Geniza Lab

Two lists of contributors and beginning of a third, comprising 25, 32, and 4 names, respectively, all headed by ha-r (the rabbi) Yosef Israel. The 1st 2 lists are in the same hand as T-S K15.10 and have many names in common with it. The first number = the pledge; the 2nd number = the 1st installment actually made. A late list. (Information from Mediterranean Society II, p. 497, App. C 76)

Account of rent, ca. 1096. Accounting of rent owed by four tenants. Besides the accounting of an anonymous tenant of which only the end is preserved here, there are three larger paragraphs, of which the first deals with a room of a man from Aleppo (al-Halabi), the other with the apartment of another anonymous tenant, and the third with the apartment of Sitt Qawdaf. The third tenant had to pay one dinar for six months, as did hte lady named Sitt Qawdaf. The periods of payment covered are unusually long. The account stretches over more than two years, from January 1094 to February 1096. The document is a leaf from a notebook, divided into two parts. Written mostly in the hand of an unknown parnas, but with additions inserted in the awkward hand of the parnas Eli b. Yahya, its upper part is missing. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 227 #38)

List of pledges arranged in two sections, separated by a blank space. Thirteen donations are in the first group and ten in the second; two contributions are for ten dirhams while the other amounts range from one to five and one/half dirhams. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society 2:488) EMS

Accounts of Nahray b. Nissim (on the basis of handwriting), 1051, noting sums of money and giving some details about the wares. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 825.). On recto, a note about various wares requesting Nahray b. Nissim to give to Abū al-Walīd a small basket placed inside the sack belonging to Ibrahīm b. Azhar. (Information from Goitein notes linked below.)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Ten weekly payrolls for the second through the tenth weeks and then again for the fourteenth week of the liturgical year, which begins after the autumn holidays. In this account and those in T-S Misc.8.100, T-S K15.63, and T-S NS J105 the total spent on the distribution of loaves of bread is also listed every week. These important drafts are in the hand of Shelomo, the son of judge Eliyyahu, presumably in preparation of fuller reports. For each week there is the sum put at disposal of writer. The name of the collector who handed over the money is often also named, plus a balance from the previous week, or arrears due on its account. Then, never in same order, the items paid, concluding with the balance remaining or due. Payments to officials do not represent their actual salaries, but their share in the weekly collection. These remain the same for many weeks. The weekly expenditure on bread was 29, 30, 30 1/2, 32 3/4, 33 1/4 dirhams and similar sums. It is possible, however, that there were one or several distributions handled by other communal officials, whose notes have not come down to us. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 450, App. B 40, early thirteenth century)

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein's index card.

List of about ninety persons receiving subsidies for their capitation tax obligation, similar to T-S K15.14 + T-S K15.66, Apps. 4-5. Many names and sums are identical. As in official documents from the Fatimid chancelleries, a blank space, three times as wide as the height of the script, is left between the lines. Thus, no doubt, the list was destined for public display. Col. I, l.2 'from the collection, pesiqa' is added because of a special circumstance. It was found that the person concerned was unable to pay even the very reduced rate of 1/4 dinar imposed on him. Verso col. II, l. 11: Yahya al-Majjani, 9 qirats. probably the well known merchant, in dire straits that year and in need of assistance with his capitation tax. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 440, App. B 6, dated 1040-1060)

List, long, irregularly written, mostly effaced, of males. In many cases sums like 1/3, 1/4 (dinars) 5 qirats added; in other instances, a well-to-do person such as the prominent banker Abu al-'Ala b. Sha'ya stands security (II, approx. l. 27). In several places the words 'may God have mercy upon him' are added, meaning the capitation tax had to be paid for persons who had died in debt to the state. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 455, App. B 59; verso = App. C 14)

List: “Register (thabat) of the names of the elders who...” written upside down on the reverse side of a list of payers of incomplete capitation taxes (see T-S K15.94). The superscription is nearly entirely effaced but the word ‘jarida’ (also register), mostly used on lists of the poor, is clearly visible in the second line. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society 2:476) EMS

