Geniza Lab

Verso: Autograph order from Avraham Maimonides to the cantor Abū l-Majd. Abū l-Majd is to convey the remaining 10 dirhams owed to Abū l-Faraj for support (mezonot), from the rent of the compound. Mysteriously, there is a נע (indicating that Abū l-Faraj is dead) over the שצ (indicating that he is alive). T-S K25.240 consists of small written orders, partly in Hebrew and partly in Arabic script, for monthly payments, made out of the rent-revenue from the pious foundation (waqf) 'Compound of the Poor' or from the pious foundation made by the physician al-Muhadhdhab. All dated orders are from spring and summer, 1218 CE. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 420-421, App. A 48-92; pp. 449-450, App. B 39b [dated 1210-1225]; Cohen, Poverty and Charity in the Jewish Community of Medieval Egypt, pp. 218-220)

Account of the qodesh, ca. 1165. A double leaf from a notebook. The draft of an accoutning occupies only one half of the leaf, and the remaining parts are covered with Coptic numerals. The majority of the items seem to represent expenditures, except for the last part, where apparently some revenue from rent is listed. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 306 #69)

Account: building expenditures and revenue from rent, ca. 1039. This record contains details about sums of rent collected from "the Estate of the Synagogue of the Palestinians" for A.H. 429 and 430. It was written at the end of 1039. The revenue list mentions the first period during which Dar Qutayt was inhabited whereas before it had been empty. The building expenditures refer in part to the synagogue. The three parts of the document have found their way into three different boxes of the Taylor-Schechter Collection. Written in the hand of Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 167 #11)

Account of the qodesh ca. 1240. A record of pecuniary operations. Apparently legal matters and relations with the Muslim authorities now figure among the activities of the qodesh. Watchmen are engaged during the building operations; also an army officer, amir, is mentioned, and negotiations which were going on, al-Askar, the location of the government offices near Fustat. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 465 #139)

Accounting of the qodesh ca. 1247. The recto contains the lists of revenue from rent for the month of Siwan. The verso has a list of expenditures made during the same period. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp.471 #142) Probably written by Shlomo b. Shmuel b. Saadya. AA

Account of the compound of the Jerusalemites ca. 1191-93. Personal notes of the panason, in which they recorded rent payments by six tenants of Dar al-maqadisa. Several payments are in dinars and some of them seem to be advance payments. The accounting is written on a double leaf from a notebook, in two different scripts, one of them quite awkward, and the other obviously the work of a skilled writer. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 369 #97)

List of the houses owned by the Qodesh ca. 1160. (SH [1-29-87]) The beadle Maḥfūẓ presents a list of houses belonging to the qodesh which he is responsible for collecting the rent of. The list is written in Arabic characters and contains 26 items. Four of the compounds have the added notation that the sums owed by their tenants have been paid. The houses are said to be aḥbās, i.e. waqf dedications, of the Jews for their masākīn (poor). The list may have been compiled for the purpose of showing the sum due for ground rent (ḥikr). (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 295 #65)

Verso: Account of the Qodesh: building expenditures and supplies for the Synagogue. Dating: ca. 1042 – Nov. 1043. In the hand of Yefet b. David b. Shekhanya (according to Goitein). Only the left part of the leaf is preserved. The work of a carpenter and his helpers is noted as is the supply of plastering materials, including red and white gypsum, probably for some decorative work. There is mention of stones, an item seldom met in these accounts. Candlesticks and chains are supplied to the synagogue. The record also contains some bigger money matters between the leading officials of the congregation, such as the return to one of them of a sum he had advanced for the needs of the synagogue. It must have been a huge sum, since besides dinars, the total amount of which is not preserved, 669 dir. are mentioned. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 204 #28)

Money order of the Qodesh. Dated: 1477 Seleucid, which is 1165/66 CE. Issued by Shemuel b. Seʿadya, for 9.5 dirhams, from the collection of the compound of the Jerusalemites, to Abū Manṣūr b. Avraham al-Dimashqī. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 309 #71.) See also Goitein, Med Soc II, App. A, 136. NB: Goitein cites this document as T-S NS 320.32.

Account of the qodesh, ca. 1120. Revenue from different people is listed, mostly without specifications. The sums seem to represent money of the qodesh deposited with different parnasim. Sums of rent from the compound of al-Masasa, apparently "the compound of the Jerusalemites," are explicitly mentioned, and also from "the compound of the orphan girl," mentioned in T-S NS J292 verso. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 242 #43)

Account of the qodesh for display ca. 1222-23. This document is the final copy of the record of which the preceding document (ENA 3824.1) is an earlier draft. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 431, #129). (Written by Sheolomo b. Shmuel. AA)