1. The Messianic Idea in Judaism and Other Essays in Jewish Spirituality (New York, 1971). Attention is drawn to David J. Biale, “The Demonic in History: Gershom Scholem and the Revision of Jewish Historiography” (Ph.D. diss., University of California, 1977), and, in particular, to chapter 7:“Apocalyptic Messianism, ” pp. 249–86. R. J. Zwi Werblowsky's short, but penetrating paper“Messianism in Jewish History, ” in Jewish Society through the Ages ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson and Shmuel Ettinger (New York, 1971), is recommended as an introduction to the subject.

2. Edited in S.D., Goitein, Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders Translated from the Arabic (Princeton, 1973), pp. 34–39: as'al allah al-ijtima” be-vinyan qudsih. I translated qudsih “his sanctuary, ” but now prefer“holy city.” Even Heb.Google Scholarbeit ha-miqdash could be understood in those days as meaning Jerusalem. On Karaism in southwestern Iran and the Karaism of the Tustaris, see Shaul, Shaked, “An Early Karaite Document in Judaeo-Persian” [Hebrew], Tarbiz 41 (1971): 51, n. 13.Google Scholar

3. TS (Taylor-Schechter Collection of the University Library, Cambridge) Misc. Box 28, fol. 37; see S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society 3 vols. (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1967–1978), 1: 521. Similar wishes are found in letters written about 200 years later, such asTS 28.10, 1. 6 (“in Jerusalem, the seat of God's mercy”) TS 32.10, 1.23, both addressed to a Nagid.

4. Other letters of Labrat to his brother Judah are analyzed in Mediterranean Society 3: 17, 20, 161, 226.

5. ENA NS 18, fol. 35 (Elkan Nathan Adler Collection in the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, New Series).

6. TS 20.69v, 1. 27, where he is referred to by his Arabic designation Abu Zikri Ibn Sighmar.

7. ULC Or. 1080 J 255, 11. 13–14 (a Geniza collection in the University Library, Cambridgenot belonging to TS), no. 246 in my collection of Geniza papers connected with the India trade. The writer, Jacob b. Salim, had exiled himself from Aden to al-Juwwa, a three-day ride from there, because of strife in the Adenese Jewish community. He was very active in collecting donations for the Jerusalem yeshiva, which then had its seat in Cairo; see Goitein, S.D., “The Contribution of the Jews of Yemen to the Maintenance of the Babylonian and Palestinian Yeshivot and of Maimonides' School” [Hebrew], Tarbiz 31(1962): 368–69.Google Scholar The other letter, TS 20.173, was partly edited by Jacob, Mann, The Jews in Egypt and in Palestine under the Fatimid Caliphs reprint ed. (New York, 1970), 2: 366–67 (quoted as Mann, Jews in the following).Google Scholar The understanding of the Bible verse is based on Ketubbot Ilia; see Mann, Ibid.

8. ULC 1080 J 28, II. 17–21. Details about Solomon's family in Goitein, S.D., Palestinian Jewry during the Arab and Crusader Periods (Jerusalem, 1979), pp. 97–105.Google Scholar

9. E.g., TS 13 J 14, fol. 11 (to Mevorakh b. Saadya, d. 1111, see next note), TS 13 J 15, fol. 3, 11. 6–8 (written around 1110).

10. TS 10 J 11, fol. 15: wa-jama'and wa-iyydkum ve-khol Yisra'el le-veit miqdasho be-qibbus qehalo u-ve-shikhlul heikhalo. Professor Mark R. Cohen of Princeton University is preparing a corpus of documents related to the Mevorakh family. Another Hebrew rhyme: TS 12.386, 11. 5–6: tizkeh le-vi'at go'el u-vinyan 'an el, ve-qibbus kol Yisra'el. “May you witness the coming of the Redeemer, the erection of the Temple, and the ingathering of Israel.”

11. Passover: TS 13 J 16, fol. 9, end; TS 13J 18, fol. 11, 11. 9–13. Sukkot: TS 8 J 24, fol. 17. For the water-libation see Encyclopedia Judaica (Jerusalem, 1971), 15: 499–500.

12. Fragment: TS 8 J 23, fol. 27. Complete letter: TS 10 J 17, fol. 25. Both were written around 1200. The fragment also contained the wish:“May God make your sons Eleazar and Solomon great in knowledge ('Torah').” No doubt, the notable Meshullam b. Eleazar ha-Kohen Kelil ha-Yofi (“Perfect Beauty, ” an honorific title) is addressed. In another letter of congratulation for a holiday TS 20.78, Meshullam is wished (by a dayyan, son of a“great rav”) success, welfare, and a prominent position. The dayyan probably knew the addressee better than did the pious wellwisher cited above.

