Documents

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Yosef b. Maḥfūẓ to the Nagid Shemuel b. […] It seems that he denounced (ghamzaz) the ḥaver Yeshuʿa to the tax officials. The letter is rich with further details about capitation tax politics merits further examination.

Related People

2

Tags

• communal

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Ladino

Letter from Daniel Levi Mondolfo to Avraham Krispin. […] He discusses previous correspondence between his location and Fustat/Cairo. Mentions his brother-in-law Efrayim, Se. סיוואיגרו, and Se.

Related Places

1

Tags

• krispin
• ladino
• mondolfo

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Yosef b. Farah, Fustat, to his brother Farah b. […] Farah before 1058 (Ben Sasson). The letter discusses commercial matters (i.e., exchanging checks and coins) and the departure of ships containing goods to Sicily. Also mentions Nahray b. Nissim. (Information in part from Gil and Ben Sasson) For the nizārī dinar, see https://dpul.princeton.edu/coins_geniza/feature/1-nizari-dinar-and-ahiri-dirham-11th-century-ce.

Related People

3

Related Places

3

Tags

• coin
• ship
• trade

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Arabic

Letter, in Arabic script, well preserved. Begins with basmala and “wallahi la-qad ṣadaqa ḥaḍrat mawlāya l-shaykh,” "my Master was right". The sender seems to be a lower-level (Coptic?) administrator or a tax farmer describing his job. He mentions al-Mastay, the town in Nile delta, and reports an affair during the tenure of the addressee (ayyām ʿahdihi/ʿamalihi l-nājiya/nāḥīyya) and that it is a lousy place to be a tax collector as it is difficult to even extract a dirham from anyone, "wa-mā bihā ṣāniʿ yurjā minhu l-dirham."

Related Places

1

Tags

• damin
• dimme
• tax collector

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter of appeal for help. In Judaeo-Arabic. Written on behalf of a woman, probably in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. "A divorced woman complains that her former husband constantly asks her to return to him. She has left for Alexandria and all the time he keeps asking her to return to him in Fustat which she is afraid to do.

Related People

1

Tags

• appeal
• divorce
• ghulam
• halfon b. menashshe
• women's letters

No Scholarship Records

Document date

Av 5544 Anno Mundi (19 July 1784–17 August 1784 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Recto: Perhaps a letter or brief legal document? Very faded. Verso: A record of the amount of money (35 silver [medin]) received from Eliyyahu Nābī(?)

Tags

• 18th c
• rent

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Fragment of a letter in calligraphic Judaeo-Arabic, partially in rhymed prose. Refers to the dearth of proper legal documents (ketubba, barāʾa, maʿase, sheṭar) among "the Jews of this city. . . out of fear of the danger." It is unclear what location he is referring to or the nature of the danger. Further down, mentions the Rosh ha-Seder; that the sender was fasting on a certain day; that he went to a person's shop on the Sabbath; and that he wished to offer a prayer (a Yoṣer) or take out the Torah in the synagogue.

1 Transcription

Document date

5 Shevaṭ 1437 Seleucid (1 January 1126 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. A settlement in connection with the dissolution of a partnership between Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel ha-Levi and Banīn (possibly the druggist Banīn b. Daʿūd), who had jointly run a perfumery in Giza.

Related People

2

Related Places

2

Tags

• halfon b. menashshe

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

Sunday, 1 Sivan 1572 Seleucid (1 May 1261 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: Sunday, 1 Sivan 1572 Seleucid, which is 1 May 1261 CE. Concerning a legal/administrative action taken by “Avraham ha-Darshan (the preacher) and the elders of the holy congregation” regarding the estate of the late Fakhriyya bt. […] (Information from CUDL and S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:219, 494, 568; 3:188, 466.)

Related Places

1

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

1435 Seleucid (22 September 1123–10 September 1124 CE)

Primary languages

Aramaic, Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Legal document dealing with inheritance issues (a gift followed by a release). […] Shelaḥya and Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya b. Shelomo ha-Levi. Dated: 1435 Seleucid = 1123/24 CE. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (fl. 1100-1138 CE). (Information in part from CUDL.)

Related People

1

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Abū Naṣr Ibn al-Ṭabīb in which he acknowledges receipt of letters from the addressee and Abū l-Maʿālī and asks for charity, citing Genesis 28:20: “I ask no more than bread to eat and clothing to wear for me and my dependents.”

Related People

1

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Ḥasan b. Muʾammal, Ramla, to Abū Naṣr the cockeyed (al-aḥwal), Fustat. […] Describes an incident in a synagogue on Yom Kippur when "a man from [Tyre] and a man from Tiberias became involved in love, and the Tiberian began embracing the Tyrian in the sight of [the people]." See Melonie Schmierer-Lee, "What happens on pilgrimage…: T-S 8J22.25," Fragment of the Month, February 2018 (https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/taylor-schechter-genizah-research-unit/fragment-month/fotm-2018/fragment-3?

