Documents

Document date

Adar 4794 Anno Mundi (23 January 1034–21 February 1034 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The surviving Fusṭāṭ court record was prepared at the end of Adar 4794 AM. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 406.)

Related Places

4

Tags

• alexandria
• court record
• inheritance
• sicily

1 Transcription

Document date

Dhū l-Qaʿda 530 Hijrī (August 1136 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Yeshuʿa is also the party under whose name the wine-producing enterprise has been registered with the tax-collecting authorities.

Tags

• 12th c
• partnership

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary languages

Arabic, Hebrew

The letter presupposes that Yakhin was entitled to tax exemption because he was a Khaybari, a Jew descended from an Arabian clan that asserted it had received special privileges in the time of Muḥammad.

Related Places

2

Tags

• arabic
• capitation tax
• jaliya
• jizya
• khaybari
• (+ 2 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

12 Elul 1451 Seleucid (27 August 1140 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Abū Naṣr hopes that Ḥalfon’s mood has improved and that he has no further reason to complain about him (Abū Naṣr). At the end, greetings from family members and those close to Ḥalfon (such as Abū l-Najm and Abū Mūsā Hārūn), to Ḥalfon, his family, and to people in Fustat.

Related People

1

Tags

• alexandria
• ib-untranslated-eng
• ib4
• india book

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

On recto there is a taqbīl clause and three lines of Arabic script in a chancery hand from a presumably Ayyubid government report (see separate entry). ASE.

Related People

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• business
• family
• moshe b. levi
• qalyub
• silk
• (+ 1 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1168–1204 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

In his role of physician, Maimonides had apparently advised al-Wathīq to drink milk regularly, for which the latter rented a cow; he now advises him to give the cow up, since two cups a day are enough. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 321, #76.)

Related People

2

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• 12th c
• business
• dammuh
• maimonides (autograph)
• personal
• (+ 2 more)

2 Transcriptions 2 Translations 1 Discussion

Document date

15 Kislev 1469 Seleucid (1157 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Shemuel, including testimony enumerating the assets of her son, Abu Imran, which were in her possession.

Tags

• acknowledgment
• silk
• sitt al-dar
• testimony
• textiles
• (+ 2 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Avraham mentions a "brother-like" relationship with Abū Bishr that he entered into at Eliyyahu's recommendation, however Abū Bishr has died and the authorities have confiscated all his property.

Related Places

2

Tags

• abu zikri al-rayyis
• divorce
• jerusalem
• judge eliyyahu

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Saadya), though they know that Mevorakh is busy with the “service of the rulers” (khidmat al-salāṭīn), see Rustow, Heresy, p. 339, and Cohen, Jewish Self-Government, p. 220. See also ENA 2805.5a, in which Natan b. Nahray informs Musa that as instructed he has given 1 dinar each to Moshe the Judge and Yeḥezqel the Alexandrian, who is sick and confined to his house.

Related Documents

1

Tags

• 11th c
• appeal
• cane
• disability
• disability: vision
• (+ 5 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

Ramaḍān 620 Hijrī (28 September 1223–27 October 1223 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Part of his haste to sell her is that he was denounced to the government (ghamazū ʿalayyā l-dīwān) and lost 52 dirhams, evidently taxes related to the slave. (Cf. ENA NS 77.254, an outline for a deed of sale of a slave, where "if someone tattles to the government" is a specific eventuality that is addressed.)

Related Places

2

Tags

• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: slave
• jariya
• meir b. yakhin
• (+ 1 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

11 Iyyar 1437 Seleucid (6 May 1126 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Dealing with the same case as ENA NS 16.11 (PGPID 2419).

Related People

4

Related Places

1

Tags

• halfon b. menashshe
• manumission

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Natan, who is in mental distress (or is simply engaged in a prolonged dispute with Barhūn; this section begins on verso, line 9).

