Documents

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

It refers to the community of Alexandria (‘No Amon’). The handwriting is that of Ḥalfon b. […] (Information from CUDL and Friedman, Dictionary, p. 202.) Join: Alan Elbaum.

Related People

1

Tags

• ib-addenda
• ib4

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Arabic

The petitioners complain to the authorities that a certain person is corrupting their religious status quo (niẓām) and preventing them from fulfilling their religious duties (al-iqāma bi-mūjibāt sharīʿatihim) and from their gatherings. Includes a marāḥim formula (wa-hum yasʾalū min al-marāḥim al-ʿamīma).

Tags

• petition

1 Transcription 1 Translation

Document date

1102 CE

Primary language

Arabic

Power of attorney. al-Sāliḥ b. Yūsuf, a Sicilian Jew, gives power of attorney to another Jew in a qadi court. Dating: ca. 1102 CE, as the same Ṣāliḥ also appears in T-S NS J95a. On verso there is Hebrew literary text.

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1

Tags

• power of attorney

1 Transcription 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Accounts, probably for charitable purposes, with entries such as "widows"; "the niece of Ṭāhir the beadle"; "the wife of Abū Isḥāq the cantor"; "the children of Sulaymān ha-Kohen"; Abū Saʿīd; and Abū l-ʿIzz al-Jabbān. Also, notably, "the miller who used to be a Qaraite" (אלטחאן אלדי כאן קרא).

Tags

• account

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Hebrew

Appointment of a judge, listing all of his prerogatives. The handwriting is very familiar; late 12th or early 13th century? […] Below there are jottings, mainly Coptic numerals it seems. This shelfmark also includes three folios of Talmud in the hand of Yosef Rosh ha-Seder.

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1

Tags

• appointment
• coptic alphanumeral
• judge

No Scholarship Records

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

The hand is that of Yedutun ha-Levi, and these fragments also contain poems of his alongside the accounts.

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1

Related Documents

1

Tags

• yedutun ha-levi

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

An addendum to a letter, informing a man that his son was arrested in Bijaya (Bougie in present-day Algeria) and his belongings were confiscated because he did not have any certificate attesting to his relationship with a woman with whom he was found. (Information from Goitein, typed texts) See also ENA 3901.5.

Related Places

2

Tags

• addendum

1 Transcription 1 Translation

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Cover page for accounts of the Iraqi synagogue for the year 501 AH (1107/08 CE) submitted to Mevorakh b. Saʿāda al-Isrā'īlī al-Mutaṭabbib Rayyis al-Yahūd (=Mevorakh b.

1 Discussion

Document date

5428 Anno Mundi (19 September 1667–5 September 1668 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

The partners had some kind of financial dealings with Shemuʾel Menashe, who is now deceased and they are now settling debts with his son Ḥayyīm instead. All of these details appear as context before the document states its purpose in line 26, possibly a dissolution (but this reading is tentative due to the level of damage). This section of the document also mentions an unnamed widow and orphan, but their role is also unclear. […] Below that there is an addendum mentioning the deceased man Shemuʾel Menashe and his son Ḥayyīm. The verso also contains another related addendum as well as brief recycled(?)

Related Places

1

Tags

• 17th c
• partnership

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

According to Moshe Yagur, the bottom section lists the family of Khalaf al-Dajājī and his sons. The eldest, Maʿānī b. Khalaf, was an early thirteenth-century Indian Ocean trader. […] Yagur points out that interestingly, while such lists normally omitted the names of women, this one also omits the name of Maʿānī’s son from his first wife—presumably because she was the son of a freedwoman and convert to Judaism. He also identified the deed of manumission for said wife: see T-S 12.872 (PGPID 20085).

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3

Tags

• genealogy

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

last decade of Tishrei 1438 Seleucid (10 October 1126–19 October 1126 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Groom: Abū Sahl Menashshe b. ʿAmram Ibn al-Jubayliyya. Bride: Banāt bt. Nuʿmān ha-Kohen, also known as Sitt al-ʿItra. […] Despite the fact that the manuscript is incomplete it is probable that the bride represented herself, despite the fact that her father was alive: the groom testifies that he handed over to the bride the money directly. […] The document has not been published or mentioned elsewhere. Joins: Amir Ashur, Alan Elbaum, and Oded Zinger. (Information mainly from Ashur's edition.)

Related People

1

Related Places

1

Tags

• contract
• halfon b. menashshe
• prenuptial

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Shela b. Mevasser, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, probably in Fustat. […] Shela, the judge of Alexandria, reports on how he handled an inheritance dispute in Alexandria that ended up in a qāḍī court.