Related Places

2

Tags

• 11th c
• homosexuality

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from a man to his sister Umm Bū l-ʿAlāʾ. Sent care of Eliyyahu the Judge. […] Dating: Early 13th century. The letter contains an extremely vivid account of the imprisonment and tortures to which he and Abū Saʿd were subjected. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 609; III, pp. 43, 432).

Related Places

1

Tags

• address as seal
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• mysterious mark
• personal
• (+ 2 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Avraham b. Natan in Tyre to Nahray b. […] Natan tried to establish his position in Alexandria and al-Mahalla, an attempt reflected in this letter. On Avraham b. Natan's residence in Alexandria see M. Gil, 'Scroll of Evyatar,' p. 89 lines 29-30. See also Goitein, Med. Soc. Vol. 5, p. 596 no. 19. (Information from Frenkel).

Related People

4

Related Places

2

Tags

• 11th c
• avraham b. natan
• munir al-dawla
• nahray b. nissim
• trade
• (+ 1 more)

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Document date

1 Tevet 5508 Anno Mundi (3 December 1747 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

Legal document for a investment partnership to benefit the communal fund for study of the Sefer Zohar in Old Cairo (Fusṭāt). […] Witnessed by Ḥayyim ha-Levi, Joseph Yonah, Moses Mosseri, [...] b. Zechariah Mosseri (mentioned in the text as the brother of Abraham), and dated 1 Tevet 5508 AM (= 1747 CE) in Cairo.

Related Places

2

Tags

• 18th c
• fustat
• kabbala
• kabbalists
• late synagogues
• (+ 3 more)

2 Transcriptions

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from a woman named Hayfāʾ bt. Sulaymān Ibn al-ʿArīq to ʿEli b. […] The addressee was the leader of the Jerusalemite congregation of Fustat during the third quarter of the eleventh century. […] (S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society; and Goitein's index cards) VMR

Related People

1

Related Places

3

Tags

• aguna
• communal
• petition

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

Middle decade of Elul 1432 Seleucid (27 August 1121–7 September 1121 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Written and signed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Dated: Middle decade of Elul 1432 Seleucid, which is 1121 CE. Abū l-Faḍl Shela ha-Levi Ibn al-Baṣrī was engaged in a partnership with Abū l-Mufaḍḍal Netanel ha-Sar, and after Netanel's death the partnership was dissolved, and Netanel' daughters (Sitt al-Khāṣṣa, Sitt al-Kamāl, and Sitt al-Karam) issued a release to Shela.

Related People

2

Related Places

1

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1149–1153 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Copy of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Written on a reused fragment of a letter in Arabic script (the only part preserved is the basmala and the opening "ṣalawāt Allāh wa-bara[kātuh]"). […] (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 32, 528, and M. A. Friedman's article on Zuta, p. 479.)

Related People

3

Tags

• nagid

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Verso: Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: Sunday, 17 [...] 1359 Seleucid, which is 1047/48 CE. […] Certifying that [...] b. Khalaf ha-Levi has paid a portion of the early marriage payment to Dalāl bt. Faraj, and that he will come to Fustat and marry her before Purim of the coming year, and if not he will give her a bill of divorce. Mentions the cantor Ḥusayn b. [...] and the parnas Yaʿīsh ha-Kohen.

Related People

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• account
• heqdesh
• qodesh
• waqf
• yefet b. david b. shekhanya

1 Transcription 1 Translation 2 Discussions

Dated: 1104 or 1107 CE, with a partial year in the first line, Nisan 14[..] Seleucid, and mention of Adar II, denoting a leap year. Berakhot ha-Kohen releases Avraham ha-Dayyan and David(?) […] Signed by Ḥalfon b. Yosef, Menaḥam b. Shemuel, Yakhin b. Mevorakh, the parnas and trustee Yosef b. […] Yeḥezqel, Ḥalfon […], […] b. Mevorakh, and […] b. Shemuel. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index card.)

1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

Poem for a groom.

Tags

• poem

1 Transcription

Primary language

Hebrew

A lament.

Tags

• dirge
• poem

1 Transcription

Primary languages

Greek/Coptic Numerals, Judaeo-Arabic

II.Twelve parties (of whom at least six are repeated from list I) getting sums, mostly of 2.5 or 5 (dirhams). […] The neglected people listed were mostly outsiders, either foreigners (Rum/Byzantium, Persia, Jerusalem, Barqa, etc.) or from Egypt itself (Alexandria, al-Mahalla, Minyat Ghamr, Benha, Damira, Dakarnas). The overlinings may mean these persons have now received, which would explain the fact that mostly it is the same names above and below that are overlined. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 462–63, App. B 85.)

