Geniza Lab

Recto: Family letter in Arabic script, mentioning transactions and a Qāḍī. Verso: Late letter in Hebrew to R. Shelomo ha-Sofer from "your wife Dona Soro (=Sara?) and your daughters Reina and Raḥel and your son-in-law Moshe." They are dismayed at Shelomo's lack of response to their numerous letters urging him to return. They ask him to approach R. Shelomo ha-Rofe (David suggests this is the same Shelomo ha-Rofe who had access to the Nagid, mentioned in T-S G1.17, lines 15–16) and obtain an exemption from the tax. They have heard that the addressee plan to travel to Turkey, and they beg him not to do so. This would cause strife between his pregnant daughter Reina and her husband Moshe, it would cause bad luck to Rahel, who is grown and beautiful and good and modest, for the world will scorn the family and say, "look at this good, elderly, scribe who abandoned his wife and daughters after so many years. He must have gone mad, because he has traveled to a distant land," and you know what the verse says, "The eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth" (Proverbs 17:24). So please beseech R. Shelomo ha-Rofe that he obtain for you an exemption ('ketav') from the tax, and (even?) if you cannot, return. See also analysis in Zinger, "Long Distance Marriages in the Cairo Geniza," p. 28. ASE

Letter from the office of the Nagid Yehoshua Maimonides (d. 1355), to the Jewish community in Cairo. He is ordering them to pay back to the public collection for the money (150 dirhams) that was taken from it to the capitation tax, for the poor that could not pay. This amount of money was taken from the "food for the poor" section in the collection. Mid 14th century (Ashtor estimation). VMR

Letter from Abū l-Manṣūr b. Ṭāhir al-Kohen, in Alexandria, to the Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr b. Yiṣḥaq al-Dimashqī, in Fustat. Dating: 1170s CE. The addressee was just then beginning his commercial career. The letter reports on an decree of Saladin that was proclaimed in Alexandria, halving the customs dues (maks) that had been incumbent on local and foreign Jews and Christians. The ṣāḥib al-dīwān authenticated and registered the decree (athbatahū), and the amir Fakhr al-Dīn ordered for it to be implemented. The local Jews took out the Torah scroll and prostrated themselves and prayed for the government. Also mentions various business dealings, including in sugar, and people including Hibatallāh the trader from Tripoli and Abū l-ʿIzz b. Bishr. (Information in part from CUDL and Frenkel.)

Letter from a certain Yosef, in Alexandria, to his brother, an India trader. Mentions people including Avraham al-Miṣrī, Abū l-Maʿānī, Abū l-Surūr, Ibn Khalaf and Ibn al-Ḍarūra. The writer conveys a great deal of concern for the addressee and writes, "if I were not worried about falling ill or wounding the heart of the old man, I would have sworn to fast in the daytime until I saw your face again." ASE.

Settlement of a complicated dispute in Fustat recording that Abu al-Ḥasan b. Numayla had rented from Abu al-Ma'ali Shemuel b. Yehuda a house in Alexandria for two years (rent: 9 dinars). Abu Sa'd, the former tax farmer of Benha Sa'adya b. Efrayim b. Hudhaifa had given 8 dinars, which he had owed to Ben Numaila, to Abu al-Ma'ali. The latter retained the 8 dinars as payment for the rent of Ben Numaila, who had meanwhile died. But as Abu Sa'd had to return the debt to Ben Numaila’s heirs, he had to take recourse to Abu Ma'ali; ca. 1165., in the hand of Shemuel b. Seadya ha-Levi. (Information from Goitein's index cards). VMR and EMS

Letter from Yosef to Abū l-Fakhr asking him to help contest his obligation to pay the capitation tax of his brother, who was missing in Syria; he explains that his brother had not charged him with this payment before his departure.

T-S 13J22.6 was published By Gil, Palestine, #404. It is the left hand side of the letter. T-S 13J7.6 is the right hand side of the same letter, published by Gil (transcription of the whole document) in his 1991 article of corrections and additions to his 3-volume Palestine. This is a letter of complaint to Avraham ha-Kohen b. Yiṣḥaq b. Furat (mid 11th century). The writers complains about the Christian governor Ibn Gorgas who built a church next to a mosque, a controversy arose, and now the Jews are in danger.

