Letter to the Community of ‘Akron (Kurdistan)

Blessed are you to God . . . You the holy congregation of ‘Akron, may your Rock and Creator preserve you; inform us about your concerns and tell us about your happenings, for I and the Minister, the servant of God, are in great worry and anxiety about you, until we learn of your safety from the king and his ministers and servants. . . .

And regarding the regulation and the decree to which you are bound by oath . . . to my hand with the counsel of your elders and ministers who are chosen from among you, you have come to me to bring you into a covenant and treaty together with your magistrate . . . and these are the words of the covenant and the condition between you and the magistrate his honor Hasan, may his Rock and Creator preserve him . . . that all of you will be of one mind and one heart, whether for settling and dwelling, or for fleeing and departing to some place, and anyone who withdraws from the covenant will be severed from the community with a curse and an oath.

And if, perish the thought, the king should stretch out his hand against you to seize and oppress and dispossess, and he seizes one or two people, you shall save them with the help of the congregation. Everyone will give in accordance with his strength and ability, according to the estimate of ten elders chosen from the congregation, and afterward if the congregation wishes either to suffer and remain or to flee, the magistrate shall not reveal their secret to the agent of the king if he does not go with them.

And also a man may not raise his hand to act arrogantly and lift himself above the congregation and the magistrate; he must not be seduced by the words of an official or a provocateur to revolt against the congregation and the magistrate. And if the king forces someone to rise up against the leadership, he shall submit to arrest rather than rise up, and the congregation must ransom him. And if the congregation and the magistrate do not attend to him to save him, he will be forgiven [i.e., if he accepts the mission imposed on him], because I have not made you take an oath for death, only for life. Similarly, if the king raises his hand against the magistrate in anger because he made the Jews rebel and flee, the whole congregation will contribute toward his ransom. But if one of the people or the magistrate is caught for a crime, the congregation shall not give on his behalf, as the sinful soul shall die (Ezekiel 18:4).

And anyone who reveals a secret of the congregation to the gentiles or rebels against the magistrate the whole congregation will stand together to ostracize him . . . and also the magistrate must swear to be faithful to the congregation, that he will give his soul for their meager savings, and he will sacrifice himself to save his fellow Jew with the help of the congregation and through their oath with him. And he shall not use money of the Jews to save his own wealth. And he shall not introduce new evil and negative customs over them. And if the king decrees the imposition of a fine, the magistrate will not take from his own, but he will consult the congregation; if they can give, they shall give, and if not they shall flee, and he may not prevent them. If the magistrate wishes he may go with them, and if not he shall let them flee, but he shall not inform against them. If he exposes them, he will be subject to a ban. . . .

And he shall not do anything on his own without the counsel and agreement of ten important and well-known members of the congregation, and if the king imposes a punishment on them, if it is no more than fifty, the magistrate shall not give with them. If it is more than fifty, he shall give with them what the congregation levies upon him. For their part, they must do what he says, as he is their leader, and they must not act arrogantly toward him and they may not stand against him to take away his leadership. But if he is negligent in fulfilling his duties toward the congregation and fails to protect their property, then they may appoint another magistrate for themselves. And if a man is in debt and flees in his distress, he may not inform against him. And he may not drink wine when he appears before the king, and likewise he may not drink before the Sabbath prayers. Likewise, when he takes counsel, his mind should be composed, and he should not envy any person. Rather, he should regard them as his own sons and their wealth should be dear to him. . . .

And these are the names of the assistants who bound themselves by the oath [some thirty-five names appear in the manuscript here] and this oath is not imposed on them alone but also upon those who reside here and did not come to the congregation. The oath applies to them, too, as well as to the succeeding generations, and the minority follows the majority. . . . If the oath is breached, . . . we shall act against those people decisively and excommunicate them. . . . Anyone who finds them may kill them [see Genesis 4:14], because they have violated the Torah and broken covenants.

‘Akron (Akre or Aqra) is a town in Iraqi Kurdistan. Located on the slope of a mountain, it is surrounded by mountains from the north, east, and west, while a fertile plain stretches to the south. The Jewish presence in the town dates back to the Middle Ages, if not earlier. The local Jews traditionally referred to the town as Ekron, using the name of a Canaanite and Philistine town mentioned in the Bible. ‘Akron was divided into three neighborhoods: Christian, Muslim (the largest), and Jewish. The town’s Jews were generally merchants, weavers, silversmiths, or tailors.