Documents

Primary language

Hebrew

A 'literary' book of magic (possibly Sefer ha-Yashar or Sefer Adam); a recipe to procure rain, the name of the angels in charge of wild beasts, and recipes for protection against one's enemies. Goitein calls it "of a highly pagan character, written in archaic Hebrew (partly with interlinear translations into Arabic)."

1 Discussion

Inferred date

1205–1237 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Recto: End of a letter, or letter draft, from Abū l-Ṭāhir to Avraham Maimonides (r. 1205–1237 CE). All that remains is 4 lines of flattery (sent to accompany something else that was enclosed?). Interestingly the upper half of line 1 has been transposed to the bottom of the page (i.e., it was glued there and then the paper was cut open).

Related People

1

Related Documents

1

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Verso: End of a court record. Unrelated to the entry on recto Written and signed by Avraham b.

Related People

3

Related Documents

1

Tags

• ib-candidate

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Digest of a bill of sale for an enslaved woman named Tawfīq, a minor. Seller: Nafīsa bt.

Related People

2

Related Places

1

Tags

• bill of sale
• halfon b. menashshe
• slave

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The father gives various exhortations (yā bunayy...) including, 'don't gloat over your enemies' misfortunes.' Abūn sends his regards.

Related Places

1

Tags

• unedited 11th c

No Scholarship Records

Document date

14[...] Seleucid (19 September 1088–23 September 1188 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

ENA 2229.1-6 are several pages from a booklet with stanzas from Hebrew poems, inclding by Rabbi Yehudah Halevi, in a very crude script. On ENA 2229.5 is the colophon of the copyist - on recto "Avraham the little proselyte" (אברהם הגר הקטון) and on verso "Avraham, the little proselyte, wrote in his own hand, in the year one thousand four hundred a--".

1 Transcription

Primary language

Hebrew

ENA 2592.6r: Memorial list for Hayya Gaon, the exilach Yeḥizqiyyahu, and his son David. […] On verso there are jottings: a line in Arabic script, and Psalm 91 (יושב בסתר עליון) in the shape of a cat head. The list continues on ENA 2592.7

Related Documents

1

Tags

• drawing

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Appears to be a bill of sale (bayʿ jalb) for an enslaved man (ghulām) for the low sum of 11 dinars.

Related People

1

Related Documents

1

1 Discussion

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

Primary languages

Aramaic, Judaeo-Arabic

Legal deed concerning an enslaved woman, who is probably sold (mentions the figure 1[.].5 dinars).

Related People

2

Tags

• halfon b. menashshe
• jariya
• slaves

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Hebrew

It may be significant that this was preserved near ENA 4101.11a + ENA 4101.11b (PGPID 40652), an important document from Yemen concerning a messianic controversy.

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Mentions Hārūn Ibn Shamārī (appears also in ENA 3616.21 (PGPID 12064)); collecting something from someone; a certain Ḥalfon; and the people who appointed someone an agent (muwakkilīka). May be an indirect join with ENA 1679.23 (PGPID 11520).

Related People

2

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The letter consists almost entirely of congratulations (for a newborn son?) and good wishes and blessings, e.g., that the recipient enjoy the favor of the king and his servants.

Related People

1

Tags

• congratulations

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Response to the inquiry on the recto, in which the judge replies, “I learned that this girl was engaged several times, but it is not clear to me whether a marriage was contracted with anyone of those who proposed and became engaged to her.”

Related Documents

1

Tags

• marriage

1 Transcription

Primary languages

Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Original use: Account in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Several entries list the value of ruqʿas (orders of payment?) either "in my hand" (bi-khaṭṭī) or that of someone else (bi-khaṭṭ al-[...]). Other entries mention fees for couriers, the upkeep of the mill (مما يثبت في عمارة الطاحون), and many more.

Related Documents

1

No Scholarship Records

Document date

13 Tishrei 1496 Seleucid (20 September 1184 CE)

Engagement agreement from 1184. The date of marriage was set for the month of Elul in the following year, almost two years after the document was composed. The bride was orphaned from her father and there is no mention of a representative on her behalf as is common in many engagement agreements. This might indicate that she represented herself and that she was mature. […] Most of the contract is written in Aramaic and Hebrew but the conditions prevalent at the time in Egypt were written in Arabic and perhaps this indicates that they originated in the surrounding Muslim environment (in ENA NS 21.6 there are conditions in both Arabic and Hebrew and Friedman suggests that the conditions that have not yet won wider acceptance were written in Arabic; see Friedman, Polygyny, pp. 56-59).

