Geniza Lab

Accounting of the qodesh, ca. 1240. A double leaf, torn into two parts, this document contains a main record of current revenues from rent, but some expenditures and other pecuniary operations are also listed. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 460 #138)

An account containing details about items sold. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 152)

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 Aharon ha-Levi, Yosef ha-Borsaqī ("the tanner") to Abu'l-Ma'ali, ca. 1120. A certificate regarding the Estate of the Jerusalemites. The bearer of the letter informs Abu'l-Ma'ali that he is entitled to a share in the revenues of the houses "of the Jerusalemites." Since the man is in great distress, an advance is requested. The writer asks that a note be delivered to Shelomo ha-Melammed, regarding the sum that Abu'l-Ma'ali considers proper. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 244 #44) | Court record, written by Hillel b. Eli, regarding a property in Qasr al-Sham'. One of the parties is a convert to Islam.

Account of the Qodesh: building expenditures, ca. 1040. List of expenses, beautifully written by Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. Materials for the construction of a ceiling are being prepared. Work on a "wind catcher," plastering, supplies of clay, and sewage work are also among the items listed. Clay is paid for after having been weighed by "the Christian," obviously a Copt, the Copts being much involved in building work. Mentions a wind catcher (bādhanj). (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 187 #18)

Letter from Avraham b. Natan Av, judge in Cairo, to al-Mumhe, i.e. "the specialist," meaning a permanent member of the court, whose name is not preserved, and who was apparently in charge of the money of the qodesh, ca. 1100. Report concerning money of the qodesh after the death of its holder. A certain parnas, Musafir, has donated five dinars to the heqdesh of the synagogue of Cairo. Sa'id, "the head of the congregations," who was given the money in order to bring timber from Alexandria for this sum, died before he could go to Alexandria and the money was left with his widow. An inquiry (carried out by the court) into the matter has shown that the qodesh still owes the widow money and the writer asks that the balance be paid to her. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 220 #35)

Legal rebuttal regarding the lawsuit between Yosef Lebdi and Wuhsha over the possession of 22 bales of lac. So far, six bifolia and two leaves have been identified, totaling 28 pages of what must have been 40 pages in 2 quires. It seems that the judge in the lawsuit ruled in Lebdi's favor. A certain 'rayyis' wrote and published a critique of the ruling and supported Wuhsha's position. The judge answered with a rebuttal, and what has survived in the Geniza is the rayyis's rebuttal of the judge's rebuttal. The writer often quotes passages from his original critique and from the judge's answer. While the document is complex and obscure, the positions of the two sides are simple. The judge believed Lebdi's agreement with his two partners, Farah and Abu Nasr, includes the 22 loads of lac in question, as long as the other party does not provide proof that it does not include them. The unnamed rayyis argued that since Lebdi had no proof that the 22 bales belonged to his partnership with Farah and Abu Nasr, they must be considered as belonging to Farah's and Abu Nasr's heirs, since the bales are in their possession. In other words, since the bales are in the hands of the heirs, the burden of proof must be on Lebdi. Farah and Abu Nasr, it must be remembered, were murdered in Aydhab. Lebdi was entitled to 29 shares out of 30 of everything in their partnership and Abu Nasr and Farah had between them only one share. Farah's heirs already took their small share of the 22 bales of lac. It is worth noticing that only Wuhsha is mentioned as 'the heir' to Abu Nasr, even though we know she had another brother and two sisters. The trial between Lebdi and Wuhsha took place in 1104, three years after Lebdi came back from India, because the judge intentionally delayed the proceedings to give the parties time to come to an agreement. The last fragment, whose place in the larger document is not known, contains the information that the case was brought before a Muslim judge, who ruled in Wuhsha's favor. This document was thus written during or shortly after 1104. ENA 2855 16: I, 27a p. 1 T-S Ar 47 245: I, 28, p. 1 ENA 2855 15: I, 27a, p. 2 T-S Ar 43 272: I, 27 T-S G2 60: I, 28a, pp. 1-8 T-S Ar 49 33: I, 28b. For further explanation of the complex codicology of this document see Friedman's notes in pp. 174-177 in the Hebrew edition, and pp. 242-244 in the English edition.

