Paraliterary text: T-S AS 144.7

Description

Fols. 1r–2r: Geomancy castings in Judaeo-Arabic with some Hebrew: (1) "If a man will come from outside of Egypt and take over justice and religion (? ḥukm wa-dīn) over the Jews who are in Egypt, or not." (2) "The debts owed by Büyük Hanım ("the Great Lady") the mother of Tursum Basha (טורסום באשא) who is in the harem palace of Muḥammad ʿAlī to Jamīla bt. Rivqa, will she repay them easily . . . ?" This is probably Emine Hanım, chief consort in this period and mother of Tosun (= Tursun = Tursum?). (3) "The debt owed by Samāʿa(?) (of) the harem of Muḥammad ʿAlī who is in al-Azbakiyya to Jamīla bt. Rivqa, will she repay them easily . . . ?" Fol. 2v is a copy of an engagement (shiddukhin) contract in Hebrew written in a different hand (though same hand as the pen trials underneath). Location: Fustat/Cairo. The word contante/קונטאנאי (cash?) appears at the top. Groom: Yosef b. Yiṣḥāq Pinto. Bride: Senyora bt. Avraham. Dated: 5 Elul 5576 AM = 29 August 1816 CE. (Information in part from CUDL.) The geomancy on this fragment looks nearly identical to the geomancy on AIU VII.F.32 (PGPID 30640), which is striking, because the AIU fragment dates to nearly 20 years earlier (1797/98 CE). They are probably by the same scribe/geomancer. The geomancy entries do not necessarily date to the same year as the engagement contract, however since they mention Muḥammad ʿAlī, they can't be any earlier than 1805 CE.