Letter from Hayyim b. 'Ammar (Gil) or Zakkar b. 'Ammar (Ben-Sasson), Palermo, to Yūsuf b. Mūsā Tāhartī in Fustat. Dating: ca. 1069 (Gil).The writer writes how two ships had sunk together with their merchants and goods. He also describes doing business both with Jewish and Muslim merchants from Sicily and mentions Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ and the ʿushr tax imposed in Sicily on imported goods. (Information from Gil and Ben-Sasson)

Legal document in the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi, dated 1449 (= 1138 CE). A tax-farmer (ḍāmin), Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya b. ʿUlla (known as Abū l-Munā the perfumer b. Ḥasan), grants Abū Isḥāq Avraham b. Yaʿqūb a license to sell and dye silk for 18 dinars per month in a certain quarter of Fustat for the duration of Abū l-Surūr’s tenure in office. Abū l-Surūr promises not to accept any higher offer or to discontinue the lease (paying a fine of 100 dinars if he does so). Abū Isḥāq may subcontract the labour to others if he wishes and Abū l-Surūr agrees to use his influence with the police if any subcontractors evade payment of their dues. Abū l-Surūr reserves for himself the right to employ female brokers (bayyāʿāt, "saleswomen") in the quarter in question. Signed by [...] Kohen, descendant of Yosef Kohen and Natan b. Shemuʾel, and written under the authority of Maṣliaḥ Gaʾon (1127–1139 CE). On verso are a few lines in Arabic.

Letter from Alexandria from the 21st of October 1219, a short time before the crusaders' assault on Damietta. A man who had to flee Cairo to Alexandria due to debts writes to his sister, who still resided in Cairo, to ask for her help. The letter reflects the difficult situation in Alexandria. The Jewish community cannot manage to support all those in need, since it has only recently paid a large sum to the ruling authorities, a kind of a war tax (tabarru' and ju‘l). (Information from Frenkel). See additional information in Goitein, Med. Soc. 1:98-99 and the detailed discussion in V:55-56. Goitein adds that the letter was sent from Alexandria by a former official of the imperial mint of Fustat to his rich sister. The writer describes how he had lost his post, his house and all his possessions. He hired out his boy to a tailor who paid him half a dirham per week. He lists ten reasons why he cannot possibly come to Cairo; the tenth and "most stringent reason for not making the trip to Cairo was the certainty that his enemies seeing him in such a state of humiliation would rejoice over his misfortune." "Despite the careful enumeration of all his afflictions he forgot one, possibly the worst of all, which he added as a postscript ot his long letter: 'Because of my worries I got dry pimples and my skin peeled off my bones.' Of all concerns, bad health is most apt to move hardhearted relatives" (Med Soc V:56). See also T-S 8J20.26.

Letter from Simḥa Kohen, probably in Alexandria, to Abū l-Manṣūr. Dating: ca. 1205 CE. The writer complains about the extortions of a tax farmer who claimed that many people had executed the transfers of the ownership of their houses before a Jewish court without registering them with the government. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 90, 365). See also Goitein notes and index card linked below.

Letter from Ḥayyim b. Amar Madini, from Palermo, probably to Yosef b. Musa al-Tahirti. Around 1055. The letter contains details about damage to goods (flax and indigo) that were sent from Egypt to the island. The merchants are facing problems of taxes and bribes. The judge Masliah b. Eliyahu is active in the trading matters. In addition, mentions details about goods that are being sent from the island: silk, leather, oil, and lead. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #651) VMR