Related Places

1

Tags

• engagement

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

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

Primary language

Arabic

Two individuals, ʿĪsā ibn Ḥajjāj and Abū l-Ḥasan Aḥmad, agree to pay the land-tax of a farmer named Ḥifāẓ ibn Ramaḍān in estates (ḍiyāʿ) the name of which have not yet been deciphered. The guarantors ensure that the farmer will appear before the authorities whenever they demand to see him and agree to pay his arrears should he flee, disappear, or fail to meet his tax obligations. […] The document reflects the Fatimid state's system for ensuring the collection of taxes from agricultural estates by using local intermediaries and guarantors to manage tenant farmers.

Tags

• arabic
• dimme
• fatimid
• petition

1 Transcription

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

It seems to be describing the terms of a reconciliation agreement. It ends with the typical ending of a letter, "ושלומך יגדל ואל ידל."

Related People

1

Tags

• halfon b. menashshe

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

various 'gates'; that it would not be easy to sue a person; something about 5 children; 'the acts of his wife'; the gloating of enemies; and the exchange market (sūq al-ṣarf).

Tags

• to edit

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

On recto there are administrative/secretarial notes at the top: yuʿāmal.... mutawallī al-nāḥiyya....bi-ʿadl.....inshā Allāh...It also mentions a government bureau towards the end of the third line (dār al-[ ]). Seems like an investiture note. […] T-S Ar.35.139, T-S AS 177.472, ENA 3918.11). Needs examination.

No Scholarship Records

Document date

middle third of Elul 1437 Seleucid (1 September 1126–10 September 1126 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

ENA 4011.16a (upper fragment): Communal accounts. […] There are at least two distinct entries. The first mentions a sum collected from Sālim al-Khādim.

Related People

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• ib-addenda

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The heading of each side of the bifolio is dated sequentially 6-7 Ṣafar s[ene] __38 AH. Based on the paleography this year is likely 938, 1038, or 1138 AH (1531, 1628, or 1725 CE).

Tags

• 16th c or later
• fgp stub
• late prosopography

No Scholarship Records

Document date

7 Nisan 4962 Anno Mundi (1 April 1202 CE)

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Copy of an engagement deed dated 1202 in Alexandria, sent to Maimonides with a query over whether the contract was legally binding, and the reply in Maimonides’ handwriting. […] The halakhic validity of this type of contract was in doubt, and Maimonides ruled that engagement deeds were in fact permissible according to halakha.

Related People

1

Tags

• engagement
• responsum

No Scholarship Records

Document date

Dhū al-Qada 508 Hijrī (April 1115 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

Deed of sale of an enslaved woman. Recto describes her sale to Sitt al-Munā bt.

Related People

4

Related Documents

1

1 Transcription 1 Translation

Primary languages

Arabic, Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Contains prolonged blessings and praises, hopes that God will remove a cause of discord, and curses upon sinners and enemies. The substance of the leter is missing; this was probably a very tall letter originally.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

On verso, a record of the income on a certain Shabbat, including an entry for "the sick" (al-marḍā). Another entry on the verso reads "תולידו" (Toledo?)

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The sender asks the addressee to deliver an enclosed letter to Rosh ha-Qahal and write back with news and further instructions. Greetings to ha-Ḥazzan ha-Levi, to the addressee's children and community, and greetings from "the three boys sgane ha-kehuna." Ends with a motto ישע צורי(?).

Tags

• communal

1 Transcription

Inferred date

1750–1800 CE

Primary languages

Aramaic, Hebrew

Ṭawīl's signature is known from a variety of dated legal documents issued in Rashid during the 1780s, where he probably served as a court scribe and/or dayyan: ENA 3306.1 (PGPID 12852), ENA 3306.2 (PGPID 12853), and ENA 3306.6 (PGPID 12856).

Related Places

1

Tags

• 18th c
• illumination
• ketubba

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

There is some issue with the rent, such that the wife of Ṣāʿid owes 14 dinars. (3–5) These entries deal with items such as salted meat, clothing, jewelry, and household goods, and the wife of Ṣāʿid owes ~10 dinars for each item. There is a single entry on verso phrased as a legal query, which may or may not belong together with the entries on recto.

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic mentioning a variety of names, many of which may bear signs of Greek linguistic influence on ENA 3735.10. Early modern dating based on the paleography. […] The related neighboring fragment ENA 3735.11 features more names: Maḥmūd Jalabi (Çelebi), Maḥ[mūd]/Muḥ[ammad] Ṭarabulusī, and others. The commodity iron חדיד appears in connection with the name Maḥmūd Jalabi. The heading of ENA 3735.11 may feature a full date but the year is badly effaced.

