Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Likely in the same hand as T-S 13J7.24. Describing some kind of dire period of war or the like. "The slave of the king came . . . 30,000 dinars on the two wakālas(?) and the dīwān and all the merchants, and the country is closed (maghlūqa), and the exchange is 42.5 [this is tentative], and no one has a dinar any more, and the collection (istikhrāj) of all the remaining capitation taxes, and the poor are in perplexity, I have informed the master [this]." The surviving portion of the letter on verso is much more quotidian, consisting mainly of the standard closing salutations. Mentions the fatwā (jawāb al-faqīh) for the writer's cousin (ibn ʿamm) Maʿānī. Needs further examination. ASE.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee is called 'my brother.' The content is not clear; mentions someone fearing death and mentions the capitation tax (jizya).

Letter from a woman to a certain Yosef written in the hand of Shelomo ha-Melammed b. Eliya. The woman calles herself "his mother" but it is possible that she was not his biological mother and this is an attempt by her to show her closeness to him. In the letter the woman declares how much she misses and worries about him and asks him to come join her in Fustat. She promises that she will sell her own clothes to pay for his capitation tax. To show how serious she is, Shelomo ha-Melammed wrote a legal testimony on the back in which he testifies that this woman will pay Yosef's capitation tax (apperently she will pay the Shami rate in Egypt) on the conditions that he will come to Egypt. Another interesting point in the letter is that the woman mentions that Izz al-Din came to Egypt "Because the sultan called al-Kamil sent him" - a clear reference to the Ayyubid Sultan al-Kamil (1218-1238) giving us a dating for the letter. Finally, Shelomo ha-Melammed added a personal message to Yosef at the end of the letter: He asks him to send greetings to Shelomo's cousin (the son of Shelomo's mother's brother) Abu al-Faraj and his two sons Ma'ani abd Abu Majd. These relatives are also mentioned in T-S 10J7.2 and T-S 13J35.15 (OZ).

List of several dozen donors to the public appeal (pesiqa) for the kharāj (here probably meaning capitation tax). Last line contains a reference to Abū Mūsā Hārūn al-jahbadh.

Letter to Eliyyahu concerning the thirty-dirham balance of the capitation tax (jizya) owed by Abu al-Makarim, who is in great need of it because he is under house arrest, guarded by the hashir (rallier). The addressee is asked to arrange to collect money at the congratulation reception (wedding) of either Ibn al-Muzaghlil ('The Dazzler') or that of Bu al-Barakat. (Information from Goitein, Mediterranean Society, vol. II, p. 492.)

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to an unidentified benefactor. Shelomo asks him to help him out with the payment of the capitation tax, as he had been ill and had to spend all the money he could save from school fees paid to him on medicine and chicken. (Information from Halper Catalogue and from Goitein's notes in margin)

Letter draft from an anonymous shaliaḥ, in Fustat/Cairo, to an unknown addressee, in Jerusalem. In Hebrew. Dated: Monday, 22 Raḥamim, 5595 AM, which is 1835 CE. There is some ambiguity about the specific day. If Raḥamim is Elul, the 22nd should have been a Wednesday. But perhaps Raḥamim here means Av, when the 22nd did fall on a Monday. The letter conveys a remarkable tale of the writer's fortunes ever since he left Jerusalem on a fundraising mission on behalf of a certain Kollel. He first went to Gaza (not Giza as his spelling might suggest), where he bought passage to Suez with some gentiles from Bethlehem. In Suez (or before arriving there?), he came down with a terrible fever for ~24 days. He paid a Muslim woman a qirsh a day to wash his soiled clothing in the sea. When he entered the city, he found an epidemic (cholera?). All the gentiles were trying to flee in boats to Jedda. The writer too tried to flee, but a certain officer came and commandeered the boat, kicking him and a group of Damascenes off of the boat. The writer then had a second bout of fever ("my whole body burnt, and my tongue cleaved to my palate, and I went to the doctor, who treated/cured me a second time"). By this point all his money had run out. Shortly thereafter he developed an eye disease. There follows a long tale of how he relied on the hospitality and charity of various strangers, mentioning various "polisas" (securities), various letters proving his status as a shaliaḥ that he had to present, and various people--Jews and gentiles--whom he turned to for help. Relatively early on he made his way to Fustat/Cairo, where he had little success raising money or gaining allies. The capitation tax collector (baʿal ha-kharāj) apprehended him for failing to pay for 'the third year' (he had only paid for the years '50 and '51) and he spent three days in prison, where he fell ill again for the fourth time. He got out of prison through the intercession of Muʿallim Bekhor. His subsequent luck raising money was no more successful than before. He mentions going to the Beit Midrash to sleep there, because he had nowhere else to turn. The end of this letter is a plea for the addressee to send him money. The letter ends mid-sentence, and there is no address, suggesting that it was never sent (and thus could find its way into the Geniza). ASE.

Recto (secondary use): Lower part of list of male persons, mostly craftsmen or foreigners (Goitein surmises that they are people for whom the capitation tax was [to be] paid). Several names are preceded by sahh, 'paid.' Each name also ends with a line extended to the end of the column, possibly signifying that it has been paid. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 466-467, App. B 106.) Many of the people listed bear surnames indicating their place of origin, including Baghdad, Amid (in Iraq), Aleppo, Damascus, Tiberias, ?Azza, Sicily, or indicating their profession, including porter, packer, night watchman, dyer, soap maker, mosaic craftsman.

