Documents

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Yosef. Mentions Yosef; ʿAllūn; al-Naṣrānī; plaster; wood; days of the week; linseed oil; sesame oil; the sabbath.

Related People

1

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

Petition or report addressed to a vizier (...al-Afḍalī al-Juyūshī...). Fragment from the top (the beginnings of 7 lines are preserved).

Tags

• dimme

1 Transcription 1 Translation

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Menashshe (fl. 1100–1138 CE). Consists almost entirely of legalese. Involves a parnas and his wife Sitt al-Milāḥ.

Related People

1

Tags

• halfon b. menashshe

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

A very rough translation is as follows: "Your letter arrived with Ibn al-Jalajuli. Najm al-Din read it with me in Giza and wrote a response in his own hand. […] I can't even buy or sell things until your matter is settled and the speaking (?) of Najm al-din. As for what you said about going to to al-Shams b. al-Muzawwiq - he did not leave me in Giza after he read your letter except that he was good (of health?). […] Further people mentioned include Hajj Muhammad, Najm al-Din, the old woman, the Hakim, Hikam (?), and al-Shaykh Hilal.

Related Places

1

Tags

• 13th c
• apostate
• giza
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• (+ 4 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

The writer is located in Fustat/Cairo (פה מצרים) and also mentions places including Bulaq and Alexandria. […] The writer describes "almost going mad" and his "great fear" over this. […] Months later, Shemuʾel al-ʿAjam arrived in Alexandria requesting his opium.

Related People

1

Related Places

3

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Dating: probably 11th century. Consisting almost entirely of instructions for commodities the sender wants the addressee to buy for him, with a list of those commodities. […] Ghulayb (known from other documents); Barhūn again; Fustat/Egypt; al-Nūtī(?). At the bottom and again in the margin mentions Abū Brāhīm or Ibrāhīm ʿAyyāsh (perhaps ʿAyyāsh b. […] At 180 degrees on verso there is also what may be a brief Arabic address with the name Yaḥyā b.

Tags

• list

No Scholarship Records

Primary languages

Aramaic, Hebrew

Dating: Early 13th century, likely 1219–29 CE (Shweka's assessment). See also T-S 8J33.4, a previous letter on the same matter. […] Relations between the various communities were very tense, as testified by Yehuda Alharizi, who visited Jerusalem in 1214. From letters of R. […] Previous description: Four-page letter in Hebrew perhaps from Alexandria, concerning a dispute between prominent members of the Jewish community and the consequent expulsion of one of them from the synagogue.

Related Documents

1

Tags

• communal
• conflict
• excommunication
• french rabbis
• heqdesh
• (+ 3 more)

3 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Document date

Ṭevet 1488 Seleucid (5 December 1176–2 January 1177 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

One beadle of Dammūh is listed at the beginning of the list (p a, l. 5), another at the end (c, l. 6). Almostall the males receive a muqaddar, all but one of the females (p. b, l. 2) a jūkhāniyya. […] After the first item, "the judges," is left a blank space. Al-Najīb (the parnas) follows with the number 20 after it and l. 12, Abū ʿAlī the parnas, with 12. […] (Information from Goitein, Med Soc II, Appendix B, #71 (p.459).) The recipients also include one female slave and three women who are freed slaves (per Goitein's index card).

Related People

3

Related Places

1

Tags

• clothing
• freedwoman
• slaves

1 Discussion

Inferred date

1034–1040 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Several major repairs of the extant buildings and also repairs and improvements in the synagogue are listed. […] The concluding part stresses the custom of giving full publicity to the accounts of the qodesh; also, the duty of any dissatisfied person to file his claims before the court, otherwise risking excommunication. […] The first word in line 1 of ENA 2738.1 is the last one in line 19 of T-S 20.96. All three fragments are in the hand of hazzan Yefet b.

