Geniza Lab

State document, probably a letter of official correspondence, in Arabic script. Addressed to or sent by an official with the title ʿĀzim al-Dawla. An order from al-Ḥaḍra al-Majīdiyya (probably al-Ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Majīd) granted the sender an exemption (?) from customs tax (maks) for the goods arriving on a royal vessel "al-ʿUshārī al-Malik" on government business (shāʾn al-dawāwīn). The addressee didn't honor the order and hence the sender rebukes him the rebuke of friends "fʿātab ʿatab al-aṣdiqā". The last two lines are difficult to contextualize but an attempted interpretation could be - with the command of the overseer of his business/accounts, someone wrote from the dīwān regarding what is obligatory on the different types of taxes. Reused for Arabo-Hebrew jottings of the Hebrew Psalms, the Ezra (1:9) more specifically. (For more on transcribing Hebrew Bible into Arabic script, see Geoffrey Khan, Karaite Bible Manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah: Cambridge University Press, 1990). YU. Verso: text in Hebrew with (Masoretic?) "traditions and mnemonics" (מוסרות וסימנות) written by Shemuel b. Sahl the teacher for Saʿadya b. Shelomo. Multiple different hands (likely of both teacher and student).

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.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Detailed and well-preserved. People named: Ibn al-Maqāniʿī; Abū ʿAlī al-Ṣūrī; Zikrī b. Yaḥyā; Yūsuf b. A[...]; Yiṣḥaq b. Bundār (perhaps the same as in T-S 8.27, ca. 1110 CE). Commodities: mirwāḥ, brazilwood. Mentions the customs tax (maks).

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 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.

Commercial accounts in Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. Mentions people such as Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm; Hilāl; Abū l-Ḥasan; Abū Yaḥyā, Shemuel. Mentions various textile goods, also wax/candles; the most common item looks like نون or نور. Expenses for customs (maks) and inspectors (mufattishīn) are mentioned several times.

Letter from an unknown writer, probably in Qūṣ, to an unknown addressee, probably in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 12th century, but this is a guess. The writer describes a harrowing Nile voyage "due to the illness of the passengers and loathsome odors. Three of them ended up dying. The last one survived for a day and a half until he died. I remained in distress from the stench that wafted from him, and nearly perished." The writer then safely arrived in Akhmīm on Friday as evening was falling, so he spent Shabbat in the city. He had to pay 10.5 dirhams (of customs?) upon leaving on Sunday, after swearing that he had nothing with him except the clothes (? qumāsh) on his back. He mentions al-Shaykh Abū Isḥāq b. Mushrif/Musharraf who had paid the customs duty for the קמקין (?). The writer wished to inform the addressee of this earlier, but there was a delay of five days before he arrived in Qūṣ. "Your servant arrived in Qūṣ and experienced on the side of aṣḥābunā a measure of hospitality which I am unable to describe even in part. They kindly took an apartment for me, a place which can be locked, before I arrived. . . " On verso there is Mishna Avot. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards and Mediterranean Society 1:298, 474; 5:31-2, 513.) EMS. ASE.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Includes expenses for the maks (customs duty?), and the capitation tax (jāliya) in Syria for the years 20 and 21. Names mentioned: al-Shaykh al-Rashīd Ṣayrafī b. al-Dayyan; Ibn Karīm al-Iskandarī Ṣabbāgh; Ibn Bayān; Bū l-Ghayth the tax farmer of Hebron (ḍāmin al-Khalīl); and [...] Ibn al-Ghuzūlī.