A Mediterranean Society: The Jewish Communities of the Arab World as Portrayed in the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. I: Economic Foundations [1] 9780520221581, 0520221583

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A MEDITERRANEAN SOCIETY The Jewish Communities ofthe World as Portrayed in the Documents ofthe Cairo Geniza

VOLUME I:

Economic Foundations

S. D. Goitein

Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society: the Jewish Communities of the Arab World As Portrayed In the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1. E-book, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00888. Accessed 10 Jan 2021. Downloaded on behalf of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society: the Jewish Communities of the Arab World As Portrayed In the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1. E-book, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00888. Accessed 10 Jan 2021. Downloaded on behalf of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

A MEDITERRANEAN SOCIETY

PUBLISHED UNDE!t 'l'HE AUSPICES OF THE NEAR EASTERN CENTER UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Los

Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society: the Jewish Communities of the Arab World As Portrayed In the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1. E-book, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00888. Accessed 10 Jan 2021. Downloaded on behalf of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

ANGELES

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Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society: the Jewish Communities of the Arab World As Portrayed In the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1. E-book, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00888. Accessed 10 Jan 2021. Downloaded on behalf of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

S. D. GOITEIN

A Mediterranean Society THE JEWISH COMMUNITIE'> OF THE ARAB WORLD AS PORTRAYED IN THE DOCUMENTS OF THE CAIRO GENIZA

VOLUME I

Economic Foundations

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley • Los Angeles • London

Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society: the Jewish Communities of the Arab World As Portrayed In the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1. E-book, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00888. Accessed 10 Jan 2021. Downloaded on behalf of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

to Theresa "Mine and yours is hers"

University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England First Paperback Printing 1999 © 1967 by The Regents of the University of California

Goitein, S. D., 1900A Mediterranean society : the Jewish communities of the Arab world as portrayed in the documents of Cairo Geniza / S. D. Goitein. p. cm. Originally published: Berkeley : University of California Press, 1967-cl[)93. Inclucies bibliographical references and indexes. Contents: v. 1. Ecor-omic foundations -v. 2. Tl:e communityv. 3. The family- v. 4. Daily life - v. 5. The individual. ISBN 0-520-00484-1 (cl. : alk. paper) ISBN 0-520-22158-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Jews-Islamic Empire-Civilization. 2. Islamic Empire-Civilization. 3. Cairo Genizah. I. Title. DS135.L4G65 1999 99-36039 956' .004924-dc21 CIP Printed in the United States of America 08

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The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO 239.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence ef Paper).€)

Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society: the Jewish Communities of the Arab World As Portrayed In the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1. E-book, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00888. Accessed 10 Jan 2021. Downloaded on behalf of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Preface

A LITI'LE-KNOWN but fairly representative section of the medieval world is portrayed in this book with the aid of a unique historical source, the documents of the Cairo Geniza (pronounced gheneeza). Here, middleclass people from the tenth through the thirteenth centuries have left us their letters, court records, contracts, accounts, and other writings in a haphazard selection, as they deposited them in a geniza, or lumber room. For these people believed that writings on which the name of God might be found should not be destroyed, but should be buried like the human body. In this way, quite unintentionally, many thousands of documents of the most variegated and often of very intimate character have been preserved. This material is invaluable for the knowledge of social groups to which the historian up till now has had little or no access. Most of these documents, which were unearthed in Old Cairo and now are found in many libraries all over the world, are written in Hebrew characters and in the Arabic language. In general, they emanate from Jews who lived in the Islamic countries of the Mediterranean, which at the beginning of the Geniza period included most of Spain and Sicily. Thus, these papers form a first-rate source for the social history of the Jewish community on the one hand and of Islamic civilization on the other. Since many of them concern international trade, they are also of significance for the history of the Mediterranean basin in general. The idea of this book was first conceived by me on September 17, 1954, while in Oxford, searching the treasures of the Bodleian Library for Geniza documents relating to the India trade for a book still in preparation on that subject. (Then I had a fancy title for it: "Living Parchments.") On June 15, 1955, I wrote about my intention to publish a volume of this ch~racter to Clemens Heller of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (VI" section), Paris, who had done much to further the preparation of the book about the India trade. Being occupied with the collection, deciphering, copying, and interpretation of the India papers, I made little progress with the new project. The turning point came in summer, 1958, this time while I was on one of my fifteen visits to the University Library, Cambridge, England, the Mecca of Geniza studies. By that time, it had become evident to me that the India trade, as far as

Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society: the Jewish Communities of the Arab World As Portrayed In the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1. E-book, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00888. Accessed 10 Jan 2021. Downloaded on behalf of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

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Preface

reflected in the Geniza, was carried out largely by merchants who had their base in the Mediterranean area. I felt that it was necessary to elucida:e first the institutions and ways of life of the native countries of those enterprising men before their specific contributions to the commerce with India could be properly assessed. At the same time, while I was still in Cambridge, there arrived a letter from Dr. G. E. von Grunebaum, dated August 18, 1958, suggesting that I participate in the new publication program undertaken jointly by the Near Eastern Center of the University of California and the University of California Press. This decided the matter. I was off India and on the Mediterranean. Both Dr. von Grunebaum and I assumed that with the general knowledge of the Geniza world acquired by me during ten years of research I would be able to produce a concise but all-around account of it. I tried for six months. Slowly it dawned upon me that it was risky to write a summary of something the totaJity of which was yet very incompletely known. Too many Geniza documents had never been read by anyone, and the great surprises of ten provided by newly deciphered documents made one hesitant to draw conclusions from manuscripts read on material still untouched. Thus, there ripened the bold resolution first to make a survey of the documentary Geniza in toto. I tried to read, albeit cursorily, the whole body of manuscripts of nonliterary character from the Cairo Geniza which are preserved in the libraries of Europe, the United States, and Israel, to card-index the more significant and especially the more difficult ones (so far as this had not been done hy others), and to extract from them whatever information seemed likely to contribute to the portrait of the society depicted in them. After seven years, with a visit to the libraries of Leningrad in summer, 1965, the survey came to a preliminary conclusion. Preliminary, for I do not claim, by any means, to have succeeded in seeing all the relevant manuscripts or to have noted everything of significance. But I do hope that this study, to comprise three volumes, represents a fairly complete inventory of the Geniza, I mean, that it conveys an idea of the topics and types of information to be found in the Geniza documents. This study is called A Mediterranean Society because the people described in it are to a certain extent representative of their class in the :Mediterranean world in general, and its Arabic section in particular. Parallels and contrasts with sources outside the Geniza are pointed out occasionally. An attempt to do so throughout would have increased the size of the work to impossible dimensions. It is perhaps not superfluous to remark that I regard my work as that of historian and philologist, not that of expounder of sodoeconomic or political theories. ,-rhen I found that free enterprise, a monetary economy, and fluid forms of cooperation were conducive to the comparath·ely salutary state of the Geniza period (as opposed to the preceding and, e::-pecially, the following periods), I do not intend to express herein

Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society: the Jewish Communities of the Arab World As Portrayed In the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1. E-book, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00888. Accessed 10 Jan 2021. Downloaded on behalf of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Preface

