Documents

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

There is a full translation and detailed analysis in Sharf, "An Unknown Messiah of 1096 and the Emperor Alexius." ASE

Related Places

4

Tags

• constantinople
• crusades
• dreams
• messiah
• salonica
• (+ 1 more)

1 Transcription 2 Translations 1 Discussion

Document date

Shevaṭ 1332 Seleucid (1020 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Persian

(Information from Olszowy-Schlanger, Karaite Marriage Documents, p. 41. See also Goitein notes and index card linked below.)

Related Places

1

Tags

• al-tustari
• court record
• jewels
• theft

1 Transcription 2 Translations

Document date

12 Ḥeshvan 1462 Seleucid (3 October 1150 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Shelomo, a ritual slaughterer in al-Maḥalla, to the judge Zakkay (probably the father of Shelomo b. […] The sender feared losing his job for having only memorized a handbook on his profession, instead of studying the sources, when a new judge, Menaḥem, arrived in al-Maḥalla. Verso is covered with various jottings, including the possible date of arrival of the letter: 12 Ḥeshvan 1462 Seleucid, which is 3 October 1150 CE.

Related Places

1

1 Discussion

Primary languages

Aramaic, Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Location: Possibly Alexandria: it appears to be spelled מדינת אכסנדריה, but in the very next line there is someone named אלאסכנדראני with the letters in the correct (Arabic) order.

Related Places

2

Tags

• ib-addenda

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1094–1097 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Nissim inquiring about a letter sent to Aden Alexandria. Dating: 1094–97. The first 27 lines consist mainly of greetings and expressions of admiration for Nahray and Mevorākh, the Rayyis.

Related People

5

Related Places

2

Tags

• ib-untranslated-eng
• ib2
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• india book

3 Transcriptions 2 Translations 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The wife of ʿAṭā' gave them only a couple measly garments, and when they put them on their bodies, they felt chills. She and her children all have an ear illness. The addressee evidently left 5 dinars for her with Farḥūn, although she has not yet been able to get her hands on it.

Related Places

1

Tags

• appeal
• charity
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: ear
• (+ 6 more)

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

From several people, probably addressed to Sayyidnā al-Rayyis. The senders are currently being held in prison and it sounds like they are making their case to the addressee to exert himself to help them. […] When this didn't get him anywhere, he went to some government office (Dār al-Sulṭān) and cried out for help, "O Muslims! I do not say... the religion of Islam."

Tags

• dar al-sultan
• muslim courts
• prison
• violence

1 Transcription

Document date

end of Kislev 1441 Seleucid (15 November 1129–14 December 1129 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

In which Abū l-Faraj "the physician of the fleet" (ṭabīb al-uṣṭūl) sues his debtor Abū l-Ḥassan b. Muʿammar Ibn al-Baṭṭ for 22 dinars and 70 dirhams, documented in an Arabic debt contract.

Related Documents

1

Tags

• physicians

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

Av 1425 Seleucid (6 July 1114–4 August 1114 CE)

Primary languages

Aramaic, Judaeo-Arabic

Seʿadya known as Abū l-Yumn Ibn al-Baṣal, release each other from all claims. She initiated the divorce by agreeing to forego the delayed payment from her marriage contract (this is known as "ransom" or iftidāʾ), and the court obligated him to give her the bill of divorce.

Related People

1

Tags

• halfon b. menashshe
• ransom divorce

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

Letter from an unknown writer in al-Maḥalla to Sar ha-Sarim (Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya) in Fustat. […] Goitein suggests that the writer is the muqaddam of al-Maḥalla. The name Shemuel b. ʿOvadya b. Saʿadya ha-Levi on verso may be the name of the writer, but this is not clear (the name is prefaced with ל = "to" or "belonging to").

Related Places

2

1 Discussion

Document date

1532 Seleucid (31 August 1220–17 September 1221 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

from Avraham to preside over this marriage between the groom Abū l-Munā and 'the girl,' who has appointed her father as her agent. He also asks if it is permissible to use the text of the ketubba drafted on the other side.

Related People

1

Related Places

2

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

He humorously complains that the pepper won't fetch any money for him to be able to eat or drink. He also did not want the 15 עיטוריה(?) dinars that the addressee sent with Mūsā b.

Tags

• betel nut
• cardamom
• ib7
• india book
• pepper
• (+ 2 more)

2 Transcriptions

Document date

Iyyar 1443 Seleucid (18 April 1132–16 May 1132 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

Eliyyahu b. Shelomo (thus far all are titled Rosh Yeshivat Ge'on Yaʿaqov) b. Yehosef ha-Kohen Bayt Din Kohen Ṣedeq b. […] The FGP transcription is for a circular letter by Maṣliaḥ Gaon sent to all the cities of the Rīf. This text may have come from part of the letter that was not digitized.

Tags

• masliah gaon

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

II B 1535 (PGPID 41769). There are also remnants of accounts in Greek/Coptic numerals probably from an earlier document on verso.

Related People

3

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Reused for Hebrew jottings (though it's also possible that these came first, since they are partially cut off on recto).

