Documents

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Avraham b. Abū l-Ḥayy, in Alexandria, to his brother Musa, probably in Fustat. […] Avraham complains to Mūsā that ʿAllūn, who was in charge of the money of the family, refused to disburse any money without word from Mūsā, and then covered only a small part of the expenditure after Abū l-Najm Hilāl had intervened in the writer's favor.

Related People

2

Related Places

2

Tags

• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: cost
• illness: death

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Document date

Monday, 8 Shevaṭ 4866 Anno Mundi (15 January 1106 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Refers to his rights granted by 'the lofty rescript' (al-tawqīʿ al-ʿālī). Witnesses: Avraham Danafta (?)

Related People

7

Related Places

2

Tags

• damin
• lease
• silk
• tax

2 Transcriptions 2 Translations 1 Discussion

During a period of persecution and confiscation that occurred in the year 1127, a sum of money was kept by an official of the qodesh; in order to prevent its confiscation, the money was registered as having already been spent on the purchase of the half of that compound. The purpose of the memorandum is to justify that fictitious record, and probably also to make clear what part of Dar Naqa actually belonged to the qodesh.

Related People

1

Tags

• 12th c
• account
• heqdesh
• qodesh
• waqf

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

"The following description of the writer's well-being is altogether exceptional: 'I am completely comfortable in my body and all my affairs. My clothes do not hold me for all my happiness and success.' The story was indeed complicated.

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1

Tags

• byzantines
• conversions
• jerusalem
• marital dispute
• nar
• (+ 1 more)

2 Transcriptions 2 Translations 1 Discussion

Document date

1527 Seleucid (1215–1216 CE)

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

The partners ʿImrān Moshe al-Iskandarī b. Bū Manṣūr ha-Zaqen and Abū al-Ma‘ālī b. […] The division of profits and losses is not retained in the preserved portion of the document, but allusions to it in line 15 indicate it was outlined clearly.

Related Places

2

Tags

• aden
• avraham maimonides
• ib6
• india book
• partnership

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The first year, he fell ill in al-Maḥalla, and never even believed he would make it back to Alexandria.

Related People

1

Related Places

2

Tags

• abu l-afrah
• banayah b. musa
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: excuse
• (+ 1 more)

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1021–1024 CE

Primary languages

Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew

Petition to the Fatimid ruler Sitt al-Mulk. Dating (Rustow): 411–14/1021–24. In which the otherwise unknown Yaḥyā b. al-Ḥasan complains that a local amīr has confiscated his grain. […] The scribe who copied the biblical passages has glued this petition to another petition to Sitt al-Mulk, Bodl. MS Heb. 18/23 (PGPID 39034), to form a single rotulus.

Related Places

2

Tags

• dimme
• mazalim
• mosque
• petition
• sitt al-mulk

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1130–1139 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Dating: 1130s CE. Join: Alan Elbaum. There is another copy of the letter preserved: PGPID 5438 (India Book II, 13 and II, 14). There is a reference in this letter to a place called אלדייב (al-Diyyab), for which Maḍmūn wants a ship to set out from Mangalore to pick up coir, aloeswood, mango (?)

Related People

4

Related Places

4

Tags

• ib2
• india book
• maldives
• paper

3 Transcriptions 3 Translations 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1094–1097 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The letter concerns a consignment of mercury (zaybaq), which he was unable to sell in Alexandria, since the price was not yet fixed, while in the bourse of Qāḍī Rajā (in Fustat) it went for 14 dinars per qintar. […] In the postscript, mentions traders returning from India and alludes to the concern about the disappearance of Abū l-Faraj Nissim.

Related People

3

Related Places

2

Tags

• ib-partial translation-eng
• ib2
• india book

1 Transcription 2 Translations 2 Discussions

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The writer continues, "As soon as you see this letter, go to Abū l-Faraj b. al-Rayyis al-Iskandarānī (aka Eliyyahu the Judge), and go with him to the Rayyis, and take possession of the dowry of your sister's daughter." There follows a difficult sentence, then the writer lists all the items in the dowry. The relationships and the legal standing of the various parties are confusing.

