Documents

Document date

1236 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Postscript to a letter addressed to the Nasi Shelomo by the scion of the house of David in Mosul who also wrote Bodl. MS Heb. a 3/24. Mentions that he acquired for his son a permit to practice a profession and travel to Bilbays in Egypt. […] The writer mentions that he intended to travel that week, but his son fell ill; he also mentions that the rayyis is ill and cannot read or write letters, but that the sons of Rabbenu Menaḥem have been helping.

Related Places

3

العلامات

• 13th c
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• mosul nasis

1 نسخ 1 مناقشة

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from the sister of Ismāʿīl b. Barhūn al-Tāhartī, in al-Mahdiyya, to her brother Ismāʿīl b. Barhūn al-Tāhartī, in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1020. The sister describes her extravagant grief—stripping off her clothes and fasting for two months—when she heard that her brother planned to continue traveling this winter, it seems specifically to Spain. She writes about the security that has worsened in al-Mahdiyya and about the rising taxes there. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #159) VMR

Related People

1

Related Places

4

العلامات

• fasting

1 نسخ 1 مناقشة

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from the thirteenth century. An Alexandrian cantor named Berakhot writes to a physician and poet named Yedutun (Psalms 39:1) in Fustat. […] (Information from Frenkel; see also Goitein, Med. Soc. vol. 5, pp.285-6)

Related Places

1

العلامات

• yedutun ha-levi

2 نسخين 1 مناقشة

Hakhmon, from Tripoli (Libya), to Nahray b. Nissim, Alexandria. Around 1060. The letter contains details about goods that arrived from Fustat. […] He asks Nahray to send the flax he bought for him through Sicily if there is no ship that sails from Alexandria to Tripoli. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #691) VMR

Related People

2

Related Places

2

العلامات

• flax

2 نسخين 1 ترجمة 1 مناقشة

Document date

10 Elul 444 Hijrī (9 August 1052 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

ʿEli Kohen Fāsī, in Alexandria. Dated: 10 Elul = Rabīʿ II [4]44 AH = 9 August 1052 CE. The sender defends himself against his brother’s accusation and describes the difficult situation in the Maghreb, which prevents him from sending goods, especially because of the attacks in the sea (probably by the Byzantines). Also mentions that the goods are getting more expensive.

Related People

2

Related Places

4

العلامات

• byzantine pirates
• byzantines

2 نسخين 2 ترجمتين 1 مناقشة

Primary language

Hebrew

Yosef ha-Kohen, on behalf of the Jerusalemite and Babylonian Rabbanite communities in Alexandria, to the leader of the Jewish community in Fusṭāṭ (name not preserved but titled ‘the distinguished scholar’), perhaps Elḥanan b. […] The ransom had been raised at great cost to every member of the Alexandrian Jewish community. (Information from CUDL.)

1 مناقشة

Document date

Adar II 1432 Seleucid (21 February 1121–21 March 1121 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Recto: agreement regarding a three-storey house. Location: al-Maḥalla al-Kubrā. Dated: Adar II 1432 Seleucid = February/March 1121 CE. […] Yeshuʿa the Byzantine (from Bilād al-Rūm) and 'the convert' (ha-Ger) Avraham b. Moshe. […] Yeshuʿa, and Nissim b. Shela. Verso: alphabetic pen trials, atbash, and jottings of names.

Related Places

1

1 مناقشة

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Conveying a report of a communal conflict which took place in the beginning of the thirteenth century, during the tenure of the judge (dayyan) R. Eliʿezer in Alexandria. A visiting preacher ([...] b. ʿOvadyahu) came to the community and won great popularity to the point that the judge Eliʿezer tried to interrupt his sermon and stormed out with a portion of the congregation. Rabbenu Efrayim came to the side of the visiting preacher. The Alexandrians are writing in support of the visitor, and complaining about the local dayyan's behaviour.

