List or table: T-S NS 324.132

Description

Pages (a) through (c): Distribution list for clothing (al-kiswa). Dated: Ṭevet 1488 Seleucid, which began on 5 December 1176 CE. The last but one numeral of the date is not fully visible, but its reading is ascertained by the many names in common with the lists A 25–36 (1181–84 CE). Distribution of about 110 pieces of clothing (40 muqaddar, 49 ordinary, and 15 small jūkhāniyyas, the rest illegible) to community officials and/or their dependents and to needy persons. At the head of the list at least five cantors and three shomers. One beadle of Dammūh is listed at the beginning of the list (p a, l. 5), another at the end (c, l. 6). Almost all the males receive a muqaddar, all but one of the females (p. b, l. 2) a jūkhāniyya. Males receiving a muqaddar: p. a, l. 8 (written above the line), p. b, ll. 1, 6, 18. Various members of the same household each get a piece of clothing: Sālim, the porter, a jūkhāniyya (p. a, l. 8) his wife, a jūkhāniyya (p. a, l.13); Abū l-Majd, the milkman, a muqaddar (p. a, l. 16), his son, a small jūkhāniyya (p. c, l. 3); Maḥfūẓ, the beadle and his son, each a muqaddar. Still, such occurrences are far rarer than one would expect. The conclusion to be derived from this and related documents: normally, only one member of a household received a new piece of cloth at each distribution. Page (d): "Dirhems expended." After the first item, "the judges," is left a blank space. Al-Najīb (the parnas) follows with the number 20 after it and l. 12, Abū ʿAlī the parnas, with 12. The remainder: 6 receive 3 dirhems; 4 receive 4 dirhems; 7 receive 5 dirhems (including "the widow of the man from Tyre; a foreigner"); 2 receive 6 dirhems; 2 receive 8 dirhems (including "the widow of the man from Haifa"). As other lists show, the cash was given as a partial compensation for clothing. Thus the two parts of the manuscript actually form one record. (Information from Goitein, Med Soc II, Appendix B, #71 (p.459).) The recipients also include one female slave and three women who are freed slaves (per Goitein's index card).