Jewish
Civilization, 2003), 340, 394 and 412. According to M. Meyerhot Moses ['Imran] ben ~edaqa was the most prominent Jewish physician after Maimonides, see M. Meyerhot "Medieval Jewish Physicians in the Near East," Isis 28 (1938): 452-53. 25 S. Poznanski, "Die kar~iische Familie Firu~" 44-58. It should be reminded that the Firkovich manuscripts no. 802 and 803 were in the possession of the Firllz-family (Abraham ben Eliyah Firllz) for a long time, see chapter 2. 26 In Hebrew letters: cn"o, which is an unusual family name, see M. Steinschneider, "Mose b. Zedaka, Imran b. Sadaka, und Mose DarC~») Judische Zeitschrift fUr Wissenschajt und Leben 9 (1871): 177 n 2. Possibly, one has to read sayyidihim ('(their master"). 27 M. Meyerhot "Medieval Jewish Physicians in the Near East," 445.
of the Rabbanites») whom Weinberger identified with a contemporary of Maimonides) Isaac ben Sason of Fustat. 28 With the observation that many medical practitioners can be found among the addressees of his poems) we now turn to Moses Darcrs other professional occupation) medicine. Like poetry) medicine was a major constituent of Islamic civilisation. Physicians had access to a whole range of ancient Greek medical works in Arabic translation as well as to original Arabic medical works. 29 The medical profession transcended barriers of religion; minorities like Christians and Jews worked in hospitals alongside Muslim physicians. Moreover) the output of these religious minorities in writing medical works was out of all proportion to their actual numbers. 30 Practice as a physician opened the door to high administrative positions in the Muslim government and to leading roles in the Jewish community. It is not surprising) therefore) that the medical profession was often passed on from father to son. Among such Egyptian Jewish families of doctors were the Maimonides and the al-cAmmani family and apparently also the Darci family.31 Daniel Lasker has refuted the caricature of the Karaites as opponents of medicine that is found even in recent works on Jews and medicine. 32 As a matter of fact) considerable numbers of physicians figure in memorial lists of Karaite families from Cairo and Damascus. 33 The famous physician Ibn Jumayc (d. 1198 CE) offered an interesting insight into the state of medicine at the time of Maimonides in his Treatise for Saladin on the Revival of the Art of Medicine. 34 Accord-
L. Weinberger, Jewish Poet in Muslim Egypt, 7-10. F. Rosenthal, The Classical Heritage in Islam (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1975). For an insight in a typical library of a medieval Jewish physician, see D. H. Baneth, ((A Doctor's Library in Egypt at the time of Maimonides,)) [in Hebrew] Tarb~ 30 (1960-1961): 171-85. 30 S. D. Goitein, ((The Medical Profession in the Light of the Cairo Geniza Documents,') Hebrew Union College Annual 34 (1963): 177-94; J. Schatzmiller, Jews, Medicine, and Medieval Society (California: University of California Press, 1994). 31 S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 2:244-45. The fact that families tended to stick to certain types of professions, has been noted with regard to Andalusia by D. Wasserstein, ((Jewish Elites in al-Andalus,') in The Jews of Medieval Islam, ed. D. Frank, 101-10 (Leiden: Brill, 1995). 32 D. Lasker, Karaism and Jewish Studies [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, 2000). 33 J. Mann, Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature, 2:256-83. 34 P. B. Fenton, ((The State ofArabic Medicine at the Time ofMaimonides According to Ibn GumayC)s Treatise on the Revival ofthe Art of Medicine,') in Moses Maimonides: 28 29
ing to this author) the study of medicine requires knowledge of sciences immediately related to the profession) such as pharmaceutics) as well as of disciplines outside strictly medical science) such as mathematical astronomy. Ibn Jumay' and Maimonides vigorously opposed horoscopic and medical astrology) which they deemed unscientific. 35 Nevertheless) the medieval public generally accepted the idea that the heavenly bodies and their movements influenced life on earth. There was also a widespread trust in the capacity of astrologers to foretell their effects. 36 The name-acrostics to Dar'rs liturgical poems leave no doubt that he was a physician. Dar'i stressed the importance of good health (and property) in the following poem: 37