Related People

5

Related Places

7

Tags

• byzantine merchants
• byzantines
• trade
• yisrael b. natan

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Opens with verses of poetry which are nearly identical to those found in Cote Bibliothécaire 520/4 MS Arabes Enveloppe n. 4: fragment 1; see Jacques Masson, "Catalogue des manuscrits arabes de la bibliothèque des Pères Jésuites au Caire Armando Serra," Studia Orientalia Christiana: Collectanea 45 (2012), pp. 327–28, doc. 97 (including image and partial transcription).

Tags

• heartsickness
• ophthalmia

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

1100 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

In this document Ṣadoq, known from Megillat Evyatar and formerly the third of the yeshiva, describes his disgruntlement at having to be in this location, where he went to liberate captive children held by Crusaders in Antioch, including a little girl from his own family, who has now been released. He is still endeavoring to free his son-in-law (שרנו אדירנו חתננו שר בית ישראל), whom Goitein identifies with Abū Saʿd the son of the Tustarī woman (mentioned as a Crusader captive in T-S 10J5.6 + T-S 20.113).

Related Places

2

Tags

• captives
• children
• crusaders

3 Transcriptions 3 Translations 2 Discussions

Document date

21 Ramaḍān 405 Hijrī (15 March 1015 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

Written on a reused account (see separate entry).

Related People

6

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• abu l-hasan b. wahb
• fatimid
• tax receipt

1 Transcription 1 Translation 2 Discussions

Primary language

Arabic

wa-l-tamām wa-qaṣr yad man yudawwim al-iḥtimā' ʿalayka wa-l-manʿ min iḥdāth rasm lam tajri bihi l-ʿāda. . . . " That is, an order has been issued in favor of the addressee: "for you to be granted the power to levy the money in its entirety, for the hand to be restrained of whomsoever continually defaults (on his payment) to you, and for the prevention of an unwonted practice.'

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• dimme
• shadd

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

"He had already paid a fine of 120 gold pieces, an enormous sum, and had already been imprisoned for a month and a half at the writing of the letter reporting the scandal to someone in Qus, Upper Egypt; twelve court records had been written in this matter" (Med Soc V, p. 322, note 49).

Related People

4

Related Places

2

Tags

• ib7
• india book
• natan b. avraham
• prostitution
• qus

3 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Document date

2 Shevaṭ 14[..] Seleucid (16 January 1089–3 January 1188 CE)

Primary languages

Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

On verso there is a very interesting first-person narrative in Arabic script probably summarizing the same case from the standpoint of one of the parties. "[...] my three brothers and their three wives prosecuted me with this at the time of my father's death, God's mercy be upon him, without any right (ḥaqq) or will (waṣiyya), and they took it from me [...] with slander and calumny, even though [my father] (God have mercy upon him) already paid them, and their [purpose?] is the enrichment of their wives (? ighnāʾ azwājihim), but with God the exalted is the [...], and He will not ignore [...] all of the adversaries."

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Long list of names, with various sums of money (mostly dinars, some entries in dirhams). Likely a contributors list. Names include: Abū l-Faraj; Ibn al-Shammāʿ; Sulaymān Ibn al-Lebdī (probably Shelomo b.

Related People

1

No Scholarship Records

Document date

1789 CE

Primary languages

Hebrew, Ladino, Western Arabic Numerals

His successor Selim III does not appear on the list, suggesting that the document can be dated to ca. 1789 CE. It ends with an unexpectedly messianic message, punning on the Hebrew spelling of the name Hamid (אמת, which read as a Hebrew word means "truth"): על כן אמרתי אמת ליעקב כי אם ישראל . . .

Tags

• ottoman

No Scholarship Records

Document date

19 Adar II 5453 Anno Mundi (27 March 1693 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

The document states on multiple occasions that Cairo is a hub of exports for the mercantile partnership in question. The entry also mentions methods of weighing goods and there is a final addendum noting that a previous version of the partnership had been abandoned (הופקר) but is in the possession of one of the court's judges David Ḥayyim Beit-Halḥashī(?)

Related Places

1

Related Documents

31

1 Transcription

Primary language

Arabic

The first Arabic page (fol. 3r) mentions Abū l-Faraj; the payment of an account; "and when I returned to al-Ramla, I found that he had arrived. . . . " The second page of Arabic (fol. 4r) shows pronounced stacking of words at the ends of lines and is difficult to read.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

But then the dark girl (al-samrā), the daughter of ʿAbd al-Salām, died. The sender has enclosed a letter from Umm Abū Manṣūr. "As soon as you read it, write the response."