13. ENA NS 2, I, fol. 16, 1. 9: 'id al-hanukka. TS 12.56, 11. 13–15: al-moed al-purim al-sharif. ENA NS, I, fol. 5: hadhihi 'l-ayyam al-sharlfa Hanukkah).

14. TS 8 J 22, fol. 7; TS 10 fol. 14, f. 9; and the letters noted in the previous note.

15. TS 13 J 26, fol. 15 (letter of 25 11., Purim wishes addressed to Joseph b. Jacob Ibn 'Awkal). TS NS J 84 (India Book [see n. 7, above], no. 250):“The Galut does not let man reach his goals. May this Purim be a good sign for the coming redemption, yeshu'ah”; see n. 18, below. TS 13 J 11, fol. 7, ed. Mann, Jews, 2: 40–41:“May you witness the new heaven, etc.” (Purim). The writer: Elhanan b. Shemarya Rosh ha-Seder.

16. Travel for celebrating Hanukkah: Westminster College, Cambridge, Geniza, Liturgy, II, fol. 140, Jawjar (pronounced Goger): TS 13 J 26, fol. 7, 1. 17; see Norman, Golb, “The Topography of the Jews of Medieval Egypt, ” in Journal of Near Eastern Studies 33 (1974): 131. Perhaps Scholem's view of Purim as“the relatively least significant of all holidays”(Messianic Idea, p. 55) must be somewhat qualified.Google Scholar

17. Wedding: Mediterranean Society 3: 108, 118. Circumcision feast: TS 20.66; TS 20.111. Expressed in rhymed prose or verses.

18. TS 13 J 26, fol. 24, 11. 33–34: wa-yuwassil ayydmuh bi-ayydm al-yeshu'ah (to the Gaon Solomon b. Judah in the 1030s): ULC Or. 1080 J 40 (go'el, written by Halfon b. Menasseh, 1100–1138); Mosseri Collection A-67.2 (moreh sedeq, Damascus, eleventh century). For similar millennial attitudes in Christian Europe see Norman, Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium(London, 1957), p. 20, and, for Islam, n. 26, below.Google Scholar

19. See Mann, Jews 1: 179. For Hay Gaon: Jacob Mann, Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature reprint ed. (New York, 1972), 1: 122–23. For Solomon b. Judah's predecessor: TS 24.43, ed. S.D., Goitein, in Salo Wittmayer Baron Jubilee Volume (Jerusalem, 1975), pp. 517–23, 531–33. His son: ULC Or. 1080 J 265. References to“the new covenant”: TS 13 J 16, fol. 1 (a head cantor), ULC Or. 1080 J 132 (an itinerant preacher), TS 13 J 15, fol. 8, 1. 11 (in a solicitation letter of a French [?] scholar).Google Scholar

20. Palermo: TS 24.6, ed. Jacob Mann, “The Responsa of the Babylonian Geonim as a Source of Jewish History, ” Jewish Quarterly Review n.s. 9 (1918–19): 176 11. 10–11. Tyre: Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS Heb. a 3 (Catalogue 2873), fol. 37, see Shaul, Shaked, A Tentative Bibliography of Geniza Documents (Paris and The Hague, 1964), p. 205.Google Scholar

21. See above, n. 8 and text thereto.

22. TS 18 J 1, fol. 6, 1. 13: yehayehu 'el 'adyavogo'el. For the benefit of a future reader, who might try to decipher the manuscript I must note that before these minuscules others are written: hu tfalfon nin 'Efrayim “identical with H. son of E.” The name of the parnas was Aaron b. Ephraim, but on some occasion his name had been changed to Halfon, “Substitute, ” perhaps when his father was seriously ill, and his mother preferred to lose him rather than her husband (for, as a Yemenite woman once said to me, “children I can bear”). Aaron had long been known by his adopted name, but had returned to the original one. In Geniza letters a son regularly addresses his father with the words:“May I be your ransom, ” meaning, may all the evil destined for you come upon me.

23. TS 12.719: yesha rav be-hayyav. The name of the man was Job, rare in Geniza documents.

24. TS 12.459. As common in the Geniza, only the last word of the verse has been preserved. The script (square) is about six cm. high and put between borders above and below, consisting of a broader stripe in red on the outside and a narrower one in black from the inside. The inscription, as it stands, would be copied by embroidering or another technique, on a band of textile, to be fixed on one of the many hangings embellishing the walls of a house.

25. Unlike our own times, where the meaning of a name is mostly unknown to the parents. Cf. Mediterranean Society 3: 314–19, “The Message of Women's Names.”

