מסמך שלטוני: Moss. Xa,3.10

תיאור

Petition to an unnamed Ottoman official from Pinḥas son of Yūsuf. Dating: c. 1620s CE (per Hathaway), an estimate which is supported by the probable mention of one of the same individuals (Avraham Aripol) in a document from 1588 CE: T-S 13J4.21 - PGPID 16130. In the introduction to her edition, Jane Hathaway observes: "This torn, crumpled, and stained document, in Ottoman Turkish, is another undated petition to an unnamed official. It is clearly closely related to T-S AS 178.88 [PGPID 36909]. The author, one Pinḫās son of Yūsuf, appears to be the successor to Salmūn al-Iskandārānī as tax farmer of al-Khaḍra, the muqāṭaʿa at the centre of the preceding document [T-S AS 178.88 - PGPID 36909], and thus may be writing during the 1620s. Pinḫās is a Jewish name, and in addition, the word used for ‘son’ in his signature is not ibn but veled (walad in Arabic), which by convention was employed in Ottoman documents to indicate non-Muslim patronyms. We do not know whether Pinḫās likewise succeeded Salmūn as farmer of Alexandria’s customs. In any case, he is acquiring al-Khaḍra for a substantial increase (ziyāde) in the purchase price, a fact that indicates that the village had produced higher revenues than expected during Salmūn’s tenure. Pinḫās cites a potential obstacle to his acceptance, however: Salmūn has sold subordinate parts of this tax farm to another Jewish entrepreneur, Saʿadia Cohen.... [Pinḫās] asks the recipient of his petition—perhaps the governor of Egypt—to investigate Saʿadia, the purchaser of these subordinate tax farms. The Hebrew annotation at the top of the document has, on the face of it, nothing directly to do with the document’s main text: it alludes instead to a dispute involving several prominent rabbis/notables. However, the family of one of the notables is mentioned in another document in connection with a Saʿadia Cohen, who could conceivably be the sub-leaser of the present document." (Hathaway, Ottoman-Era Documents from the Cairo Genizah, 153-155) At the top, there is an annotation in Hebrew. It is difficult to make sense of this annotation, and it is not clear if/how it relates to the content of the petition. It seems to refer to some kind of slander (מלשינות זו); lists the names of several men (Moshe ʿAṭiyya, Avraham Aripol, Moshe Abī(?) ʿAṭṭār, and Moshe ben Hīnī); refers to a "trick" (תחבולה) and saving something or somebody (עד אשר הצילו אותו); and a government minister (לפני השר). Avraham Aripol may be the same as in T-S 13J4.21 (PGPID 16130). Moshe ben Hini may be the same as in T-S 13J24.24 (PGPID 17038) and/or T-S 13J7.30 (PGPID 17049). The mention of a man from the ben Hini family in this annotation provides very faint corroboration that the Saʿadya Kohen mentioned in the petition may be the same as in Bodl. MS heb. b 11/16 (PGPID 19289), where another ben Hini appears; however, Saʿadya Kohen is a common name. ASE The annotation reads roughly as follows: העדים(?) ועל מלשינות זו ושנלקח ר . . . . בתילוי(?) //רב// וה . . אותו אני הולך למשו[ך?] גם רבים ומ . . . החכם הנעלה כהר משה עטיה וכהר אברהם אריפול וכהר משה אבי(?) עטאר וכהר משה ן היני ונעשה אותה(?) תחבולה עד אשר הצילו אותו מידו . . . . . רב לפני השר