Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Full of glimpses of interesting subjects. The writer complains about the heavy rain this winter; he mentions the customs tax (maks); the great "ḥamas"; there is a section on the "shaḥn(?) of the courtyard of the house of the Sayyid Eliyyahu (the Prophet?)"—it seems some sort of construction work requiring measurements to be taken; mentions the shrine at Dammūh; and finally mentions copies of manuscripts and drugs that either have been sent or are to be sent.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer reports on receiving authorization (al-ʿalāma) to collect the kharāj tax from the official in charge of estates (ʿāmil al-mawārīth). The number 15 (dinars) is mentioned, as are Abū l-Mufaḍḍal and the tax farmer (al-Ḍāmin) Ibn Ḥabīb. Information from FGP.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The addressee is called 'my brother.' The content is not clear; mentions someone fearing death and mentions the capitation tax (jizya).

Notes for the drawing up of a deed of sale for a slave. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe? One of the parties is the divorcee of Abū l-Bayān al-Kātib. Like other such documents, it specifies which party will have to pay potential government taxes (in this case the buyer). Here this clause is prefaced with the intriguing phrase, "if there is anyone who tattles to the government" (wa-ʾin kāna thumma man yaghmiz lil-sulṭān), implying that such transactions were conducted under the table. Cf. T-S 13J36.11, which describes the significant losses incurred by a slave owner after he was denounced to the government.

Letter from the office of Yehoshuaʿ Maimonides asking the holy congregation of Egypt to pay the tax to the Muslim Amir. Paying this tax is considered by God like giving charity.

Letter from Ibrāhīm to his maternal uncle Khalaf b. Ismāʿīl al-Ṣabbāgh (the dyer), in Ḥabs Bunān (Fustat). In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender had previously sent a letter with Ṣāfī, and he complains about the lack of a response. "I am not content with your greetings to me in letters to other people. My heart will be at ease when you send me letters." The addressee had sent some money (it seems with Abū l-Surūr) to help Ibrāhīm pay his capitation tax. Regards to Umm Manṣūr and R. Yiṣḥaq. "May God never deprive me of your fragrance (rīḥatkum)." ASE

Letter from a woman to a certain Yosef written in the hand of Shelomo ha-Melammed b. Eliya. The woman calles herself "his mother" but it is possible that she was not his biological mother and this is an attempt by her to show her closeness to him. In the letter the woman declares how much she misses and worries about him and asks him to come join her in Fustat. She promises that she will sell her own clothes to pay for his capitation tax. To show how serious she is, Shelomo ha-Melammed wrote a legal testimony on the back in which he testifies that this woman will pay Yosef's capitation tax (apperently she will pay the Shami rate in Egypt) on the conditions that he will come to Egypt. Another interesting point in the letter is that the woman mentions that Izz al-Din came to Egypt "Because the sultan called al-Kamil sent him" - a clear reference to the Ayyubid Sultan al-Kamil (1218-1238) giving us a dating for the letter. Finally, Shelomo ha-Melammed added a personal message to Yosef at the end of the letter: He asks him to send greetings to Shelomo's cousin (the son of Shelomo's mother's brother) Abu al-Faraj and his two sons Ma'ani abd Abu Majd. These relatives are also mentioned in T-S 10J7.2 and T-S 13J35.15 (OZ).

List of several dozen donors to the public appeal (pesiqa) for the kharāj (here probably meaning capitation tax). Last line contains a reference to Abū Mūsā Hārūn al-jahbadh.

Letter to Eliyyahu concerning the thirty-dirham balance of the capitation tax (jizya) owed by Abu al-Makarim, who is in great need of it because he is under house arrest, guarded by the hashir (rallier). The addressee is asked to arrange to collect money at the congratulation reception (wedding) of either Ibn al-Muzaghlil ('The Dazzler') or that of Bu al-Barakat. (Information from Goitein, Mediterranean Society, vol. II, p. 492.)

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to an unidentified benefactor. Shelomo asks him to help him out with the payment of the capitation tax, as he had been ill and had to spend all the money he could save from school fees paid to him on medicine and chicken. (Information from Halper Catalogue and from Goitein's notes in margin)

Letter draft from an anonymous shaliaḥ, in Fustat/Cairo, to an unknown addressee, in Jerusalem. In Hebrew. Dated: Monday, 22 Raḥamim, 5595 AM, which is 1835 CE. There is some ambiguity about the specific day. If Raḥamim is Elul, the 22nd should have been a Wednesday. But perhaps Raḥamim here means Av, when the 22nd did fall on a Monday. The letter conveys a remarkable tale of the writer's fortunes ever since he left Jerusalem on a fundraising mission on behalf of a certain Kollel. He first went to Gaza (not Giza as his spelling might suggest), where he bought passage to Suez with some gentiles from Bethlehem. In Suez (or before arriving there?), he came down with a terrible fever for ~24 days. He paid a Muslim woman a qirsh a day to wash his soiled clothing in the sea. When he entered the city, he found an epidemic (cholera?). All the gentiles were trying to flee in boats to Jedda. The writer too tried to flee, but a certain officer came and commandeered the boat, kicking him and a group of Damascenes off of the boat. The writer then had a second bout of fever ("my whole body burnt, and my tongue cleaved to my palate, and I went to the doctor, who treated/cured me a second time"). By this point all his money had run out. Shortly thereafter he developed an eye disease. There follows a long tale of how he relied on the hospitality and charity of various strangers, mentioning various "polisas" (securities), various letters proving his status as a shaliaḥ that he had to present, and various people--Jews and gentiles--whom he turned to for help. Relatively early on he made his way to Fustat/Cairo, where he had little success raising money or gaining allies. The capitation tax collector (baʿal ha-kharāj) apprehended him for failing to pay for 'the third year' (he had only paid for the years '50 and '51) and he spent three days in prison, where he fell ill again for the fourth time. He got out of prison through the intercession of Muʿallim Bekhor. His subsequent luck raising money was no more successful than before. He mentions going to the Beit Midrash to sleep there, because he had nowhere else to turn. The end of this letter is a plea for the addressee to send him money. The letter ends mid-sentence, and there is no address, suggesting that it was never sent (and thus could find its way into the Geniza). ASE.

