Geniza Lab

Letter from Ibrāhīm b. Isḥāq, evidently of al-Maḥalla, to Abu Saʿd Hibatallāh (aka Netanʾel b. Yefet Rosh ha-Qahal), in Cairo. The beginning is in Hebrew ("twelve lines of exquisite Hebrew proem"), and the body of the letter is in Arabic script, except for two phrases. (On verso there are also a few lines of accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals.) This is a letter of recommendation for the bearer, one Yakhin ha-Meshorer ("the poet") who had settled in al-Maḥalla but fled from there and abandoned his family,when the superintendent of revenue (ṣāḥib al-Maḥalla) "harassed him" by demanding from him the capitation tax (al-kharāj). The letter presupposes that Yakhin was entitled to tax exemption because he was a Khaybari, a Jew descended from an Arabian clan that asserted it had received special privileges in the time of Muḥammad. The addressee is asked to help Yakhin sort out his documentation. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 386, 611, MR, OZ, NV, ASE.)

Recto: Letter from Futūḥ the cantor to Shemuel and Hayyim and Nasir and their cousins Sadaqa and Yiṣḥaq, congratulating them on their safe return and requesting their help in the form of a gift that would solve the writer's problem of being imprisoned after being unable to pay the capitation tax. The letter starts with a biblical quotation (l. 1, Ps. 33:1). The letter is in Hebrew, beautifully written and styled. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 352, 490; III, p. 436, and Goitein's index cards) Verso: Arabic document and jottings. (Information from CUDL)

Letter (petition) asking for help to free the writer’s brother who apparently had been incarcerated for failing to pay the capitation tax (here, called kharāj). Dating: 11th century. The spelling is phonetic and possibly somewhat archaic: the definite article lacks lām before sun-letters, and many of the short vowels are written plene. (Information from CUDL and Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Walad al-Nezer (i.e. Mevorakh b. Nathan b. Shemuel) to the notable Netanel b. Avraham, a physician living in the Rif (and muqaddam of al-Mahallah, see 10J20.21), recommending ha-Hazzan Abu l-Bayan Moshe b. ha-Hazzan al-Ahuv who traveled to the Rif in order to collect money for his capitation tax. The young man is recommended as one growing up among the hazzanim in the time of Sar Shalom - may his name live forever - and in our own time. Information from Goitein's note card and S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:389-90, 612. EMS. ASE.

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to a family member in Fustat, dealing with sundry small business matters. He orders walnuts, sugar, and Sinnārī cheese (this last to be sent with Salāma). Ibn al-Nuʿmān is to be paid 42 dirhams. Ibn al-Dajānī will receive some as well. Moshe refers to the pressing of the grapes. He is anxious to know about the capitation tax and how much remains to be paid so that he can send some money to help. Abū Khalaf is mentioned in the margin. Verso is more faded and difficult to understand. He writes that Farruj's name is Furrayj b. Ishaq (?), and the agent's name is Ma'ani b. Abu l-Khayr. He asks for medicine and/or medical advice regarding the boy who was circumcised on Friday and who 'chafed' his 'leg' and has a bit of blood at the opening. In a postscript Moshe says he has sent with the bearer a copper vessel (qumqum) that is either filled with or to be filled with rose water. Mentioned in Ashtor, Histoire des prix, 1969, p. 136. ASE.

Letter to Abu Imran in which the writer, a perfumer and judge in Minyat Zifta, describes repairs to the local synagogue along with news of other matters. The writer also notes payment of capitation tax at the rate of 2 dinars. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:46, 276, 532, 546, 586; Geoffrey Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, 370-1) EMS

Letter from a young man named Sibāʿ, in Alexandria, to his mother, in Fustat, but addressed to his brother Abū l-Najm. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Possibly early 13th century, if Abū Saʿīd b. Thābit al-Ḥazzān mentioned at the end is identical with the brother of Meir b. Yakhin (aka Bū l-Majd b. Thābit). The letter describes the troubles the writer encountered from a capitation tax official on his travels in a Nile boat and saying he had arrived safely in Alexandria. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 299, 300.)

Abū ʿAlī b. ʿImrān, Alexandria, writes to the son of his dead sister, to Abū Mūsā Hārūn b. al-Muʿallim Yaʿaqov, Fusṭāṭ, the shop of Abū Naṣr al-Tilmīdh. See T-S 8J17.22, same writer, same recipient. "The troubles caused by agnates—but endured with resignation—are vividly brought home in a letter from Alexandria, addressed to the sons of a dead sister in the capital. The writer must have had a number of children, for he reports the death of the youngest, a boy, only in passing, adding drily: "May God preserve the rest." Two aged sisters lived with him, together with an orphan boy from a niece whose recent death is also reported. Another niece staying with him had a suitor whom she could not marry because she was a divorcee and had not received the legal documents (barā'a) needed for the new marriage, probably proving that she did not possess anything from the property of her former husband. The main purpose of the letter to the nephews was to secure the missing papers (perhaps one of them had been married to the unhappy woman). As though that were not enough: two sisters of those nephews lived in a house belonging to their family in Alexandria. The house was ill-omened (mayshūm), probably because someone had been killed there, or had died an unnatural or premature death. No one came to visit the girls, and they lived in complete solitude, "the most miserable creatures in the entire city with no one to care for them." The writer was prepared to invite these nieces to stay with him, but their brother would not permit them to move, probably in order to have someone to look after the property. Having already been ill for five months, during which time he was able to go out to the bazaar only once, the writer had entrusted one of the sons of his dead sister, Ḥassūn, with some of his business, but he had completely wrecked it. "The complaint is to God alone" (for what can one do against a close relative?). Several other relatives are mentioned in the letter in a rather sarcastic vein." Med Soc III A 3, n.2 (p.34).

