Documents

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

ʿEli ha-Kohen ha-Ḥaver, the muqaddam of Bilbays (here called "muqaddam al-yahūd"). In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic, often rhymed, with the address in both Hebrew and Arabic. […] Verso is mainly copious regards to and from family members and friends ("I can no longer burden people by carrying letters to each of you"—hence he includes all the greetings in one letter.) (Information in part from Goitein’s index card)

Related People

2

Tags

• to edit
• unrest

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

This release is not valid if he should return. Also mentions the name Abū Zikrī in the first line.

Related People

6

Related Places

1

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1132–1148 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Abū Zikrī reports that as he was passing by the hospital (māristān) he saw a young man (al-ṣabiyy) delivering a court summons in the hand of al-Nezer (=Natan b.

Related People

2

Tags

• courts
• hospital
• maristan
• summons

1 Discussion

Primary languages

Hebrew, Ladino

of Avicenna and other matters; a commentary on the Higayon of Maimonides with other selections; the Intentions of the Philosophers (Kavanot ha-Pilosofim, the Hebrew translation of Maqāṣid al-Falāsifa) by "Abū Ḥamid" (=al-Ghazālī); an introduction to logic; the laws of Yom Kippur (or from Masekhet Yoma); Moshe Narboni's commentary on the Intentions of the Philosophers; Iggeret ha-Musar; Sefer ha-Malmad (of Yaʿaqov Anatoli); the book of Ibn Shuʿayb; Ḥovot ha-Levavot; and a few more.

Related Places

1

Tags

• booklist
• greece
• ladino

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Yosef b. Shemuel al-Dani in Palermo to Isma’il b. Avraham in Damsis. […] In the 13th century, the port of Hawwāra was known as Qaṣr Aḥmad (Ibn Rushayd al-Sabtī, Riḥla, 6: 5), which became known as Misrata in the 16th century (AP).

Related Places

4

Tags

• aguna
• family
• shipwreck

1 Transcription 2 Translations 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

The main purpose of the letter is to conciliate Natan, who is upset about the marriage of his daughter to the sender's son, which evidently took place behind his back in Jerusalem. There is also discussion of Natan's property in Jerusalem and a report on the books that he left behind him in 1481 CE.

Related People

1

Related Places

2

Tags

• 969-1517
• illness

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

It opens with a blazon of a certain person's beautiful features (arched eyebrows as if inscribed by a pen, temples and cheeks like scorpions that sting the heart of all who behold them, etc.). The addressee seems to be named in the last line of Image 6: "his name is Avram and Avraham is his father, like Elʿazar purifying with animals' blood," i.e., they are Kohanim. The writer asks several times for a letter and then for an ambiguous favor "based on the convenant between you and me [made] on Shabbat Teruma." He says he always asks seafarers for news ot he addressee. Then, "Write to Daniel your servant on the day he goes (or: you go) down to the city of און בימה (Heliopolis?)

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

When Abū l-Maʿālī returned to the shop, there was already a group gathered round, and Ṣemaḥ al-Parnas summoned a carpenter to close the shop and put a metal lock on the door.

Related People

1

Related Documents

1

1 Discussion

Document date

23 [Elul] 1412 Seleucid (17 August 1101 CE)

The death of Shelomo Lebdi was not only a serious personal blow to his brother, Yosef Lebdi, but it also meant that Yosef could lose half of his property to his nephew, David b.

Related Places

2

Tags

• deposit
• ib-untranslated-eng
• ib1
• india book

2 Transcriptions 2 Discussions

Document date

Wednesday, 28 Tishrei 1406 Seleucid (11 October 1094 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The parties declared that this was a free agreement, not imposed by a court, and had it also confirmed by a Muslim notary. In spite of the stress (three mentions) on primogeniture in this document the first-born, a son of a butcher, received only eleven dinars.

Related People

3

Related Places

1

2 Transcriptions 2 Discussions

Primary language

Arabic

Literary text in Arabic concerning the debate over whether wāw implies sequence (tartīb) or only conjunction (muṭlaq al-jamʿ), mentioning a classic proof text involving ʿUmar Ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (عُميرةَ وَدِّع إن تَجهزتَ غادياً ...

