Geniza Lab

List. Fragment (in the same script and arrangement as T-S 24.76, T-S 20.112), containing the names of 51 households, at least 15 of which are identical with T-S 24.76. Legible items: 17 receive 10 (dirham=dirhams), total 85; 17 receive 10 (dirh), total 170; 9 receive 15 (dirh), total 135; 4 receive 20 (dirh), total 80; 1 receive 25 (dirh), total 25, 1 receive 30 (dirh), total 30; a total of 49 receive a total of 525 dirh. The basic unit allotted to one person clearly was 5 dirhams, as evident from such items as 'the man from Malij and his mother-10,' 'the daughter of Nissim and his mother-10,' 'the two women from Ramla-10' (see T-S K15.97; T-S J1.34). In several lists the number 1 or 2 is written after the amounts of 10, 15, 20. The number could hardly mean a simple additional payment (since then the writer would have changed the number 15 to 16 or 17, respectively); it must have had some other meaning. Had the sheet been preserved to the length of the contemporary T-S 24.76 (also only a fragment) and the sums distributed on the lost part of approximately the same size, the communal expenditure on this charity (presumably doles for a holiday) would have approximated 1,500 dirhams. Even assuming the lowest value of the dirham at this period (Mediterranean Society, I, p. 371, sec. 8) this sum would correspond to about 37 dinars, twice as much as the distribution of bread in T-S Misc.8.25 during one month. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 439, App. B 2b, dated 1020-1040)

List of contributors, pledging 1, 2, or 3 dinars, mostly from the well known families Ibn Shay'a, Ibn Saghir, and Bahudi, or prominent notables such as Abu Zikri Hayyim b. (Ammar) Madini (of Palermo) and Abu Zikri (Yahya) b. Menashshe (see Bodl. d79.35). The donations were probably for helping the poor with their capitation tax (see T-SK15.94v). (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 476,. App C, sec. 12)

Contributions to a collection of loaves of bread for the poor, ranging from 100 pounds (a qintar) down to 1/2 pound. Instead of bread, one person gives three dirhams. Most of the contributors of larger amounts are introduced with the title 'my lord the elder,' while most of those giving small ones are simply called by name, such as: Yaʿaqov-1/2, Ibrahim Ibn al-Mawazini (maker of scales)-1, the oil-makers-1, the Karaite-1/2. No consistency, however, was observed in this distinction. The donors of the third and fourth largest amounts (25 and 10 pounds, respectively) receive no title, while others giving only two pounds do. The handwriting of this much-effaced document is of the calligraphic type used in books, which is extremely difficult to locate and date. Reason: The list is headed by Abu Zikri (taking him as son of Eliyyahu the dayyan, who was a prominent physician in Alexandria), while R. Yeshu'a is second, even though he donated only 4 pounds 'The haver' is also listEd. All three are conspicuous in T-S 10J16.6, the complaint of the administrator of the quppa in Alexandria, who was threatened with death when he retained certain quantities of wheat in order to meet emergencies in time of scarcity. The Nagid might have asked that all the relevant lists connected with the breadbasket of the community be submitted to him, one of which (the present list) would have finally made its way into the Geniza. If the above reasoning is correct, the document should be dated ca. 1230. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 491-492, App. C 53 and from Cohen)

Letter, fragmentary, from Isma’il b. Barhun ha-Tahirti from al-Mahdiyya, to Yosef b. Ya’aqov b. Awkal from Fustat. Mentions some information about the Sultan interfering in trade matters. Mentions Yosef b. Brahya and the Nagid – Avraham b. Ata. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #119) VMR

Communal accounts with revenue available and expenditures: 'A [public] Fast--29' 'Food for the poor (mezonot)--39.' Among the expenses, besides bread and salaries, are payments to a traveler called by his name and his rafiq, traveling companion. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 462, App. B 82)

Letter from Moshe Barukh. In Hebrew. Dating: Late, probably 15th–17th century. Asking for monetary assistance.

List of the Pesiqa, upper part of three pages containing the names of contributors, headed by Abu al-Mufaddal, who pledges 1/8 dinar. The others give dirhams, namely: 1 party gives 3 d; 8 parties give 2 d; 16 parties give 1 d; 4 parties give 1/2 d;, 2 (sum not preserved). As indicated by the cut of the extant fragment, it probably contains less than half the original list. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 503, App. C 119)

Verso: Letter in Arabic script, in a book hand. Opens with two verses of poetry, then probably a taqbīl ([... al-a]rḍ), then greetings for the noble addressee (...al-sāmī al-ajall al-mawlā ??? abqāhu Allāh taʿālā...), then a report (wa-yunhī) that God sent health to the sender after an illness and ophthalmia (ramad) which lasted 20 days (...Allāh taʿālā manna bi-l-ʿāfiya fa-taṣṣarafa bi-hā baʿd ʿashrīn yawman...). The sender seems to be thanking the addressee for his generosity in helping him in this period of illness, "for he (the addressee) has never been stingy toward a sick person" (...maʿa kawnih lam yabkhal qaṭṭ ʿalā marīḍ...). Further down, mentions "the distress is severe, and from country to country, the excuse is plain...." Then a judge called al-qāḍī al-ajall ʿAlam al-Dīn.

List of contributors to the poor. Coptic numerals.

Verso: List of pledges (thabat al-pesiqa). Dating: ca. 1032 CE (based on the date on recto). Interesting entries include: 'the philosopher' (=a doctor? cf. elsewhere in the lists), professions clustered together, 'the deceased' (al-marḥūm), the abundance of 'bankers' (ṣayrafī, spelled srfi), 'son of the kushit ' (Ethiopian woman), 'sons of the man'.

List of contributors, including several moneychanger/bankers, a Ben Netira, a ghulam (slave-boy or factor), 'two foreigners', a broker (dallal), a parnas, a Marwan.

List of contributors containing Coptic numerals. (Information from Goitein's typed texts)

List of 39 recipients of 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/2 dirhams during the 1020s, a period of famine, and belonging together with Mediterranean Society, II, App. B 1-3, pp. 438-440. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 240 and 438, note 111)

List, probably of donors to charity and other communal expenses, only two lines preserved; mentions a ratl of oil (probably a contribution to the synagogue). (transferred to ENA NS 77) formerly ENA Uncatalogued 4.2a.

List of distribution of wheat. In the hand of the court clerk Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ibn al-Qata'if (dated documents 1100-1138). This fragment was transferred to ENA NS 77 but is currently unlocatable.

List. Fragment containing names of recipients of charity, including a blind woman, the widow of Shemuel the hazzan, Mukhtar the doorkeeper.

Account of collections and distribution ('alladhi tahsul... alladhi yufarri[q]'), with the name of '[our] lord],' probably the head of the Jews, on verso. From a booklet (fold-line visible). Pages may not be continuous.

List (fragment) of recipients, including the phrase "he should be checked out" below the name of "the acquaintance of the son of Da'ud" and "the acquaintance of the son of the dayyan of Barqa. This reflects a system of verification of public charity in Fustat. Verso has Avraham al-Iskandrani and others. ENA NS 77.47 seems to be part of the same list. (Information from Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, p. 99)

List (fragment), apparently of donors to charity. On one side, names, the first one 'min Abu...' and the last readable line begins 'the Alexandrians]'; the other side, names and numbers and also measures of wheat (waybas). This is unusual in that it combines cash and wheat together in the same list.

List (fragment) of distribution of sums of money for charity, with accounting notes