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2

Related Places

2

Related Documents

1

Tags

• communal
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• nahray b. nissim
• suftaja
• (+ 1 more)

3 Transcriptions 2 Translations 1 Discussion

Primary languages

Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

He explains that the request "is the interests of your congregation and nation, it is not for me myself, I have no needs at all myself" (v3). He then expresses a hope that "Fakhr al-Mulk will not continue treating us like this" (v4). In a postscript he adds that he heard that his sister fell and broke a limb, for which he also asks for help from the addressee and the other elders in Egypt/Fustat. So the sender is not located in Fustat, and possibly not in Egypt. This Fakhr al-Mulk might be Fakhr al-Mulk Ibn ʿAmmār in Tripoli (which would date the document to 1108 or earlier), however there is no clear evidence for this.

Tags

• appeal
• illness letter 969-1517
• illness: injury
• to edit

1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The hand may be known. (1) Abū l-Riḍā al-Wathīq has a power of attorney from Abū l-Bahā' al-Dimashqī regarding textiles (qumāsh), against Thiqa al-Dimashqī, demanding in particular a new silk shawl (miṭraf), which will be given as a pawn. […] So now everyone is waiting for the addressee to advance them those 40 dirhams and himself take possession of the shawl. (2) The addressee is to get a copy of Avoda Zara (or its price) from Abū ʿAlī, and tell him what the sender had mentioned about Abū Zikrī and the raisins. (3) The addressee is asked to meet with Abū l-Maḥāsin b. […] The sender wants to know where she lives so that he can go there and ask after her. He also wants to stay at Abū l-Maḥāsin's house with a friend.

Related People

1

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1221–1252 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Dating: 1221–52 CE, as it mentions Crusaders ("Franks") fighting at al-Manṣūra 2 years prior. At that time, Sayyidnā al-Nasi intended to borrow from the sender a beautiful copy of the book of Īlāqī (probably al-Īlāqī's epitome of the first book of Avicenna's Canon) in order to copy it for the addressee. The Crusaders were attacking al-Manṣūra, and the sender was in the army camp together with a gentile (presumably Muslim). […] As everyone was penniless at the time, the sender agreed, but he never saw the book again. Sayyidnā al-Nasi already forgave the sender for this, but is making him write this letter to explain the situation to the addressee.

Related Places

1

Tags

• 13th c
• army
• book trade
• crusades
• guide for the perplexed
• (+ 2 more)

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Document date

Elul 1458 Seleucid (30 July 1147–27 August 1147 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Written in Khalaf's characteristic hyper-polite style and containing information on their correspondence and commercial transactions: (1) the letters and goods he sent the previous year in the Jurbattanī were lost with the ship, and the second ship containing a letter explaining the loss also went down with the ship. (2) Ibn Yijū's brother Mevasser hasn't yet arrived in Aden. (3) Khalaf received the goods Ibn Yijū sent from India: qaṣa-bowls, a waterskin with lemon, some ginger, and a basket of pepper and ginger. (4) Khalaf understands why Ibn Yijū couldn't send betel-nuts, because he heard similar things from other traders in Aden. (5) Khalaf has sent Ibn Yijū in Mangalore what was apparently his favorite indulgence: sugar, raisins and almonds. He also sent vitriol, chewing gum, ten sheets of white paper (a rarity to judge by its appearance only here) and costus, but no arsenic. […] The hole in lines 40-41 was already there at the time of writing.

Related People

10

Related Places

3

Tags

• ib3
• india book
• shipwreck

3 Transcriptions 2 Translations

Document date

Sunday, 25 Nisan 4812 Anno Mundi (29 March 1052 CE)

Primary languages

Aramaic, Hebrew, Judaeo-Arabic

Location: the document itself was drawn up in Fustat, concerning an appointment made in al-Mahdiyya. Dated: Sunday, 25 Nisan 4812 AM = 29 March 1052 CE. […] Moshe, i.e., Barhun b. Musa al-Tāhartī, as his agent to collect the money that belongs to the sons of ʿAmmār from the inheritance of Ḥesed b. Yashar al-Tustarī (who was killed two years earlier) from Abū Manṣūr (Aharon al-Tustarī, the brother of Hesed).

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3

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2

Tags

• al-tustari

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Document date

Tevet 4974 Anno Mundi (15 December 1213–12 January 1214 CE)

Verso is a separate document (draft) involving Abū ʿImrān Moshe b. Abū l-Baqāʾ Sheʾerit al-Tājir b. Abū l-Ḥasan Yefet al-Dalātī al-Naḥḥāl al-Kohen, who releases his paternal uncle Abū l-Bahāʾ Meʾir b. Abū l-Ḥasan Yefet from all claims. See T-S 16.89 (PGPID 7389) for the list of associated documents.

