Geniza Lab

Official account mentioning the transfer of sums to the fisc (bayt al-māl) from the bureau of the capitation tax (bayt al-jawālī): "mablagh al-maḥmūl ilā bayt al-māl al-maʿmūr min māl al-jawālī," followed by names like wa-walī Butrus b. Yuḥannā.

Letter from Moshe b. ʿOvadya, in Aleppo, to a Nagid, in New Cairo, who receives 20 lines of eloquent Hebrew praises but does not appear to be named (he may be identifiable on the basis of the titles, or if the writer or other people mentioned in the letter prove to be dateable). The writer also conveys his longing for a R. Moshe and for the entire community of Cairo. When the Nagid's third letter arrived in Aleppo, the "season/period" (epidemic?) had already begun in Aleppo and numerous Jews died, including R. Avraham ha-Dayyan the author of Etz Hayyim. Trade came to a standstill. Then the rains began: four months in which they did not even see the sun, and two-thirds of Aleppo "fell" (flooded? buildings collapsed?). Now it is the period of the capitation tax. For all these reasons, the writer was not able to respond sooner. The writing now becomes messier and somewhat trickier to understand. Possibly someone named al-ʿAjami and his son were in Damascus for 10 days, and the "deputy of al-Sham" confiscated all their property, amounting to 1000 dinars. Furthermore, a Jew from Aleppo who was in Damascus at the time reported that someone got their hands on all the money and all the books that Avraham ha-Dayyan had left in the possession of his daughter (possibly her husband was the villain). The writer plans to send another letter having to do with legal/judicial matters (?) so that the recipient can advise him. Noaḥ ha-Levi b. Shemuel ʿAḍʿāḍ added a postscript stating that he was present when this letter was being written and that he sends his respects. ASE.

Shelomo urges Abu'l-Makarim in Qalyub (?) to collect money to pay the capitation tax of needy people

Family letter from the end of the 12th century to Abu al-Faraj b. Abu al-Barakāt, a doctor in Fustat, from his brother in Alexandria. The letter mentions forceful collection of the capitation tax (jaliya) in Alexandria. (Information from Frenkel. See also Goitein, MEd. Soc. 2:372, 2:372, and 4:61. Goitein describes the document as following: Family letter from a physician in Alexandria to his brother, also a physician, who had traveled to Fustat without having paid his poll-tax (or having forgotten to send the receipt back). The writer had to pay a certain sum every day to the Muslim authorities (tarsim) until he would pay the poll-tax for his brother. After two days of refusing to do so, he was confined to prison and paid the poll-tax.

Recto and verso: Draft of a legal document. Abu Saʿd al-Levi undertakes to provide his elderly father Shemuel with food and drink and the money for the capitation tax, since his father had traveled widely on business and was too exhausted for regular work. This fragment also contains an unrelated legal document dated 1232 CE (see separate PGP record). (Information from Mediterranean Society, vol. 5, pp. 122–23, and from Goitein's index cards.)

Verso: Letter from a father, unknown location, to his son Baqāʾ, in Fustat. The letter was sent to the shop of Meshullam/Musallam to be held for the addressee. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 12th century. Written on verso of an Arabic petition to a high Fatimid official; Goitein suggests that the sender of the Judaeo-Arabic letter may have been an official in the same office (hence with access to this scrap paper). The father has sent 20 dirhams with Abū l-ʿAlāʾ, of which 11 dirhams are for the capitation tax and the remainder for his wife ("bayt"). He exhorts his son to behave well (ḥusn al-ʿishra) with the latter's mother, wife, and siblings. (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's index card.) ASE

Letter sent by the community of Fustat to a place in the Egyptian Rif, asking to help a Palestinian, as the local people had just paid the capitation tax for ninety poor men. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 95)

