Geniza Lab

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Wide space between the lines. The writer is a tax farmer (or perhaps the agent/wakīl of one) in a rural area with cattle and water wheels and wood. He seems to be complaining about how little of the ḍamān proceeds he got to keep and how much work it is to supervise the cowherds and waterwheel users and get them to pay up. But there is a lot of technical language that requires further examination. "By the covenant! I had no resort but to drink with some qāḍī named Abū ʿAbdallāh and some uncircumcised (Christian) tax collector. The drinking was for a profitable thing they had proposed, not on account of any idleness of mine. They said..." In the margin he mentions Rabbenu, possibly the Nagid, and asks for a favor for a relative of his. On verso there are many very deferential phrases and a cryptic passage about insulting people and people's wives and things that can't be repeated in letters to the likes of the addressee. On verso there is also Hebrew liturgical text.

Tax receipt, Fatimid, from the archive of Abū l-Ḥasan b. Wahab with a registration mark "al-ḥamdu lil-lāh ʿalā niʿamih" dated 25 dhū l-ḥijja 403. On the verso, fragment of the top left-hand margin of a petition

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic from [Yosef?] ha-Kohen b. Yiftaḥ ha-Kohen, in Tinnīs, to Abū l-ʿAlā' Ṣāʿid b. al-Munajja al-Dimashqi (perhaps the same as Abū l-ʿAlā' Ṣāʿid b. Najā who features in T-S 12.591, a 1080 letter). The writer sends holiday wishes and reports that he has already met with Abū ʿImrān as requested, who said that he already sent the addressee letters of his own with what he needs to know. As for the copy of the Targum, the scribe (Abū ʿImrān or a different person?) needs four more dirhams. The writer seems very apologetic about this. He then launches into tales of "the zaqen's" underhanded business dealings. There are a few tricky words, and the specifics need further examination. Apparently the zaqen appointed the writer's uncle as his agent for one dinar. He then claimed that a certain batch of silk was stolen from the tax/customs bureau (? masrūq min al-maks). "This is completely unfounded. If it were true, would we have the receipt (? ḥujjat al-ḍamān)? There is nothing to be done about him, because he is an incorrigible man." The writer has also written to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal about these events, אולי יש תקוה. The writer sends regards to Abū l-Munā and Abū l-Maʿālī. Written the 4th of Adar. ASE

Letter of appeal for charity from Manṣūr b. Ibrāhīm Ibn Naḥum to the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender opens by mentioning that he is the brother of the wife of the cantor from al-Raḥba. He then reminds the Nagid that he actually helped him once, "in the time of al-Maʾmūn" (unclear who this could refer to), by giving or loaning him 10 dinars to get out of a guarantee or tax farm (ḍamān) which Shemuel was being held accountable for. The term "imāra" (something to do with the state?) is mentioned. Parts of these lines are crossed out. Now, fate has caught up with the sender. His wife has died, he has three children to support, and his vision is weak (ḍarra baṣruh). (Information in part from CUDL)

Report of a provincial official, Ibn لفش(?) al-Shihābī. In Arabic script. It seems that he received an order to present himself, together with the qāḍī and the ʿāmil (and the kātib?) (ll.5–6). He reports that a well/cistern overflowed and posed a danger to all the land underneath and had to be fixed (ll.10–12). He complains about a Christian named Abū l-Fakhr who made a complaint; "do not ask about the trouble he caused me and the tax farmers (ḍummān)" (ll.14–16). Needs further examination.

Letter from a man to his 'brother'. In Judaeo-Arabic, rudimentary script and spelling. He informs him that he has "fallen" into the ḍamān (tax farm) of Minyat Badr (near Tinnīs) with Abū Saʿd and that he cannot leave, otherwise he would go up (presuambly to Fustat/Cairo) in person. He has sent some money for purchases and sends regards to various people. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. The hand may be identifiable. Dating: Probably 12th or 13th century. This fragment (lower half of recto, upper half of verso) begins in medias res: the sender is writing about his time with some community, probably near Minyat Zifta; he describes a circumcision that was done on Shabbat; the sender organized a drive (pesiqa) for "the female captives"; and he found the congregation impoverished (fa-wajadtu l-[qaw]m fī ḥāl ṣaʿb... baqā al-jamāʿa ʿaniyyim marudim) on account of the ḍamān incumbent on them (a guarantee they had undertaken? or payments owed to a tax farmer?). He specifically mentions a loss of 100 dinars. It was resolved to inform Rabbenu about all this, and the Parnas went to do that. The sender awaits (the Parnas's? Rabbenu's?) arrival, and he plans to go to Minyat Zifta. He asks Abū l-Makārim "to obtain a rescript (tawqīʿ) regarding [...]."