Geniza Lab

Petition to the Ayyubid sultan al-ʿĀdil regarding the capitation tax. Dating: ca. 596–615 AH, which is 1200–18 CE. The petitioner asks that his tax rate be modified from the middle rate (2 dinars), which he cannot afford to pay, to the lower rate. On verso there are some Hebrew poetical texts (possibly piyyuṭ) mentioning Iṣḥaq Khanāf (?). (Information from Khan and CUDL)

List of about ninety persons receiving subsidies for their capitation tax obligation, similar to T-S K15.14 + T-S K15.66, Apps. 4-5. Many names and sums are identical. As in official documents from the Fatimid chancelleries, a blank space, three times as wide as the height of the script, is left between the lines. Thus, no doubt, the list was destined for public display. Col. I, l.2 'from the collection, pesiqa' is added because of a special circumstance. It was found that the person concerned was unable to pay even the very reduced rate of 1/4 dinar imposed on him. Verso col. II, l. 11: Yahya al-Majjani, 9 qirats. probably the well known merchant, in dire straits that year and in need of assistance with his capitation tax. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 440, App. B 6, dated 1040-1060)

List, long, irregularly written, mostly effaced, of males. In many cases sums like 1/3, 1/4 (dinars) 5 qirats added; in other instances, a well-to-do person such as the prominent banker Abu al-'Ala b. Sha'ya stands security (II, approx. l. 27). In several places the words 'may God have mercy upon him' are added, meaning the capitation tax had to be paid for persons who had died in debt to the state. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 455, App. B 59; verso = App. C 14)

List: “Register (thabat) of the names of the elders who...” written upside down on the reverse side of a list of payers of incomplete capitation taxes (see T-S K15.94). The superscription is nearly entirely effaced but the word ‘jarida’ (also register), mostly used on lists of the poor, is clearly visible in the second line. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society 2:476) EMS

Autograph order in the hand of Avraham Maimonides. Abū l-Majd is to expedite the payment of 81 dirhams to the Muslim Judge Shams al-Din. This is the remaining balance due for the capitation tax of the poor for the Muslim year 614 (ended March 29, 1218) for Shams al-Din. 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. (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)

Verso: Autograph order in the hand of Avraham Maimonides. Abū l-Majd is to send to al-Shaykh al-Thiqa quickly ('and by any stratagem') the payment of 35 dirhams, the remaining balance due for the capitation tax of the poor(?) for the Muslim year 614 (ended March 29, 1218) to the diwan of the Sultan. 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. (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)

Verso: Autograph order in the hand of Avraham Maimonides. Written in a mixture of Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. Dated: 2 Iyyar 1529 Seleucid, which is 1218 CE. The cantor al-Makīn is to give the bearer, Faḍl al-Rashīd, a sum of money for the sake of 'jibāyat al-jawālī' (fundraising in order to pay capitation tax(es)). 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. (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)

Verso: Autograph order in the hand of Avraham Maimonides. Abū l-Majd is to give the judge 20 dirhams apparently on account of the closure of the ritual slaughterhouse on the 9th of Av 1529 Seleucid (=1218 CE). 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. (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)

Verso: Autograph order in the hand of Avraham Maimonides. Abū l-Majd is to give 10 dirhams to Yeshuʿa for teaching Ibn al-Ziftāwī through the end of Pesaḥ 1529 Seleucid (=1218 CE). 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. (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)

Verso: Autograph order in the hand of Avraham Maimonides. Mainly in Arabic script with some Hebrew script. Abū l-Majd is to do something for the bearer, a judge (? looks like al-dayyān). 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. (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)

Small scrap with ~2 words of Arabic script. 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. (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)

Verso: Autograph order from Avraham Maimonides. Abū l-Majd is to give the cantor Abū l-Ḥasan (=Yedutun ha-Levi?) 9 dirhams. 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. (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)

Letter from Simḥa ha-Kohen, probably in Alexandria, to Abū l-Majd, probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Early 13th century. After many nice phrases, the body of the letter begins in line 19. Abū l-Rabīʿ al-Segan and Abū l-Munajjā had written to Simḥa regarding the payment of the remainder of the capitation tax and obtaining the barā'a/receipt and sending it quickly. Simḥa apologizes for the delay (there was an untrustworthy messenger, so he did not send it with him), but he has obtained the barā'a and is sending it enclosed with this letter/khidma. Regards to Abū l-Faraj Yeshuʿa ha-Talmid. Regards to Abū l-Maḥāsin al-ʿAṭṭār Iskandarānī. Abū l-Maḥāsin's barā'a has been sent to the shop of Abū l-Riḍā, Simḥa's brother in law, where Abū l-Maḥāsin can pick it up. Addressed (in Arabic script) to the shop of Abū l-Munajjā al-ʿAṭṭār, who is to pass it on to Abū l-Majd. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)

Letter from a Ifrīqiyan merchant writing from Alexandria to Nahray b. Nissim (Fustat) in which the writer outlines his problems with the capitation tax and notes that after Nahray’s intervention he paid two dinars this year, which he would not have minded, if other had been treated in the same way. Furthermore, “the tax-gatherers (ḥushshār, “ralliers”) and the director of the jaliya are not to blamed; all this is entirely the work of the Jews.” The opening formulae of the letter is preceded by the basmala in Aramaic-Hebrew form: בשמך רחמנא כתאבי אטאל אללה בקא מולאי (In Your name, O Merciful One, my letter, may God prolong the life of my master). (Nahray, 118; S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:385, 611; and Esther-Miriam Wagner, “The Weakening of the Bourgeoisie,” in From a Sacred Source: Genizah Studies in Honour of Professor Stefan C. Reif,” ed. Ben Outhwaite and Siam Bhayro, Brill, 2010, 345-6) EMS

Three, much damaged columns, seemingly in the hand of the scribe of App. C 1, 2, containing about sixty names of male persons, recipients of alms. The first four are styled 'elder'; among the others: 4 dealers in olive oil, zayyat, 2 dyers, 2 packers, a cook, a gravedigger, a ghulam, servant or employee, of the (senior) Tustari brothers, all people of low professions. The list, which contains no numbers, was drawn up in connection with the payment of the capitation tax (Goitein) (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 453, App. B 53 [dated 1040-1080]).

Three much damaged columns, containing about 60 names of male persons, all of low professions. The list contains no numbers and was obviously drawn up in connection with the payment of the capitation tax. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 453)

Order or report in multiple hands to do with 131 dīnārs paid to the treasury (bayt al-māl). Person mentioned is Saʿd al-Mulk Ilyās, possibly a tax collector, asking for the issuing of a decree (al-amr al-ʿalī). Check for joins.

Letter of appeal for charity. From Abū l-Majd to al-Shaykh al-Rashīd. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Perhaps 13th or 14th century. The sender is in difficult straits on account of the capitation tax. He cannot hide in his house any longer, because he needs to earn a living. On verso there are pen trials or writing exercises.

Receipt for the capitation tax for Khalaf b. Yaʿqūb in Fustat. Dated: Looks like 551 AH, which would be 1156/57 CE if correct.

Receipt for the capitation tax. For the silk worker Bū Naṣr b. ʿUmar al-Yahūdī. Dated: 507 AH, which is 1113/14 CE.