Geniza Lab

Letter from a man in debt and unable to meet his commitments, petitioning for help collecting charity promised by the nagid but not received, specifically the pledges (usually made in a synagogue) for a particular week. The writer describes that his children have died of hunger and that he has been hiding from a creditor and is confined to the house “like a woman,” thus unable to earn money through work. The pledges intended for the petitioner had been transferred to the cantor, the elder Bu Sa‘d, and so the writer requests his “master intercede on my behalf so that I am paid that week’s pledges.” (Mark Cohen, Voices of the Poor, 78-9) EMS

Letter from Umm Isma'll asking Eliyyahu ha-dayyan to send her any money left in the collection for the poor. On verso are notes in the hand of Eliyyahu's son Shelomo.

A, b, and c of this folded piece of paper contain List. 'Distribution of money and clothing,' superscribed 'The rest through Abu'l-Bayan' (the parnas). Since this heading is not followed by a sum, it does not represent the balance of an account, but indicates that one or more preceding distributions were carried out by other officials. Nine persons receive 5 (dirhams), eight, 3, and one, 2, altogether 18 recipients, all women, except for 3--2 of whom are characterized as foreigners. Verso, four distributions of a muqaddar (an item of clothing; three to male persons) and four of a jukhaniyya. Among the recipients a freedwoman and 'the orphans' of one household. In the handwriting of Shemuel b. Saadya, who wrote in the margin an item of another type dated Tishri (Sept.-Oct.), 1183. 14c, ll.5-6 are in the different handwriting of the man, Elazar b. Michael, who wrote this confirmatory note. Entries marked with an asterisk have a wavy line above them, at the beginning, resembling a sine curve, perhaps meaning 'claimed' one entry on 14b is overlined, meaning deleted.

A, b, and c of this folded piece of paper contain List. 'Distribution of money and clothing,' superscribed 'The rest through Abu'l-Bayan' (the parnas). Since this heading ais not followed by a sum, it does not represent the balance of an account, but indicates that one or more preceding distributions were carried out by other officials. Nine persons receive 5 (dirhams), eight, 3, and one, 2, altogether 18 recipients, all women, except for 3--2 of whom are characterized as foreigners. Verso, four distributions of a muqaddar (an item of clothing; three to male persons) and four of a jukhaniyya. Among the recipients a freedwoman and 'the orphans' of one household. In the handwriting of Shemuel b. Saadya, who wrote in the margin an item of another type dated Tishri (Sept.-Oct.), 1183. 14c, ll.5-6 are in the different handwriting of the man, Elazar b. Michael, who wrote this confirmatory note. Entries marked with an asterisk have a wavy line above them, at the beginning, resembling a sine curve, perhaps meaning 'claimed' one entry on 14b is overlined, meaning deleted

Verso: List of "those who have not received their share" (al-bāqiyyīn bi-lā akhdh), i.e., in the distribution of wheat. Dating: Probably 1215–40 CE, based on Goitein's assessment and the date of the document on recto. There are three lists. I. Parties receiving wheat. II.Twelve parties (of whom at least six are repeated from list I) getting sums, mostly of 2.5 or 5 (dirhams). III. Names without any explanation added, some identical with those in the list T-S NS J440. The neglected people listed were mostly outsiders, either foreigners (Rum/Byzantium, Persia, Jerusalem, Barqa, etc.) or from Egypt itself (Alexandria, al-Mahalla, Minyat Ghamr, Benha, Damira, Dakarnas). The overlinings may mean these persons have now received, which would explain the fact that mostly it is the same names above and below that are overlined. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 462–63, App. B 85.)

Two lists in an unusually large cursive script with a postscript in another, small and neat script. a) The superscription 'I[n Your] N[ame]' shows that this is the first list. It is followed by 'Those who have not yet received their share' (and are receiving it now, as is proved by the second list. b) 'Expended on...' (illegible perhaps referring to the holiday concerned). In five places dr, dirham, is added after the numerals, but dirhams are intended throughout, since the postscript actually has lil-ruqa'i, 'to the trader of orders of payments,' the banker with whom the community used to deal and who was prepared to accept these orders. The numerals in the postscript are Coptic, but conform with the Hebrew numerals in the main list, as far as preserved: 19 households receive 73~ dirhams. A number of characteristic names are identical with those occurring in B 17-24. Note specifically: a European (ifranji) who lives in the synagogue--2...a poor young man who arrived in the evening and whose overcoat, kisa, was taken from him as a collateral for 5 dirhams; his name is Abu al-Muna, he is sick; Mu'ammala ('the one hoped for'), a widow of good family, who never in her life had taken anything from anyone--5. The whole seems to be a distribution of money, probably before a holiday, in a time of severe hardship, when the community had not enough means, and about fifty families had to wait for their shares. Even then about one-third received their allocations in orders of payments--and we do not know how much the ruqai charged for converting them into cash. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 456-457, App. B 65, dated 1100-1140).