Related Places

1

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

There are several Geniza letters from Yūsuf b. Mūsā al-Tāhartī, but the handwriting doesn't match, so the sender of this letter is probably a different person. […] The next section is about various business matters: mentions Yiṣḥaq Ibn Qayyūma, the cousin Labrāṭ, Almeria, yarn, and Ibrāhīm b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. Regards to Abū Yaʿqūb Ibn Bazzāz, whose son is well and with his maternal uncle.

Related Places

1

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

He instructs him to settle accounts with Ibn al-Dajājī. This sections mentions two distinct varieties of cinnamon (salīkha and qirfa) and agrimony juice (ʿaṣārat ghāfit). Also mentions the price of the linseed oil that someone had advanced to Mūsā.

Related People

2

Related Places

2

Related Documents

1

Tags

• business
• oil
• perfume

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The sender met with Abū l-Makārim, who defended himself by saying that he owes 100 dirhams in Fustat for the price of wheat and will be arrested if he enters ('as his wife knows'). Abū l-Makārim also owes some money (durayhimāt) to people in the army camp (al-ʿaskar).

Related Places

2

Tags

• wheat

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

middle decade of Tevet 1417 Seleucid (December 1105 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Menashshe ha-Levi testifies that Mudallala (aka Sitt Baghdād, as we know from T-S 13J2.14) received her bill of divorce together with her ketubba payment of 10 dinars in cash, and also her belongings valued at 10 dinars. She deposited the dinars with Abū l-Ṭāhir al-Ṣayrafī.

Related People

6

Related Places

1

Tags

• divorce

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

Verso: There are jottings all over the page, including a crossed-out paragraph from rabbinic literature about wheat and barley, and also the name "Miryam bat Tata."

Tags

• shehitah

No Scholarship Records

Document date

27 Nisan 1509 Seleucid (5 April 1198 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Abū l-Bayān, promises to pay after two months the remaining 5 mithqāls (out of the original price of 12 mithqāls) which she still owes to the seller Abū l-Barakāt Berakhot (or Yefet?) b. Moshe. She also pays the market fee and the broker. (Incidentally, the buyer's name means “the mistress of the scepter of lords,” or, if an abbreviation for Sitt Qaḍīb (Sitt al-)Sāda, "the mistress of the scepter, (the mistress of) lords.")

Related People

1

Tags

• bill of sale
• slave

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The document states that there is also a debt contract from the Muslim courts (בנימוסי הגוים). The debtor is a scion of the known family Ibn al-Shofeṭ, son of the judge Yaʾir and descendant of Abū l-Bishr Azhar aka Yaʾir b.

Related People

2

Related Documents

1

Tags

• beadle

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

"After describing his pain—also physical—over the loss of his father and his state of disconsolation (quoting Lamentations 2:13), he continues: 'You, the illustrious elder, have already learned how God the exalted has afflicted the people of Israel and, in particular, myself with the eclipse of the honored position (jāh) possessed by me through the vanishing of the crown, the glory, the power, the splendor . . . the nasi. . . and Head of the yeshiva....'"

Tags

• circular
• grief
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: emotion
• (+ 3 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1035–1051 CE

Primary language

Hebrew

The restoration of the synagogue is described, including the removal of rubble, and the use of 62 beams and 600 planks. Also mentions details concerning captives, as well as Yosef b. Yaʿqūb, a prominent member of the Fusṭāṭ Jewish community, who is loyal to the Babylonian academy of Pumbeditha and has the title Alūf. Greetings are sent to the addressee's son-in-law, Yosef.