العلامات

• communal controversy

1 نسخ 1 مناقشة

Dated: Tuesday (date not preserved) 13[..] (ca. 10[40] CE). Also signed by Avraham b. David and and [...] ha-Kohen b. […] The verso has the name Ibn al-Fuqqāʿī (בן אלפקאעי). An adaptation of the biblical verse Proverbs 18:22 is used, known to be a favored and distinctive choice of the scribe Yefet b. […] (Information in part from CUDL.) Join: Alan Elbaum

1 مناقشة

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Shemuel writes that after searching the book dealers of Egypt for rare titles, he learned in Alexandria that the Greeks had many schools with fine scholars, and so he has made up his mind to go on to Thebes and Salonika in Greece after Passover. […] Dating: ca. 1130s CE. See also T-S 13J11.8 (PGPID 940). (Information in part from CUDL.)

Related Places

5

العلامات

• 12th c
• book trade

1 نسخ 1 ترجمة 1 مناقشة

Primary language

Arabic

Dating: ca. 1135 CE, based on the appearance of Maḥfūẓa bt. Yosef Zayn al-Tujjār. Abū Zikrī b. Yūsuf al-Hārūnī al-Yahūdī rents a house from three individuals: Salāma b. Yūsuf, his wife Maḥfūẓa bt. Yūsuf Zayn al-Tujjār (see T-S NS 225.25j), and a third whose name is not preserved.

Related People

3

1 نسخ 1 ترجمة 1 مناقشة

Primary language

Hebrew

Dating: Second half of the 16th century. Ṣemaḥ Alanj (? אלנג׳) sells Shemuel Cordoba 19 pounds of a particular kind of coral (מרגאל גשים קצף) for 17 peraḥim and 2 coronas. […] There is an addendum written in between the lines at 180 degrees, mentioning the wife of Makhlūf. Ṣemaḥ Alanj is also mentioned in T-S AS 145.87, a deed of release from the year 5329 AM (1568/69 CE).

العلامات

• early modern

1 نسخ

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The addressee is to send things to the shop of Hilāl b. Bunyām (also mentioned in T-S 13J27.9, which is dated ca. 1080 CE). Also mentions Barakāt b. Khulayf, a name familiar from other mercantile documents of the period.

Related People

1

لا توجد ثبت المراجع والمصادر

Primary language

Arabic

He knows that the addressee is only keeping them "for their benefit with you," however, "we also need to make progress in Arabic." The sender added "apologies for the (poor appearance of the) paper" in the top margin. On verso there is a pious aphorism, also in Arabic script.

العلامات

• education

1 نسخ

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

People mentioned include the wife of Abū l-Ṭāhir; al-Sharīf; al-Khwārazmī; Hārūn; the daughter of Abū l-[...]; the wife (bayt) of al-Qarqūbī; [...] al-Ṣabbāgh; Mudallal; Sitt Saʿāda; a female slave (jāriya); Ibn Abū Dhirāʿ; Abū l-Surūr.

1 مناقشة

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

He notes that he constantly inquires after them from travelers arriving from Fustat, that he is always telling ʿIwāḍ to include greetings from him in his letters, and that he is only silent in order not to burden Nahray with having to respond. Concludeswith assurances that all matters on his side are proceeding properly, due to the sound leadership of “al-Rayyis al-Jalīl" and with prayers for the welfare of the whole community of Israel.

Related People

2

Related Places

1

العلامات

• nahray b. nissim
• trade

3 نسخ 1 ترجمة

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

T-S NS 190.2 mentions several more works on paper, one book whose title includes al-Alfāẓ, and one "in his handwriting." There are probably more fragments of this list to be found in the Geniza. See also ENA 2687.2 (PGPID 11115).

Related People

1

العلامات

• booklist

1 نسخ 1 ترجمة 1 مناقشة

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Marḥab, in Aden, to Abū l-ʿAlā b. Abū Naṣr ha-Kohen, probably in Fustat. In Hebrew (for the introduction) and Judaeo-Arabic (for the body). Dating: mid-12th century. Abū l-ʿAlā’s father is dead, indicated not only by the usual post-mortem blessing after his name (זכ׳׳ל) but also the Hebrew חיי before his name.

