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shelfmark:"Bodl ms. Heb a 2/3"
The cipher was cracked by Gideon Bohak in 2025 and the document will be published by Bohak, Oded Zinger, and Alan Elbaum. Recto: Medical prescription in Arabic script.
No Scholarship Records
First page of the Cairene Purim Scroll (Megilat Purim), the Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic verses alternating, mentioning the date 5284 AM (= 1524 CE).
The second line of the fragment is in a thicker script than the first, and reads "al-iqtāʿ in shāʾa llāh." Reused on verso for a piyyut.
1 Transcription
Mentions two people and their brother; a house called Dār al-Jazīra; and a woman.
Contains the phrase שבוקין כדת משה וישראל. Almost nothing else is preserved.
The other side has, in large letters in a chancery hand, "... al-dīwān ... fī dhālika in shāʾ llāh."
One side is headed [...] al-Tawārīkh and gives three different dating systems for the year ~1889 CE.
Abū l-Faraj and Yaḥyā b. Sulaymān al-Yahūdī. Needs examination for content.
One is a list of foods and materia medica. E.g., almond, pistachio, cardamom, tamarind, labdanum, costus, mahlab, saffron.
A very thorough release that involves Abū Zikrī al-Kohen. Unclear if any more details of the case are preserved.
The sender's name looks like [...] b. Ibrāhīm b. al-Faraj. Reused for Hebrew literary text.
Only a few words are preserved: ...[al-du]khūl wa-l-khurūj ilayhim...
One side is headed "account of the qāḍī al-Muḥyī(?)."
On verso mentions someone called [...] al-Dawla.
Few details preserved. Mentions al-Wāṣiṭī and the phrase "you raise other people's children."
Legal document regarding the settlement of the dispute between Zayn al-Dār and her (?) mother Ḥusn (?) bt. Sulaymān.
Mentions somebody in Sūsa; Abū Zikrī al-Ṭabīb; a container of sal ammoniac; pepper; and Abū Saʿīd Maymūn b.
Literary text in Judaeo-Arabic. Giving alchemical recipes, occult correspondences between celestial objects and metals (called ʿaqāqīr), and handy recipes for getting stains, e.g. saffron stains, out of clothing.
Mentions "in the ship of al-Dawwāma(?)." Travel provisions? (Information in part from Goitein's index cards).
1 Transcription 1 Discussion
Likely an official document. Mentions "bi-Miṣr al-Maḥrūsa."
Fragment of a legal document in Arabic script (very neatly written, with diacritics). Concerning al-muʿallim Ibrāhīm and Isḥāq and a house. Dating: Probably late Mamluk or early Ottoman-era.
The scribe's name appears at the bottom (as in several of the neighboring fragmnets) along with the date (26 Dhū l-Qaʿda 400?).
Opens with blessings against "all the evil diseases of Egypt" (Deut. 7:15); then greetings from various women in the family.
Mentions the addressee's troubles with the capitation tax (? al-jawāl).
Contains some typically legal phrases (mā yaswā shayʾ... mustawiya jamīʿ mā.... baʿd yamīnihī aʿnī... ʿalā... wa-jarā baynī wa-baynahū...)
Involves [Avra?]ham b. ʿAllān; six gold coins that had been deposited with someone; ʿAṭiyya ha-Sh[...]; Salmān.
Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic dated in Shawwal 1237AH which is January/February 1834CE. All of the monetary figures are expressed in "פצה /silver" and a variety of individuals are named, such as: Shemuʾel Ayali and Barukh Meṣlīh.
Dating: After 1425 CE, as the ashrafī coinage mentioned was first minted under Sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay in this year.
Involves Abū l-Fakhr Ibn al-Amshāṭī (here spelled אלאמשטי). Mentions large sums of money ("200" and "80 dinars") and the children of Ibn Ṣaghīr(?).
Letter addressed to al-Asʿad Abū Saʿd b. Abū l-Munajjā, in Fustat. Only the address remains, which is in Arabic script.
Contains part of the physical description of one of the parties (...wāḍiḥ al-jabha...). Verso: Probably records of receipts of payments, may or may not be related to recto.
On verso a list of names in Judaeo-Arabic: "The house of al-ʿIjl ("the calf")... Saʿīd...." The handwriting looks Yemeni.
The Judaeo-Arabic mentions names such as Abū l-ʿAlāʾ, Faraḥ, Sayyidunā, Nuṣayr, Abū Saʿīd, and Najīb.
in rudimentary script and spelling, asking her "on the life of al-Shaykh Abū l-Maḥāsin" to do a certain favor for the writer (something about visiting a prison at night?).
He asks him to bear the hardship (yatajashsham al-ʿanā) and spend the night . . . "in his house where I am dwelling."
Private receipt (rather than check, as it begins "afrada") for al-Faqīh Muḥammad, for a payment of 303 dirhams (?).
Barhūn, and Ṣedaqa b. ʿAllūn. (Information from CUDL)
1 Transcription 1 Translation
For 3 dinars received from Abū Isḥāq al-Ḥājj for Jumādā II. Seems to mention the term "namūdhaj/unmūdhaj," and then a buyer.
Mentions monetary terms such as nuqra, ʿayn, wariq, al-maṣrūf, ṣarfuhā. Merits further examination.
One of the repeated letter drafts/exercises mentions a ship named "al-Angela." Requires further examination.
Address of a letter/petition/report (khidma) to the faqīh Jamāl al-Dīn, or else a pen trial. If it was originally attached to a larger document, that larger document is now missing.
Verso: Account of communal expenditures. Date seems to be al-Muharram. The final name is X the blind man, illustrating the integration of needy and communal officials into expenditure lists.
The sender might be Yehuda Ibn al-ʿAmmānī.
Between the lines, a different hand has practiced writing the Hebrew alphabet. Verso: part of a letter in Arabic (see separate entry).
Contract between ʿAlun and Judah the cantor. Signatures include Maʿarūf b.
Recto: legal document concerning debt, referring to Ibn Mardūk, Abū l-Faraj al-Kohen b. Mordekhay […] b. Saʿadya. Verso: unidentified Arabic document.
The writer will send what belongs to Abu Zikri with the shaykh Abu Ali. Salutations on verso and address (in Arabic script) awaiting transcription.
Verso: Lists of commodities, such as butter, animal fat, mastic, almond oil and white sugar, and their quantities in Arabic script.
Letter from Yeshuʿa b. Mevorakh Ibn Alqāsh to Mevorakh b. Saʿadya (titled 'nagid ha-negidim').
Hananya (in office 1140-1159) to the community of al-Mahalla, written in the hand of Natan b. Shemuʾel.