Geniza Lab

Recto: Letter from a woman to her distant husband, al-Shaykh al-Muhadhdhab, who has been away for many years, urging him in various ways to return. She appeals to his charitable deeds; how the Jewish community has been bereft of his presence; and how at this rate, his children will only know him through those charitable deeds (8–11). She urges him not to listen to anybody else but to her only, "Get up! Rise! And earn the World to Come" (14–15). By repenting and returning he will also earn [the merit of saving] her life, "for as long as this continues, I have become very weak. Every hour I wonder if my weakness will increase. [If you return,] you will not have grief in your heart that you did not see me and that I did not pray for you before my death. I do not doubt in your love for me, as you must not doubt in my lasting love for you. Even if you have changed with the separation for all this time, and have been absent from my sight, my heart too has been absent" (17–23). She then reiterates her old age, her weakness, and her poverty. This letter is noted by Oded Zinger in his dissertation, p. 54, in the context of other letters from women to distant husbands. Verso: Judaeo-Arabic tafsir, Psalms 113:4–116:6 (Neubauer-Cowley Catalog). ASE.

Letter from Suhayl, in an unknown location, to his wife Umm Wuhayb and to his son, in Fustat. He asks in the most urgent terms that they return to him. He is seriously ill (marīḍ ʿalā khuṭṭa) and may die at any moment. If they do not return, they will regret it when regret will not do them any good. He alternates between addressing his son, who is probably meant to read the letter to his mother, and his wife. Information in part from Mediterranean Society, III, p. 339. ASE.

Letter from a woman named Archondou, in Alexandria, to her son Fuḍayl, in Fustat. Her main purpose in writing emerges at the end: she wants her son to come and fetch her, as she wants to go to Fustat. The woman's name, the use of a Greek word (τυλάριν, ?mattress, r12, 19), and the spelling of the proper names 'Archondou' (ארכודו) and 'Alexandria' (אלכסדריאן) all indicate a Greek-speaking milieu. Archondou expresses her sympathy for her son's eye disease, "from the day I heard that my eye has flowed and I have wept day and night without case" (r9–12). She too has an eye disease: "My eyes hurt very badly and I give three zuz every week to the doctor, and I cannot move from this place. If God is good to you, do me a favour and come quickly to fetch me out of here so that I do not die" (v10–14). Information from de Lange's edition. ASE.

Letter from Saʿīd, in Alexandria, to his brother Bū l-Majd Meir b. Yakhin the cantor, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Rudimentary hand and phonetic spellings throughout, including the use of the alif-lam ligature as a lam-alif. Dating: First quarter of the 13th century. Saʿīd complains about the lack of letters from Meir and reminds him that their mother is critically ill (marīḍa ʿalā khuṭṭa), and that she is only sick on account of the fact that she will not see Meir before she dies (mā maraḍhā illā sababak alladhī mā tarāk min qabl an tamūt). Saʿīd inquires about the clay vessel (burniyya) he had sent containing medicines (or ink for the inkwell? this part requires further decipherment). He has heard that Meir's daughter's daughter has died, and he sends his wishes that she be replaced with a boy. He continues, insensitively, "My wife has given birth to a daughter." Then, "Do not ask about my illness, which you know about." The economy is bad in Alexandria and prices are high (bread is five dirhams). Bū Saʿīd the son of the Qa[ḍī?] has died, and Ibn Ghulayb is likewise ill. Saʿīd sends his regards to Meir's wife. Their other brother (Hilāl), Maʿānī, and Maḥāsin and his son Abū l-Najm all send their regards. ASE.

Letter from a woman, in Fustat, to her son Abū l-Maḥāsin, in Funduq al-Qamra, Alexandria. Dictated to Abū Manṣūr. Likely belongs with T-S 10J19.26, in which case the writer of this letter is Sitt Ghazāl bt. Abū ʿUmar. She expresses the anxiety (nār) that afflicts her heart on his behalf ever since his departure on Friday. She has been having nightmares and insomnia, and fears that if he does not return quickly, she will be completely blind by the time he returns. (It is also possible that the phrase "yatlaf baṣarī" refers to death instead of going blind; compare "wafāt ʿaynak" in T-S 10J12.14.) She urges him not to drink wine "on account of your illness. . . May God protect us from illness while separated (al-maraḍ fī l-ghurba). . . If my night visions are distressing to me, how [much the worse] if I should see them while awake." The last sentence is ambiguous: either she fears that nightmares can afflict a blind person at all hours, or she fears that her visions of terrible things happening to her son will become realities. She requests that he bring various goods back with him: a large bowl (qaṣʿa), a linen cloth (? shīta), a good comb (mushṭ), and two spoons (milʿaqatayn), and possibly red ink (? midādun yakūnū ḥumr) for Umm Abū l-Bahā'. The scribe Abū Manṣūr interjects here (line 13), and the remainder of the letter is in his voice. He apologizes for troubling the addressee with news of illness, but the fever is still with him. He asks for news of Abū l-Waḥsh Sibāʿ, and the bible, and the book of Rabbenu Baḥye. He is very anxious to learn what his instructions are—it seems he is to copy one or both of these books for Abū l-Waḥsh—so that he is not accused of tardiness. The instructions should be delivered either to Sūq al-ʿAṭṭārīn to the shop of al-Kohen al-Siqillī, or to al-Sūq al-Kabir, to the shop of Abū l-Faraj al-Sharābī. See Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 224–25, 260. VMR. ASE.

