Geniza Lab

List of names. In Hebrew. Dating: Late, probably 17th–19th century. Entries include Mosseri, Ben Zakito, Elimelekh b. Eliyyahu, and about two dozen more. The text is arranged in columns with an additional pair of names written in a different hand in the empty space on the left. Lines and margins are ruled with a pencil.

List of alms for the poor: בשם רחום וחנון אלצדקה מן אלעגל ללעניים. The men include several Yosefs, ʿEzra, Khallūf, Bū l-Majd the shammash, and Yaʿaqov Damīrī. Dating: Maybe 13th–15th century based on handwriting and unusual phrases. The jottings underneath are probably part of the same list, even though the hand looks different, since Bū l-Majd the shammash appears again. On verso there are personal accounts, listing various kinds of pens. Some entries are crossed out.

An account list by Nahray b. Nissim, mentionign consignments from Abu Sir via Fustat. Bifolium from an account book (daftar) (LB)

Account of the qodesh, ca. June 1201. A relatively ample list of revenue and expenditures. The first part contains details of revenue from 17 compounds, inclusive of the dakakin (shops) and the funduq. These are shown to comprise 54 apartments and tenants. Out of these 54, ten are mentioned as unoccupied. The relatively large number of vacant apartments may indicate the beginning of the terrible famine period of A.H. 597 when whole neighborhoods and villages were deserted. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 378 #101)

Private account of Yisrael b.Natan. Around 1045. Regarding is business with Yeshua b. Isma’il al-Makhmuri. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #410) VMR

Draft of the beginning of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, with respectful greetings for the addressee named David, possibly David I b. Avraham Maimonides. At any rate, the handwriting looks 13th century. Recto: Lower left corner of an unidentified document in Arabic script. About four lines are partially preserved, some of them crossed out.

Accounts with mentions of names, including Moses Abū Sinīn, and days of the week. The leaf was folded in four parts; text is written only on the two top quarters of recto

List, neatly written, of 26 people pledging gifts of 5 to 60. The ten most generous donors remain anonymous, the relevant entry being 'mattan,' which is the beginning of the biblical verse 'a gift in secret averts anger' (Prov. 21:14), understood as 'the anger of God.' Verso, in a different script, hasty entries of donations made over three consecutive weeks (the first is incomplete) and, again in another hand, notes on pledges during a later week. On this page, too, a number of pledges are anonymous. The second week is headed by 'the h[aver] the nagid Musa, the eldest son of Nagid Avraham II b. David b Avraham I Maimonides, d. Nov. 1290. (Information from Cohen, Voice of the Poor)

Signature trials with decorations by Moses ben Raḥamim with many repetitions of the name Moses. On top of recto the name Moses ben Raḥamim is enclosed in decorative drawings

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description

Collection by R. Baruch during the week 'In the Beginning' Twenty-seven contributors totaling 36 1/2 (dirhams). With the exception of two scholarly persons, a banker, entitled haver, who gives nine, and a goldsmith, styled rabbi)--the only one in the list besides the collector--who contributes five together with his partner, all the others content themselves with gifts of one-half, one, or at most one and one-half. Actual payments were made once for several weeks. The insertion in small letters of 'Thursday' between lines 18 and 19 shows that R. Baruch completed his collection during the synagogue service on Thursday morning. This is an example of one of several lists of contributors that do not show a wide scale of social or economic differentiation, with craftsmen by no means always in the lower categories. The letter resh stands for rubaʿ (1/4) and the letter tav for thumn (1/8) (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 490-491, App. C 49, dated first part of 13th century)

List of 67 contributors to charity, headed by 'our lord, may his glory be enhanced,' namely, the Nagid Avraham Maimonides (d. 1237), giving 3 1/2 (dinars or dirhams). Another list superscribed sh (= sheni, second) of 13 persons mentioned before and making a 2nd contribution, is attached. The list contains many persons arranged according to 'business addresses,' namely, the bazaars where persons of the same professions had their shops or where craftsmen had their adjacent fields. This means they were solicited at the same time, in the workplace. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 486-487, App. C 40)

List of payments, unknown.

Payroll similar to T-S Misc.8.100, App. B 41, partly in the same hand and noting mostly the same names and sums for the 28th, 29th, and 35th weeks of the liturgical year. Cash was given to persons from Ascalon and Mosul and to a devotee, nazir (Heb.). In the 29th week space was assigned to salaries, superscribed al-rusum, but the space was left blank. The letter samekh evidently stands for Arabic sittun (60). (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 451, App. B 42)

List of around sixty "houses" (bayt) and of eight male individuals, each followed by Coptic numerals. Includes an entry for "the house of the rayyis, the house of our lord R. Avraham (Maimonides)," which Cohen takes as proof that this is a donor list rather than an alms list. Goitein speculates that this might be "a collection arranged by women to which also a few gentlemen contributed." Cohen, however, takes "house" to mean not "wife" but "household," and when a married woman appears on the list, she is mentioned using the term imraʾa (col. 3, line 17). Likewise, in the entry "the bayt of ʿAziza," a woman's name, bayt can only mean "househo1d" (col. 3, line 12). Entries are crossed out when people paid their pledges. (Information from Cohen, Voice of the Poor, 182)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

T-S K15.66 forms the upper part and T-S K15.14 the lower part, of one list of about a hundred persons, contributing or being asked to contribute from 1/6 to 3/4 dinar, as partial payment of the capitation tax, the community making up the balance. These are all male, foreigners, laborers, craftsmen mostly of lower standing, community officials, persons called ghulam or sabi', that is, slave, freedman, or employee, and five others designated as damin, persons for whom security was given. Alternatively, the sums following the names may indicate the amounts to be paid by the community. The notables whose employees are mentioned (Dosa, Ibn Sighmar, Ibn 'Awkal [son of the Yosef], Bahudi, Ibn Hirbish) were active around 1040. Foreigners from Palestine, 5 (Tiberias 3; Baniyas 1; Jish, 1); Persia,2; Tiflis, 1; Spain, 3; Saqlabi (of Slavic origin), 1. Some names are only partly visible. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 440, App. 4-5).

Writing exercises with unconnected sentences and several repetitions of the names of the Patriarchs

The genealogical tree of the family of Avraham Maimonides' mother - a family of pious persons. Probably a different branch of the family.