List of persons for whom the capitation tax was to be paid. Late eleventh century. (Information from Halper, Catalogue and Goitein, Med. Soc. II:467)

Letter from an unknown man, in Damietta, to his mother, probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. Dating: Perhaps 13th–15th century. The writer assures her that he is doing even better in Damietta than he was in Fustat. He sends regards to numerous family members. He discusses payments for the capitation tax. There are several interesting colloquial forms, including: טציקי for תציקי; the phrase "māshī l-ḥal" for "it's going well" still used in modern Arabic; אלך (ilik) for אליך (ilayki); and אלסלים for אלסלאם.

Letter from the Jewish community of Qafṣa (Gafsa), Tunisia, to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ca. 1016 CE, as it mentions Manṣūr b. Rashīq's conquest of (or arrival in?) the town, and this Manṣūr was the governor (ʿāmil) of Qayrawān in the year 1016 when al-Muʿizz b. Bādīs came to power. Gil identified the addressee as Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Ibn ʿAwkal, but Goitein disagreed (per his index card). The addressee is asked for a favor or intervention of some kind; Gil assumed that it had to do with the capitation tax, but it is not clear that this is actually mentioned in the letter. The letter is very damaged, but it may be possible to extract more information from it with great effort. (Information in part from CUDL and Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 603.) ASE

Informal note addressed to Mukarram and Abū Manṣūr. In Judaeo-Arabic. They are requested to convey the dinar they had pledged for the first installment of the capitation tax to al-Shaykh al-Makīn Abū l-ʿIzz al-Levi. It will be used to pay the capitation tax of a cantor. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 511)

Short note from Abū l-ʿAlā' al-Muʿallim to Abū Saʿīd urging him to send the money quickly because the writer urgently needs to pay the capitation tax.

Letter of appeal from a blind (maḍrūr) man Moshe who is unable to work and distressed on account of the capitation tax. Rather than asking for charity, he asks the addressee if he can think of any employment in his shop for the writer ("do you plan to open? . . . I heard from Ibrāhīm that you mentioned to him that you plan to open this Friday.") If there is no work directly in the shop, he writes that he would even work for a Gentile. He then asks for a loan of two dinars for the jāliya and promises to repay it as soon as possible. He perishes from sitting at home all day on account of the capitation tax owed. ASE.

Enigmatic fragment of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic describing what happened to the writer in front of the addressee's house; how people were appealing for help on account of the capitation tax; how the writer has lost 25 dirhams; and how there is 'ḥamas' in the country. Also, Abū l-Ḥasan has asked the writer for clay and/or bricks. Verso contains several crossed-out lines and the address in Arabic: to Fustat, to Manṣūr b. al-Ḥazzān (?) al-[. . .] from his brother Abū Saʿd.

Recto: Letter fragment, probably addressed to Moshe Maimonides. In Judaeo-Arabic. Reporting on the arrival of Abū l-Mufaḍḍal and mentioning a letter to Abū l-Fakhr al-Ṣayrafī b. Saʿīd. Possibly mentioning the capitation tax (jizya) of someone's father. Verso: Letter from Moshe Maimonides. Autograph. Giving instructions to a certain judge to go to the dyehouse (maṭbakh, maṣbagh) where Abū Isḥāq works and confirm the value of its rent. Information in part from Friedman, Dictionary, p. 723.

Letter from Shelomo b. Aharon to Natan ha-Kohen b. Yosef. Opens with a cryptic mention of the writer's departure for the sake of paying the capitation tax with the 'muʿāmilīn.' Reports on the silk that he had brought with him and that he had to spend Shavuʿot "outside" (Fustat? Rashid?) and only came in after the holiday. He reports on the price of wheat in the city. He spoke with the addressee's sister and told her all that the addressee had told him in Qalyūb. Namely, that their other brother had maligned her (akhūhā ẓālim) by saying that she had sued him for the addressee's sake (possibly - this is somewhat unclear). She was much relieved to hear that the addressee had not married in Fustat and thereby 'fallen in with the people of Fustat.' The remainder of the letter is mostly about business matters. The writer requests a shipment of wheat to Rashīd, to be delivered by camel.

Letter or letter draft from Muʿammar ha-Kohen ("the teacher of Qalyūb") to ʿAmram ha-Kohen, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Recto consists entirely of pleasantries and flattery and mentions that the when the addressee had departed from the writer's location, he had invited the writer to stay with him in Fustat, however the writer had no way of coming to Fustat and furthermore did not wish to burden the addressee. On verso there purpose of the letter emerges: the writer is destitute and needs help with the capitation tax and is staying in the synagogue (in Fustat?). He previously stayed for two months in Qalyūb and received only the mūna/mu'na (living stipend?) and 10 fulūs. Regards to Abū ʿAlī.

Letter from a European Jew whose ship sank en route on his way to fulfill a vow to visit Jerusalem, and lost all his belongings by jettisoning. The writer’s appeal to the congregation, written in Hebrew on a piece of vellum, describes his multi-faceted journeys: first to Alexandria, where the Muslims tried to collect the capitation tax from him, and secondly, to (likely) Fustat after being rescued by a Jew and where he was currently hiding out after being harassed by the tax collector and fearing imprisonment. (Mark Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, 120; and S. D. Goitein, A Mediterranean Society, 1:323, 483) EMS

Complete calligraphic letter of appeal to Yefet ha-Sar, a Levi, begging for money to help pay the capitation tax for the writer and his two sons. The letter contains several interesting features. The writer says that every year Yefet ha-Sar is accustomed to persuading al-Shaykh al-Nafīs to pay the writer's capitation tax. The writer is in debt to the tune of 300 dirhams plus interest, at least partly due to the expense of marrying his son. Everyone is dying of hunger because "I only buy the bread of the market." He then cites the maxim that the poor of your household precede the poor of your city who precede the poor of another city, "So consider me as the poor of your household." He does not want his brother-in-law to hear about this (perhaps he is related to Yefet ha-Sar through his brother-in-law?). ASE.