Geniza Lab

Fragment of a report on measures taken to save pious foundations from the rapacity of the finance minister, known as 'the Monk'' (active 1127-1129). (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 425, 426, 588)

Accounts of the qodesh. Gil edited 12 lists of revenue and expenditure pertaining to Abū l-Bayān al-Jābī b. Abu Naṣr Elʿazar ha-Levi al-Ḥalabī spanning the years 1181–84 CE. All except for #81 are written in the hand of the judge Shemuel b. Seʿadya. Account for Elul and Tishri 1492-1493 sel. ca. 1181. The accounting lists 21 apartments and compounds of the qodesh. The total revenue is 632.25 dirhams, including a 26 dirham balance from a previous account. The expenditures include khikr, nightwatch, oil for the synagogues, payments to scholars and to the poor, maintenance and repairs. The total expenditure is 472 dirhams, so there is a surplus of 134.25 dirhams, after the deduction of a collection fee of 60 dirhams. The former balance of 26 dirhams was not included in the final calculation; otherwise the surplus would have been 160.25 dirhams. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 327 #80.)

Account of revenue and expenditure for Tishrei, Ḥeshvan, and Ṭevet. Dated: 1495 Seleucid, which is 1183–84 CE. This extensive accounting is written on two and a half leaves of the notebook of Shemuel b. Seʿadya. It lists the last expenditures for Tishri, and then the account of revenues for Heshvan, Kislev, and Tevet. It contains details of the rent from 22 apartments and compounds, which totals 715 dirhams. Several payments do not cover the whole period of three months, and refer to shorter periods. Then comes a very large list of expenditures reflecting large-scale reconstruction and repair operations. Involves Abū l-Bayān the collector. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 350 #89.)

List of contributors. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter of request sent by the head of the yeshiva in Damascus, which was burdened with debts, to a notable in Fustat, who had pledged a donation for the academy, urging him to send his contribution of eight dinars immediately to prevent the whole sum from going for the payment of interest alone. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 257, 464, and from Goitein's index cards)

Left side of a calligraphic letter in Hebrew sent by Yosef ha-Kohen b. Gaon Shelomo to Efrayim he-Ḥaver, in the name of a widow, asking for details about the inheritance of her husband Mevasser b. ʿEli. (Information from Bareket)

Letter of appeal for charity. The writer lost his wealth "in an instant" and had to wander in search of help. He received it from people who knew his family and honor (hod) and saw the books and letters (iggerot) he was carrying, which were confirmed,with signatures from various communities in the east (Ṣova, Ashur, Adina). He is in great need, in spite of his "fathers," and seeks help. It is near a holiday and he has expenses and sick people to take care of (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Shemuʾel b. Eli gaʾon, in Baghdad, in the hand of Yosef b. Yaʿaqov b. ʿEli Rosh ha-Seder of Irbīl, second half of the 11th century. Deals with just judgment. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, #81, and from Amir Ashur and Marina Rustow)

Letter: draft(s) in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya (11th century), in Fusṭāṭ, probably to the Gaʾon Shelomo b. Yehuda, in Jerusalem. One draft contains a report, in Hebrew, on a joint Karaite-Rabbanite collection made in the capital of Egypt on behalf of the Jews of Jerusalem to assist them with their taxes. Ezra b. Yishmael b. Ezra is mentioned, and the document refers to Yusuf ibn ‘Awkal with his honorific title ‘Rosh Kalla’ (‘head of the assembly’ of students at the biannual scholarly convention in Baghdad). (Marina Rustow, Heresy and the Politics of Community, 196, 278; From a Sacred Source, 309-10; S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:472) Another draft explains that, contrary to the malicious and false accusations made against him to the gaʾon by some members of the Jewish community in Fusṭāṭ, he will indeed be sending a generous donation for the Jerusalem academy in response to a fundraising mission by the gaʾon’s son Avraham. Efrayim also mentions that he retains the support of an influential Fatimid official, the Qaraite David ha-Levi b. Yiṣḥaq, who will also be sending a donation. Written on the verso of an Arabic -script letter discussing philosophical theology and mentioning the raʾs al-mathība (see PGPID 33676).