Accounts by a communal official. In Judaeo-Arabic. Location: Fustat. Dated: Middle decade of Iyyār 1461 Seleucid, which is May 1150 CE. Described by Moshe Yagur as follows: "The account records the inheritance of a deceased woman, which was spent to cover the expenses of her funeral and of the suits of her converted children. The deceased's sister, who was supposed to inherit what had remained, was left with nothing, since her converted nephews, and the various figures involved in the compromise settlement with them, took all that was left. The case relates to the different and contradicting opinions in both Jewish and Islamic legal traditions regarding inheritance of non-Muslims by their Muslim relatives." Partially translated by Moshe Yagur as follows (with transliterations slightly modified for PGP): "[. . .] for the testimony of the qāḍī—ten silver coins. Payment for Abū Muḥammad— 1.5. This was on Sunday, in the middle ten days (al-ʿashar al-awsaṭ) of the month of Iyyar 1461 (mid-Muḥarram 545/mid-May 1150), in the presence of Barakāt al-Kohen, Khūlayf b. al-Ḥazzan, and Furayj b. Mūnīn. Abū Muḥammad took it [the sum] in their presence when the apostate (poshʿim) children of her [deceased] sister demanded their share. The next day they took forty silver coins by way of compromise (ṣulḥ). In addition—six dirhams to the representative. In addition— two dirhams to the messenger [. . .] in the presence of Khūlayf b. al-Ḥazza[n . . .] and for the document to the second qāḍī—five coins. In sum: sixty-four and a half, out of a total of one hundred and sixty-four. Taken from our pocket: four coins." (Information from Moshe Yagur, "Several Documents from the Cairo Geniza Concerning Conversion to Islam," (2020).)

List, eight columns, of more than 180 names receiving alms. Many payments of 1/8 dinar. Many foreigners, designated as such: Palestine 13; Iraq 12; Syria-Lebanon 7; Rum 3; Sicily 2; Qayrwan 1; Barqa 1; Spain 1. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 441, App. B 8)

List of persons in receipt of 5 or 10 (dirhams) or of a felt cloth, with a postscript signed by Yiṣḥaq b. Shemuel, the Spaniard (dated documents 1095-1127), another judge (signing deed in 1099), and the scribe Hillel b. Eli (1066-1108). The list is not complete. The total of 580 dirhams preceding the remark and signature of the judges cannot be related to the individual items. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 446, App. B 29, dated 1100-1140).

Estate of Nissim b. Yaʿqūb, a merchant who died in Suakin (present-day Sudan) on Monday, 7 Shaʿbān 503 AH (approximately 1110 CE). The handwriting appears to be that of Hillel b. ʿEli. Information from Goitein's notes.

Inventory of a pawnshop, containing mostly clothing, bedding, household items, and jewellery with the sums which were given for the pawned objects. Dating: Probably 11th century. Information from Goitein's index card.

Recto contains Hebrew poetry, likely in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. Verso contains a Judaeo-Arabic letter, likely from Yedutun ha-Levi, in Fustat, to his brother Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, in Qalyūb. Identifications are based mainly on handwriting. The sender comments on either these or other poems (there are several letters in which Moshe writes that he is enclosing poems and wants feedback on them). There is also something about "mukhāṭabat al-faqīh" here. Yedutun says he might come out and visit on Friday. ASE

State document, Ayyubid period. Petition to an Ayyubid ruler regarding the appointment of military personnel: ʿUmar b. Masʿūd, leader of the archers in Alexandria of long experience (since the day of al-Kāmil) is asking that two boys he trained be employed in his unit. Mid-13th century. On verso are the Hebrew piyyuṭim במה אקדם ומה אמר אליך and Abraham ibn Ezra, אם רח אבנים כחי, and a draft of the basmala and tarjama of the document on recto. (Information from CUDL)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Quite formal. Same handwriting as T-S Ar.24.86. Mentions the people of Cairo and Fustat. There is a small mark that looks like a ד over every ת and ה that signify ت and ة respectively. Needs further examination. On verso there is Hebrew poetry.

Booklist.