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

An old woman, the widow of Abū ʿAlī Yefet Ibn al-Ṣabbāgh (she is probably the same as Ḥusna bt.

Related People

3

Tags

• deathbed will
• halfon b. menashshe

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Ulla - his name appears in both options) to Saadia and his wife Sitt al-Husn. Signed by [Yeshuʿa?] ha-Melammed b. Avraham and the physician (ha-Rofeʾ) Yaʿaqov b. […] ʿUlla; 1.5 "shares" in something; Saʿadya's wife Sitt al-Ḥusn; [..] b. Shelomo ha-Kohen.

No Scholarship Records

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Brill: Leiden, 2013. See also Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 17 and Goitein notes linked below, and the Penn Catalog.)

Related People

1

Related Places

2

Tags

• calendar controversy

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 2 Discussions

Primary language

Hebrew

Mentions the Fatimid vizier al-Malik al-Afḍal (r. 1094–1121), Tripoli, Jabla, and the lands of Ishmael and Edom (possibly Byzantium), to which Yiṣḥaq was hoping to travel, and reports that at nighttime he was robbed and needed 8 dinars to replace his good clothing.

Related People

4

Related Places

4

Tags

• recommendation
• travels

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Document date

5463 Anno Mundi (23 September 1702–10 September 1703 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Dated in multiple locations to the early 18th century, for example שנת הנה ישעך בא (=463=1703). There may also be dates as early as the 1640s but this portion of the UPenn-CAJS catalogue metadata is unclear.

Tags

• 18th c
• ledger
• yemeni

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Goitein: "Cakes, called kaʿk in Arabic (a word that seems, however, not to be connected with its English equivalent), also were normally bought in the bazaar, and the name or designation ka'ki, or cake master, is rather frequent.

Tags

• cake
• food

1 Transcription

Primary language

Arabic

Letter, probably from a son to father inferred from the expression "وما اعلمك به يا والدي". The name ʿAbd al-Wahhāb appears on verso in what appears to be the remnant of the address. […] Mentions irdabbs of barley (shaʿīr) several times, wheat (qamḥ) and vetch (jullabān), and a horse which arrived safely (wa-qad waṣala lanā al-ḥiṣān sālim). The letter overall seems to report on usual commercial transactions and prices of goods but merits further examination.

Tags

• dimme

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1007–1038 CE

Letter from Isma’il b. Barhun al-Taharti to Efrayim b. Shemarya (fl. 1007–1055), Fustat. […] Shemarya and Rav Hayya Gaon– though this range might be narrowed further based on the years when Isma’il b. Barhun al-Taharti was active. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #124) VMR

Related People

2

Related Places

2

Tags

• al-tahirti
• babylonian geonim
• indigo
• trade

1 Transcription

Sugmar, from Susa, to his brother, Yehuda, probably in Alexandria. Summer 1056. The writer expresses his greetings and several advices to his brother’s marriage.

Related Places

3

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from a son to his father, concerned with traveling issues, sending greetings to many family members, and mentioning the sender’s uncle Abū l-Faraj Ibn al-Tawwazī (cf. T-S NS 225.102 (PGPID 24100)). Likely the handwriting of Shelomo b. […] By God, her prayers are like arrows that never miss, and may God not punish you and us all with their fire" (ועלי ואלדתך אלסלאם ובאללה יא אבי לא תתכסב מנהא דעא פאן ואללה דעאהא כאלסהאם אלדי מא תכיב פאללה לא יואכדך ולא יואכדנא מן נארהם).

No Scholarship Records

Document date

Ṭevet 1444 Seleucid (11 December 1132–8 January 1133 CE)

Primary languages

Aramaic, Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Verso: Additional legal notes regarding monthly payments, likely unrelated to recto. Also in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Mentioning Abū l-Riḍā b.

Related Places

1

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Aharon ha-Kohen, with greetings to sons Abū ʿAlī and Abū l-Surūr. Mentions: being insulted; a dispute involving 30 dinars and a plan to write a letter to the Rayyis; "he said to Abū Naṣr and Abū l-Faraj, that he only wished to obtain the signatures and send them to the Rayyis, because you are ordering (good) and forbidding (bad) […] "; a government official (ḥājib) named ʿIzz al-Mulk; and "Rabbenu Sayyidnā Moshe" (probably Maimonides).

Related People

4

1 Discussion

Document date

Adar I 1337 Seleucid (22 January 1026–20 February 1026 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

Ashur tends to favor the earlier date since the hand which wrote the document is similar to the hand of the scribe who wrote the al-Yusanah documents of the eleventh century (published by Joseph Rivlin). […] Verso: one line in Arabic script, probably from a letter, containing a name: [...] b. Abū Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-[...] ادام الله عزه. (Information in part from CUDL and Amir Ashur's dissertation)

1 Transcription 2 Discussions

Primary languages

Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic, Romance

The remainder of the fragment is also filled with text. Apart from difficult Arabic text on verso, there is what Goitein calls an Arabic/medieval Greek/Romanesque (laʿaz) glossary, partially in Arabic script on recto and partially in Hebrew script on verso.

