The Story of Bustanay

The lineage of the House of David, and what occurred during the time of Bustanay:

Our ancestors transmitted to us that Kafnay, Bustanay’s father, was the exilarch, and his father-in-law was a learned old man, the head of the academy. The head of the academy decreed upon a certain man to pay the debt he owed to the claimant. That man [the debtor] went and sought protection from the exilarch. The exilarch summoned the head of the academy to his council and ordered him to repeal what he had decreed upon that man. But the head of the academy refused. Then the exilarch ordered that his shoe be removed, and that he be beaten with it for a long while.

And it is said that the exilarch was young and hot-tempered and that he was endowed with power from the sultan of that time. And the old man went . . .

[In a dream, he heard:] “. . . to a beautiful garden, as you have seen, and you chopped down every tree in it, showing no pity on even one. This shoot remained, in which I find solace. But you sought to cut it down also.”¹ When the old man, the head of the academy, heard, . . . he was stirred up for it and awoke.

And there was screaming, from [the house of the exilarch,] his son-in-law. He went to him and found that he had died, and [that the entire House of David] had died in Baghdad during that night. The old man asked his daughter, [the wife of] the exilarch, “Are you pregnant?” She said to him, “Yes.” [So he told her] about the dream. The young girl was pregnant with a boy. And when the pregnancy was complete, and she gave birth to a male, they called him Bustanay because of the ga[rden] [bustān].

Then his grandfather, the head of the academy, took him to raise him and teach him. He then summoned the elders of the people of Baghdad and told them about the dream and said to them, “[We must appoint] one of the elders to sit in the seat of the exilarch among [Israel], and the academy heads will sit beneath him, and he will fulfill the obligations of the exilarch and [all of his du]ties. And in so doing, he will serve as regent for this newborn baby, [who is called Bus]tanay, until he grows up and becomes fit for the position. At that time, the elder will step away, and the youth will sit in his seat of leadership.” And this [idea] was acceptable to the people of Baghdad, and they placed an elder from among those who had the respect of the Sultan Caesar [Khusraw?] in the seat of the exilarch. And he acted as the representative in fulfillment of his duties. He remained in this role until Bustanay reached the age of sixteen and became fit to move into his leadership role. Then the people demanded that the elder, the regent, step away from the affairs of the exilarchate with which he had been entrusted, but he did not do that and resisted with the utmost force. So the matter was brought to the caliph. The sultan in that time was ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb.

The two of them, the elder and Bustanay, stood before him disputing each other for a long time. During their disputation, a mosquito landed on Bustanay’s face and did not move until blood began to flow. However, he did not brush it off while in front of the caliph, and the caliph approved of this. Therefore, the House of David engraves an image of a mosquito on the stones of their seals.

The caliph ruled in his favor regarding the leadership, and he delivered it to him, and ordered him to be present in his council. Then he gave him the daughter of Caesar, [whom he had] because ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb had conquered the land of Caesar and killed him. Bustanay, the descendant of David, took the girl whom ‘Umar, namely ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, had handed over to him, and impregnated her. But he did not release her. This act was out of ignorance or foolishness. All the children of Bustanay issued from the girl, as he married no other woman nor fathered anyone else. His offspring included ‘Anan, the descendants of Boaz, and the sons of Zakkai, the exilarchs of Baghdad, and some in al-Andalus. The lineage of all these men originated with Bustanay.

But it is said that those individuals of the Davidic line known as bene marvata [men of authority], who are found in foreign lands, are not descendants of Bustanay and remain the only descendants of David unaffected by this incident. They are called bene marvata due to the veracity of their lineage and their offspring’s purity from this blemish. They are called this because they are the princes who trace back their ancestry to David. And they are beloved by the people of those lands, in contrast to the hatred felt by the people of Baghdad for the offspring of Bustanay because they inherited this blemish that tarnished the lineage.

May God send his people “the anticipated one” [the messiah] who is free from this blemish. May he be of the pure lineage that was not contaminated by blemish. [ . . . ]

May God gather His entire nation, and may He make us the chosen group, as His servant requested: Remember me, Lord, when showing favor to Your people; visit me with Your salvation. That I may see the good of Your chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your possession (Psalms 106:4–5).

End of the book. [It is] the composition of our lord and teacher Nathan Ga’on, who received it from his fathers, heads of the holy academies, and from his teacher, Ḥushiel, head of the rabbinic academy, of blessed memory. Copied in Fustāt [1040/1].