Geniza Lab

Letter fragment from Alexandria reporting that a woman stood security for her husband. The phrase 'tabri'at ketubba' appears. There are repeated references to "this great catastrophe" and various legal proceedings. (Information from Goitein's index cards) Description from PGPID 6547: See join for description. This portion of the letter awaits transcription.

Letter fragment in the hand of the clerk of Yehoshuaʿ Hanagid regarding taxation, including the fee for the police (tarsīm). Mentioned in Goitein, "The Twilight of the House of Maimonides," Tarbiz 54 (1984), 92.

Letter. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer is under house arrest (tarsīm) and is embroiled in a court case with a wicked man. He asks the addressee to take care of the wicked man.

Recto: Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 13th or 14th century based on handwriting. Reporting that someone is in a sorry state and under house arrest (tarsīm). He is charged 1/2 nuqra a day, and now owes 20 dirhams. He sent a letter asking Dāʾūd for help to no avail. Now he has sent another, heartbreaking letter. The sender presumably goes on to ask the addressee to help this man. Verso: Letter fragment. In Arabic script. Addressed to a son or son-like figure ("yā waladī..."). Exhorting him to "do his work" (iqḍi shughlak) and also refers to "this man" (the same unfortunate man from recto?). Urges haste (surʿa surʿa). Needs further examination.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Calligraphic. The writer requests someone's urgent attendance in Cairo; mentions al-Shaykh Muwaffaq; mentions a tarsīm (fee for house arrest?).

Letter mentioning goods like saffron and rhubarb and complaining about the taxes and the tarsim (house detention for delinquent debtors or capitation tax payers). (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Recto: Letter from an unknown writer, in Ramle, to an unknown addressee, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th century. "When, on a rainy day, the qadi of Ramle ordered a Jewish merchant to proceed to Egypt under the supervision of a guard (which was a costly affair), Muslims and Jews present (in this order) had mercy for him and persuaded the qadi to grant him a stay of fifteen days." "The writer carried with him goods belonging to Abū Naṣr, probably the famous Tustari, of Cairo, for which he had no sufficient authority. A delegate of the qadi was to accompany him so that he might not sell part of the goods on his way, for instance in Ascalon. Fifteen days were pIenty of time for a letter going to Cairo and coming back with Abū Naṣr's instructions to the qadi. The writer mentions also that he did not feel well that day (wa-anā wajiʿ). For the legal term rassam, see Med Soc II, 372 and 609, n. 46." Verso: list of names, including Abū l-Surūr and Abū Manṣūr. Information from CUDL and Goitein, Med Soc V, 534–535.

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.

Letter or witness statement within a legal document. (Information from CUDL)

Letter/report/petition addressed to the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya. Concerns Ḥāzim the tax rallier (ḥashshār) who was placed under house arrest (tarsīm) and relieved of his duties. Someone else took over his position, which was agreeable to the Jews of the area (aṣḥābnā) until the new administrator (ʿāmil) Abū l-Fakhr arrived, who began oppressing the Jews. A cantor known as al-Peʾer opposed him and was also fined or subjected to tarsīm. The next part is damaged, and the bottom part is missing.

Letter from Shemuel, in Damietta, to Abū l-Mufaḍḍal Hibatallāh b. Faraḥ, perhaps related by marriage through the latter's sister. The handwriting is often ambiguous, so much of this analysis is tentative. Shemuel opens with the bare minimum of formalities, then, "As for what you mentioned about the events in Damietta, very ugly things came to pass. They took your sister to the ḥujra (barracks?). Then they brought her to the administrative complex (dār al-imāra), and they brought a basket to sit her in it and beat her. I pled and pled (? lam azal ashḥad—this verb is used for beggars, but perhaps he is using the Hebrew meaning: to bribe) until God had mercy and they brought her back to the ḥujra, without saying a word to her. I did not cease . . . until I got her out of the ḥujra to the house of Hilāl. Hilāl stood guaranty for her after a period of house arrest (? baʿd an aqām mudda fī l-tarsīm). He lost 13 dinars. They sold everything that was in the house. They left nothing worth even a half dirham. They took your sister's copper and sold it. No one was harsher than the secretary of the head of police (wālī) in Damietta, who supervises the inheritances. I sent him 10 gold coins with Abū l-ʿAlā' Muslim." The next line is tricky and involves something called "kutub al-sulṭān." At this point the writer switches to beseeching the addressee to do his utmost to protect the interests of his own family and of the writer: "Go to the amir Sayf al-Dīn, and to the owner of the house, and meet with Sayyidnā al-Rayyis. Let him go and meet with all of the amirs and bring up these matters that interest you and me." They are also to go to al-Amīr al-Ṭahīr (? אלטהיר. There is a qāḍī with the same epithet in the Arabic document T-S Ar.41.9. But perhaps it is al-ẓahīr). The subject matter on verso becomes still more obscure. The writer tells the addressee not to begrudge a certain payment, "for the amir Fakhr al-Dīn has promised me every good thing in the world. He has bestowed favor on me beyond description. He does not take a penny; others do." There follows another obscure passage: perhaps the writer obtained a loan of 30 gold coins from the amir that he needed for a bribe (shaḥadtu bihā, the same verb used during the beating). He then goes back to describe how the house was completely emptied; not even a nail was left behind. Finally he relates the episode described by Goitein as follows: "In Damietta, the Egyptian seaport, a makhzan was located in a dihlīz, or entrance hall [of the house of Abū Saʿd]. A jug containing a thousand gold pieces was discovered there and, of course, confiscated by the government." Med Soc IV, 79. Goitein mentions this letter one other time: "As with government offices in general, there was no clear-cut and fixed division of duties among the various branches of the judiciary and the security force. Thus we find, for example, in Damietta, the office of the chief of police (wālī) dealing with cases of inheritance, normally the prerogative of the qadis." Med Soc II, 371, referring to recto, lines 12–14. ASE.

Either a letter or a literary text. In Judaeo-Arabic. Describing people being held under house arrest (tarsīm), the arrival of a war fleet (qaṭāʾiʿ, cf. T-S 13J19.29), the government, and the destruction of a country.

Letter fragment. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late. Mentions a consul; France (פראנסה); R. Yaʿaqov; and the government (sulṭān).