Geniza Lab

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.

List of weekly emoluments, preceded by the collection made for the purpose. Superscription: 'Statement about the revenue from the collection for the weekly payments, jibayat al-mujama'a, for the week of Naso' (Numbers 4:21-7:89, read mostly in May or June); 'our Master' (Moses Maimonides) 8 dirhams, 'the Trustworthy' (title of Maimonides' father-in-law) 12 dirhams, three others 10 dirhams, one, three, and five other 6, 5, and 4 dirhams respectively; Several items are lost. On the reverse side (as the manuscript is bound, it is recto) the Trustworthy and others give additional sums. Still, only 124 dirhams were collected, while another 31 were required. Besides communal officials (R. Anatoli, 8 dirhams; R. Jephthah, 6; the cantor Abu Sahl, 6; and others), payments to women and for the capitation tax are included. R. Anatoli's monthly salary of 52 dirhams, which was covered by income from houses, probably was simultaneous with this weekly emolument, which was paid from a collection. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 465-466, App. B 102)

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.

Letter from Farajūn b. Hilāl, in a provincial town, to an unidentified addressee, in Fustat. Dating: 11th or 12th century. The sender may be Abū l-Faraj b. Hillel, who is the sender of T-S 13J26.19 (1094–1111 CE). Farajūn b. Hilāl reports that he leased the addressee's shops and house. He further reports on Abū Yaʿqūb and the wine; apparently Abū Yaʿqūb has not gone to Fustat as ordered by Sayyidnā, citing his inability to get a ḍāmin to draw up a capitation tax receipt for him. A certain Khalaf wants to empty the shop and set it up elsewhere, but the sender asked him to delay until he had a chance to write this letter. He talked to the amīr, who agreed to permit either the addressee or his son, but not both, to leave the capital. He urges the addressee (or his son) to come quickly with a letter from the rayyis. Khalaf has sent the addressee 1.5 dinars and wants good-quality lac. The sender then reports in detail about the nagid’s beehives, complaining about all the trouble he has had with them, and asks for instructions. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.)

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

State petition regarding a Maghribī Jewish trader caught drinking with a Muslim woman and imprisoned. Cuts off right before the request: there arrived from the official who imprisoned them three sealed documents (khawātim khātim min qabl Munajjat al-Dawla) ... possibly to do with the jizya, a pretext for imprisoning them for moral offenses (?), suggesting that the trader was conspicuous and respectable, or his moral infractions might not have drawn attention. See also T-S NS J286, in which a man travels from Ceuta to Bijāya, Algeria, where the sāḥib al-Bijāya asks him how is related to a woman who is with him. (There is a ṣāḥib al-shūrṭa in ENA 3901.5, too.) The traveler (never described as a Maghribi trader, but a man from the Maghrib) claims she is his wife, but he has no kitāb to prove this. In T-S NS J286, they confiscate his māl and the man is put in prison with no reference to the woman. Although there is nothing about the three-day drinking binge, it’s plausible that these are the same case, and if not, they pair nicely.

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.

Verso: Letter from Shabbetay b. Avraham, in Minyat Zifta, to the judge Zakkay b. Moshe, perhaps in al-Maḥalla. In Judaeo-Arabic. (Zakkay was in al-Maḥalla in 1147 CE, per T-S 13J3.6v.) Shabbetay asks Zakkay to assist the bearer Abū l-Surūr b. Abū Saʿd in getting his wife to come back with him to Minyat Zifta, as they need to pay the capitation tax there. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 178, 464 and from Goitein's index cards.) NB: Goitein refers to ENA 4011.12 as ENA 4011.34.

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)

Letter from the office of Yehoshua Maimonides dealing with the capitation tax and with the kashrut of meat, first half of the 14th c.

Letter from the office of the Nagid Yehoshua Maimonides (d. 1355), regarding evasion of the capitation tax in the community. The previous year they had paid in full and everyone had in addition contributed 10–15 to the mezonot (food) for the poor. (Information from Goitein, Tarbiz 54 (1984), 90–91.) Join: Oded Zinger.

Letter from a father who had undertaken to pay the capitation tax for his son but was robbed. Asks the recipient to pay the tax for his son and releases him from having to repay his debt, 1185

Letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 13th century, as Eliyyahu the Judge is mentioned. The writer greets the addressee as 'brother' and gives him a report on his family members. It seems the addressee's mother is in a particularly poor state. Munā b. Ḥiyyā and Abū l-Tāhir b. al-Quḍāʿī were staying with the writer's family. The writer struggled to pay the capitation tax (12 dirhams). He complains that he is all alone ('I have no one to wet my throat or give me a thread of silk'). The addressee's brother Surūr had a son born to him, given the name Bū l-Faḍl, on the day this letter was written. "Tell us whether you have found a stable situation, so that we can take the old woman [and move?] to you." Regards from the addressee's sisters and brothers-in-law. The writer asks for news of Bū l-ʿAlā and says to tell him that his children are unemployed and their rent is due, "and if we the men have been overwhelmed, how should they be?" The writer complains about his own unemployment and rent due. He reports on prices for silk and wheat and at least one other commodity; it seems they were bad before, but have now somewhat improved. "Let the response be quick, lest you earn the sins of your mother." The addressee is asked to meet with Eliyyahu the Judge on the writer's behalf. ASE

Letter draft from the wife of a drunkard to "sayyidnā." In Judaeo-Arabic, beautifully written. She reports that her husband took her belongings, demanded from her more; hit her with something unmentionable (his shoe); she had already once sent to the Nagid when he threatened to kill her in the evening. When her mother came on Sabbath, he demanded that she pay his capitation tax (jāliya); threatened to beat the mother so that she would be ill. His parents encourage him to beat her. Finally she left the house Saturday night. He had already taken from her 4 dinars and bought wine. Information from Goitein's note card.

Fragment of an official letter from Fustat addressed to a certain town in the Rīf (or perhaps a circular), exhorting them to be generous and assist the bearer with the payment of his capitation tax. For if they do not, he will go to prison for a long time, and it will be difficult to free him. Whatever they are able to do on his behalf, the cantor of the town should send a letter with a report. ASE

Letter of appeal. The writer states, "The illness was enough for me, and then the capitation tax assailed me." The tone is aggrieved; he complains about Abū ʿImrān al-Kohen and mashāyikh al-balad who get together to drink in the evenings. The writer wishes to get through to "Rabbenu," but he has not been allowed access, and he is ashamed to appear before al-Shaykh al-Thiqa, the brother-in-law of Rabbenu, and Yūsuf b. al-Tilmīdh. Merits further examination.