Related People

2

Related Places

2

العلامات

• ib6
• india book

2 نسخين

Inferred date

1122–1150 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Owing to her grave sufferings (min ʿuẓm al-alam) her menses (al-ṭamth) have stopped. Finally, because of her great anxiety (min kuthrat al-takarrub), she is affected by mild palpitation (rajīf yasīr) of the heart." The same illness is also described in an earlier letter (T-S 12.234). […] It is possible that no fever is described, only a sensation of burning (nār). It is also possible that the phrase "knee pain" (wajaʿ rukab) should be read "pelvic pain" (wajaʿ rakab), especially as the next sentence describes the menstrual changes brought on by excessive pain.

Related People

2

العلامات

• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: etiology
• illness: mental effects
• illness: physician
• (+ 5 المزيد)

1 نسخ 1 مناقشة

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

On his way to India, Abū Barakāt al-Labdī met Yiṣḥaq al-Nafūsī in Aden, who gave him some merchandise to sell for him. […] The final section is a copy of the legal proceedings in which Abū Barakāt declares that he had spent the rest of al-Nafūsī's money on the latter's recently purchased house in Fustat, an action he took on the instruction of Ḥalfon ha-Levi b. Netanʾel, al-Nafūsī's appointed representative.

Related People

2

Related Places

8

العلامات

• halfon b. menashshe
• ib1
• india book

2 نسخين 1 ترجمة

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Recto: The physician responds that if he is being invited to a drinking party, he cannot come today because the Christians prevent him (? li-ajli moqesh al-'arelim). If he is being summoned to treat (mudāwā) somebody, probably al-Sadīd, it can be postponed to another day. Rashīd should tell al-Sadīd that the writer already came looking for him several times but could not find him. He was worried on his account ("the first was in my heart"), and he wondered if perhaps al-Sadīd no longer needed his services. Changing the topic, he concludes, "As for the the [Ar?]

Related Places

1

العلامات

• 'arelim
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: physician
• illness: treatment
• (+ 4 المزيد)

1 نسخ 1 مناقشة

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

In Judaeo-Arabic, with some interesting spellings (e.g., many extraneous alefs, some missing alefs, יתפע for ידפע, and תקתע for תקטע, and אלאלה for God). […] On verso, greetings to 'his son Yaʿqūb'; Muʿammar; Abū ʿAlī Muḥsin; Abū l-Ghayth Mufarraj; Hillel; and Yaḥyā.

Related Places

2

العلامات

• interesting shape

لا توجد ثبت المراجع والمصادر

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Then: "When you write to tell me that I have not given you the 81 medins of alimony every month, you are lying through your teeth. […] Mentions names including Ibn al-Qawwaṣ (? אלקווץ), Hermoza, Ibn Qaṭan; and Ibn ʿAṭāʾ. Other currencies mentioned include ʿuthmānī and corona (קרונה). Also mentions specific conversion rates.

لا توجد ثبت المراجع والمصادر

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

receipt (barāʾa) for 1/2 dinar; the addressee's preoccupation on account of a woman; Abū Saʿd; the government (al-ṣulṭān); and someone living in Fustat. The letter also deals with a fūṭa garment and some dirhams; something was intended for the addressee's mother. The crux of the matter is that the addressee should send something, because ʿAyyāsh says that he forgot that thing with Khiyār. There is also a qāḍī mentioned near the beginning of the letter.

Related People

2

العلامات

• yefet b. menashshe

لا توجد ثبت المراجع والمصادر

Document date

Tuesday, 25 Ḥeshvan 1362 Seleucid (November 1050 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

An unsigned assignment of power of attorney from Eleazar Manṣūr ("Head of the Congregations") b. Menaḥem of Aleppo to Hillel b. Avraham. Eleazar waives all right to the claim that Hillel subverted his agency, suggesting this is an unlimited power of attorney. Although documents granting unlimited power of attorney are typically granted to agents effecting marriage, this document reveals Eleazar to have been appointed to collect on an inheritance claim advanced by one Mulūk bt. […] Wahab, a claim described in T-S 18J2.12 (PGPID 3527) wherein Mulūk explains that her inheritance was left by her father’s wife with Tamīm; in this document, Eleazar appoints Hillel to collect Mulūk’s inheritance from "…any person at all, among them… Tamīm…" (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture", 86-87)