Related People

2

Related Places

1

Tags

• efrayim b. shemarya
• shelomo b. yehuda

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

In addition to their mu‘āmalāt or joint enterprises, Efrayim and Moses also seem to have had an interest in a partnership with a Muslim, described as a khulṭa. […] Unlike in T-S 12.606 (PGPID 3187), another partnership release in this documentary corpus, the partnership cannot survive its partners, as is well-known in Jewish and Islamic law alike. (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 116)

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1040–1047 CE

Primary language

Hebrew

Dating: ca. 1040–47 (based on the people mentioned). Bride: Amat al-ʿAzīz bt. Ḥizqiyyahu the Qaraite nasi; groom: Yefet (Ḥasan) b. Ibrāhīm al- Tustarī of Fustat, son of Abū Saʿd Ibrāhīm al-Tustarī.

Related People

4

Related Places

1

1 Transcription 1 Translation 2 Discussions

Document date

[13]75 Seleucid (1063–1064 CE)

Groom: Marzūq b. Yefet. Bride: (Sitt al-)Furs bt. Simḥa. Location: Fustat. Dated: [13]75 Seleucid, which is 1063/64 CE. […] Elnatan (Abū l-Tāhir Ibn al-Qatmānī) is the bride's representative. The couple undertake to accept the calendar fixed every year according to the state of the crops in Palestine. […] Yosef b. ʿAnan ha-Levi, ʿAllān b. Nahum, Elʿazar b. Shemuel b. Sahl the Slave, [...] b.

Related Places

1

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Document date

Kislev 1428 Seleucid (18 November 1116–29 November 1116 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Menashshe ha-Levi, who also wrote the document. The agreement accompanied a ketubba written in the hand of Halfon b. […] There is an added condition that even if the brides allows the husband to transport the objects, he shouldn't do it.

Related People

3

Related Places

1

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The father objects to the son's order to purchase gallnuts (ʿafṣ), perhaps because Muslim has some already that are neglected (? muhmal). The letter is addressed to the dyer (אצבג = אלצבאג) in נוא (= No Amon = Alexandria?

Related Places

2

No Scholarship Records

Document date

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

Primary languages

Aramaic, Judaeo-Arabic

The bill of divorce of the couple is found in T-S 8J35.12 (PGPID 18633), also written by Ḥalfon. So the marriage didn't end well. […] 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).

Related People

1

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• prenuptial

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 2 Discussions

Document date

1 Adar 5522 Anno Mundi (24 February 1762 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

Below the initial signatures section there is an Aramaic validation clause which was probably followed by three additional signatures, all of which are also missing except for a small portion of the ornamental border from the middle signature.

Tags

• 18th c
• bathhouse
• real estate
• validation

1 Transcription

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Letter of Abū l-Maḥāsin b. ʿAlī the trader, introduced by citations from Proverbs 3:4, Psalms 37:11 and 119:165. Mentions consingments of medical commodities such as betel palm (fawfal), amomum (qāqulla), quince (safarjal), and lichen (dādī), a doctor’s visit and names such as Naḥūm the perfumer and Abū Manṣūr Ibn al-Ṣāʾiḡ (goldsmith), cousin of the writer. (Information from CUDL.) The writer excuses the poor appearance of his letter ('my mind is not present') on account of his great preoccupation for his two friends who are sick, Naḥum al-ʿAṭṭār and his cousin (b. ʿammatī) Abū Manṣūr the son of the tax farmer of ברמא.

Related Places

1

Tags

• damin
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: letter norms
• illness: physician
• (+ 4 more)

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1215–1225 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The scribe is identical with the scribe of PER H 86, which means this is the second autograph of the famous Spanish poet Yehuda al-Ḥarizi to be discovered. Dating: ca. 1215–25 CE. The sender urges the addressee to help him in a certain matter involving al-Akram Abu l-Rabīʿ, who must not leave Fustat/Egypt before a certain business and/or legal matter is concluded to his satisfaction. […] The addressee of this letter is not identified; possibly Eliyyahu the Judge, the addressee of al-Ḥarizi's other known letter.. ASE

Related Places

2

1 Transcription 1 Translation

Besides the accounting of an anonymous tenant of which only the end is preserved here, there are three larger paragraphs, of which the first deals with a room of a man from Aleppo (al-Halabi), the other with the apartment of another anonymous tenant, and the third with the apartment of Sitt Qawdaf.