An appeal of a man from Alexandria to the Nagid in Fustat requesting the Nagid's help in arresting a man who a legal court determined that he owes the writer money. The twelfth century. (Information from Frenkel)

Letter from a local Dayyan to Avraham Maimonides. Dating: ca. 1229/30 CE.

Letter from a file of Avraham Maimonides, written to Nissim Ha-Dayyan (judge).

Petition to the caliph, draft in the Arabic handwriting of Efrayim b. Shemarya. Dating: January 1039. Concerns the closing of a synagogue in Fustat, following the requests of Natan b. Avraham and his family members.

Legal document. In Hebrew. Late. Involves the Mustaʿribī congregation and Avraham Dammūhī. This document is a join to CUL Or. 1081 2.26 (found via FGP joinfinder). Needs further examination. MCD.

Letter from Ibrāhīm, in Sunbāṭ, addressed to a Nagid. In Judaeo-Arabic. Requesting assistance for his family in time of need. His family members are all sick, and he has no money even for a medicinal syrup.

Letter of appeal in the name of an old woman, whose mantle was stolen while she was about to wash it in the Nile, asking the community in a well-styled address to help her to buy at least a large shawl. She emphasizes her age and frailty and eye disease as the reason why she cannot help herself. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 170, 500.) ASE.

Letter from a Byzantine silk dyer to the elder al-Najib Ezra in Fustat, detailing that the writer is afflicted by severe agony (al-ʿadhāb al-shadīd) after having been tortured and his children seized as a security. He had allegedly spoiled some previous silk garments, and asks Ezra al-Najib to help in reclaiming his children. (Information partly from Goitein’s index cards.) EMS. Verso also contains the draft of the beginning of a family letter in rudimentary handwriting, in which the writer defenes himself against his brother's rebukes. ASE.

DK 184a: Copy of a letter from Sharira b. Hananya, while he was a judge (Av Beit Din) in Pumbedita, to the communities in Spain and North Africa. Probably 962. The writer asks for their support, while in the Yeshiva there are disagreements about their Gaon – Nehemya b. Kohen Sedek. (Gil, Kingdom, vol. 2, Doc. #19) VMR

Petition from the wife of Abu'l-Faraj the Silkweaver, to Shemuʾel ha-Nagid b. Ḥananya (in office 1140–59). She is an "unprotected woman" (marʾa munqaṭiʿa) whose father could not support her and whose brother was a young boy with no connections. She explains that she “got stuck” with a man who was not ashamed of the bad things people had said about him (or maybe of the bad things of which he himself speaks?). The petition was written after a legal proceeding in which the Nagid ordered the husband to restore the ketubba to its original wording (apparently the husband had decreased the sum stated in the ketubba). However, now the husband has taken an oath that he would restore only ten dinars, a lower sum than previously agreed upon. The husband apparently managed to ignore the Nagidʼs commands by finding someone who supported him in his claims. The wife had been getting advice from her congregation and from the local judge, but, she writes, she is fed up with words and no action. The judge, for example, told her brother to leave the matter until Sunday, but “Sunday came and nothing was done for my issue except postponement.” She complains that she is treated “as if it was I who has done something unpermitted” (ḥattā ka-annī qad ʿamiltu shayʾ lā yanṣāgh (!) – for the last word (=yanṣāgh) see Blau, Dictionary, 379). Even a ruling of the Nagid was subjected to a process of negotiation at the local level until it was watered down to ineffectiveness. The same matter is also mentioned briefly in T-S 10J17.22. (Information from Zinger, "Women, Gender and Law" (PhD diss), 248n139, lightly revised by MR.) Alternate description based on Goitein's notes: Complaint to Shemuel ha-Nagid (his titles occupy 7 lines) by the wife of Abū l-Faraj, the silkspinner (qazzāz). Her husband had left her and her little daughter without provisions, however, he was not without means. His female slave she claims had been adjudicated to her, but was kept by her husband in his sister's house. The judge, to whom the complaint was made first was not effective in securing her rights. (some corrections by AA)

Letter addressed to a Nagid (Avraham Maimuni or his son David), reporting about payments.