Related Places

1

العلامات

• female inheritance
• inheritance
• power of attorney

1 نسخ 1 ترجمة

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Mentions (ENA NS 76.435.1) "the synagogue of the Iraqiyin... the house of al-Maqāniʿiyya... Abū l-Maḥāsin... carpenter in the house of R. Yaʿaqov... ... al-Ṣabbāgh... Ibn Nufayʿ... al-Murjānī (the coral merchant)... (ENA NS 76.435.3) Ṭāhir... the rent of a house... al-Shaykh al-Makīn." ENA NS 76.435.1 and ENA NS 76.435.3 appear to belong to the same account, even though the verso of ENA NS 76.435.3 was reused for an unrelated Hebrew text.

العلامات

• qodesh

لا توجد ثبت المراجع والمصادر

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

In addition, the husband vows to behave well toward his wife and not to beat her. The husband also vows not to forbid the wife from leaving the home. The wife received as a gift a part of her mother's house and the husband vows that her mother will be allowed to live with them. The husband must transfer the rent paid for his wife's share of her mother's house to his mother-in-law for five years. The wife may do as she pleases with her wealth and the husband has no right to it. There is also a special condition that specifies that the groom must provide any medical and burial expenses for his mother-in-law.

Related People

1

العلامات

• contract
• halfon b. menashshe
• prenuptial

1 نسخ

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The sender says his father won't let him go to Alexandria until something is sorted out. Mentions Tāj al-Dīn. On verso, the letter addresses al-ḥakīm al-ajall (maybe this is a switch to addressing Zekharya / Abū Zikrī, who was greeted at the bottom of recto) and instructs him not to let anyone see this letter (quoting Psalms 25:14).

لا توجد ثبت المراجع والمصادر

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

This letter is sent accompanying a petition to Ḥesed al-Tustarī, asking the addressee to intervene on behalf of the sender. The sender had been employed by the government (istiʿmāl) against his will for a period of two years and suffered greatly; he became cut off from the Jewish community in this time; he has been seeking a rescript from the caliph (al-ḥaḍra al-ṭāhira) exempting him from further government employment, and he also hopes to move to Ramla.

Related Places

2

العلامات

• 11th c
• communal
• qaraite

1 نسخ

Document date

Sivan 1438 Seleucid (13 May 1127–11 June 1127 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The early marriage payment is 12.5 dirhams and the late marriage payment is 25 dirhams, altogether worth about 1 gold dinar. The second note may or may not refer to the same couple. […] A "son of the spindlemaker" (Ibn al-Maghāzilī) is mentioned. (Information in part from CUDL and Weiss's edition. See also Goitein's index card.)

Related People

1

2 نسخين 1 مناقشة

Document date

Tishrei-Ḥeshvan 1472 Seleucid (September 1160–October 1160 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Fol. 2r: Legal document concerning financial settlements within a partnership, and mentioning Makārim b. Sabbāgh (?) al-Sukkarī, [Abū] l-ʿAlā b. Natan and Abū Manṣūr the cantor אלמשמיע. […] Below is a legal document concerning Abū Saʿd b. Yosef known as Ibn al-Baṭīṭī (maker of slippers), who received items including 100 mithqāl of camphor and 6 mann of sandalwood from Abū Saʿīd the trader. Also mentions Abū Saʿd’s uncle and father Ibrahim b.

Related People

1

Related Documents

3

العلامات

• ib7
• india book

2 نسخين 1 مناقشة

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Manṣūr b. Sālim, in Alexandria, to Eliyyahu the Judge (Abū l-Faraj b. al-Rayyis), in Fustat. […] The sender requests a quick reply to his letter. See also T-S 10J14.12 and T-S Ar.18(1).137, letters by the same sender concerning the same matter.

Related People

3

Related Places

2

العلامات

• 13th c
• alexandria
• arabic address
• epidemic
• epidemic: wakham
• (+ 4 المزيد)

2 نسخين 1 ترجمة 2 مناقشتان

Primary language

Ladino

See T-S 12.318 for another letter from the same Shemuel Sidi (sent from Damietta), also with a responsum on the other side. Shemuel reports that he is sending money to Moshe both with Aliko (?)[…] He asks Moshe to speak with him, and Shemuel hopes to pay him later when he travels to Salonica. There is also a note about the bearer of the letter in the margin.

