Whusha al-dallala
Whusha al-dallala (died after 1104), was a Jewish-Egyptian broker.
She was the daughter of the Jewish banker Ammar of Alexandria, married Arye ben Yehudah and moved to Cairo, but divorced early, and made a business career of her own. She is known for her successful business career as well as her love life, both of which made her a remarkable exception from the otherwise secluded women in Egypt regardless of religion. She was a leading member of the Cairo business world, often appearing in court for her business tasks, in contrast to the otherwise secluded life of women in then Cairo. She also made a scandal by challenging social and sexual conventions, living with a lover and having a child with him out of wedlock, which had her banned from the synagogue in 1095. She is also known for her will from 1104, in which she donated her vast fortune to various institutions and charitable subjects within the Jewish community of Cairo.
References[]
- Emily Taitz, Sondra Henry & Cheryl Tallan, The JPS Guide to Jewish Women: 600 B.C.E.to 1900 C.E., 2003
- S.D. Goitein, "A Jewish Business Woman of the Eleventh Century," in: Jewish Quarterly Review (Seventy-Fifth Anniversary Volume), (1967), 225–42; idem, A Mediterranean Society, 3 (1978; rep. 1988), 346–52.
- S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society: The family
- 11th-century Jews
- 12th-century Jews
- 11th-century women
- 12th-century businesspeople
- 11th-century Egyptian people
- 12th-century Egyptian people
- Medieval Jewish women
- Medieval bankers
- 11th-century businesspeople
- 11th-century people of the Fatimid Caliphate
- 12th-century people of the Fatimid Caliphate
- Medieval Egyptian Jews
- Medieval businesswomen