Personal Prayer

Abraham Ben Yijū

1132–1149

Worn and stained manuscript page with faded Hebrew script.
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In this Hebrew prayer, in the form of a reshut, the individual asks God for salvation from enemies, success in interpersonal matters, success in Torah study, and for the prayer to be accepted. The prayer was evidently intended to be said in the morning. The incomplete text, found in the Cairo Geniza, is written on fabric, probably indicating that Abraham copied it during his time in India, where paper was rare.

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Creator Bio

Abraham Ben Yijū

12th Century

Born in Tunisia, Abraham ben Peraḥya Ben Yijū was a prominent merchant in the India trade. From many documents preserved in the Cairo Geniza, he is known to have been active from the 1130s to the 1150s. He traveled to Yemen and India, where he purchased an enslaved woman named Ashū, helped her convert to Judaism, and married her. The couple lived and worked in India for seventeen years and had two sons and a daughter. They then moved back to Yemen and eventually to Egypt. Abraham composed poetry and copied the responsa and poems of leading rabbis. He even dabbled in the study of medicine.

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