Related People

3

Related Places

1

Tags

• house
• maimonides
• property

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1205–1237 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Location: Probably Cairo; only ''אל" is clearly legible of the location's name, but only three common locations begin with "al" (al-Qāhira, al-Maḥalla, and al-Mahdiyya), and the rest of the word is plausibly קאהרה. […] Perhaps for a property sale, because a location is given in lines 11–12 (.... al-ākhar bi-darb qaḍīb). ASE

Related People

1

Related Places

1

No Scholarship Records

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Large fragment of a detailed order for textiles, specifying 18 different colors, sent to Spain, perhaps from al- Ahwaz(?). (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 106, and from Goitein's index cards) Some of the colors mentioned include silver (l. 23, 24, 31), red (l. 26), green (l. 26), blood of a gazelle (damm ghazāl - l. 31), olive (zeytī - l. 24), and kohl (l. 28). […] For textiles without writing, see l. 21, 26, 31. It also mentions document with shawāhid (possibly a reference to a pattern in the shape of tombstones). The writer requests a textile with "shawāhid like the one in al-sifsārī" (l. 26–27) or "shawāhid like al-fisāsārī without writing" (l. 30).

Tags

• spain
• textiles
• trade

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Natan b. Nahray, in Alexandria, to a certain Abū Saʿīd. Fragment (upper part only). […] The sender and his father, both residents of Alexandria, are known to have exchanged letters with their relative, Nahray b. […] Natan writes that he has received a letter with a list of merchandise sent to Fustat by Abū Sulaymān Dāʾūd Ibn al-Lebdī (cf. T-S AS 151.131 (PGPID 17656)). The list of merchandise is valuable for the study of the Indian Ocean trade.

Related People

2

Related Places

2

Tags

• cash
• ib1
• india book
• trade

3 Transcriptions 1 Translation

Primary language

Hebrew

Shoshan (ll. 2–3), a merchant of Alexandria who had dealings with Venetian merchants and consuls (ll. 4–5). Moshe also owed the writer some money (ll. 3–4). He asks the addressee to assist him in taking possession of merchandise belonging to the late Moshe and thereby getting his debt repaid (ll. 11–12, 14–15). […] (ll. 16–18, 23–25) in partnership with Yehuda al-Ashqar. Mentions financial trouble with the çavuş and the basha and the defterdar and asks for the addressee's help.

Tags

• castro

1 Transcription

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Isḥāq and Ḥayyim b. Sulaymān al-Raḥbī, in Alexandria, to Abū Sulaymān Dāʾūd/David b. Ḥayyim al-Ṣayrafī, presumably in Fustat. (Two of these names are nowhere written out in full and are deduced from both the letter on recto and the address on verso.) […] Ḥayyim takes over the letter in l. 15 and asks the addressee to go to Ibn Ṭalyūn and tell him that Ibn al-Raḥbī greets him and asks him to go retrieve the pillow that has [...] in it "on account of the mice."

Tags

• 'amil
• hospitality
• mice

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

The names include Abū Saʿd Ibn al-Khādim, Abū Naṣr, Abū l-Ḥasan b. Abū [...]; Wafāʾ; Yaʿqūb b. Karīm al-[...]; Makārim the boy of [...]. The last two lines may state that Ibn al-Ziftāwī led them to do this deed (though the first verb isn't clear - אבדאהם?). Recto, top: A note in different handwriting, also headed עת לעשות וגו׳. "These are the people who desecrated the Shabbat and did so publicly (?

Related Documents

1

No Scholarship Records

Inferred date

1100–1138 CE

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Detailed deathbed declaration made by Abu al-Tahir Mevorakh b. Shela al-murid (government supplier), written by the scribe Ḥalfon b. […] If needed for the household, or 'cases of illness, school fees, clothing or unforeseen expenses,' she was allowed to sell some of the 'principals,' but only with the permission of a relative named in the document or two witnesses appointed by the court. The wife was allowed to spend the money thus obtained however she saw fit.

Related People

1

Tags

• deathbed will
• halfon b. menashshe

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Bū l-Munā b. ʿImrān al-ʿA[sqalā?]nī to Abū l-Ḥasan b. Saʿīd al-Ṣārifī Ibn al-Maṣmūdī. […] The addressee may be called (in the Arabic script) "the doctor of the square' (ṭabīb al-murabbaʿa). Discussing business matters. Mentions a youth Bukhūr(?) […] The sender has enclosed two other letters from himself for other recipients, and a letter from the cantor Abū l-Ḥasan Ibn al-Jāzfīnī to be delivered to the house of the late Nahray (b.

Related People

1

Related Places

2

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Document date

15 Av 5579 Anno Mundi (6 August 1819 CE)

Primary language

Hebrew

One of the partners, Eliyahu Sūkkar, commits to take the supply of feathers by ship in order to sell them in Aleppo (ארם צובה) yet is also permitted to sell the goods in other locations along the way.