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic to a certain Abū Ṭāhir containing interesting technical details of the capitation tax administration. The writer heard from Manṣūr al-Dimashqī "may God protect him" (possibly identical with the recipient Abū Ṭāhir—otherwise how is Abū Ṭāhir connected to the story?) that he has been drawn into the matter of Mūsā b. al-Maghribī's capitation tax. Mūsā had been selling off his qumāsh (household furnishings? his wife's dowry?) when he went to the governor (al-wālī), possibly of al-Benha, and said "this man [presumably the letter writer] is my guarantor (ḍamīnī), and I make my payment in Malīj." The governor said, "Impossible! Show me your acquittances (barāwātak)." Mūsā brought the acquittances. The sequence of events becomes blurry around here due to the missing ends of lines. A speculative reconstruction is as follows: The governor said that he had been ordered to collect the capitation tax from a group of people who still owed it for "years 8 and 9" but it then transpired that the record (al-jarīda) in the tax bureau (al-dīwān) showed that someone else had already collected their capitation taxes—perhaps because they, like Mūsā, were registered elsewhere? The governor then says he will take the list to the authorities (al-sulṭān) and report that these people actually live in his district. The text in the margin is fragmentary but mentions the capitation tax farmer in Malīj (ḍāmin al-jawālī bi-Malīj) and, later, "let him pay it in al-Benha." The upper margin is lost. When the story resumes on verso, someone—perhaps the governor of al-Benha—is saying, "I will not let you off without a capitation tax payment for year 8, as the authorities (al-sulṭān) have ordered." The writer continues, "We are in a difficult situation with him [perhaps the tax farmer of Malīj]." The writer concludes by beseeching Abū Ṭāhir at least twice not to "oppose (tuʿāriḍ). . . [something or someone] that is in al-Benha." The meaning of this is not immediately clear. Perhaps the writer, in Malīj, is now facing trouble with the local tax farmer, because the governor of al-Benha is trying to transfer the tax revenue to his own district, and the writer wishes Abū Ṭāhir and Mūsā would not stir up any further trouble with the authorities. See Moss. IV,7 (L 12) for another use of עארץ in relation to the capitation tax. The references in this letter are quite opaque, and there are probably many other interpretations consistent with what remains of it. ASE.

Petition in Judaeo-Arabic to help Thābit al-Hazzan b. al-Munajjim, who was ill and had been imprisoned for two months for not paying his capitation tax. (Information from Goitein's note card)

Letter from an unknown sender, in Fustat, to his nephew (ibn ukht) Mūsā, in Qalyūb. Dating: Unknown, but perhaps dateable on the basis of the reference to Rabbenu Yiṣḥaq or on the basis of the capitation tax policies described in the letter. Subject: Mainly dealing with the case of an unhappy (maghbūna wa-maẓlūma), newly married young woman. The writer urges his nephew not to come to Fustat. He reminds him of the education given to him (tarbiya), the obligations towards his family (ahliyya), and the love between them (maḥabba). Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 25. Further information from Goitein's note card: The writer had made peace between a young man (perhaps the son of the addressee) and a young woman (perhaps the sender's own daughter or granddaughter). Then the young man fell ill. His capitation tax was restored (?) to him by the authorities (the letter mentions arbāb al-dawla, al-sulṭān, al-ṣāḥib, the qādī of Qalyūb, and the wālī) on condition that the young man remain in Qalyūb instead of traveling to the Levant as he had intended. ASE.

Letter fragment from an unknown writer in Syria to 'Rabbenu' in Bilbays. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentioning the capitation tax (... al-jawālī) in al-Shām and specifically mentions the place Bayt Jibrīn (Beit Gubrin). Also names [...] bar Daniel al-[...] ZL. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century. Also under this shelfmark: Two other small fragments, one in late Arabic script and one in a mixture of of Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script.

Court case from Fustat, 15 March 1285. The document involves the arrangements for paying the capitation tax (jaliya) in Alexandria and Fustat.