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

He prayed from the prayerbook of Saadya Gaon. The document mentions al-Shaykh al-Thiqa Abū Ghālib, but it is not clear if he is the man so beloved.

Tags

• thanks

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

10 Rabīʿ I 945 Hijrī (6 August 1538 CE)

Primary language

Arabic

Their chief creditor is Abraham Castro (d. 967 AH/1560 CE), director of Egypt’s mint early in the period of Ottoman rule.... The brothers Abū al-Baqāʾ and Abū al-ʿIzz [b. Budayr] owe Joseph Castro— and through him, as it turns out, his father Abraham—1,500 niṣf fiḍḍa, possibly from a loan....

Related Places

2

Tags

• damietta
• dimme
• late arabic script

1 Transcription 1 Translation

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Sighmar mentioned with this title in ENA2804.11 (Goitein, Med.Soc.3:183). The letter also mentions the Nasi and ends with profuse expressions of submission.

Tags

• communal

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

I ask that I should be able to bedeck you with jewels beyond every woman in Sicily." See also Med Soc, III, p.193, note 157.

Tags

• fasting

2 Translations

Document date

Tuesday, 2 Av 1438 Seleucid (12 July 1127 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

(A prior PGP record indicated that this was signed by Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa b. Ṣedaqa ha-Levi al-Mustaʿmal al-Ramlī, however it's not clear what this was referring to.)

Related People

1

Related Places

1

Related Documents

3

Tags

• halfon b. menashshe
• power of attorney

1 Transcription

Document date

Tuesday, 17 Tammuz 1438 Seleucid (28 June 1127 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

(Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 181.) See also detailed translation and commentary in Goitein's attached notes.

Related People

3

Related Documents

3

Tags

• debt
• partnership

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation

Primary language

Hebrew

There is no need for a miqve, as Yeḥiel has already made one in his own house. The rains have already ended, and the Gentiles do not permit bathing in the Shiloaḥ spring, so there is nowhere else to build one.

Tags

• menstrual purity
• miqve

No Scholarship Records

Document date

Wednesday, 13 Ṭevet 1377 Seleucid (14 December 1065 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Sason. acknowledged receipt from Moshe b. Yehuda Ibn al-Majjānī the 6 dinars due to her from her father for having maintained her orphan child Moshe during past 6 months. The sum as paid by her father on order of the court and transmitted through al-Majjānī (via ḥawwāla). Signed by Yaʿaqov b. Moshe and Menashshe b.

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from an army doctor, in Ashmūm Ṭannāḥ (present-day Ashmūn al-Rummān), to his son, in an unknown location. […] His son's letter informing him of his wife's labor, and her anger at his absence, reached him on Wednesday with al-Kohen (the same day he is writing the present letter).

Related Places

2

Tags

• army
• childbirth
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: physician
• (+ 3 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Abūn b. Ṣadaqa al-Maghribī, in Jerusalem, to Abū Zakariyyā Ḥayyim b. […] Abūn first consoles Ḥayyim on the death of a son, and he then vehemently refutes allegations against his integrity (charges of debts to the government and the office of the inheritance up to 1000 dinars).

Related People

3

Related Places

2

Tags

• abun b. sedaqa
• akhlaq

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Document date

Thursday, 17 Sivan 4806 Anno Mundi (25 May 1046 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

Maḥfūẓ (groom-to-be) and Amat al-Qādir bt. Efrayim b. Manṣūr b. Furāt (bride-to-be). […] Yiṣḥaq b. Moshe ha-Levi, ʿAllān b. Nahum, Yosef b. [...] b. Efrayim, David b. [...], and [...] b.

Tags

• betrothal
• engagement
• karaite

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 4 Discussions

Document date

1100 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

He is still endeavoring to free his son-in-law (שרנו אדירנו חתננו שר בית ישראל), whom Goitein identifies with Abū Saʿd the son of the Tustarī woman (mentioned as a Crusader captive in T-S 10J5.6 + T-S 20.113). Ṣadoq has also sent a letter to the Nagid (Mevorakh b. Seʿadya) reporting on his efforts for the captives.