Related Places

1

Tags

• early modern
• greek names
• iron
• naples

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1128–1164 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

If not paid according to the agreed-upon installment plan, Sālim will sue him for the entire sum in Muslim courts. Witnesses: Yefet b. Shaḥrūr ("Blackbird"); Avraham b. […] (Information in part from Goitein's index card.) NB: Goitein refers to ENA 4011.49 as ENA 4011.50.

Related People

3

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The paleography suggests that these accounts date to the fifteenth or sixteenth centuries at the earliest. The second entry on the recto's right bifolium titled "expenses" (מצרוף) lists several full names including: Shelomo Zimra (a common Sephardi variation of Zamero), Shelomo b. […] Ṣōr[?] (ן׳ צור). Among the entries on the recto's left bifolium we find the names: Sheḥata b. […] Unfortunately, none of the account entries list a numismatic term that would help ascertain the chronology of the when these accounts were issued.

Tags

• ottoman shipping

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Probably from the same ledger as ENA NS 57.6 (PGPID 12647). Dating: Ottoman şerifi coinage is mentioned on a few occasions which, in combination with the paleography, supports a dating estimate of 16th-century. A variety of values are listed as שמש, probably the communal title. The first two entries on the recto probably mention funerary burials (מדפון/מדפונה) and the names of the deceased, but these lines are very damaged. […] II 1406 (PGPID 12611). Multiple entries on the recto mention "ḥammāliyyin" (probably pallbearers in this context).

Tags

• cemetery
• list
• mishmeret

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The sender could be the same Yiṣḥaq b. Yosef as in ENA 2560.5 (PGPID 12276), but the handwriting is different. Uses the phrase ודמר אעדאה for "may God destroy your enemies," otherwise found only in the letters of Khalaf b.

Related People

1

Tags

• ib-addenda

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Bifolium from a court notebook. Fol. 1a: End of a legal query (ll. 1–4) and complete answer/responsum (ll. 5–19) in the case of Hilāl the husband of the son of a deceased enslaved woman (אלגאריה אלמתופייה).

Related People

1

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• mevorakh b. natan

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

Adar II 1529 Seleucid (28 February 1218–28 March 1218 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Verso: Engagement (shiddukhin) contract. In the hand of Yehuda b. […] The document notes that she will “enter the huppa in the year 1523 [an error for 1533 Seleucid = 1221 CE?][…] Published by Ashur, Engagement Documents, MA thesis, 116–20.

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• bilbays
• engagement

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Document date

Thursday, 9 Elul 1428 Seleucid (9 August 1117 CE)

Primary languages

Aramaic, Judaeo-Arabic

So the marriage didn't end well. It was Ṣedaqa's second marriage. Published by Ashur, Engagement and Betrothal, p. 311–13. (AA) Alternate description: Notes for the preparation of a marriage contract (right column) and the renewal of (a different) marriage after a divorce (left column and verso). This is the entry for the initial marriage contract, which includes information on the dowry, one half of a new house in Fustat.

Related People

1

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• prenuptial

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 2 Discussions

Primary languages

Aramaic, Judaeo-Arabic

The question tells of a grown up girl whose father, who resided elsewhere, engaged her to a man. The father agreed upon with the groom that whoever cancels the wedding will pay a fine, a condition common in the Geniza. […] The case became complicated when the girl wished to get engaged to another man. The person who wrote the question asks whether the engagement conducted by the father was valid, and whether it is possible for the girl to marry the person she chooses, despite the actions of her father.

1 Transcription

Document date

8 Kislev 5459 Anno Mundi (11 November 1698 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

Verso: Engagement agreement in Hebrew. Date: 8 Kislev 5459 AM (November 1698 CE). […] One of the witnesses is listed as Shelomo Zaraḥīya (who was likely not the scribe given that he is listed as ע׳׳ב=עד 2=second witness). This engagement document was perhaps a draft of the final version issued to the prospective bride/groom and/or a draft of what was entered into a court register.

Related Documents

1

Tags

• 17th c
• engagement
• marriage

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

There follows a long list of materia medica and associated commodities, accompanied by quantities. Several entries are crossed out with red ink. The right page of recto is headed "laqaṭ" and seems to contain more equipment (needles, applicators, vessels). […] T-S AS 184.321 (PGPID 18528) and ENA NS I.77 (PGPID 12018) for similar lists, in Arabic script, with the same use of red ink for crossing out entries.

No Scholarship Records