IX

an opinion about the absolute value of these phenomena. The same applies to questions of religion, law, morals, and manners touched upon in the subsequent volumes. The text of this study is organized in such a way that the reader who is interested in some technical details, or in the linguistic aspects of the documents quoted, or who wants to check a manuscript or a text previously edited, may consult the Notes at the end of the book where they do not interrupt the readers who have no need for them. The contents of volumes II and III are herein provided in outline. The Author's Note answers questions that might arise in connection with unfamiliar terms, the spelling of Arabic and Hebrew words, and the use of the Notes. Appendixes A and B contain concise information on dates, names, coins, weights, and measures. Appendixes C and D on industrial partnerships and the exchange rate of money complement chapters ii, 2, and iii, F, respectively. A bibliography is not included. Since the three volumes touch on almost every aspect of the life of a middle class, a list of the books and articles used in their preparation might well fill a fourth. The list of Abbreviations and Symbols gives a general idea of the main reference books and journals used, while the Notes provide additional bibliographic information for individual sections. Concurrently with this work a companion volume, called M editerranean People, is being prepared, which contains translations of many of the Geniza texts discussed here. In the Notes an asterisk after the shelf mark of a manuscript cited means that its translation is included in that collection. It is hoped that the publication of Mediterranean People will follow close behind that of Volume II of this work. A work of the character described could not have been carried out without generous help from many different quarters. I am deeply indebted to H. R. Creswick, Librarian, University Library, Cambridge, England, who showed much personal interest in the Geniza treasures entrusted to his care, and to his staff, in particular Dr. S. A. Skilliter, who worked in the library when the New Series of the Taylor-Schechter Collection was started (seep. 4); to the former and present presidents and librarians of Westminster College, Cambridge; to Bodley's Librarian and the staff of the Bodleian Library, Oxford; to the former and present Keeper, Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts, as well as to the present Assistant Keeper at the British Museum; to the Director and staff of the John Rvlands Library, Manchester; to the Conservateur honoraire and Librarian of the Alliance Israelite Universelle, Paris; to the Director, Universitii.tsbibliothek, Heidelberg; to the Director and Restaurator of the Papyrus-sammlung, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna; to Professor Samuel Lowinger, former director of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Budapest, and to Professor Alexander Scheiber, present director, who spared no effort in providing me with photostats from the David Kaufmann Collection

Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society: the Jewish Communities of the Arab World As Portrayed In the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1. E-book, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00888. Accessed 10 Jan 2021. Downloaded on behalf of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

X

Preface

preserved at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and helped me in other ways; to Professor N. Pigulevskaya, director of the Near Eastern dcpa1-tment1 and to Professor C. Starkova who heads the Hebrew section of the Institut Narodov Azii (Institute of the Peoples of Asia), Leningrad, for the use of the manuscripts under their care and for many other kindnesses; to the Director, Saltykov-Shchcdrin State Public Library, Leningrad, and Librarian Victor Lebedev; to the administration and staff of the Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, Israel; to the former and present librarian3 and the staff of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York; to Professor Ricbard Ettinghausen of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, for providing me with photographs and precious bibliographical and other advice; to the President and Library staff of the Dropsie College, Philadelphia; and, last but not least, to the staff of the University Museum and the Van Pelt and Fine Arts libraries of the University of Pennsylvania for manyfold help. My first three visits to the libraries of Europe were financed by teaching in various summer schools there, with my spare time and money going to Geniza research. This wasteful procedure (which, though, was not wanting in interesting experiences) was eventually replaced by financial assistance granted to me. Besides the two universities in which I taught successively, the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and the University of Pennsylvania, both of which let me benefit from time to time from their schemes for the advancement of research, these institutions, foundations, societies, and private citizens have greatly obliged me by their understanding and generosity: Alexander Kohut Memorial Foundation; American Philosophical Society; Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, VI" section, Division des Aires Culturelles (formerly Centre de Recherches Historiques); Israel Academy of Sciences; John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation; Lucius N. Littauer Foundation; Siegfried and Irma Ullmann Foundation: Philipp Brothers Foundation; Social Science Research Council; my friends, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Levy of London; Jacob I. Rosenbaum and Lionel C. Rosenbaum, both of Cleveland, Ohio, and the late Emil Weitzner of New York. The documents discussed in this book touch on many problems not met with by me in my previous scientific work. While editing Geniza texts and trying to interpret them I had to make myself familiar with new fields of research. In this endeavor I was assisted by colleagues near and far. I learned from many, including some much younger in years. Here I can express my thanks only to those whose erudition and helpfulness benefited this volume directly. D. H. Baneth, Professor Emeritus of Arabic, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, is my master in Geniza philology. I do not regard the edition of a text edited by me as definitive until I have received his criticism. Professor Robert S. Lopez, Yale, guided my first steps in the field of medieval economic history.

Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society: the Jewish Communities of the Arab World As Portrayed In the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1. E-book, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00888. Accessed 10 Jan 2021. Downloaded on behalf of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Preface

Xl

Dr. George C. Miles, Chief Curator of the American Numismatic Society, by patiently answering my queries and providing me with material, introduced me to Islamic numismatics, a field in which I learned much also from Professor Paul Balog of Rome. Dr. Joachim 0. Ronall, economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and member of the faculty of the New School for Social Research, helped me with the history of banking and cognate subjects. Professors Joseph Schacht, Columbia University, Franz Rosenthal, Yale University, Claude Cahen, University of Paris, and S. M. Stern, Oxford University, enlightened me on diverse subjects of Islamic studies. On Egyptian realia I learned much from Professor Ahmad Fakhri, University of Cairo, the eminent archaeologist, and from a younger scholar from the same university, Professor Muhammad El-Garh. Professor Saul Lieberman, Rector, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, despite his many preoccupations, let hardly a week pass before answering the queries I frequently submitted to him on questions of rabbinical law and literature. Professors S. Spiegel and M. Margalioth of the same institution, as well as Pro:essors J. Schirmann and S. Abramson, Hebrew University, and Dr. N. Alloni of Jerusalem provided me with information concerning their work at the Taylor-Schechter Collection, Cambridge University, and other subjects. Professors N. Golb, University of Chicago, and A. Udovitch, Cornell University, read parts of the manuscript of this volume and made valuable suggestions. Of the galaxy of young men who worked as my scientific assistants I must mention three: Dr. Shaul Shakcd, the author of the indispensable Geniza bibliography (see Abbreviations and Symbols); Dr. L. A. Motzkin, whose Ph.D. dissertation, "The Arabic Correspondence of Judge Elijah and his Family: A Chapter in the Social History of Thirteenth Century Egypt" (University of Pennsylvania, 1965) is based on Geniza documents; and Dr. Aaron Shaffer, today an Assyriologist, who was full of fruitful ideas when studying Arabic with me and who assisted me during an early period of the writing of this work. Like medieval authors I feel inclined to conclude my preface with ~he cry of despair of the psalmist (19: 13): "Who can be aware of errors; guard me from hidden mistakes." This volume is based on more than six thousand passages from manuscripts often difficult to read. Despite all the efforts made in checking numbers and other details, I am not satisfied that I have succeeded everywhere. Any criticism or information about inaccuracies js welcome. To finally conclude on a more optimistic note: I wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to Mrs. Terry Joseph, the guardian angel who watched over the preparation of the manuscript for the press, as well as to August Fruge and James Kubeck of the University of California Press for their most encouraging cooperation. January, 1967

Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society: the Jewish Communities of the Arab World As Portrayed In the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1. E-book, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00888. Accessed 10 Jan 2021. Downloaded on behalf of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

S.D.G.

BLAN KPAG E

Goitein, S. D. A Mediterranean Society: the Jewish Communities of the Arab World As Portrayed In the Documents of the Cairo Geniza, Vol. 1. E-book, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967, https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb.00888. Accessed 10 Jan 2021. Downloaded on behalf of University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Contents

AUTHOR'S NOTE ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS INTRODUCTION: The Cairo Geniza Documents as a Source of Mediterranean Social History (map of Egypt facing)

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1

THEIR DISCOVERY AND TRANSFER TO LIBRARIES IN EUROPE AND AMERICA-GE)