Geniza Lab

Recto and verso: Begging letter from Baqāʾ the cantor to the Nagid David Maimonides, asking for support. In Judaeo-Arabic. Touching on various issues such as copying of books and composition of religious poetry, renting out of a house, and alimony. Mentions the sender's paternal aunt’s son Ismāʿīl. Join: Alan Elbaum.

Verso: accounts in Arabic script, probably concerning debts and expenses, with Coptic numerals. Mentions names such as Abū ʿAlī. (Information from CUDL.)

Account written by Avraham Ibn Yiju in Yemen around 1149-52 detailing a compensation in kind to Khalaf b. Yiṣḥaq and Yosef b. Avraham.

Accounts, barely legible. Prices and commodities are mentioned. (Information from CUDL)

Account for Nisan and Iyyar 1494 sel. ca. 1183. The revenue from only eleven apartments and compounds of the qodesh for two months is listed in the first part of this document. The total is 352.5 dirhams. For some reason, Abu'l-Bayan collected the rent from only half of the usual number of houses. There follows a list of expenditures, including the usual items, which total 125.75 dirhams. There is also a list of payments received by the qodesh from Abu'l-Bayan (some of them through the beadle, Makhfuz). (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 337-338 #84). The scribe is Shmuel b. Sa'adya Halevi (Date: 1163-1204)

Account for Elul 1494 and Tishri 1495 sel. ca. 1183. This document contains the last part of the expenditures for Elul. Then additional revenue from rent for the month of Tishri is listed. Here we have 24 items, totaling 174.5 dirhams. Afterwards, we find the usual additional expenditures for the same month, among them some sums paid in advance for the following one, Marheshwan. The accounting contains relatively high sums spent for making travel arrangements for the widow of the Nasi. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 347 #88). (Written by Shmuel b. Sa'adya Halevi. AA)

Account for Nisan and Iyyar 1493 sel. ca. 1182. This account deals with another part of the qodesh estates and the names of the 12 apartments and compounds in it differ from the ones in the previous accounts. The total revenue from these apartments, for two months, is 372.25 dirhams. There are two different categories of expenditures; a) the usual items whose purpose is specified, and b) major sums deposited with the parnas himself, and a certain Abu'l-Makhasin, apparently the beadle of the Synagogue of the Babylonians. Whereas the revenue total accords with the sum of the items listed, there is no way to check the total of the expenditures; apparently only some of the operations are noted on this sheet. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 332 #82). Written by Shmuel b. Sa'adya Halevi (Date: 1163-1204). AA

Account of the Qodesh: building expenditures, ca. 1044 SH [11-12-86] Fragment of a leaf written by Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya, torn at its upper and right edges. Materials for carpentry work are mentioned, acacia and sesbania, nails, locks, and doors. The grapes bought for the sum of one dinar were apparently for the synagogue, where they were probably made into wine to be used in the synagogue services, and stored in jugs. August, the month in which this took place, was the vintage month in Egypt. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 207 #29)

Accounts in Hebrew and Arabic script, recording profits. (Information from CUDL)

Verso (original use): Small fragment of an account in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals.

Accounts containing a list of names and numbers in Arabic script with Coptic numerals, in the right margin and on the back of a letter (see PGPID 3737).

Short note recording the receipt of payment for some purchased goods with part of the date preserved.

Fragmentary list of sums received and final expenditures, including a Passover gift.

Expenditure given to Abu al-Ḥasan to be delivered to the widow of Abu al-Muna mentioning dirhams and dinars. The entries are separated by horizontal lines. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

The beadle as cashier of the Qodesh, ca. 1162. The beadle Mahfuz, of the Synagogue of the Palestinians, receives the revenue from the orchard of the qodesh. This is a short entry, signed by two members of the court. In another entry, the revenue from rent collected from tenants of the qodesh by the parnas Abu'l-Ma'ali is also received by the same beadle. The record also mentions the person under whose authority these operations take place, namely the Gaon Netaniel b. Moshe. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 291 #61)

Statement of payments to a tenant of the Qodesh, ca. 1160. A certain al-Nadiv, otherwise known as the perfume maker, tenant of a compound partly owned by the qodesh known as al-Burj, receives several sums from the funds of the qodesh. This money is to be used for completing repairs in his apartment and some others. The statement is in the hand of the judge Mevorakh b. Natan. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 289 #60)

Fragment of an account containing names and amounts of money in dinars and dirhams.

Verso: Record of the donation of one quarter of a compound by Sitt al-Naẓar bt. Ḥalfon to the qodesh. Dating: ca. 1161 CE. She also donates one-sixth of the same compound to Faḍāʾil b. ʿAwāʿiḍ Ibn al-Katnānī, a brother or some other relative of hers, on the condition that she herself shall have the usufruct of that part during her lifetime. After her death it will go to him, to his son, and to his mother Sitt al-Dār. After that, this part also will pass into the possession of the qodesh. Written by the judge Mevorakh b. Natan on the verso of an engagement contract dated 29 November 1161 CE. (Gil, Documents, pp. 299 #66.) EMS

Account by Avraham Ibn Yiju of Indian products sold for another merchant, Aden, ca. 1141-44.

Letter recounting a dispute. The writer is scared that someone will kill him should he fall into his hands. Mentions Elʿazar the judge, Abū l-Ḥasan, Abū l-Ṭāhir, Fusṭāṭ and Cairo. On verso are accounts in Arabic and the rest of the letter, obviously written around the Arabic accounts. (Information from CUDL)