Geniza Lab

Letter from a parent, probably in Fustat, to their son Isḥāq b. Saʿīd, probably in the Rīf. (It is also possible that the locations are reversed.) In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably 14th century. The handwriting is exceedingly similar to, if not identical with, that of the clerk of Yehoshua Maimonides. The writer has heard that Isḥāq has had a relapse: "You have fallen ill with the same illness that you had in Fustat." The writer is in distress from this news and wants Isḥāq to return to his family immediately. If it were not for their own frailty (wa-lawlā anā qalīl al-[nahḍa or equivalent]), they would come in person to fetch him. It ends, "[Come] immediately. Do not be reckless with your life." ASE.

Recto: Letter fragment in Arabic script. Only the last three lines are preserved, then two lines in Hebrew, 'may I be the ransom of the brother (al-akh al-shaqīq) from all evil.' Verso: Letter in Judaeo-Arabic with rudimentary handwriting and spellings. "As for what you you mentioned that I should send you a boy, I send you a boy every day. As for other matters, I feared to introduce worrry (ghamm) into your heart and make you relapse (tantakis), for you are from [...] illness (wajaʿ), may God complete your recovery. As for the copper. . . as God is my witness, I was sick (ḍaʿīf)." ASE.

Letter addressed to Eliyyahu the Judge concerning business matters. Dating: possibly early 13th century. The writer was ill for 40 days, recovered, then relapsed. The writer is extremely distraught and apologetic about not being able to fulfill Eliyyahu's request to send some of the kawlān (papyrus?)—or perhaps its proceeds—that he had previously left with the writer. This is because Musa, the son of the sister of 'sayyidnā', arrived and demanded his uncle's share and took the larger package. Then the writer managed to sell some of the smaller package for 2 dirhams per ounce, which he thought was a good price, but Eliyyahu has told him that he should have gotten 10 dirhams per ounce. He hasn't even collected the full price from the buyer, and there is an ongoing court case. The handwriting resembles that of Yehuda b. Aharon b. al-ʿAmmānī. (The transcription on FGP for ENA 2727.27 is the trousseau list of Nājiya bt. Abū l-Khayr and belongs with a different shelfmark, probably ENA 4020.62.)

Letter from Amram b. Yosef to Nahray b. Nissim requesting to forward a letter to Hassan b. Bundar. Location: Alexandria. Dating: 1094–97 CE. ʿAmram congratulates Nissim (Nahray's son) on his recovery (r4–8). He gives Nahray advice about taking good care of his son following his recovery, because "the relapse is worse than the illness" (r25–30).

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer and addressee are unknown, but the handwriting seems very familiar. The writer starts by addressing a single person and sending blessings for his son; he then switches to addressing that person together with his brothers. The letter is a quintessential example of the epistolary norms surrounding illness, expressing preoccupation for others, and rebuking others for failing to do the same. "When I heard that your condition had worsened (takhallufhā), I became very distressed and forgot my own illnesses and condition, until God had mercy and the news of your health arrived, and I thanked God for that, yodu l-adonay ḥasdo, and may God avert all evil from you and your brothers and all in your care and protect me from all bad news. By my life, I am pained/sick of heart from the fact that you do not mention me in a letter or an inquiry, despite the fact that I have not cut off (our correspondence), and the fact that you are to me like my children, nay, like my brothers-in-law, and you ought to be inquiring after me (iftiqādī) if only with a letter or an inquiry. But I forgive you because of all of your cares." ASE.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Appears to be the handwriting of Yiṣḥaq b. Simḥa Nīsābūrī. Dating: 11th century. Mentions ships from various places including three from al-Mahdiyya and others from al-Andalus. The writer had three successive illnesses over the last month and a half, but he is now better and back to work (al-yawm anā mutaṣarrif), "unless another one comes over me." The writer has sent with Abū l-Ḥasan al-Mazīdī a flask of quince oxymel (sakanjabīn safarjalī) and a "nice" flask containing an unripe-grape rob (rubb ḥiṣrim) and a little quince. Alas, "the ḥiṣrim here is not like the Levantine ḥiṣrim" (cf. T-S 13J23.17, also featuring ḥiṣrim shāmī). Further down, the writer discusses the price of silk.

Shelomo b. Eliyyahu writes to a relative (his father-in-law Abū l-Faraj?) complaining about the behavior of Abū l-Barakāt (Sitt Ghazāl’s paternal uncle and Shelomo’s first cousin), who sent a letter to Abū l-Faḍl b. ‘Atā’ b. Ḥasan inquiring about Shelomo's mistreatment of his wife Sitt Ghazāl. Abū l-Faḍl confronted Shelomo after he exited the synagogue. This behavior sickened Shelomo, who alludes four times to his “relapse” (naksah). Shelomo complains that Abū l-Barakāt sees himself as too important and Shelomo as too inconsequential to write directly to him, instead involving strangers in the matter. Those who extend greetings are Shelomo, Sitt Ghazāl, his father (Eliyyahu the Judge), his mother (Sitt Rayḥān), his brother the physician Abū Zikri, his brother-in-law Simḥah, his maternal aunt (and mother-in-law) Umm Abū l-‘Izz, and her son Abū l-‘Izz. Greetings are extended to the recipient, to Abū l-Barakāt with blessings for his son, and to their father Abū l-Ḥasan (Shelomo’s paternal uncle). Sitt al-Fakhr and her daughter are also mentioned. Cf. Mediterranean Society, III, p. 435 and Goitein's index cards.

