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shelfmark:"Bodl ms. Heb a 2/3"
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.
No Scholarship Records
Two government officials named Abu al-Makarim the scribe and Abu al-Bishr make a loan of 54 dinars belonging to them in equal shares to Yosef b.
1 Transcription 1 Discussion
Verso: responsum in the hand of Abū Naṣr Ibn al-Ṭabīb quoting Isaac al-Fāsī (1013-1103), and R”I Migash, and referring to Maimonides in the blessing for the living (so it was written during his lifetime).
Letter sent from al-Mahdiyya (Gil)/ Sicily (Ben-Sasson) by Ismail b. Yaʿaqov al-Andalusi to his nephew, Yeshua b. Natan in Fustat, dealing with goods sent to the Maghreb and other business matters.
3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion
Mentions names such as al-ʿArīf; Fuḍayl; Abū l-ʿAlāʾ; Mufaḍḍal. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card).
1 Discussion
Leaf 1: In Hebrew characters, the beginning of the same poem by al-Waʿīẓī/al-Baghīḍī (ليس المقام بدار الذل من شيمي) that appears in BL OR 5565G.40 + T-S NS 224.170.
Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. There is also one page of a medical treatise in Judaeo-Arabic, discussing the factors to consider (temperament, strength, habitus, age) in deciding how to evacuate the patient.
The quantities are small: 1/4, 2, 4 ounces. There are also several lines in Arabic script in two different hands.
He asks for hospitality until after the holiday (this is not the first time he has asked). He also asks for some wine for qiddush.
Wahb for his ḍamān on dyeing in Madīnat al-Fayyūm. Dated: Middle of Dhū l-Ḥijja 403. Amount: one-third and one-eighth dīnār. Written by the jahbadh Mīkhāʾīl b. ʿAbd al-Masīḥ. Measurements: 12.7 x 8 cm. Written on a reused petition (see separate entry).
2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion
Mentions the Naṣīra Dirham, which was the coin minted under the first Ayyubid emir al-Nāṣir Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn in 1187, and hence the document can be dated to the Ayyubid era.
The shop is leased to the pharmacist/perfumer Isḥāq Al-Yahūdī. The document is witnessed by Ayyūb al-Bazzāz.
Collections of sayings of the Sufi martyrs (especially of Abu Yazid) with occasional comments by ʿAbd al-Rahman b. Muhammad, pages 1–14. 2. Exchange of letters between al-Nūrī and Junayd on the subject of balā' (trial/affliction), pages 14–20.
The addressee is urged not to stay in תרבת אלמ . . .ה. Also mentions Cairo in the margin. AA/ASE
Recto, with the address on verso: letter to Binyamin b. Qalyūsa (?) al-Ghazzāwī (= of Gaza). Mentions Abū Saʿīd. Verso, with the address on recto: reply to the first letter, sent to Shimʿon b. Ḥunayn al-Mughrabī by the aforementioned Binyamin (reply to the letter on recto).
Discussing in vague terms a situation in which the addressee needs to act beneficently: "...all doubt has now passed, and everything has become as clear as could be desired. Do not spare any effort in help and collaboration with all the other affairs of the ḥaver..." (Information in part from CUDL)
1 Transcription
Shemuʾel; Yaḥyā b. Moshe al-Majjānī and (on verso) "in the market" (בשוק). […] Probable join with T-S AS 146.265 identified by Alan Elbaum. AA/ASE
The house was situated in the Bir Jabr quarter of Alexandria, which harbored the synagogue of the Iraqi Jews of that city, but was contiguous with the house of a Christian clergyman.
Opens with blessings for the addressee, then reports that a letter arrived from the Jews of ʿAkkā (aṣḥābnā al-ʿAkawiyyīn). Then mentions the arrival of Avraham b. […] (Information in part from CUDL.) Probable join: Alan Elbaum.
Letter from Peraḥya b. Sahlān (Alexandria), ca. 1055. Only the bottom part of the letter is preserved.
אלפגיעה [ ] פכונא נכתב אלי [
וולדה נעלמהם בהדה אלנובה וכאן וצל מן טראבלס אלגרב צחֿבה [
אבו אלטרור צאחב שמעה אלחל[י]סי ק[ ] וימ[ ] מאלה וח…
1 Transcription 1 Translation
Writer instructs the addressee to write to Abū l-Maʿā[nī]. Also mentions a daughter of the addressee and young man who is like a son to the writer ("who has never (till now) left the care of his mother"), who the addressee is supposed to take care of and set him up for work.
Folio completely covered with willy nilly Arabic text written in a chancery hand, maybe writing exercises copied from other documents, including phrases from petitions (...yujaddid taqbīl al-arḍ wa-yasʾal istikhdāmah...) and reports (...mutawallī al-ḥarb... tawajjaha ilā...).
There is a header "the Qaraites" (al-qaraʾiyyīn) followed by the names Ibn al-Shuwaykiyya, Ibn Kawjakh, and Ibn Ṭībān.
(Information from Goitein's note cards) 1v-2r contains alphabetical exercises, consisting of the alphabet written out in normal order, followed by the (beginnings of) it in reverse order.
The superscription is nearly entirely effaced but the word ‘jarida’ (also register), mostly used on lists of the poor, is clearly visible in the second line.
Accounts in Arabic dated June/July 1824 (Dhū l-Qaʿda 1239). Alexandria is mentioned in the second line of the heading as well the "Jewish ṣarrāf of the treasury of the silk looms in the aforementioned port", Mūsa Naʿīm.
