Documents

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Partial translation in Med. Soc. 4:79. Complete transcription (into Arabic script) with translation in Goitein, "A Mansion in Fustat" (1977).

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1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Account (draft) of the Qodesh ca. 1222-23. Record of an accounting in which mainly expenditures are preserved. Listed are expenditures made by the beadle Abu'l-Tahir, …

Tags

• 13th c
• account
• coptic numerals
• heqdesh
• qodesh
• (+ 1 more)

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

On the back the holiday of sukkot is mentioned, which may have served as the occasion for the reading out of this poem. The writer addresses his friends and lords, declares his love and loyalty to his friends who wished him to be married and beget children.

Tags

• literary with documentary value

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1700–1850 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letterbook in Judaeo-Arabic (fragment) likely eighteenth- or ninteenth-century that contains drafts and possibly copies of business-related correspondence. The letters frequently use the phrase "יא אכי/ O my brother" which implies the that this was business correspondence between brothers (l. 2r, 17r, 19r). […] Section two of ENA 2716.11 l.21r lists a quantity of "ריאל פראנסא" which Kenneth Cuno observes was a way of referencing the notional unit of account 1 riyal:90 medin/para in this time period (The Pasha's Peasants, 211).

Related Documents

1

Tags

• 18th or 19th c
• numismatic dating

No Scholarship Records

Document date

8 Iyyar 1407 Seleucid (3 May 1096 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Legal document. Court record. Dating: 8 Iyyar 1406 (16 April 1095) (Lieberman reads 1410, but it's fairly clear it's 1406; KR thinks it's 1407 based on other dated documents of Nahray's). […] The recto and the beginning of the first column of the verso concern a partnership between Yaḥyā ha-Levi and Abū ʿAli Yefet b. Avraham involving trading goods and supplying metal to the mint. […] (Information from Lieberman, "A Partnership Culture," 268)

Related People

5

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Tags

• 11th c
• register

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation

A detailed accounting written in the hand of Judge Mevorakh b. Natan. The first part contains different expenditures for the maintenance of the buildings and various other expenditures, such as gifts to Muslim officials. The second part contains the final part of an accounting of revenue for six months; the sum paid to the parnas as a collection fee is also mentioned. The account is said to have been made in the presence of the head of the yeshiva, Nataniel b. […] (Information from CUDL and Gil, Documents, pp. 300 #67) The Abū l-Ḥasan al-Naḥḥāl mentioned here is likely the same one whose son and grandson feature in Bodl.

Tags

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

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1025–1035 CE

Primary language

Hebrew

Letter from a ḥaver of the Jerusalem yeshiva, identified by Frenkel as probably Yaʿaqov b. […] The sender's innocence has been proven before, and will be proven again, with the help of Ṣadoq b. Levi, whose previous letter was lost. Also mentions Tamīm [b.?] […] As the recipient’s last letter was lost, the writer requests that the recipient send a letter of support to strengthen the writer’s authority within the community in Aleppo; with allusions to Job 30:26, 10:22 and Proverbs 27:19.

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2

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Tags

• communal
• governor
• state

1 Transcription 2 Discussions

Document date

Kislev 1274 Seleucid (31 October 962–29 November 962 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

Letter from Neḥemya ha-Kohen, Gaʾon of Pumbedita, probably to the Babylonian community in Fustat. […] He complains that his former letter had been disregarded, and requests to show honour to his messenger, Shelomo b. […] (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 54 and from the Bodleian Genizah site). On verso, a different hand identified the writer of the letter and copied a short phrase from the letter.

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1

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Tags

• babylonian academies
• geonim

1 Transcription

Inferred date

1025–1026 CE

Primary language

Hebrew

Letter from the Jerusalem gaʾon Shelomo b. Yehuda (r. 1025–51) to Efrayim b. Shemarya. Dating: end of 1025–26 (Gil). Written in a high register of Hebrew sajʿ (rhymed prose), as Shelomo b. […] Yehuda to the government for appointing an unworthy leader in Fustat (i.e., Efrayim) and claim that the gaʾon sends him letters (of appointment or support?)

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2

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Tags

• bedouin
• communal politics

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda, apparently to Fustat, concerning a dispute in the community, ca. 1026.

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1

Tags

• communal

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The second part is a wine recipe, translated by Goitein (Med. Soc. IV, p. 260): "Take two and a half dirhems' weight of each of the following: lichen (shayba), ginger, pepper, and barley flour, and half a dirhem of saffron. […] Put two and a half dirhems' weight of this, together with one dirhem of colophony (qulfūniya or qalafūniya, a resin extracted from a pine tree or a terebinth), into each jar and plaster it over (wa-tulayyis). Leave it in the sun for seven days, after which it can be used. If you wish to have vinegar, put only one and a quarter of this stuff into each jar and leave it in the sun for eleven days. (Information in part from Ekaterina Pukhovaia.)