Recto: Letter from an unknown busybody in Minyat Zifta to the Nagid Avraham (II?) in Fustat/Cairo. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. The purpose of the letter is to relate various improprieties ("matters proceeding not as they should," r13–14) of a muqaddam (perhaps of Minyat Ghamr?), al-Shaykh al-Sadīd. The first episode (r17–32): The local schoolteacher had to go to Cairo to pay his capitation tax (jizya) because he was originally from the Levant. When the teacher was delayed in returning, the community began talking about hiring a new teacher. Al-Sadīd caught wind of this and vetoed the proposal, fearing that a new teacher would be a nuisance (tashwīsh) to him, and he insisted that he teach the children himself. They responded that he was far too busy with his medical practice and serving as muqaddam, not to mention his business dealings. He persisted, and they said, "But you don't even live here!" He said that he would come live there until the original teacher came back. The teacher came back, and al-Sadīd was so enthusiastic about the additional income that he refused to let the children return to the original teacher, and he had made their parents vow to that effect. The community felt pity on the original teacher because of his poverty. The second episode (r32–45): During the same period of al-Sadīd teaching the children, someone fell sick in Minyat Zifta. A group of people, including another physician named al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab, came to visit the patient and found al-Sadīd attending him. Al-Sadīd rudely ignored al-Muhadhdhab. After everyone had sat around the patient, al-Muhadhdhab said, "Are you angry at me? I have been courteous to you, just like the community. I don't know what you want from me. I left you the synagogue and didn't attend today." Al-Sadīd (saracastically): "Thank God you found people to support you (against me?)." The writer of the letter editorializes: There were many people present who also don't attend the synagogue, but not because they were supporting al-Muhadhdhab, rather because they heard about how al-Sadīd had disparaged them. Back to the story: Al-Sadīd sighed and said: "How I hold back from complaining about my travails!" The writer: He didn't hold back at all. The third episode (r45–end): A certain judge (qāḍī al-ḥukm) was seriously ill (marīḍ bi-maraḍ shadīd), and al-Muhadhdhab was attending him "[against] his will and not for his good." This is unclear: was al-Muhadhdhab treating the judge incompetently, or was al-Muhadhdhab the one somehow coerced into this job? Meanwhile, al-Sadīd had been angling to get a connection to this judge. The judge had a slave with jaundice (khadīm bihi yaraqān). This too is unclear: is the slave acutely ill, or is this simply a description of his chronic state? Al-Sadīd came and spoke to the slave, and then came back with something to give to the slave—and the story ends here, unless the join is found. This document is possibly related to Bodl. MS heb. a 3/15, a letter from Avraham (I) Maimonides ordering a territorial muqaddam in Minyat Zifta/Minyat Ghamr to share his duties with his cousin al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 189, 560.) Verso: Mysterious page of notes in Judaeo-Arabic in at least two different hands. The items on this page include two recipes for staining (or dying? or removing stains? the word is tulaṭṭakh/laṭkh); Judaeo-Arabic poetry; a riddle or two; and an extended grammatical discussion of case endings after 'kāna and her sisters' and related topics. ASE.

Letter regarding the payment of the capitation tax.

Husband who intends to travel abroad allocates 20 dirhams per month, namely, five per week, for his wife, plus some wheat, the 20 dirhams to be used also for his capitation tax and from which she will pay rent and other household expenses, while he stipulates expressly not to lay claim on any earnings made by her through work and spinning. Fustat. Dated Tishri 1445/1133. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, 127, 423)

Recto: Letter of appeal from Mahfūẓ b. Mūsā and his brother Musallam/Muslim. In calligraphic Judaeo-Arabic. The writer describes the humiliation his family (or wife?) has experienced at the hands of the authorities (al-sulṭān) because he is delinquent in paying the capitation tax (here called kharāj) for the last two years ('years 8 and 9'). He asks for help. Verso: Document in Arabic script, which looks like it mentions various quantities and saffron. Information in part from CUDL. ASE.

Letter to Efrayim b. Shemariah from his friend Yiṣḥaq, who asks for money to pay the tax-collector and so prevent his being imprisoned. Dating from the first half of the 11th century.

Recto: Letter from Natan, a foreigner from Jerba (the island off the coast of Ifrīqiyya), who claims that he has been unjustly placed under house detention by the Muslim authorities. House arrest was imposed for unpaid debts in general, not just for the capitation tax. Unable to acquit himself of the entire obligation he owed he had been paying interest for nine months as well as the fee for house arrest (payment for the guardsman, called tarsīm), the normal procedure in such cases, a form of 'debtor's prison.' He asks assistance from a notable, a Jewish courtier with connections to the Muslim government. (Information from Cohen.) Join by Oded Zinger.

Census for the capitation tax. List of male persons with consecutive numbers over the names. First complete no. visible is 19, but some names are discernible before that. Total: 68 households. Outsiders: seven from Cairo (in a separate appendix superscribed 'The Cairenes and including the beadle of that city'); three each from Alexandria and al-Mahalla; one from Qus; one Maghribi; one from Damascus. Some are listed together with their descendants, for example (32) Abu Hayyun, the old carpenter, and (33) the son of his daughter (who presumably worked with him). Those listed were certainly persons for whom the community had to provide the capitation tax, either completely or in part. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, 460, App. B 75)

Letter of appeal for charity from Abū l-Majd to the physician (ḥakīm) Yeshuʿa ha-Levi. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer needs help paying 20 silver dirhams (nuqra) which he still owes on account of his capitation tax. Information from Goitein's note card.