Tags

• 11th c
• account
• communal
• qodesh
• waqf

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Arabic

It has the glyph, it's in Arabic script, and it mentions someone al-Yahūdī. T-S K25.240 consists of small written orders, partly in Hebrew and partly in Arabic script, for monthly payments, made out of the rent-revenue from the pious foundation (waqf) 'Compound of the Poor' or from the pious foundation made by the physician al-Muhadhdhab. All dated orders are from spring and summer, 1218.

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1205–1237 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

for work on the lane of the Jerusalemites (darb al-Maqādisa). T-S K25.240 consists of small written orders, partly in Hebrew and partly in Arabic script, for monthly payments, made out of the rent-revenue from the pious foundation (waqf) 'Compound of the Poor' or from the pious foundation made by the physician al-Muhadhdhab. All dated orders are from spring and summer, 1218.

Related People

3

Related Documents

1

Tags

• account
• avraham maimonides
• avraham maimonides autograph
• heqdesh
• qodesh
• (+ 2 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Subsequently, Hiba's sons Yaʿaqov and Ṣedaqa along with their mother arrived in Fustat and filed a complaint against their brother ʿAllūn. […] If they cannot settle the dispute, ʿAllūn must travel to Fustat with his brother(s), unless he has a good reason not to, in which case the addressees should send a legal document with their signatures explaining the situation.

Related People

1

Related Places

1

Tags

• sahrajt

1 Transcription

Document date

Tammuz 1430 Seleucid (12 June 1119–10 July 1119 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The court forced him to go along with it. There is a complicated discussion and settlement involving the dowry (qumāsh), compensation to her for the wear and tear on the dowry, the delayed marriage payment (muʾakhkhar), and the court compelling Abū l-Khayr to move. All this is tentative, pending the identification of the remaining joins. Join: Alan Elbaum.

Related People

1

Related Documents

21

Tags

• dowry
• halfon b. menashshe

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Mentions: Abū l-Munā; the tax collector (ṣāḥib al-mas) Abū ʿA[lī?]; something distressing; a request to talk to someone important (mawlāy al-ajall); Nuṣayr; regards to Khalīl; a great loss (? khaṣāra ʿaẓīma); three dirhams to purchase something with; a Jewish man from Tūnis who is going to Fustat en route to upper Egypt (al-Ṣāʿīd); dinars; Isḥāq b. אלמהר; a complaint about his friends who just take advantage of him (cf.

Related People

1

Tags

• yefet b. menashshe

No Scholarship Records

Document date

1 Sivan 1423 Seleucid (28 May 1112 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Ṭoviya tells his father to be assiduous in praying for him over Torah scrolls, perhaps because Avraham has not completely recovered from the illness. He also tells him to pray for Moshe Nagid b. Mevorakh. Ṭoviya writes, "Buy me an Aleppo izār (a large wrap or coat) in which I can pray all the time," probably referring to an inexpensive piece of Syrian cotton (Med Soc I, 196).

Related People

4

Related Places

2

Tags

• epidemic
• epidemic: waba'
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: dying
• (+ 4 more)

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Document date

Iyyar 1457 Seleucid (15 April 1146–13 May 1146 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Netanel repaid the debt of his late brother Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel. Location: Alexandria. Dated: Iyyar 1457 Seleucid, which is April/May 1146 CE. […] Yakhin) to Ḥalfon, in which he asked Ḥalfon not to travel to Damascus without repaying the debt of his (still-living) brother Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel, a sum of 45 3/4 dinars. Ḥalfon had previously given a collateral of silk to Saʿdān. […] Between the writing of the previous document and this one, Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel died. Ḥalfon's nephew Abū Naṣr Shemuel b.

