Geniza Lab

Very tiny note in Arabic script, in the same type of hand as many of the early 5th/11th century tax receipts. Some contain the mystery mark (backwards ط). All are dated after the formula kutiba. ENA 3971 13–24, 31 and 34.

Very tiny note in Arabic script, in the same type of hand as many of the early 5th/11th century tax receipts. Some contain the mystery mark (backwards ط). All are dated after the formula kutiba. ENA 3971 13–24, 31 and 34.

Very tiny note in Arabic script, in the same type of hand as many of the early 5th/11th century tax receipts. Some contain the mystery mark (backwards ط). All are dated after the formula kutiba. ENA 3971 13–24, 31 and 34.

Very tiny note in Arabic script, in the same type of hand as many of the early 5th/11th century tax receipts. Some contain the mystery mark (backwards ط). All are dated after the formula kutiba. ENA 3971 13–24, 31 and 34.

Very tiny note in Arabic script, in the same type of hand as many of the early 5th/11th century tax receipts. Some contain the mystery mark (backwards ط). All are dated after the formula kutiba. ENA 3971 13–24, 31 and 34.

Very tiny note in Arabic script, in the same type of hand as many of the early 5th/11th century tax receipts. Some contain the mystery mark (backwards ط). All are dated after the formula kutiba. ENA 3971 13–24, 31 and 34.

Receipt in the hand of Abu Zikri Kohen: saḥḥa lil-shaykh Abū l-Surūr dirham wa-niṣf la-ghayr. Old IB: 229f. There is a line or two in Arabic script on verso in a fiscal hand, probably part of a tax receipt (cf. also ENA 3971.13–24, 31, 33, 34).

Letter from Abū l-Ḥayy b. Ḥakīm, in Sicily, to Ḥananya ha-Kohen Av Bet Din. Dating: ca. 1025 (unclear on what basis; Gil says ca. 1020, and Simonsohn says before 1020). Written on parchment. The sender reports that the letter of the Rosh Yeshiva Yoshiyyahu arrived, and it was read aloud in the synagogue. Apparently Yoshiyyahu was soliciting funds for the Jerusalem Yeshiva, and this letter is excusing the congregation for failing to donate anything. The reason is that the capitation tax has been increased to 4 1/3 טריים per head. There may be reference to a specific family (his own?) that owes the tax for four people. He claims that many of the Jews of Sicily have fled "due to fear from the rulers of the land." The community does not like to send a letter to the Rosh Yeshiva without a little money enclosed. The letter was written in Elul, and the sender says he will try to raise some funds in Tishrei. This document was edited by Gil and earlier by Mann (see discussion in Mann, Jews in Egypt and Palestine, I, 73–74).

Letter by the scribe Ḥalfon b. Menashshe to his brother in law, with a long narrative about the difficulties he encountered procuring a tax receipt (bara'a) and the connections he used in order to procure it, some more useful than others. Also congratulates his brother in law on his sister having delivered a boy and a girl. (Information from Marina Rustow and from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 22, from Goitein's index cards; Goitein also has an English translation of this, to be uploaded soon.)

Letter of complaint to the caliph in Arabic script concerning the tax that the Tiberias Jews need to pay. It seems like the second request. The Jews are complaining about the intention to increase their capitation tax (jizya). In the past, some have paid 5 dirhams, some have paid 10, and some have been exempt as Khaybarī Jews. The speaker of the Jews is Sibāʿ b. Faraj (maybe this is Hillel b. Yeshuʿa). This document is the middle part of three sheets that were attached. Dating: ca. 1030 CE. (Information from Gil, Palestine, vol. 2 p. 453–54, #249). VMR

Letter sent from Minyat Zifta by Abu al-Baha b. al-Mashmia to his father. The writer reports that his brother was caught by capitation tax collectors and that he had to pay for the entire family. The receipts were written in Ashmum, as they were inhabitants of that town. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from the office of Yehoshua Maimonides dealing with the capitation tax and with the kashrut of meat, first half of the 14th c.

Business letter sent from Alexandria by Avraham b. Farah to Yaʿaqov b. Avraham. The writer describes the difficult situation, probably in North-Africa, and writes about a merchant who had been lost on the road and almost died before he was found and brought to a ship. He also describes the movement of ships and merchandise in Alexandria and mentions taxes. Dated June 20, 1054. (Information from Gil)

Business letter sent from Alexandria by Avraham b. Farah to Yaaqov b. Avraham

Letter from the office of the Nagid Yehoshua Maimonides (d. 1355), regarding evasion of the capitation tax in the community. The previous year they had paid in full and everyone had in addition contributed 10–15 to the mezonot (food) for the poor. (Information from Goitein, Tarbiz 54 (1984), 90–91.) Join: Oded Zinger.

Letter from a father who had undertaken to pay the capitation tax for his son but was robbed. Asks the recipient to pay the tax for his son and releases him from having to repay his debt, 1185

Letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 13th century, as Eliyyahu the Judge is mentioned. The writer greets the addressee as 'brother' and gives him a report on his family members. It seems the addressee's mother is in a particularly poor state. Munā b. Ḥiyyā and Abū l-Tāhir b. al-Quḍāʿī were staying with the writer's family. The writer struggled to pay the capitation tax (12 dirhams). He complains that he is all alone ('I have no one to wet my throat or give me a thread of silk'). The addressee's brother Surūr had a son born to him, given the name Bū l-Faḍl, on the day this letter was written. "Tell us whether you have found a stable situation, so that we can take the old woman [and move?] to you." Regards from the addressee's sisters and brothers-in-law. The writer asks for news of Bū l-ʿAlā and says to tell him that his children are unemployed and their rent is due, "and if we the men have been overwhelmed, how should they be?" The writer complains about his own unemployment and rent due. He reports on prices for silk and wheat and at least one other commodity; it seems they were bad before, but have now somewhat improved. "Let the response be quick, lest you earn the sins of your mother." The addressee is asked to meet with Eliyyahu the Judge on the writer's behalf. ASE

Letter draft from the wife of a drunkard to "sayyidnā." In Judaeo-Arabic, beautifully written. She reports that her husband took her belongings, demanded from her more; hit her with something unmentionable (his shoe); she had already once sent to the Nagid when he threatened to kill her in the evening. When her mother came on Sabbath, he demanded that she pay his capitation tax (jāliya); threatened to beat the mother so that she would be ill. His parents encourage him to beat her. Finally she left the house Saturday night. He had already taken from her 4 dinars and bought wine. Information from Goitein's note card.

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 from Yosef ha-Levi to Yosef Bagilyer. In Hebrew. Dating: First half of the 16th century. Concerning tax farming. Mentions two rich and famous figures of the Jewish community: Avraham b. Shānjī and Yaʿaqov b. Shānjī.