26. Mordechai Margalioth, Encyclopedia of Talmudic and Geonic Literature (Jerusalem, n.d.), pp. 630, 747–50, 874. This should not be regarded as an imitation of the regnal titles of the first Abbasid caliphs: (cf. Bernard Lewis, “The Regnal Titles of the First Abbasid Caliphs, ” Dr. Zakir Husain Presentation Volume [Delhi, 1969], pp. 13–30), for the names of the Geonim were given at birth, not at installation. But there was a connection: the messianic stirrings at the time of the advent of the Abbasids.

27. I do not believe that the very common name shylh mostly spelled shlh should be read Shiloh (Genesis 49:10), but its frequency might have been caused by the messianic meaning given to the name Shela in the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b; see E.E, Urbach, The Sages[Hebrew] (Jerusalem, 1969), p. 617, n. 32.Google Scholar

28. See Mann, Jews 2: 99 (1029 C.E.).

29. TS 8 J 9, fol. 6 (Spring, 1100).

30. TS 16.34 (1079).

31. Moritz Steinschneider, “An Introduction to the Arabic Literature of the Jews, ” Jewish Quarterly Review 10 (1898): 127. I do not believe that the name also implies thanks to God for the mother's safe delivery. At the birth of a girl the family was congratulated that everything went well, at the birth of a boy–that it was a boy; see Mediterranean Society 3: 226–27. Because of its frequency, the name was abbreviated to Shu” a from which a form of endearment: Shuway' was derived.

32. TS 13 J 14, fol. 4, 1. 3, India Book (see n. 7, above), no. 259.

33. See his Book of Beliefs and Tenets chap. 8 (superscribed Furqan, the Arabic equivalent of Heb. Yeshu'ah see above). Cf. also the reasoning of the first Jewish theologian whose Arabic writings have come down to us, albeit in fragmentary state, the Karaite David Ibn al-Muqammis: miracles, such as performed by Moses, are a decisive proof of the truth of his sending; military success (as achieved by the Muslims) cannot serve as a proof; many pagans, who do not know God, have vanquished their enemies. See Georges Vajda, “La prophetologie de Dawud ibn Marwan al-Muqammis, theologien juif arabophone du IXe siecle, ” Journal Asiatique 265 (1977): 227–33.

34. Ess, Josef van, Chiliastische Erwarttingen und die Versuchung der Gottlichkeit: Der Kalif al-Hakim (386–411 H.) (Heidelberg, 1977).Google Scholar

35. One of the less obnoxious, but still troublesome, edicts was the prohibition of eating mulukhiya a mallow plant made into a dish which was as popular in Geniza times as it is in modern Egypt, or that of eating eels and other fish without scales (which is, of course, biblical; see Deuteronomy 14:10). However, when a man said a supererogatory prayer not approved by the Shi'a he was executed.

36. Mann, Jews 2: 432–36, formerly in Hebrew Union College Annual 3 (1926): 258–62. An additional fragment in ENA 4096a contains some better readings. E.g., Mann, Jews 2: 434, 1. 3 from bottom, for the second be-sahadutam read with ENA be-'edulam

37. Kraus, Paul, “Hebraische und Syrische Zitate in ismaelitischen Schriften, ” Der Islam 19 (1931): 241–63.Google Scholar

38. Chiliastische Erwartungen (see n. 34, above), p. 62

39. Chiliastische Erwartungen (see n. 34, above), p. 62.39. For the use of the numerical value of letters in homiletic or mystical interpretation, see Enc. Jud. 7: 370, 374, and Shmuel Sambursky, “The Term Gematria–Source and Meaning, ” Tarbiz 45 (1976): 268–71. For instance, the Prophet has said that the Mahdi would come when the sun (shams in Arabic) would rise in the West (=Egypt): sb-m-S (only the consonants count)=300+40+60=400.

40. TS 13 J 22, fol. 19, written on a piece of paper 24.5 cm. long and 8 cm. wide, as used in letters. The Shi'ite book: Ibn Shu'ba, Tuhafal-'uqul min al al-rasiil (“Precious Gifts to the Minds from the Family of the Messenger”) (Beirut, 1969), pp. 64–67.1 am indebted to Professor M. J. Kister for the identification.

41. Goitein, S.D., “A Report on Messianic Troubles in Baghdad in 1120–21” Jewish Quarterly Review 43 (1952): 57–76.Google Scholar On p. 75, the end of the line on the single leaf is to be read: wa-lak 'uluww al-ray “yours is the final decision” (literally, the highest opinion).

42. Although the article is written, of course, in English, I provided the translation in Hebrew (opposite the Arabic text, written in Hebrew characters), to make the typesetter's task easier.

43. Which noble women did not do in those days.

44. It was now exactly 500 years after Muhammad's death. See above.

45. Ibid, (see n. 41, above), p. 76, fol. 17b, 1. 12; nsrh is to be read as nazarahu.

46. Ibid., p. 61, and in greater detail, Mediterranean Society. 2: 286–87.