Collection for the capitation tax - jibayat al-jawali (verso) (for the 6th week of the liturgical year, usually falling in November). As the very small sums show, these were not payments to the government, but contributions toward the capitation tax of the poor. The collection was made on a Thursday (21 persons) and the subsequent Friday (15). Sums: 1 gave 11/2 dirham wariq, 13 gave 1 dirham, 3 gave 3/4 dirham, 12 gave 1/2 dirham, 2 gave 1/4 dirham, and 5 unclear or not preserved. All these sums together would not make the total of the yearly capitation tax required from one man. Because of the extreme poverty of the population, the tax was collected in installments. The fraction rendered 1/3 is represented by a 'v' on its side with a dot in the middle and another on top ( like an abbreviation mark); a 'v' on its side without a dot in the middle I think is 1/2 [half an 'alef]. The common Coptic slash is also used for 1/2. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 505 App. C 128)

Petition in Judaeo-Arabic with a Hebrew beginning for financial assistance addressed to Rabbenu Avraham, can be dated by script to around the 13th century (i.e. probably Avraham Maimonides). Yosef al-Andalusi has spent three months in Fustat, his robe is torn and the authorities are demanding the capitation tax from him. He needs help.

Petition in Judaeo-Arabic from Yaʿqūb b. Abū l-Yaman to the Nagid. The writer was sick for 8 months and is hiding at home because of the capitation tax. Now a holiday is approaching and he is asking for help. On the back is a short account.

Recto: Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to his father Eliyyahu the Judge. In Judaeo-Arabic. Recommending the bearer, Dā'ūd of Banhā, who is chronically in arrears for the capitation tax (ʿalayhi jawālī muzmina). Rabbenu Menaḥem has already helped him by writing a recommendation for him to the Nagid Avraham. At the end of this letter, Shelomo asks for copies of certain books from the Mishneh Torah. Verso: Shelomo continues, now writing on his own behalf. He asks his father to try to make sure that Shelomo is not sent to a place that is far away, because Shelomo is in a terrible state of isolation and ghurba and he could die any day, and then his father would regret having let him be sent away. ASE.

Petition. Dating: Late 16th or early 17th century, as it involves the well-known rabbi and judge Ḥayyim Kapūsī (1540–1631). The petitioner makes accusations against a Jewish man named Saʿd b. al-ʿAyṣī(?) who held the rights to a capitation tax farm (kāna multazim bi-muqāṭaʿat al-jawālī) but who was caught up in some sort of scandal (unkira ʿalayhi min al-amwāl al-muḥarrara ʿalayhi li-jānib al-dīwān) and had to leave Egypt for a long time. He eventually returned and attached himself to the court of Ḥayyim al-Kapūsī. Now, whenever litigants come before the court, he extorts bribes from them and hinders them from bringing cases before the Muslim courts. He infringes on people's rights, especially the poor and anyone who does not pay him enough of a bribe. The addressees are asked to send two witnesses to observe the truth of these claims and then act against the wicked man. The Hebrew script in the margin likely belongs with the accounts on verso; it does not appear to be a filing note. This document is particularly noteworthy, because the most famous hagiographical anecdote about Ḥayyim Kapūsī (also spelled Capoussi or Capousi) is that he miraculously regained his eyesight after being accused of taking bribes, thereby proving his righteousness and silencing his enemies. ASE

Letter from Barakāt b. Abū l-Faraj al-Dayyān (=Shelomo b. Eliyyahu) to Abū l-Ḥasan. In Arabic script. Pleading for a loan of 20 dirhams against a turban as collateral, so that he and his father can pay the capitation tax. Same sender, addressee, and purpose as P. Heid. Arab. III 42, but written at a different point in time. Verso: Accounts in Arabic script, with possibly Coptic alpha numerals. Needs examination.

Tax reciept for jizya in the name of [..] b. Ghālib with two registrations marks; 'al-ḥamdu lil-lāh al-muʿīn al-dāʾim', praise be to God who is the steadfast supporter, and 'al-ḥamdu lil-lāh waḥdahu karīm niʿamuhu', praise be to God who is one, generous are his benefactions. Dated 514 (517?).

Letter sent from Minyat Zifta by Abu al-Baha b. al-Mashmia to his father. The writer reports that his brother was caught by capitation tax collectors and that he had to pay for the entire family. The receipts were written in Ashmum, as they were inhabitants of that town. (Information from Goitein's index cards)