Related Places

2

Tags

• 19th c
• aleppo
• feathers
• italian words
• late heb

1 Transcription

Yosef, probably from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1075. […] Maybe was sent from Alexandria. The writer sends his greetings to Abu Sa’ad, Nahray’ son. Regarding fabrics and a shipment of paper for Yosef (probably Yosef b. Musa al-Tāhartī) that wants to copy the Bible (Mikra) with its translation.

Related People

3

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Aharon Sijilmāsī, probably in Alexandria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanʾel ha-Levi, probably in Fustat. […] Netanʾel ha-Levi) a list of the books he wishes to have copied and send it to Sijilmāsī before he travels with the Bīshānīs (i.e., the Pisans). He also asks for Ḥalfon's own list of books he wishes to have copied. Greetings to various people including Ḥalfon's brother Abū ʿAlī Yeḥezqel. Shemuel (possibly Yiṣḥaq's son) sends his regards.

Related People

4

Related Places

2

Tags

• ib4
• ib6
• india book

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Letter from Isma’il b. Farah from Alexandria, to Yosef b. Eli Kohen Fasi, Tyre. October 29, 1056. […] [This is Gil's interpretation of r9, ʿalā ʿayn mā tarā, but see PGP description of T-S 10J20.12 for why this probably just refers to the addressee seeing his merchandise in person after previously not having seen it. […] The letter contains details about the way to purchase linen in the villages. Also contains details about ships that are about to arrive from the Maghreb and are being slowed by eastern wind, and other ships from the Sham, Spain, and Sicily.

Related People

3

Related Places

4

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Document date

3 Tevet 4975 Anno Mundi (7 December 1214 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter dated 3 Tevet 4975 AM (which is 1214 CE) from Abu l-Najm Hilal, in Alexandria, to his brother Abu l-Majd (Meir b. Yakhin), in Fustat, describing the horrors of his Nile voyage. […] (Information from Goitein's note card and from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 297, 298; V, pp. 37, 515.) See also ENA NS 22.9, a letter dated 8 Tevet (albeit possibly a different year) in which Abu l-Majd regrets not being able to find Hilal at the dock and rebukes him for leaving in such great haste.

Tags

• 13th c

1 Transcription 1 Discussion

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Letter from Nissim b. Yiṣḥaq al-Tāhartī, in Sūsa, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. […] The letter mentions the connections that Nahray has with the Tāhartī family as well as business matters with two Muslims, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and his son Abū ʿAbdallāh (Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ, r I. 39 and margin). It mentions also Nissim b. Ya'aqov, who leads a center of learning in Qayrawān.

Related People

4

Related Places

4

Tags

• 11th c
• al-tahirti
• ibn al-ba'ba'
• illness
• illness letter 969-1517
• (+ 6 more)

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 1 Discussion

Document date

Monday, 16 Sivan 1471 Seleucid (23 May 1160 CE)

Primary language

Judaeo-Arabic

Deed of testimony. Location: al-Maḥalla. Dated: Monday, 16 Sivan 1471 Seleucid = 23 May 1160 CE, under the authority of the Gaʾon Netanʾel b. […] (This is the earliest known document to refer to Netanʾel as Gaʾon; see also T-S 8J5.21 from later in the same month.) A cantor named Sheʾerit b. […] Soc. vol. 2, pp. 541 n. 117.) See also T-S AS 150.191 (PGPID 16459).

Related People

8

Related Places

1

2 Transcriptions 1 Discussion

Inferred date

1020–1030 CE

Primary language

Hebrew

In particular, the letter is written to Yefet b. Toviyya (known as al-Nīlī, the indigo merchant), David b. Yiṣḥaq ha-Nasi, and Shelomo b. Ḥakīm al-Fāsī, and also to the heads of the congregations, the elders of the Jerusalemite and Babylonian communities, in which the Gaʾon asks that the recipients hasten to obtain, on his behalf, an overdue letter confirming his office from the caliph in Egypt (specifically al-Ẓāhir (r. 1021–35 CE)).

Related People

1

Related Places

1

Tags

• 11th c
• communal
• communal strife
• place of prayer

2 Transcriptions 1 Translation 2 Discussions

Inferred date

1167–1167 CE

Primary language

Arabic

IB II, 64. Letter from Bū ʿAlī b. Bū ʿUmar, in Upper Egypt, to his family (his son or possibly nephew Abū l-Maḥāsin and his wife or possibly sister), probably in Fustat. […] Dating: ca. 1167 CE. The sender is also known from ENA 1822A.75 (PGPID 5490). In this letter he praises Ḥalfon b. […] Maḍmūn) for his help after the sender had been stripped of everything by the Ghuzz (a Seljuk contingent) and for an invitation to Aden, from which he would proceed to India. Ḥalfon also took care of a young woman of the sender's family, who had been divorced by her husband in Aden, Abū ʿImrān who had converted to Islam (cf.

Related People

6

Related Places

3

Tags

• ib2
• india book

1 Transcription 2 Translations