Tags

• 11th c
• account
• heqdesh
• qodesh
• waqf
• (+ 1 more)

1 Transcription 1 Translation 2 Discussions

Primary language

Arabic

ʿIwaḍ, in Qalyūb, to the notary and qāḍī Ṣadr al-Dīn, at the Dār al-Wakāla in Fustat. Discussing a shipment of palm branches from Qalyūb and their transport on the Nile. […] The letter is written in beautiful, clear Arabic characters, in many cases even equipped with diacritical marks. ... The verso contains also the beginning of the draft of a petition in Arabic language and Hebrew characters of the dyers in Qalyub. […] On the same page there is also a calligraphic trial of the pen: "Said the Khazari."

Related Places

2

Related Documents

1

Tags

• aodeh

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Document date

Middle decade of Iyyār 1461 Seleucid (May 1150 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The deceased's sister, who was supposed to inherit what had remained, was left with nothing, since her converted nephews, and the various figures involved in the compromise settlement with them, took all that was left. The case relates to the different and contradicting opinions in both Jewish and Islamic legal traditions regarding inheritance of non-Muslims by their Muslim relatives." […] This was on Sunday, in the middle ten days (al-ʿashar al-awsaṭ) of the month of Iyyar 1461 (mid-Muḥarram 545/mid-May 1150), in the presence of Barakāt al-Kohen, Khūlayf b. al-Ḥazzan, and Furayj b. […] In addition— two dirhams to the messenger [. . .] in the presence of Khūlayf b. al-Ḥazza[n . . .] and for the document to the second qāḍī—five coins.

Related Places

1

Tags

• conversion
• inheritance

1 Transcription 2 Translations 2 Discussions

Document date

4 Ḥeshvan [13]94 Seleucid (1082 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The approximate time period is established by the mention of Yaʾir ha-Nadiv Peʾer ha-Qahal, who also appears in T-S 28.6 (1070s). This document is dated in the opening lines Thursday, 21 Elul, year not preserved. The last three lines indicate that the document was signed (although this copy doesn't appear to be signed) and given to the parties Saʿd and Yaʿaqov on Thursday, 4 Ḥeshvan [..]94. […] The case concerns Sahl b. Faraj al-Ghazzī and a sizeable sum of investment capital (over 45 dinars).

Related Places

1

Tags

• nahb
• prison

No Scholarship Records

Document date

Iyyar-Tammuz 1475 Seleucid (1164 CE)

Primary languages

Aramaic, Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

In the hand of judge Mevorakh b. Natan. Abū l-ʿAlāʾ b. Bū Sahl al-Jubaylī accepts seven dinars from Abū l-Maʿālī Shemuel b. […] The document may simply have been the disposition of assets of a partnership which was between Abū l-ʿAlāʾ and Shemuel's late father, as lines 3-4 suggest that the Shemuel’s father is dead, whereas line 6 absolves the deceased father from any further obligation. […] There is a filing note in Arabic script on verso mentioning the name Abū l-ʿAlāʾ b. Bū Sahl al-Jubaylī.

Related People

8

Related Places

1

Tags

• filing note
• partnership
• release

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Document date

5008-5010 Anno Mundi (1247–1250 CE)

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

The calendar mentions the intercalation, length of the variable months, the calendrical type of the year, moladot of all months, days of the week of beginnings of months, days of the week and dates of festivals and fasts, the date and time of the tequfot, as well as the time when prayers for rain begin. […] All moladot on recto and verso are 12 hours higher than the correct values. Tequfot and days of the week of beginnings of months for 5009 of the Era of Creation are crossed out. There is also Arabic script and Rūmī (Greek/Coptic) numerals in different places on the page.