Tn f~nnNt;,N '!l N'3l'N ;,nt;,p Nnnl t;,Nnt;,Nl ;,n3lt;,N '!l t;,NnVNt;,N "NO :11 t;,~DQ 17 o'1TivQ / 1D7~n~ 1~i;' t;,.p o~n :11i?7 :11tl 1~'Q':;1 riNT / OJ nin~ 1~lvi7:;1 ;,! ':;l :110/ n.p t;,t!~~ ,ip oin:;n / ;,~~o/ :1-\'1~~ r;,~ TiN~~ :11i?' f~D £?f of i7~ / PDlD oryf 1~~1 OJ :11~D 09~ O'?D nio/~ / o.Q~~ oryf o'Q~ 11N :1'DJ ;'T 01' "lDt;, "li:1:J / "l'nnn nNT ;"~:Ll~ nj :11 Tl~iN" t;,iiJ~~Q :1~iN / t;,f "-riV 1f ,~ti~~: O;)f :11J;'QQ n1V~ pinl~ 19/-Q PDl? i~:;1 0~~7~~ What I also said about being wary of all actions concern ing health and property. Take care of your wealth and your healing) which save you from a mighty force; Because the former makes your language eloquent) while the latter is a battle sword in your right-hand; Sorrow turns into delight, hunger into satiation) heat into coolness) like dew during a heat wave;
Physician, Scientist, and Philosopher) ed. F. Rosner and S. Kottek 215-29 (New Jersey: Jason Aronson) 1993). 35 G. Freudenthal) "Maimonides' Stance on Astrology in Context: Cosmology) Physics) Medicine) and Providence/' in Moses Maimonides: Physician, Scientist, and Philosopher) 77-96. 36 Horoscopes and astrological almanacs were unearthed in the Geniza) see B. Goldstein and D. Pingree) "Horoscopes from the Cairo Geniza)" Journal of Near Eastern Studies 36 (1977): 113-44; idem) "Astrological Almanacs from the Cairo Genua)" Journal ofNear Eastern Studies 38 (1979): 153-75) 231-56. Poets often presented planets and stars as symbols of eternity and divine power. 37 No. 14) MS NLR Evr. I 802: fol. 9a; ed. L. Weinberger) 434-35) no. 418.
Your trouble is kept at distance by them) while everything that you desire comes near; The length of days) in their company) becomes pleasant) and the years of life) with them) become agreeable; [Healing] makes power and strength endure) while glory is forever guaranteed by [wealth]. Because of them) every enemy will become your friend) though yesterday he quarrelled with you; But when gone) your son will keep a distance from you as far as the East is from the West (Ps 103:12).
It is noteworthy that Darci was not the only poet in the Islamic West and East to combine poetry with medicine. For example) Judah haLevi)s poems show that he practiced medicine in his native Spain. Aaron ibn al-cAmmani was another Jewish poet-physician; illness and healing are frequent themes in his work. 38 Judah al-I:Iarizi also showed signs of interest in medical matters) although it is not certain whether he was a trained and practising physician. 39
38 See S. Cohen) The Poetry of Aaron AI-(Ammanz: A Critical Edition [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Meq~e Nirdamim) 2008); S. D. Goitein) A Mediterranean Society, 2:258-60; A. Scheiber) ((Unbekannte Gedichte von Aron ibn al-Ammani) dem Freunde Jehuda Hallevis))' in Geniza Studies) 273-87 (Hildesheim: G. Olms) 1981). 39 See S. Kottek, ((Medicine in Hebrew Poetry: Judah al-Harizi," [in Hebrew] Karat 8 (1983): 299-304.
In the Judaeo-Arabic heading to poem no. 100) Moses Darci expresses his preference for poetry in the badt style.! This Arabic term was used in cAbbasid times to describe the innovative style of certain poets living in the late eighth through early ninth centuries like Bashshar ibn Burd) Abu Nuwas) and Abu Tammam. These poets) called '<Moderns)) (al-MuiJdathun) sought to reinterpret the poetical tradition of the pre-Islamic desert and adapt it to the new setting of the urban cAbbasid court. The fundamental change in their poetry was reflected in an increased awareness of the stylistic devices at their disposal. The result was that Modern poets employed more elaborate and sophisticated rhetorical figuration than did Arabic poets in pre-Islamic and Umayyad times. 2 Arabic literary history records mixed feelings about the Modern poets) inventiveness and their break with tradition. Conservative literary critics attacked the badt style as contrived and artificial) in contrast to the orally transmitted) natural poetry from the
MS NLR Evr. I 802; fo1. 25b: V'"'T:lr,N 'VWr,N r,"~£Jn '£J N'~N j'lnr,p NOO' j'l:lNn~N' 1':J,r,N 'JOOr,N V'POr,N r"pr,N ,r,V j'l:lN:l'N' ("What I also said about the preference of badf-style poetry and its masters over the cold, ugly and weak style and its adherents»)). The Arabic word badf initially meant something novel, original, but came to stand for a style of poetry. The word is related to the fourth form verb abda