Related Documents

1

Tags

• hashish
• illness: teeth
• materia medica
• recipe
• vinegar
• (+ 1 more)

3 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Ṭoviyya b. ʿEli to Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen. In Judaeo-Arabic. The opening of the lettermentions a thawb, R. Berakhot, going to the Rīf, and staying with various communities including Minyat Zifta and Sunbāṭ, Berakhot and [...] b. Avraham, and someone who seems to be named Matan Rosh ha-Qahal (a rare name; this man appears also in T-S NS 342.74 (PGPID 26095)). He then met with Abū l-Ḥasan the brother of Matan, who complained ("cried a cry") about "their cantor."

Related People

2

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Tags

• cmp
• reuse
• textiles

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from a father in Cairo to his son, Abū Manṣūr al-Rashīd, in the Fayyum. […] (Information mainly from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 240, 269, 460, 467; IV, p. 161.) Dating: Likely late 12th or early 13th century based on handwriting and typical names; more precise dating should be achievable by identifying the people mentioned in the letter, such as Fakhr al-Dīn ʿUthmān, Abū Saʿd Ibn al-Shavuy, Ṭāhir b. al-Gadol and his partner Ibn al-Wazzān, Ibn al-Ḥaver, Ibn Wahbān, Abū Saʿd the addressee's cousin, Sitt Ḥaẓẓ, Sitt al-Ahl, Sitt al-Milāḥ, Sitt Nadd, al-Shaykh al-Thiqa and al-Wajīhiyya.

Related Places

2

Tags

• diwan
• nar
• torture

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter addressed to the physician (rofeʾ) Moshe b. […] He adds, "I have only told you these things because you sent a letter blaming me..." On verso, he refers to "[...] your staying there, other than your husband." […] Your cousin (ibn ʿammik)... Do not cut your (letters off from me)...." Note that the first fragment under this shelfmark is unrelated.

Related Places

4

Tags

• pilgrimage

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1007–1055 CE

Primary language

Hebrew

Letter from Eliyyahu ha-Kohen b. Shelomo Gaon, Jerusalem, to Efrayim b.

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Tags

• communal

1 Transcription

The two items preserved are the unidentified גאן (see Bodl. MS heb. d 65/26 + ENA NS 3.24 + Bodl. MS heb. b 3/28 + T-S 12.128 (PGPID 560) and Friedman, Jewish Marriage in Palestine, 2:21 n. 15) and a garment (thawb). […] Reused on recto for rhymed Hebrew praises probably addressed to a dignitary (some of the phrases don't seem consistent with praises for God). Mentions חביבים סגנים and בני לוי גאוני הכהונה.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Esther: Is it earthly or from God? And what medicines will help him? Verso: Astronomical tables depending on Zacut's tables of 1513 described in Goldstein, B.R. and J. Chabás, '"ransmission of computational methods within the Alfonsine corpus: the case of the tables of Nicholaus de Heybech," Journal for the History of Astronomy 39 (2008), pp. 345-55, esp. pp. 354-5 (described). 34 lines. […] Abraham Zacut (1452-1515) credited on line 1 for the method of determining true oppositions.

Tags

• geomancy
• illness

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Calendar(s) in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (fl. 1100–1138 CE). T-S Ar.29.102 covers the years 1434–37 Seleucid = 1122–26 CE. […] For each year, the calendar specifies whether it is plain or intercalated and the length of the variable months Ḥeshvan and Kislev, and gives the day of the week of beginnings of months, festivals and fasts and the day and time of the tequfot.

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1

No Scholarship Records

Primary languages

Aramaic, Hebrew

Legal query written and signed by Yehuda Mas'ud. […] Published by Glick, שרידי תשובות מחכמי האימפריה העות'מאנית p. 323–26.

Tags

• responsa

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Document date

21 Av 1564 Seleucid (18 July 1253 CE)

Primary languages

Aramaic, Hebrew

Location: Baalbek in the Biqāʿ Valley of Lebanon (בעלת אשר בבקעת הלבנון תחת הר חרמון). Dated: 21 Av 1564 Seleucid, which is 1253 CE, under the authority of the Nasi [...] b. […] Husband: Ismāʿīl b. Ṣemaḥ ha-Levi. Wife: Majdiyya bt. Mufaḍḍal. NB: An earlier version of the PGP record for this document linked it (erroneously?) to T-S Misc.27.4.23 and was credited "D.B. 3-20-89."