Recto (secondary use): Lower part of list of male persons, mostly craftsmen or foreigners (Goitein surmises that they are people for whom the capitation tax was [to be] paid). Several names are preceded by sahh, 'paid.' Each name also ends with a line extended to the end of the column, possibly signifying that it has been paid. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 466-467, App. B 106.) Many of the people listed bear surnames indicating their place of origin, including Baghdad, Amid (in Iraq), Aleppo, Damascus, Tiberias, ?Azza, Sicily, or indicating their profession, including porter, packer, night watchman, dyer, soap maker, mosaic craftsman.

Pledges for ransom of captives. A pledge-drive (pesiqa) for the man from Antioch for the ransom of his children. In four columns divided further into six sections. The sums are astoundingly small. The total, which must have been less than 10 dinars, was far less than the amount. needed to ransom one captive. The man from Antioch, which was taken by the Crusaders in 1098, might have been ransomed by money given by a notable, partly to be restituted by the community. Our list might have been drawn up for such a purpose. There are other possibilities, too (see Goitein). The Hebrew term ransom of captives was also applied to many different states of hardship, e.g. a man in prison for failure of paying taxes. [Abu] Sa'd the katib (government official) pledges a quarter gold dinar. Around 1100. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 507, App. C 135.) There are numerous fragments in the hand of the same scribe, e.g., T-S Ar.34.186; see Penn catalog (https://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0002/html/h466.html) for the list.

List of persons for whom the capitation tax was to be paid. Late eleventh century. (Information from Halper, Catalogue and Goitein, Med. Soc. II:467)

Fiscal (or other?) receipt. Arabic writing, Coptic numbers.

Tax receipt(s). There are distinct documents on recto and verso. Needs examination.

Letter from an unknown man, in Damietta, to his mother, probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic with the address in Arabic script. Dating: Perhaps 13th–15th century. The writer assures her that he is doing even better in Damietta than he was in Fustat. He sends regards to numerous family members. He discusses payments for the capitation tax. There are several interesting colloquial forms, including: טציקי for תציקי; the phrase "māshī l-ḥal" for "it's going well" still used in modern Arabic; אלך (ilik) for אליך (ilayki); and אלסלים for אלסלאם.

Lists of contributions and calculations in Judeo-Arabic related to the communal kosher meat tax known as "gabela". The entries on the first folio's recto record the months Adar-Av ("Menachem") of the year solely referred to as "קץ"[?]. The final letters of the year mentioned in each heading contain a difficult flourish but it is likely that the first three digits can be inferred as התק = 5500= 1740 which helps to date the source as 1740-1840CE. Given the presence of Moshe Ben Naʿīm's name, who is widely attested in nineteenth century sources, it is likely that the same is also the case for this fragment. The monetary figures related to the kosher tax are recorded in silver kuruş (indicated by "ق" at the top of each column) and another type of silver coinage "פצה". The features of this fragment suggest the existence of a broader communal tax register. Date: 19th c. MCD.

Letter from the Jewish community of Qafṣa (Gafsa), Tunisia, to Yosef b. Yaʿaqov. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ca. 1016 CE, as it mentions Manṣūr b. Rashīq's conquest of (or arrival in?) the town, and this Manṣūr was the governor (ʿāmil) of Qayrawān in the year 1016 when al-Muʿizz b. Bādīs came to power. Gil identified the addressee as Yosef b. Yaʿaqov Ibn ʿAwkal, but Goitein disagreed (per his index card). The addressee is asked for a favor or intervention of some kind; Gil assumed that it had to do with the capitation tax, but it is not clear that this is actually mentioned in the letter. The letter is very damaged, but it may be possible to extract more information from it with great effort. (Information in part from CUDL and Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 2, p. 603.) ASE

Capitation tax receipt for Sulaymān al-yahūdī b. Mūsā al-yahūdī al-Mutaṭabbib (?). Dated 24 Dhū l-Ḥijja 524 AH (1130 CE). Not authenticated at the top by officials of the dīwān al-ʿamal and ishrāf, as was the usual practice. The multidirectional text repeats phrases from the main text. This suggests either a practice-text written by a jahbadh, or a practice-text written by someone who isn't a jahbadh, in which case we could speculate that s/he was practicing to forge a tax receipt. (Information from MR.)