Related Places

2

Tags

• captives
• children
• crusaders

3 Transcriptions 3 Translations 2 Discussions

Document date

1426 CE

Primary language

Spanish

Partial transcription: "son cunplidos los dichos xlviii mil dcxxvii s que valieron / [---] este dicho año en la cuenta que d su [---] / almox del algund el dicho año de 1426 años / 1 quento de trigo a vi ls ii fs et 1 quento de çevada / [---] testimonio signado de Ao Gs escribano publico del dicho."

Related Documents

1

Tags

• latin script
• romance
• spanish

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1205–1237 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

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

1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• avraham maimonides
• avraham maimonides autograph

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

After much effort the sender eventually found another messenger to travel to Jūjar -- it is difficult because Jūjar is on a different branch of the Nile than al-Maḥalla, "for between al-Maḥalla and it are two rivers (baḥrayn) and a lake (buḥayra)."

Related People

2

Related Places

6

Tags

• runaway

1 Transcription

Inferred date

1205–1237 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Legal query to Avraham Maimonides (r. 1205–1237 CE) about a trader who travelled to India (Bilād al-Hind), remained there for fifteen years, and reportedly drowned in Fanṣūr, a Sumatran port famous for exporting camphor (Heyd, Commerce du Levant, ii, 592). The question facing Avraham Maimonides was whether or not this woman was allowed to remarry based on the testimony of the Jewish trader who reported the merchant’s death upon his return from Aden.

Related People

1

Related Places

3

Tags

• aceh
• aguna
• ib7
• india book
• indonesia
• (+ 1 more)

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1066–1108 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

He reports that he has already requested a favor from 'my master al-ḥemdat' Avraham b.

Related People

1

Tags

• tax

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from an unidentified merchant to Abū Saʿīd al-ʿAfṣī. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender reports on a shipment that he has sent with Jaʿfar: 62 wax moulds (qālib) weighing 51 1/2 raṭls in addition to 2 1/4 manns of violets (zahr banafsaj). […] The addressee, Abū Saʿīd al-ʿAfṣī, is known from numerous documents, including several in India Book II.

Tags

• ib-addenda
• ib2

No Scholarship Records

Document date

Sivan 1488 Seleucid (1 May 1177–30 May 1177 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

Greetings from his father, his mother, his brothers Zakkay and Yehuda, his older and younger sisters. Greetings to Raḍiyy al-Dawla, Abū l-Maʿālī, two cousins, their mother, and the sister of Raḍiyy al-Dawla.

Related People

3

Related Places

1

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1025–1051 CE

Primary language

Hebrew

Yehuda is worried about a tax in Egypt as he heard that a census had been taken of the poor with the idea of imposing the tax also on them. He expresses lofty praise and undying gratitude to Ḥesed b.

Related People

2

Related Places

2

1 Transcription

Primary language

Hebrew

Announcing that Meʾir ha-Sar and Yiṣḥaq ha-Dayyan will appoint all ritual slaughterers (טבחים) and guards in the community addressed and look after their religious needs. […] This is our inheritance and that of our forefather King Jehosaphat, as it is written in Scripture: 'And he set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah' (II Chronicles 19:5)."

Related Places

1

Tags

• babylonian geonim
• butchers
• communal
• shemuel b. eli

1 Transcription 4 Discussions

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

List of many important people (e.g. a lineage of the heads of Yeshivat Gaon Yaʿaqov) with family trees. "This is the ʿitra of al-Rayyis Abū l-Najm and his siblings and his cousins (awlād ʿamm)."

No Scholarship Records

Legal queries from al-Maḥalla. The first one asks how to calculate the value of a marriage contract (ketubba) where there is no fixed rule concerning the additional marriage payment (ziyāda).

Related Places

1

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions al-Shām; 20 nuqra dirhams; dār sayyidinā in Fustat, and various people's names.

Related Places

2

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Asks the addressee to confirm receipt of some books (al-juzūʾ). On verso there is an imprint of CUL Or.1080 J47b (PGPID 19823).

No Scholarship Records