Related Places

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• charity
• communal
• list
• poverty
• recipients
• (+ 1 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

(Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 331, and Goitein's index cards)

Related People

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• register
• slaves

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

Genealogical list of the family of Avraham Maimonides' mother (the wife of Moshe Maimonides), a family in which nearly every member is described as "he-Ḥasid" ("the pious"). Her father was al-Shaykh al-Thiqa Mishaʾel b. Yeshaʿyahu ha-Levi. The heading of the list is damaged but appears to refer to Abū Naṣr (b.) al-Shaykh al-Thiqa, i.e., Maimonides' brother-in-law Yeshaʿyahu b.

Related People

1

Tags

• avraham maimonides
• genealogy
• pietism

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary languages

Arabic, Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Recto: Letter from a physician named Abu Zikri to a senior colleague, Abu 'Ali. […] Information from: Ashur and Lev, "Three Fragments on Practical Medicine in Medieval Egypt." Goitein, Med Soc V, 95 and 532. Goitein's index cards. Alan Elbaum 11/2019.

Tags

• physician

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1066–1108 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Legal document settling a dispute between Abū l-Faraj and Abū l-ʿAlāʾ ʿUlla b. Yosef ha-Levi, the well known parnas in Fustat (dated documents 1084–1117), regarding shops of the former.

Related People

2

1 Transcription

Inferred date

1168–1204 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Draft of a letter that was not sent. A question that was addressed to Maimonides about remission of debts.

Related People

1

Tags

• draft
• legal query
• maimonides
• responsum

1 Transcription

Account of the qodesh for display ca. 1222-23. This document is the final copy of the record of which the preceding document (ENA 3824.1) is …

Tags

• 13th c
• account
• heqdesh
• qodesh
• waqf

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Document date

1159 Hijrī (24 January 1746–12 January 1747 CE)

Primary language

Ladino

The Hijrī years '54, '55, and '56 are also mentioned in the second heading of the third column on the recto. The accounts were drawn up by a cloth merchant who had extensive business dealings with Ottoman state officials in Egypt– many of which involve transactions for "satin" (razo ראזו). […] Additional Ottoman officials and title-holders include, for example: Aḥmad Ağa Çerkasī, Muḥ[ammad]/Maḥ[mūd] Qaʾīmaqam, Ḥalīl Beğ, Aḥmad Çorbacı, Aḥmad Efendī t[ābiʿ] Ib[rahīm] Beğ, ʿUmr Efendi Baş, Katkhuda al-Bāb, Muḥammad Ağa. At least two tailors are mentioned (sastre, שאשטרי), one of whom is listed as "the tailor of the aforementioned Beğ," whose household is referenced at the top of the third column on the verso: "Account of the house of Yosef Beğ ישיר(?)

No Scholarship Records

Primary languages

Arabic, Judaeo-Arabic

Original document: Letter from [...] b. Shemuel to Abū Naṣr Mufarrij b. […] The addressee may be the same as the one mentioned in Bodl. MS heb. c 28/62 (PGPID 9298). […] Several numbers are mentioned, and potentially dates.

Tags

• al-najah
• bialphabetic
• jahbadh

1 Discussion

Witnessed by about 20 people: Shemuel b. Mevasser b. Shemuel b. [...], ʿEli b. Nissim b. Aharon ha-Kohen, Ḥusayn b. […] Asad, Yaḥyā b. ʿImrān b. Mūs[ā] ha-Levi, ʿEli b. [...], Mevasser b. Moshe b. ʿEzra, Raḥami[m] b. […] Mūsā Qardūsī, Nahum b. Ṣadoq, Mevasser b. Nahum, Nahum b. Yisrael, ʿEli b. Shemuel, ʿEli b.

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Dating: ca. 1145 CE. Mentions names such as Abū l-Karam Ibn al-Ḥunaykh, Ibn al-Kirmānī, Mūsā, Abū l-Makārim the son of the late Rabbenu Nissim, Abū Saʿd b. […] Goitein's comment: "Such debts were not always a sign of poverty. The last leaf of an inventory of an estate notes a debt of 125 dinars on tax-farming, but registers purses with gold and silver coins, vessels made of the same metals, promissory notes, and many other assets far exceeding a thousand dinars" (Med Soc II, p. 362 at note 47).

Related Places

1

Tags

• damin

1 Discussion

Inferred date

1334–1334 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter in the hand of Yehoshuaʿ Maimonides (d. 1355), or at least by the same person as PER H 129 (PGPID 9391), which Goitein identified as Yehoshuaʿ's only known autograph. […] [If you return,] you will not have grief in your heart that you did not see me and that I did not pray for you before my death. I do not doubt in your love for me, as you must not doubt in my lasting love for you.

Related People

1

Tags

• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: threatening to die
• yehoshua maimonides autograph

1 Transcription