Geniza Lab

Part of a booklet, a section beginning, like a title page, 'List of the Poor of Fustat--may God in his mercy make them rich and help them in his grace and kindness' (Box K 15.5). The date is preserved on 15.39, Tuesday, Marheshvan 18 (Nov. 5), 1107. This leaf contain the date Friday, [Marheshvan] 21 (Nov. 8 of the same year). Other leaves = 15.39 and 50. Beginning at column IV, line 8, 43 persons are listed together under the heading 'Rum' (Europeans, probanly from Byzantium) and there is a comment that 13 other Rum, whose names were not specified, also received loaves. The total 23 at the end of column IV was crossed out when a supplement was postscripted with an additional 8 loaves. The handwriting is that of the scribe Avraham b. Aharon. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II. p. 443, App. B 20).

Fragment of a list of pledges to charity made at a wedding. The bridegroom, styled "the elder, the scholar Abu al-Baha" (written in larger letters, different from the rest), pledged (Ar. asma) 1/2 dirham, and so did the others. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 495, App. C 65)

Nine entries, names of recipients of alms, on vellum in huge calligraphic letters, such as 'two freed women, two persons from Hijaz, two from Sahrajt [Egypt], the daughter of Mishael,' accompanied by numbers ranging from one to six. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II p. 442, App. B 10, dated 1040-1060)

Pledges for charity on Sabbath lekh lekha of the year 1647, the third week of the Jewish liturgical year, falling in October 1335 (Goitein). The list is headed by hd (=hadrat, His eminence, normally reserved for the Nagid) the judge Shemuel ha-Kohen, who contributed 20 (dirhams), far more than anyone else. 1 donor pledges 20; 2 pledge 10; 6 pledge 5; 1 pledges 3; 18 pledge 2; 56 pledge 1; 2 pledge 1/2; 4 not indicated; 18 illegible. Total number of contributors 108. Heading: asamu lil....'pledged for the...' looks like a pe followed by the faint remains of a qof, rather than, as Goitein suggests in his annotaton, ללכ]ניס or ללע]ניים. Regarding the date: 'This was in the yea[r] 647 Sel.' (perhaps read 1647, which is 1335/36 C.E., which is much more likely than 647 A.M = 881/82 C.E., but note that the preceding letter looks more like a dalet [= 4000] than an alef). In any event, this notation seems to have been there before the list was written, as proved by the last name on line 10, Sulayman, which had to be squeezed in to avoid the letters in the margin, and by the fact that the note is seemingly in a different hand. If so, the writing in the margin probably has nothing to do with the list and therefore the list is to be dated after the fall of 1335. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 496, App. C 69 and Cohen.) Also discussed in Goitein, "The Twilight of the House of Maimonides," Tarbiz 54 (1984), 99f.

Jottings in Judaeo-Arabic, including what may be a line of poetry, pen trials, and the name Yaʿaqov

Accounts for 54 dirhams (not 64 as per Goitein) received by the collector (called Sulayman ha-Levi), plus 30 donated by Avraham the Pious (d. 1223) and spent during the 22nd week. The first 30 lines are in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, the remaining 48 lines in that of another scribe whose ways of accounting were very much different. Expenditure for bread: '54 plus 6 at the end of the day through Avraham Dyer.' At the conclusion of the week it had become evident that the allocation had not been sufficient. The total of 60 dirhams is twice as much as the average in Appendixes B 40-42. These were perhaps later, or this payroll reflects a certain state of emergency, for instance, a low Nile with high prices for wheat. Seems to be a leaf from a booklet and not consecutive pages. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p 451, App. B 43, dated 1210-1223)

See PGP 20645

Account of a Parnas ca. 1200. Upper part of a leaf in very deteriorated condition. It contains notes made by a parnas, recording the collection of sums for repairs in some houses of the qodesh. The verso contains several items of eexpenditures for an unnamed Nasi. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 392 #105)

Account in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions Moshe b. Yeshuʿa, the agent of al-Kohen Abū l-Mak[ā?]rim b. Yosef, al-Makīn Abū l-ʿIzz b. al-Rashīd, Abū l-Faḍl al-Ṣayrafī.

One side: Names in Judaeo-Arabic, including Isḥāq b. Bahā b. Bahā the uncle (ʿamm) of Manṣūr. The other side: Accounts in Arabic script, naming Rashīd al-ʿAṭṭār among others.

Late account in Hebrew characters. There are words that do not appear to be Hebrew or Judaeo-Arabic.

Account of expenditure for the distribution of bread (100 pounds costing 31 1/2 dirhams) and for payments to a nasi, to teachers, and other officials during the eleventh week of the liturgical year (Dec. 1241). (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 453, App. B 50)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Much effaced list of donors to charity. With one exception all called by their first names. Nineteen pledges of at least twenty-two persons. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 475, App. C 11)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

List of revenue from rent ca. 1200. A fragment of a double leaf from a notebook. The revenue listed refers mainly to the funduq and to three compounds of the qodesh. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 375 #99)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Only a signature by Aharon b. Yeshu'a the physician (Date: 1109-1143), Alexandria

Fragmentary list of contributions, it seems in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, details of about twenty-five preserved: five giving 1, eight giving 1/2, two giving 3/8, three giving 1/4. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 493, App. C 56)