Letter from Tamīm to his two brothers. In Judaeo-Arabic (for the body) and Hebrew (for the learned blessings). Dating: Unknown. Goitein identifies the handwriting with that of Tamīm b. Yosef, who gave a legal testimony in Qalyūb in 1231 CE (GW Plate XII corresponds to the current shelfmark F 1908.44H). He also wrote a letter addressed to Maimonides, TS Misc. 28.98 (See Ashur, 'A new letter to Maimonides', Fragment of the Month October 2010 Cambridge University Library) . In this letter, Tamīm informs his brothers of his terrible misfortune this winter. The family had amassed a substantial store of wheat from the earnings of Tamīm's wife, which they had chosen to buy in lieu of warm clothing, saying, "this will be a support behind us." They then hosted foreigners in their upper room (ghurfa) despite the fact that Tamīm, his wife, and their little children were seriously ill. When he began to recover, he found that all the wheat stored in the upper room had been stolen except for 3.5 waybas and two qadaḥs, along with their sleeping carpet (waṭa'). "I emerged from the ranks of the sick as a beggar." On top of all this, he still has to pay the capitation tax. He asks his brother to urgently send him 'Qedoshim' (the tractate?) and to inform him of when sixty days have passed from the autumnal equinox ('ha-tequfa') so that he knows when to begin saying 've-ten ṭal u-maṭar.' Information in part from Goitein's index cards. See also Med Soc IV, p. 370, n. 164. ASE.

The teacher Dawud of Qalyub writes to the judge Shelomo b. Eliyyahu around 1225 complaining about his meagre salary and his inability to pay the jāliya (capitation tax). (Information from Goitein's index cards, Med. Soc., CUDL and Marina Rustow)

Letter from the office of the Nagid Yehoshua Maimonides (d. 1355), to the Jewish community in Cairo. He is ordering them to pay back to the public collection for the money (150 dirhams) that was taken from it to the capitation tax, for the poor that could not pay. This amount of money was taken from the "food for the poor" section in the collection. Mid 14th century (Ashtor estimation). VMR

Letter from a certain Yosef, in Alexandria, to his brother, an India trader. Mentions people including Avraham al-Miṣrī, Abū l-Maʿānī, Abū l-Surūr, Ibn Khalaf and Ibn al-Ḍarūra. The writer conveys a great deal of concern for the addressee and writes, "if I were not worried about falling ill or wounding the heart of the old man, I would have sworn to fast in the daytime until I saw your face again." ASE.

Letter from Yosef to Abū l-Fakhr asking him to help contest his obligation to pay the capitation tax of his brother, who was missing in Syria; he explains that his brother had not charged him with this payment before his departure.

Letter to Mishaʾel ha-Sar from Hiba Ibn Zaʿafrān, a poor inhabitant of Fusṭāṭ. Hiba asks for assistance paying the capitation tax, and has already been arrested and beaten for not paying it. (Information from CUDL)

Letter regarding the payment of the capitation tax.

Letter of appeal for charity from Abū l-Majd to the physician (ḥakīm) Yeshuʿa ha-Levi. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer needs help paying 20 silver dirhams (nuqra) which he still owes on account of his capitation tax. Information from Goitein's note card.

Letter of appeal in Arabic script. The writer, Faḍā'il al-ʿŪdī b. Baṣīla (?), had lived for 6 years in Alexandria until he had to come this year ("in which nothing is blessed") to Fustāṭ. He is unemployed there and unable to even enter the market of the druggists due to debts owed to Ibn Ṣ[...] and others. He now perishes of hunger and illness. No one in the family has eaten for three nights. He has three dependents: his wife, his daughter (a widow), and her three-year-old son. He asks for charity especially for the rent of a boat (to travel back to Alexandria?). He concludes with blesings for the addressee, in the midst of which he writes, "If it were not for God and your mercy with regard to this year's jāliya, I would be in prison." Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Letter fragment (lower right of recto, lower left of verso) in lovely handwriting. Mentions the capitation tax, hunger, and charity. On verso a woman seems to be addressed (wa-taquli lahu). Other phrases: "he ordered me many times that" and "an expression that befits his like." ASE.

Recto and part of verso: Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub, to his father in Fustat. He is concerned about how they will pay the capitation tax. He is very irritated that he has not been informed about the following things: how much money they got for selling the kerchief that he sent them last week; how much they have already payed on his behalf (for his own capitation tax); how much remains to be paid; whether the dirhams that he sent with Bu l-Khayr arrived; whether the dirhams that he sent with his paternal uncle 'Imran arrived. They have sent him no letter at all; they only sent back the 'muthallath' (referring to a 'triple' weave?) coat with instructions to sell it in Qalyub, but why would he have sent it to Fustat in the first place if he wanted to sell it in Qalyub? So he is sending it back with Safi and wants them to sell it for 17 dirhams, and if they can't get that much, they should have the fuller work on it. In the continuation (T-S AS 145.195), there isn't much more of substance, but he mentions al-Shaykh al-Yesod on recto, and then again in a postscript: "please go to al-Yesod [and apologize for me] from him and tell him that I am only hiding because of [the capitation tax?]." Join: Alan Elbaum.

Letter mentioning dirhams, the capitation tax, and names such as Benjamin, Jacob and Yaḥyā. The writer asks addressee to give his deference to every single one of the Kohen brothers. (Information from CUDL)