Margins contain mention of "al-Shaykh" and his tafsīr on Kitāb al-Aghlūqun (Glaucon).
Striking handwriting; the tail of the فی (or perhaps فيه) goes up and all the way around and comes down on the left. Mentions: "their mingling with the people of. . . . what is reported from them. . . […] Manṣūr the governor (? al-ʿāmil) from it. . . service (khidma) in their problem. . . ."
Verso: Another draft document involving the gabbay Moshe Mosseri, mentioning a sum of 19,250 arayot. There is also the draft of a beginning of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic and sundry other jottings.
Recto: Legal note in Judaeo-Arabic about the collection of payments from al-Zakiyy, mentioning a jābī and a ḥawāla (aḥāla ʿalayhi...).
Refers to the tax collectors (al-ḥushshār) and asks to be sent the receipt (al-wuṣūl).
He says he is doing well and thanks God for something having to do with his brother Abū l-Ḥasan (=Yedutun ha-Levi). Verso also contains an earlier document in Arabic script, which mentions wheat and may be a fiscal account.
Refers to letters or documents "in my name"; "strange speech" (gharāʾib al-kalām); obtaining a document from the Ṣāḥib al-Dīwān.
E.g., Ṣadaqa, Barakāt, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, Ibrāhīm, Qāsim, Abū l-Mufaḍḍal, Barakāt, Abū l-Baqāʾ, Abū l-Khayr b. Yaḥyā, Qāsim, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, Abū l-Maʿālī, Hind, Abū Ṭāhir.
In which [...] b. Ḥusayn al-ʿAṭṭār releases his maternal uncle Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. Yeshuʿa known as Ibn Nissim from all claims. Cf. Bodl. MS heb. c 28/4 (PGPID 6419).
ʿAmram against people who disagree with him. Also words of condolences for a person who passed away.
Release granted by Sitt al-Dār bt. Daniel to Abū l-Waḥsh Sibāʿ. Signed by Yaʿaqov b. […] Handwriting is probably known (Mevorakh b. Natan?). Join: Alan Elbaum.
The agent is Ṣāliḥ b. Yūsuf al-Yahūdī al-Ṣiqillī. Dated: 7 Rajab 495 AH, which is 27 April 1102 CE.
Letter sent from an unidentified man, in Alexandria, to his brother, possibly in Shayzar (Syria).
Containing elaborate expressions of sympathy or condolence for something bad that happened. Mentions Abū l-Ḥasan; al-Shaykh Abū l-[...]l; and the intriguing phrase 'in the hearts of the Muslims from him.' Join: Alan Elbaum.
Written on the 26th of Nisan. Also signed by Yeḥezqel b. ʿEli he-Ḥaver ha-Kohen and Yeshuʿa b.
In Arabic script. Mūsā b. Yūsuf b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz buys livestock (mentions "two ewes" at the beginning of l. 4) from [...] b. [...] b. Abū l-Ḥasan b. [...] b. Ismāʿīl al-[Yahū]dī (this might be a list of multiple sellers).
He mentions that he got sick and nearly died, recovered, relapsed and nearly died, and recovered again. Also mentions Gaza. Needs examination.
The latter man bears the communal title of Rosh Mish[meret] and also appears in: Yevr.-Arab. II 1583 (PGPID 28042).
The writer discusses the transfer of money and trade of different goods, such as textiles; precious stones and pearls from Aleppo and Homs; and Torah codices from Basra and Baghdad. […] Several individuals are also mentioned in the letter: Abū l-Ḥasan, ʿAlī, Yehoshuaʿ, Daryā(?)[…] I was aware (of it), and I also sent, before this, 16. a bi[ll of exchange] … over 300 s, so that you (pl.) may give it by way of assignment … (?)
2 Transcriptions 2 Translations 2 Discussions
The designation "Tawānī" likely refers to the place of production or a certain style of silk from al-Tawānī, in modern-day Syria. Roẓano also offers suggestions for effectively selling the silk and encourages Karo in these efforts.
(Document #40) Oath of widowhood and dowry list of Mira, widow of Shelomo Rios, daughter of Yaʿaqov Ben-Alḥadab (who also appears in document #25 PGPID 40903).
:(Document #40) Folio 10r
Following their receipt of an apartment and three shops as gifts from their deceased grandmother, Mira widow of Shelomo Rios sells her share in these properties to her brother Yiṣḥaq b. Yaʿaqov Ben-Alḥadab. Besides Mira and Yiṣḥaq, one other grandchild had received a gift-share in the properties: Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham Ben-Alḥadab. The trio's grandmother, Miryam the widow of Yiṣḥaq Ben-Alḥadab, had originally come to own the properties as part of her ketubba settlement.
:(Documents 23-25) Folio 6v
Mentions a certain Abū l-Muna. Also signed by Avraham b. Shemaʿya he-Ḥaver and [...] b. […] On verso, in elegant Arabic script, there is the beginning of Kitāb al-Faṣīḥ by Abū l-ʿAbbās Thaʿlab (d. 904): هذا كتاب اختيار فصيح الكلام مما يجري في كلام الناس وكتبهم فمنه ما فيه لغة واحدة والناس على خلافها فأخبرنا بصواب ذلك . . .
Shemarya (who might be called al-Ghazzī here). Relates the events of a rainy and muddy day in the marketplace of Qaṣr al-Shamʿ, when a merchant named ʿImrān b. Eliyya from Palermo, Sicily, complained to the police ("in the בי דואר that is called שרטה in the language of the Ishmaelites") that he had already waited a full month for a Jewish court to deal with his case, whereupon the head of the police apprehended the Jewish judge for a night.