Letter on behalf of Yaḥyā b. ʿAmmār of Alexandria addressed to ʿŪlla ha-Levi b. Yosef, a.k.a. Abū l-ʿAlā' Ṣāʿid b. Munajjā, a parnas (social welfare official) and trustee of the court in Fustat, dated documents 1084–1117. In Judaeo-Arabic. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Yaḥyā requests financial help, especially with paying off his debts. His dependents include his children and his old, blind mother. When he could not bear to see them suffering from hunger, he ran away. For some time he has been in hiding from his debtors, some of whom are Muslim. He has recently heard that his mother is dying. He fears that she will die "on his account" before he is able to return and obtain her forgiveness. Information from Mediterranean Society, I, p. 257, Goitein's index cards, CUDL, and Cohen. ASE.

Letter from Yaʿaqov b. Isḥāq to his son Isḥāq describing in detail his severe illness, but emphasizing that he had recovered. He sends holiday greetings to Isḥāq and their relatives, and he urges Isḥāq to take care of his old mother if worse should happen to the author. (Information from Goitein's index cards.) Goitein's partial translation: "I need not describe to you my present state after the grave illness experienced by me, so that I despaired of life. My body became completely bloated, then the disease eased a bit; then the blisters covered me even more malignantly than before, and became permanent. I had to lie down, unable to sit up when I wished so. I hated life. Then the Creator chose to grant me health, and a complete turn occurred. Then the pockmarks became apparent on me so that the improvement was not beneficial. But you [plural] should not think that I am already dead. Do not give me up. So, if the Creator chooses to grant me health, you will see me. Otherwise, nothing can be done." Med Soc V, p. 107.

Letter from Avraham b. Ya'akov in Jerusalem to his son in Fustat. Around 1040, in the handwriting of Moshe b. Yitzhak from the Karaite community. (Probably the father and son belong to the Karaite community as well). The father describes his difficult situation after the death of another son and because of his illness and his need for money and asks his son for help. (Information from Gil, Palestine corrections, Mehkarim be-Mada'e ha-Yahadut, Te'udah 7, pp. 326-327). VMR

Letter (bottom part) from Alexandria to Fustat, dictated by Abu l-Najm Hilal, written down by Abu l-Muna, and addressed to Abu Ishaq b. Yaʿaqov at funduq al-Mahalli, who is to give it to Abu l-Majd the cantor—the brother of Hilal. The writer sends greeting to the addressee’s wife and the teacher Yiṣḥaq. The silk that Abu l-Majd sent to Mahasin has arrived. The old woman (presumably the mother of Hilal and Abu l-Majd) is frail and no longer able to work, and everyone is distressed, and they wish Abu l-Majd to come before she dies. The Ḥaver and Ibn Daud reached an arrangement to alternate Shabbats (in receiving income?) starting after Passover. Information in part from Goitein's note card. EMS. ASE.

Letter, likely sent to Abū l-Majd Meir b. Yakhin, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dated: 1216/17 CE (1528 Seleucid). The writer urges the addressee to come see his sister, who is very sick. She has a throbbing pain (ḍarabān) in her right hip; a burning pain in her heart; a nonhealing wound (the word looks like khalal) in her right thigh; and her tongue is dry. She prays to God that she will see the addressee's face before she dies. "When your [brother?] said to her, 'Let her take the rhubarb-barberry pastille and make it […] and hopefully it will abate,' my master, she said, 'I do not want any of this unless he obtains a prescription, and the prescribing physician prepares it for me and sends it.' This is deliverance, my master. They prescribed hiera oil (duhn al-iyārij) for her thigh, but it was not effective. What is killing her is the pain in her thigh. I do not need to urge you to come. If her condition becomes fatal, your mother will die next. She will never live after her. The best is for them to slake their yearning for you, and you will gain your mother’s prayers." The letter continues with an update on the addressee's brother Hilāl ('his condition is the same'); a description of a large funeral; something to do with the addressee's request for Masā'il Ḥullin and how he needs to be more specific; a long series of rebukes for the addressee's negligence in writing; and regards to various people. ASE.

Letter from a woman to her brother in Fustat expressing her loneliness. She gives advice regarding the recipient's relationship with their other brother. "You know that he is like your son, for you raised him and you know his character. [Do not let] people divide the two of you. If he makes an error, you must bear the consequences." The recipient's ʿamma (in general paternal aunt, but Goitein interprets it as mother in this case) wants to see him before she dies. At the end of the letter, either the writer or the aunt/mother asks him to send two (ounces? dirhems?) of Isfahani kohl (antimony), since her eyes are sore and none is available where they are. Information in part from Goitein's index cards. Join: Oded Zinger. ASE.