Tags

• arabic script
• greek
• legal query
• responsum
• romance

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

"Whenever I beat him, I do so excessively; but as soon as I begin, the mistress rushes along and, after having hit him four or five times, releases him. Had it not been for his illness, I would have killed him with beating, although as a poorly clothed newcomer, he is entitled to some consideration."

Related Documents

1

Tags

• complaints
• education
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: children's
• (+ 3 more)

1 Transcription 2 Translations 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

One of his two wives and the daughter of the other died also. The remaining wife was brought to Fustat at the expense of the community, because she had a cousin (ibn ʿamm) there.

Related Places

3

Tags

• 11th c
• communal
• eli b. yahya
• fayyum
• illness
• (+ 7 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from ʿIwāḍ b. Ḥananel, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Around 1060.

Related People

3

Tags

• 11th c
• benaya b. musa
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: despair
• (+ 8 more)

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from the teacher Abū l-Khayr, in Minyat Zifta to his brother Abū Naṣr Maḥfūẓ, the brother-in-law of Abū l-Bishr(?) Ibn al-Abzārī(?), in Darb al-Dahhān, Ḥārat Zuwayla, Cairo.

Related Places

2

Tags

• minyat zifta
• nile voyage
• teaching
• trade

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe ha-Levi b. al-Qaṭā'if to his brother Peraḥya discussing business matters, the illness and recovery of Abu al-Muna, a forwarded letter, and conveying greetings.

Related People

2

Tags

• 12th c
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: boil
• illness: nursing
• (+ 3 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Avraham, a physician living in the Rif (and muqaddam of al-Mahalla, see T-S 10J20.21 (PGPID 2950)), recommending the cantor Abū l-Bayan Moshe b. ha-Hazzan al-Ahuv (i.e., Moshe b.

Related People

3

Tags

• 12th c
• capitation tax
• jaliya
• jizya
• moshe b. levi
• (+ 2 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

No one thought I would live, but thank God that everything ended well, and I am doing well, thank God." There are also a couple lines of accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals.

Tags

• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: gastrointestinal
• trade

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

"I believe Mar Joseph is traveling to your place to pass there the Passover with Ibn al-Fakhkhar, for the latter has made him desirous of spending the holidays in his house, where he would have a good time. […] (Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 16, 638.) Join: Alan Elbaum.

Tags

• halfon-addenda
• ib-addenda
• ib4

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

; 15 dinars; the holy congregation (al-jamāʿa al-muqaddasa); Shelomo ha-Kohen ha-Zariz.

Related People

2

Related Places

1

Tags

• malij

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Reports arrival of Raḥamim and Ibn Samḥūn. A ship from al-Mahdiyya brought khiyār (=khiyār shanbar = cassia fistula?). […] Greetings to the addressee's brothers-in-law and the sender's cousin (ibn khāla) Abū ʿImrān and two people called al-ḥakīm. Reused for accounts by ʿArūs (see separate record).

Related People

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• account
• trade

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

During their conquest of the Holy Land, the Crusaders took not only prisoners for ransom but also Jewish books and scrolls. This leaf is presumably from one of the books that passed through Crusader hands but was eventually sold back to the Jewish community.

Related Places

1

Tags

• acre
• book trade
• colophon
• communal
• crusaders

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

"Stop occupying yourself with marriage plans and such idle things," writes a father, reminding his son, a fledgling physician, that he had not yet made enough money for such ventures. (wa-tukhalli ʿannak al-ishtighāl bil-jīza (=zija) wa-l-umūr al-hadhayāniyya.

Tags

• business
• marriage
• molasses
• physician
• wine

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

[then improved]... but I still have terrible weakness." Also mentions the rent from the heqdesh (pious foundation) to the poor people in Jerusalem and other private and public affairs. 1060 (Gil's estimation).

Related Places

4

Tags

• acre
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: despair
• illness: gastrointestinal
• (+ 8 more)

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Document date

9 Ḥeshvan 5304 Anno Mundi (7 October 1543 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

The witness Badusa b. Asher may have also scribed this document. He is listed as the sole witness in a nearby shelfmark from 1569CE (CUL T-S 13J4.20).

Tags

• 16th c
• partnership

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Document date

Adar 1525 Seleucid (12 February 1214–12 March 1214 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

Mentions Meʾir (perhaps the son of Barukh from France), Yefet, Eliyyahu, Kalev ha-Kohen, Saʿadya and his sons, Eliyyahu, who is from Alexandria, and Elʿazar. A marginal note mentions a certain Yehuda.

Related Places

1

Tags

• nasi

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

940 Hijrī (23 July 1533–12 July 1534 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

For each day of the week, lists the boats (qārib) belonging to different people (Muḥammad, Shihāb al-Dīn, Naṣr al-Dīn. . .) and commercial goods and numbers associated with them.

Related Places

2

Tags

• late ja
• ottoman shipping
• to examine

No Scholarship Records