Related People

6

Related Places

1

Tags

• ib-untranslated-eng
• ib4
• india book

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Mentions an area called ḥawsh al-maghāriba in Fustat, where Avraham's sister lives. The letter contains cryptic exhortations about associating with Gentiles, directed at Avraham as well as a certain Raḥel (his wife?). The letter also informs him that his sister's daughter Ḥabība is "stricken" (maḍrūba) and is on the verge of death. […] He expresses his distress at the death of his sister's husband Yaʿaqov and at the news of Ḥabība's condition. He also mentions the harrowing night he spent on a Nile boat after leaving Ḥayyim's house, which he thought he would not survive.

Tags

• epidemic
• illness
• illness: dying
• illness: gastrointestinal
• illness: travel
• (+ 2 more)

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Arabic

The sender asks the addressee to be sagacious and employ him in all services, big and small. He says that he doesn't seek permission to come to the addressee's presence to report on issues that cannot be sent via written correspondence because there is no prevailing issue as such to be reported. This is so because the produce (ghalla) of the areas under the sender's administration has been distributed and transported to granaries (makhāzin). He also mentions something related to selling the produce and sending their proceeds but the line is not very legible. […] Seems to be the same serial recycler as: - T-S 20.72 (PGPID 20107) - T-S 12.609 (PGPID 38766) - BL OR 5553.1 + BL OR 5553.2 + T-S Ar.51.49 + BL OR 5553A.1 + BL OR 5553A.2 (PGPID 30817) - ENA 2697.8 + ENA 2697.9 + T-S Ar.31.58 + T-S Ar.30.245 (PGPID 30818) - ENA 2917.1 (PGPID 30819) - ENA 3728.10 + ENA 3728.9 (PGPID 30834) - T-S AS 172.190 (PGPID 39336), which might be a join with T-S NS 137.29 (PGPID 23634) - T-S Misc.6.130 (PGPID 37932) The following literary fragments may also be in the same hand: - T-S Ar.46.46 - T-S Ar.51.50 - T-S K25.247 - T-S AS 144.95 - T-S NS 91.61 - T-S Misc.24.83 - T-S Misc.29.13a

Tags

• dimme

1 Transcription

Inferred date

1138–1138 CE

Primary language

Hebrew

Letter from Ḥalfon b. Netanʾel, al-Andalus, to Yosef ha-Levi b. Meʾir Ibn Migash. […] It's unclear whether at the time of writing Ḥalfon and Ibn Migash had already met face-to-face, but they had already corresponded. […] But Friedman notes that the panegyrics that Yehuda ha-Levi wrote for Ibn Migash seem to allude to the grandson's secular pursuits and standing as well.

Related Documents

1

Tags

• ib4
• india book

1 Transcription

Inferred date

1007–1055 CE

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Condemning and prohibiting all the alleged abuses in vogue at the sanctuary at Dammūh. […] Like al-Ḥākim himself they overreacted, and, as happened with the caliph's reforms, the disapproved practices at Dammūh probably surfaced again after some time. In order to enable the reader to join me in the study of this intriguing document, which is almost a thousand years old, I provide here a full analysis of its contents.

Related People

1

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• beer
• chess
• dammuh

1 Transcription

Document date

437 Kharājī (1046 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

In addition to numbers, there is also the name Masīḥ(?) b. ʿAbdallāh. Needs further examination.

Related Documents

2

Tags

• capitation tax
• dimme
• kharaj
• tax

No Scholarship Records

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Only the right side is preserved, so the story is difficult to figure out, but the letter is a recommendation or request for help for a man with a good reputation and something to do with Alexandria and a marriage.

Related Places

1

Tags

• recommendation

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

ha-Meʿulle, and he said to him, 'I heard that Abū l-Faraj al-Jub[aylī?] divorced his wife with a geṭ.' Inquire about this for me." Abū l-Faraj al-Jubaylī appears in several other documents from the mid-12th century.

Tags

• divorce
• informal note

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Hebrew

The sender asks to be forwarded any letter or news that arrives from אירודוס (=Rhodes?). He also asks for the 12 dirhams that he is owed. He passes on regards to various people, including 'the pharmacy student (?

Related Places

1

No Scholarship Records