Related Places

1

Tags

• baalbek
• ketubba
• marriage

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Letter to Daniel b. ʿAzarya, gaʾon of Jerusalem, as identified by the titles “our Nasi, our Gaon.” […] The correspondents also assure Daniel of their loyalty to him, “rejoicing in thy kingdom (a reference to his descent from King David) and taking pride in they epistle.” […] The verso contains a copy of a lettermentioning the Babylonian and Palestinian synagogues, Shemuel of Tahort, Efrayim ha-Ḥaver, and Abū Katib b.

Related Documents

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Tags

• famine
• jewish community

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Ladino

For an early modern document that fits clearly in this specific sub-genre of communal lists, see: Moss. IXa,3.20 (PGPID 26885). The paleographical dating could be 18th- or 19th-century, but the scribal hand is very idiosyncratic so this estimate is tentative. […] The first entry is one of the more legible ones from the entire document: "torah finials of Yom Qīppūr(sic) from(? […] Other entries relate to "aliyyot" for the holiday "Sūqōt (sic)" (סוקות) and in a few instances the scribe notes that contributions were made "by me" (por mi) or a certain "David." One entry on the left side of the document mentions "the āliyya of the Q[ahal] Q[adosh] Porṭegezes (sic)," probably a reference to the Portuguese Congregation of early modern Cairo.

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (d. 1212), probably in Qalyūb, probably to his father Abū Sahl Levi (d. 1211), in Fustat. […] In the margin of recto, he mentions speaking to Abū Saʿd b. Yaʿaqov on his behalf concerning "al-Mayl" (probably the same book mentioned earlier, al-Mayl wa-l-Hijrān). On verso, he continues with orders: red lead (sīlqūn), litharge (martak), and probably a couple more that are difficult to read.

Tags

• book trade

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

French

"The three fragments known as JRL SERIES A 1053, JRL SERIES B 2699, and JRL SERIES B 2977 are from three copies of another invitation, printed in French, to the wedding of Mr.

Tags

• 19th c
• french
• mosseri
• printed

No Scholarship Records

"The three fragments known as JRL SERIES A 1053, JRL SERIES B 2699, and JRL SERIES B 2977 are from three copies of another invitation, printed in French, to the wedding of Mr.

Tags

• 19th c
• french
• mosseri
• printed

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Petition from Yefet ha-Melammed the schoolmaster to Avraham Maimonides; the latter's answer is on verso, lines 18–26. […] (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 37, 529, and Goitein's index cards.) […] In this reading, the word munqaṭīʿ refers not to the writer of the letter but to the parents of his pupils who have been unable to pay him.

Related People

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Tags

• appeal
• avraham maimonides autograph
• charity
• communal
• disability
• (+ 7 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Spanish

Involves Jews. Lists debits and credits ("devo a rebbi Samuel"). Mentions the ducat ("el ducado") exchange rate.

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1131–1149 CE

Primary language

Arabic

This is a famous physician: see https://scholarlyeditions.brill.com/reader/urn:cts:arabicLit:0668IbnAbiUsaibia.Tabaqatalatibba.lhom-tr-eng1:14.29. (See also T-S NS 264.22, which mentions a volume in the handwriting of Ibn al-ʿAynzarbī. It's possible that fragments in his handwriting have been preserved in the Geniza—Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa emphasizes that Ibn al-ʿAynzarbī was an excellent and prolific scribe.) This document also mentions Karīm al-Dawla ʿAytham, "one of the great amirs of al-Ḥāfiẓ." The verso document also concerns the purchase of the property on the recto, and mentions the Amīr Athīr al-Mulk Sharaf al-Dawla wa-Fārisuhā, Abū Saʿd b.

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1 Transcription 1 Translation

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from a file of Avraham Maimonides, written to Nissim Ha-Dayyan (judge). Mentions the wife of Abū Manṣīr b. Abī l-Khayr, the tax-guarantor (ḍāmin, צאמן) of Sanhūr.

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Related Documents

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Tags

• avraham maimonides
• communal

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1025–1051 CE

Primary language

Hebrew

Letter from Shelomo b. Yehuda to Yiṣḥaq Ha-Kohen b.

