Letter: T-S 13J33.9

Description

Petition from the Jewish community of Alexandria to the Nagid Shemuel b. Ḥananya (1140–59 CE). Complaining about oppressive and fraudulent collection of the capitation tax. There are three wicked officials: Ḥasan b. Karām b. Iskandar the jahbadh, ʿUmar b. [...], and Yaḥyā ("may he not live!") b. Abū l-Faḍl known as Ibn Ukht Badīʿ(?). They are issuing receipts without having them registered in the supervising dīwān (wa-lam yuthbithā fī l-dīwān), which enables them to extort a second payment—one for their own pockets, and one for the dīwān. Among the bad effects are "the demanding of bribes (קטע אלמצאנעה) and the raping of women and the attacking of [houses and the exposing of the] head before the tax collectors." (Information in part from CUDL and Goitein's attached notes.)