Related Places

1

Tags

• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• to edit

No Scholarship Records

Document date

1165–1166 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Engagement (shiddukhin) contract for a second wife.

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• engagement
• polygyny

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The letter opens with congratulations on the engagement of Abū Zikrī’s son, blessings for a successful wedding, and a request for confirmation of this happy news.

Related People

2

Related Places

5

Tags

• ib5
• india book

4 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

He requests that ʿEli represent him in litigation against that person. He has enclosed a power of attorney with his letter. Ed. Cohen, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 56 (2013), pp. 218–63.

Related Places

3

Tags

• ambergris
• brazilwood
• byzantine merchants
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• (+ 1 more)

3 Transcriptions 2 Translations 1 Discussion

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

It may be the same Avraham as in JRL SERIES B 7173 (PGPID 40460). Recto is entirely introductory blessings. The writer continues on verso with a strong rebuke for the lack of letters, especially because he has suffered "illnesses like no one has ever suffered before."

Tags

• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• letter norms
• sayings

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Those who had not yet made up their minds are listed at the end of the page merely by name. The tillis is a sack, weighing approx. 150 pounds verso, list of persons contributing dirhams, for example, 2 weavers each 3 d, one giving with his workman.

Related People

4

Tags

• charity
• communal
• donors
• poverty

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The letter may be addressed to a woman, based on the verb endings in the margin of recto, but this part is difficult to read.

Related Places

1

Tags

• children
• education
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: children

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Maḥāsin had denied a charge in connection with this engagement before a Muslim court and confessed it in a Jewish court.

Tags

• family drama
• forum shopping
• ghulam
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• (+ 3 more)

1 Discussion

Inferred date

1094–1097 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

He mentions that his brother-in-law Abu ‫ʾl-Faraj had arrived in Mirbāṭ (on the southeastern part of the Arabian peninsula), and intended to make his return journey from there via ʿAydhāb, meaning he would bypass Aden As such, ʿAmram encloses a letter to Ḥasan b. Bundār, which he asks Nahray to forward to Aden in the hands of any Jews who might be passing through, or alternatively in the hands of a trustworthy Muslim.

Related People

5

Related Places

3

Tags

• ib-untranslated-eng
• ib2
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: recovered
• (+ 2 more)

3 Transcriptions 2 Translations

Inferred date

1039–1039 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Jacob Mann published T-S 18J4.16, and Mark Cohen discovered the join with ENA 3765.10 and the significance of this pair of letters.

Related People

1

Related Places

2

Related Documents

1

Tags

• communal
• daniel b. 'azarya
• gaonate
• gaonic conflict
• nagid

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 2 Discussions

Primary language

Arabic

(There is a ṣāḥib al-shūrṭa in ENA 3901.5, too.) The traveler (never described as a Maghribi trader, but a man from the Maghrib) claims she is his wife, but he has no kitāb to prove this.

Tags

• capitation tax
• drinking
• incarceration
• petition
• scandal
• (+ 2 more)

1 Transcription 1 Translation

Primary language

Hebrew

The community does not like to send a letter to the Rosh Yeshiva without a little money enclosed. The letter was written in Elul, and the sender says he will try to raise some funds in Tishrei.

Related People

1

Tags

• fundraising
• sicily
• tax
• yeshiva

1 Transcription

Document date

Shevat 1411 Seleucid (14 January 1100–12 February 1100 CE)

She also claims to have dedicated the entire sum inherited from her daughter for the burial and for the wailing (the lamenting of the wailing women).

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

Ṣadoq; Yosef ha-Kohen; someone standing guarantee; a funduq; and how Yehuda acted to prevent this man from being imprisoned, which he did due to his love for the addressee. The letter seems to end here with the date, but then it resumes on verso after a gap, still talking about people under arrest due to the tax.

Related People

1

Tags

• tax

1 Discussion