Account of Nahray b. Nissim for three bales sent from Busir to Fustat, ca. 1045-1096.

List of expenditures of the Qodesh ca. 1169-70. An accounting written in the hand of Judge Shemuel b. Saadya ha-Levi, on both parts of a leaf from a notebook, mentioning several houses of the qodesh. Most items refer to building operations, but there are also sums spent on nightwatch and gifts to Muslim officials. The Synagogue of the Babylonians is one of the main beneficiaries in this accounting. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 309 #72)

Accounts. Six small but comparatively well-written pages in the hand of ʿArūs b. Yosef. (Information from Goitein’s index card.) See PGPID 20645 and dozens of other records.

Accounting of the Qodesh. Ca. 1222-23.

Account (draft) of the Qodesh ca. 1222-23. Record of an accounting in which mainly expenditures are preserved. Listed are expenditures made by the beadle Abu'l-Tahir, both on building operations and on oil for the synagogue. There are a few revenues from rent listed as well. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp.429 #128)

Legal document(s) in Arabic script. Dating: Probably late Mamluk or Ottoman. Narration of commercial trade accounts. The word 'qabaḍ' appears in prolific numbers associated usually with commodities and sometimes with their price. Measures of some commodities in terms of their monetary value and sizes are also mentioned. Needs examination.

Account: record of payments of the qodesh in Cairo, ca. December 1181. The collector of the qodesh in Cairo, Kohen Abu al-Munajja, surnamed al-Zariz, submits his account to the court. The account refers to expenditures made out of the rent of three months, Elul 1492, and Tishri and Marheshwan 1493 Sel. The money was spent for clothes, for the children of the Nasi, for nightwatch and maintenance. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 366 #95 and Mediterranean Society, II, 423). Written under the authority of Sar Shalom Halevi. A note written by R. Isacc the dayyan is mentioned. Alternate description: Record of payments of the Qodesh in Cairo ca. 1181-82 (Gil). Request from a notable to remit immediately the sum he had pledged for the capitation tax of the poor. These notes and similar ones no doubt emanated from the office of Elhanan b. Shemarya (see S. D. Goitein, "Elhanan b. Shemarya as a Communal Leader," Yehoshuaʿ Finkel Jubilee Volume [New York, 1970]). Information from Goitein, Med. Soc., 2:455. The transcription here is for ENA 4011.29.

Money order of the Qodesh. Ca. 1162-63. The judge Shemuel b. Saadya ha-Levi wrote and signed an order to pay 9.5 dirhams to the children of a certain Hiba, the brother of Abu Ishaq al-Mukari, said to be thier share in the revenue of the "Estate of the Jerusalemites." (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 308 #70)

Account of the qodesh, ca. probably 1158. Fragment of an accounting between the qodesh and, apparently, its partner in the ownership of a compound, known as Hiba al-Abzari, one eighth of which belongs to the qodesh. This can be inferred from the fact that the qodesh returns sums previously paid by that man for the ground rent (ḥikr). A former agreement seems to have imposed monthly payments of 10 dinars upon the co-proprietor, to settle his debt. The new computation stretches over a period of nine years, 1149-1158 - years 1461, 1465, 1466 sel. (1149-50, 1154, 1155), and years (5)50, (5)51, (5)52, (5)53 AH (1155-1158 CE). It shows that 50 dinars are still owing to the qodesh. This sum is to be paid on the spot, and the account has the tone of a deed of release, indicating that money was about to be paid. Coptic numerals are used. Written in the hand of Judge Hiyya b. Yitzhak, and signed by him. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 274-276 #56)

Verso: Account of the qodesh. Dating: ca. 1215 CE, according to Gil. This document records sums deposited by several collectors of the qodesh with its central administration. Details about 1,010 dirhams and other sums received from rents and delivered by the writer to various communal officials. The writer is apparently one of the judges of the court in Fustat. The account is written on the verso of a bill of sale for an Indian female slave, which was concluded in 1155 CE (see PGPID 11413). (Information from Gil, Documents, p. 409f, doc. #111, and Goitein, Mediterranean Society II, p. 428, App. A, sec. 138.)

See PGP 20645

See PGP 20645

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'.