For nearly fifteen centuries Judeo-Arabic was one of the most important languages used by the Jewish communities in the Middle East and North Africa. It was similar to the Arabic of the Muslims among whom the Jews lived, but differed in several respects, primarily the use by the Jews of Hebrew and Aramaic lexical elements. Written Judeo-Arabic differed even more because it used Hebrew rather than Arabic script. Hebrew script is used in nearly all Jewish Arabic texts, ranging from the casual to the most prestigiou…