Copy of a long letter sent by Ḥananya b. Yosef ha-Kohen, Av Bet Din. Dating: ca. 1020 CE, according to Gil. Probably addressed to the community in Fustat. Mentions Tiberias and a ban of excommunication on the Mount of Olives. The writer excuses his delay in responding to the previous letter, as he was suffering a severe relapse of his illness at the time that he received it. Gil summarizes the contents of the letter as follows: "At the beginning of the eleventh century, Geniza letters definitely disclose that Tiberias is no longer the seat of the yeshiva. The av-bet-din of the yeshiva, Ḥananya ha-Kohen b. Yosef, mentions in his letter the serious differences within the Tiberias community and the yeshiva’s intervention. It appears that Ḥananya's brother served as judge in Tiberias, and when he died, the people of Tiberias asked the yeshiva to send them someone to take his place. Someone was indeed sent, after a group of Tiberian notables promised they would treat him well, but that person apparently tried to discard the authority ofJerusalem, and even took the liberty of proclaiming leap years(!), whereupon the Gaon and the yeshiva excommunicated him. Nevertheless, he continued to do as he saw fit and even organized a faction of supporters, and it seems that they also took for themselves the revenue from the ritual slaughtering that was intended for Jerusalem. [Two brothers in Fustat were apparently helping him.] It does appear, then, that there was some sort of rebellion in Tiberias which tried to re-establish the old order." On the biography of Ḥananya ha-Kohen Av Bet Din, see Gil, History of Palestine, section 854 (pp. 664–65). And see ENA 4009.4 (a letter addressed to him from Sicily) and Moss. Ia,9 (a document drawn up in his court, dated 1007 CE). (Information from Gil and CUDL.)

Letter in the hand of Abū Zikrī, physician to the sultan al-Malik al-ʿAzīz (Saladin's son and successor), sent to his father Eliyyahu the Judge. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1193–98 CE, if all the identifications are correct (this document would then be several years earlier than any other document relating to Abū Zikrī or his father Eliyyahu). This is the second page of what was originally a longer letter. Abū Zikrī describes his overwhelming grief upon hearing the news that his younger brother had died. Members of the court came to express their condolences, including the sultan himself, who said that he considers the deceased as equal to his own younger brother, al-Malik al-Amjad. (Information in part from S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:346-47, 5:175–77.) EMS. ASE.

Letter from Avraham b. Rav Shelomo the Yemeni, in Jerusalem, to Eliyyahu the Judge in Fustat. Avraham lives with Eliyyahu's son, the physician Abu Zikri, and he conveys the good news that Abu Zikri has recovered from his febrile illness and has not relapsed for forty days. Avraham's family recently arrived from Bilbays. On verso are jottings and accounts in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu. Same writer and recipient as T-S 13J21.5, which was written not long after this one (Goitein's note cards suggest ca. 1214). Alan Elbaum.

Letter from Nissim b. Ḥalfon b. Benaya, in Tinnīs, to Barhūn b. Mūsā al-Tāhirtī al-Maghribi, in Fustat, both prominent in the Geniza correspondence of the eleventh century. The writer mentions merchants from the Maghreb, Syria, and Iraq doing business in the busy Mediterranean seaport. He probably alludes to his illnesses in lines r3–6: "You tasked me with buying ladies' caps (maʿājir), but you know what a 'pain' (wajaʿ) it is, especially selling clothing in Tinnīs, from morning to evening. I relapsed only twice due to the burdens I take upon myself (mimmā najūr ʿalā nafsī). But today, praise be to God, I am in every state of well-being." In lines v4–5, Nissim invokes the common trope of assuming a business partner (here Ibn Juhā) is ill if one has not heard from him in a longer-than-usual time. Information from Gil, Kingdom, III, #597, and Goitein, Med Soc, II, p. 520; IV, pp. 176, 406, and V, pp. 110, 536. EMS. ASE.

Letter from David Ḥazzan, in Jerusalem, to Eliyya Levi, in Fustat/Cairo. Written in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer describes the difficult financial state of himself and of the Qaraites in Jerusalem, and how "we are in the fire from [the Rabbanites'] oppression." He mentions that he got sick and nearly died, recovered, relapsed and nearly died, and recovered again. Also mentions Gaza. Needs examination.