Letter: T-S 13J26.13

Description

Communal letter in Hebrew, from a city in Palestine (per Goitein and Mann) or Damascus (per Gil) to the yeshiva in Jerusalem (per Gil) or Fustat (based on the accounts on verso). Dating: 1050–55 CE, based on the likely identifications of Ḥaydara and Khaṭīr al-Mulk. "The extortion of payments of the capitation tax in advance is thus far known from Geniza records only for Palestine and for the second quarter of the eleventh century, a period of anarchy and misrule. According to one report, payment was asked a full five months before the Muslim New Year on which it was due." (Goitein, Med Soc II, p. 389.) The story in the document is very interesting. The sender describes that the Bedouins (הערביים) gained control over the city and collaborated with a judge, the nephew of Abū l-Sayyār(?), to cut off the water supply of the Jews. Whenever the Jews succeeded in swaying a ruler (כל מושל ושליט) to restore the water supply, their enemies united and denied that the Jews had any right to the water. Another ruler (shaliṭ) came to power this year, named Ḥaydara Dhakhīrat al-Dawla (appears also in T-S K25.249 in 1031 CE). The community sent emissaries to Egypt to obtain "a document (ketav) and a decree (nishtevan)" with three requests: (1) to restore the water supply, (2) to restore the right of slaughtering in the market, and (3) to prohibit collection of the (capitation) tax before the year has begun. The requests were accepted and the decree was issued by Khatīr al-Mulk (=the son of al-Yāzūrī, or possibly al-Yāzūrī himself; see Yaacov Lev, Administration of Justice in Medieval Egypt, p. 145)\. However, the ruler "read (the documents and the decree) and cast them from his hand" and demanded hefty bribes before fulfilling any of the injunctions. The Jews' enemies were outraged and protested, but gave up in disgrace when the ruler said that they would have to obtain a counter-decree annulling the first one. Nevertheless, the judge of the city persisted in demanding the capitation tax 5 months ahead of time, 250 gold coins from the community. On verso there are communal accounts in Arabic script—see separate record. For further analysis and identifications of the state officials involved, see Gil, History of Palestine, sec. 599, and Rustow, Lost Archive, p. 255.