Related People

1

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

العلامات

• ladino
• salonica
• shemuel sidi

1 نسخ

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Yaʿqūb, in Damascus, to Abū l-ʿAlāʾ Yūsuf b. Dāʾūd b. Shaʿya (aka Yosef b. David), in Fustat. […] Mūsa writes also that he turned over camel loads to Salāma b. […] Mūsa requests in the letter sixty golden boxes, to be packed with leather bottles, and sent to him immediately in a warship; along with a container of flax oil and information about the price of borage ("oxtongue").

Related Places

2

العلامات

• flax
• suftaja

2 نسخين 1 ترجمة 2 مناقشتان

Document date

15 Iyyar [4899] Anno Mundi (17 April 1139 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Saʿdān b. Thābit Levi al-Baghdādī, Alexandria, to Avraham b. Muʿṭī, Tlemcen. […] Ezra did not arrive in Alexandria on the ship in which Ḥalfon was traveling and didn't send with Ḥalfon the goods that Saʿdān had ordered from them, or even send him a letter (as Ḥalfon thought they had done).

Related People

4

Related Places

2

العلامات

• ib4
• india book

2 نسخين 1 مناقشة

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Ḥalfon he-Ḥaver to a highly placed courtier in Fustat titled Zaʿīm al-Mulk, in Fustat. The addressee may in fact be the Nagid Mevoraḵ b. […] He asks for help retrieving the inheritance of his grandfather in al-Ramla, which was taken away by Maʾmūn al-Dawla after his own father's mother died. On verso there are copious jottings in both Hebrew and Arabic script, including the signature of Yefet b. Yosef ha-Parnas, who also signed Yevr. III B 634 + T-S 8J32.1 + Bodl.

Related People

2

Related Places

2

العلامات

• communal
• petition

1 نسخ 1 مناقشة

Document date

Sunday, 13 Nisan 4755 Anno Mundi (17 March 995 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

Avraham ha-Levi (זורעה) witness before the Bet Din that Sulaymān known as al-Qūtayṭa (אלקוטיטה) does not owe them anything and that Bāqī al-Ḥamātī received from this Sulaymān sums which had first been deposited with the court. At the foot of the page is an attestation in Judaeo-Arabic by the Bet Din mentioning ʿEzra b. Qayyūm al-Muqaddasī (קיום אלמקדסי). Written and signed by by Avraham ha-Levi he-Ḥaver of the great Sanhedrin b. Shimʿi (בסנהדרין גדול בירבי שמעי); also signed by Gamliel b. Yoshiyya. (Information from CUDL, Goitein's index cards, and Mediterranean Society, p. 600.)

Related Places

1

العلامات

• inheritance
• testimony

1 نسخ 1 مناقشة

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter in the hand of Abū Zikrī, physician to the sultan al-Malik al-ʿAzīz (Saladin's son and successor), sent to his father Eliyyahu the Judge. […] Dating: 1193–98 CE, if all the identifications are correct (this document would then be several years earlier than any other document relating to Abū Zikrī or his father Eliyyahu). […] Members of the court came to express their condolences, including the sultan himself, who said that he considers the deceased as equal to his own younger brother, al-Malik al-Amjad. (Information in part from S.

Related People

2

العلامات

• abu zikri al-rayyis
• fasting
• grief
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• (+ 6 المزيد)

2 نسخين 1 ترجمة 1 مناقشة

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Fol. 1v, right page: Mentions Yiṣḥaq b. Shākir b. al-Barūḥa(?). Fol. 1v, left page: At the top of the lefthand page mentions sending all of something to Yemen. Fol. 2r, left page: Mentions sending something to Alexandria Fol. 2v, left page: Mentions sending something to the Ḥijāz. […] At the bottom of this page mentions Yosef b. Yehuda al-Levi and tamarind.

Related People

1

العلامات

• ib-addenda
• ib6

لا توجد ثبت المراجع والمصادر