Related People

2

Tags

• communal

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

15 Kislev 1469 Seleucid (1157 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Court document dated 15 Kislev 1469/26 November 1157 acknowledging that the court had heard the testimony of the wife of the addressee, the Shaykh Abu Mansur b. […] (Information from Mediterranean Society, 1:412 n 24; Friedman, Jewish Marriage, vol. 1, 412; vol. 2, 150, 312; and Marina Rustow)

Tags

• acknowledgment
• silk
• sitt al-dar
• testimony
• textiles
• (+ 2 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Jalāl al-Dawla, in Cairo, to Shelomo b. […] A physician was treating me, al-Rayyis Sulaymān al-Ḥakīm al-Fāḍil of the family of Rabbenu Menaḥem (ZL). […] There is a postscript in the same hand but in the third person (perhaps meaning that a secretary wrote this letter for Jalāl al-Dawla or that somebody later copied it): "After he wrote this letter, he entered the bathhouse (meaning, he was fully recovered) on the 26th of Elul, so be glad of heart."

Related People

1

Related Places

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Tags

• 13th c
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: eye
• illness: gastrointestinal
• (+ 7 more)

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Primary language

Hebrew

Dating: 16th century, based on Avraham David's assessment. The contents of the letter are quite difficult and merit further examination; there are a handful of words that do not appear to be Hebrew or Arabic and many place names, some obscure. […] In the remainder of the letter, the writer mentions various European currencies including peraḥim and coronas. In the margin he mentions trade in raisins (margin, 1, 6) and sulfur (margin, 5).

Related Places

2

Tags

• 16th c
• late heb
• libya
• slaves

1 Transcription

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Sulaymān, order to avoid the taxes in Sicily, the merchandise will be registered under Ḥasan's name, who as coming from Sicily is exempted from the tax. […] (Information from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:236, 395-5, 574, 613; CUDL; EMS. Description from PGPID 26334: Legal document. In which Moshe b. Yehuda ha-Ḥazzan acknowledges receipt of a number of goods from [...] b.

Related Places

2

Tags

• 11th c
• cinnamon
• eli b. amram
• indigo
• legal query
• (+ 4 more)

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from ʿEli b. Hillel to his brother-in-law Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (fl. 1100-1138 CE). In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer opens with expressions of mourning for the death of a woman. […] ʿEli writes, "I could hardly eat bread due to crediting it (? li-ṣidqihi)," and the last phrase seems like it would be out of place for one's own wife.

Related People

2

Related Places

1

Tags

• grief
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: women's

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

Nisan 1348 Seleucid (20 March 1037–18 April 1037 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

Recto: Letter from Hayya Gaʾon to Neḥemya b. Avraham, in Fustat. […] The letter closes with Hayya's motto "yeshaʿ rav" (ישע רב) and the date. Verso: Two distinct text blocks in Arabic script. (1) The names of the months of the Coptic calendar. (2) Accounts, recording credits and debits and mentioning a paternal aunt and her son.

Related People

1

Related Documents

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Tags

• communal

3 Transcriptions

Inferred date

1007–1055 CE

Primary language

Hebrew

Letter from Sadoq Ha-Levi b. Levi, Head of the Court of the Yeshiva of the Land of Israel, in Ramla, to Efrayim b. […] Refers to the arrival of a letter from Yoshiyyahu.

Related People

1

Related Places

3

Tags

• 11th c
• ramla
• yeshiva

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

Last decade of Ṭevet 4898 Anno Mundi (January 1138 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

India Book (IB) IV,26 and IV,27 (ח26). Partnership or investment (ʿisqa) agreement. […] Between Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi and Abū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf b. Shuʿayb aka Yosef b.

Related People

2

Related Places

1

Tags

• ib-untranslated-eng
• ib4
• india book

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 2 Discussions

Document date

Wednesday, 21 Ṭevet 1462 Seleucid (11 January 1151 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Legal document. Partnership agreement. Dated: 1151. […] The sources of this funding are a) rent revenue from shops in Malij left to the children by Binyam and b), the profit earned by Kathīr from 20 dinars’ worth of silk from estate of Binyam. […] Yehuda ibn Asad, previous caretaker of the orphans, was apparently a regular caretaker and trustee for orphans; see PGPID 2658. Shemuel is the same Abū al-Ma‘ālī in PGPID 6581.

Related People

8

Related Places

2

Tags

• loan
• orphans
• partnership
• silk
• trust

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Barakāt b. Manṣūr, unknown location, to Eliyyahu the Judge (active 1204–41), in Fustat. […] Same sender and same addressee as BL OR 10656.16. Much of the letter is an angry tirade about the lack of response from Eliyyahu and his behavior that brought about some conflict (tashāḥun) between elders in his family, and their humiliation and the rejoicing of their enemies (this part of the story is clearest in ll. 18–19 and 26–28). […] The sender complains further about the lack of letters and says that even if Eliyyahu has taken a vow not to correspond with him, he should send a letter to 'the judge' concerning the disputed household objects.

Related People

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Related Places

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1 Transcription