Geniza Lab

Letter addressed to a judge. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1221–52 CE, as it mentions Crusaders ("Franks") fighting at al-Manṣūra 2 years prior. At that time, Sayyidnā al-Nasi intended to borrow from the sender a beautiful copy of the book of Īlāqī (probably al-Īlāqī's epitome of the first book of Avicenna's Canon) in order to copy it for the addressee. The Crusaders were attacking al-Manṣūra, and the sender was in the army camp together with a gentile (presumably Muslim). He had three books with him, including a commentary and some of the 'kalām' of Maimonides (=Guide for the Perplexed?) as well as the Īlāqī. The Muslim companion had no eyes for anything but the Īlāqī, and he offered money to borrow it, copy it, and return it. As everyone was penniless at the time, the sender agreed, but he never saw the book again. Sayyidnā al-Nasi already forgave the sender for this, but is making him write this letter to explain the situation to the addressee. The addressee must not think that he is being negligent in finding another ('regular') copy to use for his purposes. Everyone he asks either says they don't have it, or they're worried he'll make off with it and give it to the Nasi. ASE

Informal note from David to a certain Nasi. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely early 13th century. The sender reports that he has met with one of the brothers of Abū l-Majd (likely Meʾir b. Yakhin, the secretary of Avraham Maimonides), who will send "it" to him. The sender emphasizes that he is diligently trying to accomplish "the thing he mentioned to our master (Sayyidnā)." (Information from Goitein's index cards)

One party to this legal document sells to another party 9.5 qirat of a house and renounces right of preemption. The house was situated in the Bir Jabr quarter of Alexandria, which harbored the synagogue of the Iraqi Jews of that city, but was contiguous with the house of a Christian clergyman. Dated to the early 13th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 46, 360, and from Goitein's index cards)

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

Divorce contract between Shabbetay b. Mamal (Mu'ammal?) from Ascalon, Palestine and Sittut b. Yefet from Alexandria, Egypt. Fustat. Dated 1535/ 1223-24. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 262, 485)

Account of expenditures ca. 1200. Various expenditures, mostly on repairs, are recorded by a parnas, R. Yeshu'a. Written on both sides of a leaf, of which the verso contains the behinning of a letter, not pertaining to this topic. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 394 #106)

Account of the qodesh ca. 1234. This is a double leaf from a notebook, containing four columns of items. Both revenue from rent and building expenditures are included. There are Muslims and Christians among the tenants listed. The document is typical of a first recording of revenue and expenditures for private reference. Details on revenue from apartments are mixed together with accounts of bricks and baskets for building purposes. Mentions a wind catcher (bādhanj). (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 435 #131)

Account. Revenue from rent ca. 1230. A record of revenue listing 27 tenants of the qodesh. The first part is canceled by a stroke of the pen. This, and the word nuqila, i.e. "transcribed," show that the contens of such leaves used to be posted into notebooks. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 441 #132)

Account of a Parnas ca. 1200. Upper part of a leaf in very deteriorated condition. It contains notes made by a parnas, recording the collection of sums for repairs in some houses of the qodesh. The verso contains several items of eexpenditures for an unnamed Nasi. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 392 #105)

List of revenue from rent ca. 1200. A fragment of a double leaf from a notebook. The revenue listed refers mainly to the funduq and to three compounds of the qodesh. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 375 #99)

Account of the qodesh, ca. June 1201. A relatively ample list of revenue and expenditures. The first part contains details of revenue from 17 compounds, inclusive of the dakakin (shops) and the funduq. These are shown to comprise 54 apartments and tenants. Out of these 54, ten are mentioned as unoccupied. The relatively large number of vacant apartments may indicate the beginning of the terrible famine period of A.H. 597 when whole neighborhoods and villages were deserted. (Information from Gil, Documents, pp. 378 #101)

List of 67 contributors to charity, headed by 'our lord, may his glory be enhanced,' namely, the Nagid Avraham Maimonides (d. 1237), giving 3 1/2 (dinars or dirhams). Another list superscribed sh (= sheni, second) of 13 persons mentioned before and making a 2nd contribution, is attached. The list contains many persons arranged according to 'business addresses,' namely, the bazaars where persons of the same professions had their shops or where craftsmen had their adjacent fields. This means they were solicited at the same time, in the workplace. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 486-487, App. C 40)

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

List of expenditures for a week. Here, 100 pounds of bread and its transportation cost 22 1/2 [1/4 MR Cohen] dirhams. The salaries recorded are typical. When a beadle is listed here with a salary of 4 dirhams (instead of 2, as usual), the sum certainly included arrears for the preceding week. Also, some entries of personal expenditure made by the official.' MR Cohen: Same names as in lists of Shelomo b. Zechariah from the beginning of the 13th century. (Information from Mediterranean Society II, p. 462, App. B 80)

Legal document. Location: Fustat. Dated: Last decade of Kislev 1529 Seleucid, which is November 1217 CE, under the authority of Avraham Maimonides. The virgin Sitt al-Hanāʾ has come of age and confirms in court that she has received from the executor all that her father had left while she was an infant, including the rents collected from the property during her infancy. Dated November 1217. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 280.)

Legal fragment dated 1272/73 CE. Possibly drawn up in [Benha] al-ʿAsal.

Legal document dealing with a loan granted by Abū Naṣr Elʿazar b. Karmī Ibn Shabīb to Abū Manṣūr Elʿazar Ibn Zabqala. Dated: Tammuz 1543 Seleucid, which is 1232 CE. Same case as T-S Misc.25.2. Goitein originally described the borrower as a communal official and described the occasion of the loan as public expenses such as dues on the import of myrtles into Fustat. He later wrote, "The 62 Kāmilī fulūs were dirhems and not copper coins and were regarded as an equivalent of 9 Nāṣirī dirhems plus customs dues paid to the makkāsīn Miṣr, the customs officials of Fusṭāṭ. (I had read instead of mksyn - mrsyn, and translated consequently "myrtles"!). Thus, 62 Kāmilī fulūs do not correspond exactly to 9 Nāṣirī dirhems, but to a somewhat higher amount. The customs dues were paid for... anbāq ḥashīsha. Should we assume that in those days not only the leaves and stalks of the hemp, but also its berries were used as drugs?" (Information from Goitein's index cards, Mediterranean Society, I, p. 385, and S. D. Goitein, “Erratum to JESHO 8 [1965] on The Exchange Rate of Gold and Silver Money in Fatimid and Ayyubid Times,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, vol. 12, no. 1 (January 1969), 112.) VMR. ASE. Join: Alan Elbaum.

Verso: Letter from Daʾūd (probably muqaddam of Bilbays) to the judge Eliyyahu b. Zekharya. This is a petition in which the sender expresses his alarm over the fact that a responsum from the Nagid Avraham Maimonides with instructions had been sent some time before this present letter to Eliyyahu, who had not acted upon it yet. On recto, there is also an Arabic document (see separate record). (Information from CUDL and Mediterranean Society, II, p. 338.) Join: MAF and AA.

Legal document in which an old woman, appointed by the court as guardian of her grandchildren, receives cash and items left by her son for his children and, as collateral, mortgages her home. Another son of hers agrees to be her guarantor. Dated Elul 1512/August-September 1201. List of the items on recto includes books, cups, and cash. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 297, 493)