Tags

• calendar

No Scholarship Records

Document date

Thursday, 8 Iyyar [1411] Seleucid (19 April 1100 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The year is not named, but the document on verso is dated 1410 Sel., and 1411 is the closest year when 8 Iyyar fell on a Thursday. In which Abū ʿAlī Yefet b. Avraham and Yehuda b. Ḥayyim dispute debts owed to each other. […] Yefet also sues Abū l-Faraj (evidently identical with Yehuda b. […] There is an additional statement made by Yehuda in the right margin involving 24 dinars and Abū l-Ḥusayn al-Urjuwānī. The document is signed by Yiṣḥaq b.

Related People

5

Related Documents

2

Tags

• customs
• mint

No Scholarship Records

Document date

Dhū l-Ḥijja 431 Hijrī (13 August 1040–10 September 1040 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

The document contains standard legal formulae affirming that the guarantors are acting voluntarily, are of sound mind and body, and are not coerced. It also includes a joint liability clause (each guarantor is responsible for the other). There are three witness attestations, including Ramaḍān ibn Ṣubḥ al-Muʾadhdhin (the muezzin). Since the contract is conceptualized as an agreement between the guarantors and the state, the caliph al-Mustanṣir bi-Allāh (r. 1036–1094 CE) appears in the document.

Tags

• arabic
• dimme
• fatimid
• petition

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

, and someone called only al-Ḥasid. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 13th century, based on handwriting and typical titles and names (it might be possible to narrow this estimate). The letter conveys personal wishes and sadness to have missed the addressees in synagogue on the past Shabbat and also to miss them on the coming Shabbat. The postscript reports that "our master" (sayyidnā, i.e.., the head of the Jews) told the sender that the addressee needs (or: has nothing more belonging to him except) flour and meat. […] For other cases of the addressee inverting all the abasement/honoring clauses and sending back the same note, see T-S 6J5.18, T-S 8J16.1, and Bodl.

1 Transcription

Document date

2 Shevat 1412 Seleucid (3 January 1101 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

After Shemarya had fulfilled his end of the bargain, Eli would write him a writ of release in a shari‘a court, which would absolve him of all further claims according to Islamic law. Their agreement further specified that that the Islamic writ of release would also absolve Shemarya of all further claims in a Jewish court. […] Cohen, ed. A. Franklin, et al., Brill, 2014; 207, 216-24) EMS

Related People

2

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1007–1055 CE

Primary language

Hebrew

Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:472) Another draft explains that, contrary to the malicious and false accusations made against him to the gaʾon by some members of the Jewish community in Fusṭāṭ, he will indeed be sending a generous donation for the Jerusalem academy in response to a fundraising mission by the gaʾon’s son Avraham. Efrayim also mentions that he retains the support of an influential Fatimid official, the Qaraite David ha-Levi b. Yiṣḥaq, who will also be sending a donation. Written on the verso of an Arabic -script letter discussing philosophical theology and mentioning the raʾs al-mathība (see PGPID 33676).

Related People

4

Related Documents

1

Tags

• communal
• efrayim b. shemarya
• karaite
• shelomo b. yehuda
• tax
• (+ 1 more)

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Arabic

How can you face God?! You allow the Rayyis to let Ibn al-Maṣmūdī live in the recently bought house behind the synagogue of the Iraqians, which is adjoining the secret doorway through which the wives of the Jews and their daughters ascend (to the women's gallery). […] You are inflicting disgrace upon your womenfolk by Ibn al-Maṣmūdī. How can you face God?! If you want to let him live there, or if this is the wish of the Rayyis, shut the secret doorway up, so that no one can get through it. […] Your sense of honor has obviously gone altogether. And peace!"

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Document date

1395 Seleucid (16 September 1083–2 September 1084 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Dated: 1395 Seleucid (1083/84 CE). Location: Fustat. Abū al-‘Alā ‘Ūlla ha-Levi b. Joseph al-Dimashqī and Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā ha-Levi b. […] On the other hand, the dispute at hand concerns specific details of the partnership, including a dispute concerning the possible markets to which Yaḥyā was empowered to travel (Damietta, Alexandria, and the Maghreb); the partnership is terminated prior to Yaḥyā’s journey to the Maghreb.

