Geniza Lab

Recto/verso: recto and verso

Exact account of expenses for a distinguished, sick foreigner, showing also how these expenses were covered. Written by Natan b. Shelomo ha-Kohen (active in Fustat 1125–50 CE). "Various medical prescriptions conclude with the note: "Meal—cooked chickens." How this worked out in practice is seen in the daily accounts listing the sums expended for a sick foreigner and the sums showing how they were collected, as summarized here. The list is in the unmistakable hand of the judge Nathan b. Solomon ha-Kohen, who was active in the Egyptian capital in the years 1125 - 1150, but who signed (as first signatory) a document in Tyre, Lebanon, as early as 1102. (Tyre was conquered by the Cru­ saders in 1124.) At the writing of this account he seems to have been an old man and was probably retired.4 9 The account refers to the first twelve days of the month Shevat (Jan.-Feb.). The sums refer to the silver coin dirhem. Expenditures: Daily: Bread—3/4; on Saturday a larger amount: 7/8 or 1. A chicken—2 1/8, or (mostly) 2 1/2. (Medical) potion—1. Weekly: Hot oil —1. Listed only once: Rose water—3/4. Creme—1/2. Honey—1/2. Lentils—1/4. Saffron—1/4. Nile water—1/4. Larger sums were spent on bandages, cotton, laundry, and a new cloak. The patient was probably treated gratuitously by a physician of the community. The expenditure was covered by (a) income from a house belong­ ing to the community; (b) six donations, in one case a husband and his wife—referred to as "his house"—contributed separately; (c) a collection made in the two rabbinical synagogues of Fustat (which brought only 7 dirhems); (d) 1 dinar less 1/24 (qirat), worth at that time 35 1/2 dirhems, donated by "our lord," meaning the Head of the Jewish community, probably the court physician Samuel b. Hananiah (1140-1159)." Mediterranean Society, II, p. 458; IV, pp. 232, 233.