Fiscal or para-fiscal document (i.e., prepared by state officials or by the Jewish community for the government). List of indigent people equally divided between natives of the capital and residents originating from Alexandria, the Sharqiyya and Gharbiyya provinces, the villages around the capital (all entirely destitute), and towns such as Ashmum, Damietta, and Qūṣ. The document refers to three groups with different capacities to pay the capitation tax: (1) those who cannot afford to pay anything, (2) those who can afford to pay 2 dīnārs, but only in instalments and (3) the remainder, from whom 4 dīnārs should be exacted. Khan notes that Rabie (The Financial System of Egypt, 109–10) overlooked the last line of the list, which refers to the payment of 4 dīnārs. Rabie therefore concluded that the document reflected the payment of a flat rate of capitation tax at 2 dīnārs per head. Khan argues that there was variation in the rate of capitation tax in different historical periods (commentary to T-S H15.62, Khan, Arabic Legal and Administrative Documents in the Cambridge Genizah Collections, doc. 89, and commentary to this document, ibid., doc. 136): at the beginning of the Ayyubid period, the rates were fixed at 4⅙ dīnārs, 2 1/12 dīnārs and 1⅝ dīnārs. In the middle of the Ayyubid period, the high and intermediate rates were rounded down to 4 dīnārs and 2 dīnārs. Toward the end of the Ayyubid period, a flat rate of 2 dīnārs was introduced. On the basis of this periodization, Khan concludes that our document comes from the middle of the Ayyubid period, around 1200. (Information from Khan and from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 468, App. B 110)

List of 31 contributors in Arabic and Coptic numerals (1, 1 1/2, 2 2 1/2, 3, 4 4 1/2, 5, 8, 9) but no denominations of coins. The physician of the hospital here is the al-Sadid of T-S K.149. Arabic was used here no doubt because the originator of the collection was a merchant who was accustomed to corresponding in Arabic rather than in Hebrew script. He also arranged collections in two noted bourses of Fustat (two collections in each bourse), one, the dar al-Fadil, founded by al-Fadil al-Baysani, originally a Fatimid official, but later chancellor and confidant of Saladin, and dar al-Za'fran (saffron house), which was adjacent to the house of gems, repeatedly mentioned in Mediterranean Society (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 508, App. C 139)

List of contributors to charity during the time of Abu Ya'qub al-hakim, headed by Mahfuz al-Suri, ca. 1095 (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, App. C 79)

List, eleven names preserved, each donating the same amount, including a perfumer/druggist, a banker, a katib, and a murid. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, App. C 27)

List, similar to T-S NS J422, but smaller, of persons donating one or two (dinars?), or not yet decided. dated 1140s. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 480, App, C 25)

Two lists of contributors, neatly written (by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu?), one above the other. The 12 names in the upper list are repeated in the lower (which has one more), often in abbreviated form (Abu al-Majd: Majd; Najib al-Ma'tuq: Najib). The contributions, ranging from 1/2 to 1 1/2 (dirhams), are almost identical in the two lists, perhaps a collection for two musicians at a minor family affair. Dated ca. 1225 (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 505, App. C 127)

List of contributors of wheat for the poor, ca. 1100. (Information from Goitein index cards)

List of contributors and payments in which some entries comprise both a name and a sum, whereas others have names only. (Information from Goitein index cards)

Important list of beneficiaries, containing names and sums of money. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

List of contributors (end), almost all names known early 11th century. Included: The elders the Tasatira (Tustaris); the rest, mostly bankers. (Information from Goitein index cards)

Legal document mentioning the Nagid Yehuda b. Saʿadya and the witness’s son Abū l-Alā ‘at his mother’s’ (who is apparently penniless). (Information from CUDL)

List of names of contributors, including many physicians. Ca. 1210 (Information from Goitein's index cards)

List of contributors, on verso of page from a siddur: Musaf rosh hodesh. Coptic figures. Headed by 'our lord R. Avraham' (Maimonides?) (Information from Goitein index cards)

Two lists similar to T-S K15, fols. 5, 15, 39, 50, written by the same scribe and having mostly same names; one of the lists dated Friday Marheshvan 14. Has a special section for the Rum (Europeans) (42 persons). The second total at the bottom of col. II represents the addition of 4 loaves resulting from changes in three allocations in the list. Ca. 1107. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 443, App. B 23)