Related People

3

Related Places

2

Tags

• commenda
• medicine
• partnership
• trade

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from a man, in al-Maḥalla, to his son or younger relative. In Judaeo-Arabic, elegantly written. […] He has been proscribed eating anything at all or drinking wine, and he is in great distress from this. […] Lines 20-22: “Do not worry if you hear that somebody drowned in al-Maḥalla. It was a youth named Abū l-Faraj, known as Abū l-Faraj b. al-Sunbāṭī.”

Related Places

1

Tags

• astrology
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: rich description
• illness: technical
• (+ 3 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Goitein initially identified the addressee is Moshe Maimonides (1168–1204 CE), though he also suggested on paleographic grounds that the letter more likely dates to the mid-13th century. […] The sender acknowledges receipt of the addressee's letter (ḥaḍarat musharrifat sīdī) in which he reports having given charity to the scholar Avraham b. Yosef al-Siqillī (the Sicilian) in the presence of the Nagid (this proves that the addressee is not himself the Nagid). Also mentions the congregation of Damascus and the fact that none of the promised money has been received.

Related Places

2

1 Transcription 2 Discussions

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

He gave his merchandise to his wife and his daughter, so that when the Jews asked his father and brother where his goods were, they said "we have nothing, it's all with his wife." Then the women interrogated the wife, who said that she had only 2 dinars and 2 qirats. Her father rebuked her for admitting this, saying that now all of the husband's creditors would come and demand their due. […] People mentioned: ʿAmmār b. al-Dayyān, ʿImrān, Ibn Shammārī, a Rayyis who died, and aṣḥabunā al-Barqiyyīn wa-l-Ghurabā (associates from al-Barqa and the West).

Related Places

2

Related Documents

1

1 Transcription

Primary language

Arabic

Bifolium from an Arabic work, mostly consisting of prayers and verses from the Quran and names of God, but also including a line of probably-magical symbols, headed with a six-pointed star.

Tags

• arabic literary
• magic
• quran

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The sender is writing from Alexandria on the 5th of Sivan. Mentions a battle or fight (qitāl) and the death of some people.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

Two orders of payment in Arabic script, and perhaps a remnant of a third. The first one: yadfaʿ al-shaykh al-ajall li-muwaṣṣilihā dīnārayn wa-nuṣr wa-thumn.

Related Documents

1

Tags

• arabic
• script

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Mentions names such as Bayān, Thābit, and Abū Saʿd (though the first two of these could also be common nouns). Interesting linguistic detail: five is spelt כמשה.

No Scholarship Records

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Mentions Daniel the great prince and 'great distress.' See also ENA 2735.14

Tags

• trade

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1051–1051 CE

In the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya. See also: ENA 2804.1 (PGPID 676).

Related People

2

Tags

• dirge
• piyyut
• seliha

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Da'ud b. Ammar (Alexandria) to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat), ca. 1065.

Related People

4

Related Places

6

Tags

• nahray b. nissim
• trade

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation

Primary language

Hebrew

Addressed to שמואל רודסי (of Rhodes) and יהודה דמדינק and דוד מונטלוה (Montaloa?) "and all the notables of [....]." The name of the location - along with the entirety of the letter - is lost.

Tags

• list

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

A few Hebrew characters also appear in the otherwise Arabic script commercial account.

Tags

• dimme
• list

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

One side begins, "That which is with (or owed by) Sayf al-Dawla b. Tāj al-ʿArab..." There follow various sums of money.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

Mentions the faqīh Abū l-Ḥasan al-Maghribī al-Anṣārī; mentions a funduq. Seems to be discussing a legal issue.

Tags

• dimme

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Aramaic

Fragment of a ketubba of the groom Yefet b. Avraham from Alexandria signed by Avraham b. Yaʿaqov. Dated ca. 1100.

Tags

• dowry
• ketubba
• marriage

1 Transcription 1 Discussion