Geniza Lab

Letter of condolence from Ḥalfon b. Menashshe to his brother-in-law Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī b. Hilāl (=ʿEli b. Hillel) al-Ḥazzan al-Baghdādī. Headed by 'בשמ' רחמ and four lines of biblical quotations. Halfon reports that Sitt al-Gharb was very sick for 13 days and died on Wednesday, the 17th of [...] and was buried on Thursday. (Information in part from CUDL.) Join: Oded Zinger. NB: Goitein's index card does not seem to belong here.

Recto: Note from a sick man to a physician, it seems beseeching him to assist an older family member who is also sick. "By the Law, if I revealed the state of my master (father?), you would mourn him on account of his distress and the cares that are upon him. For you are the skilled physician and I am the sick man in your care. Act with me for the sake of your Creator. Protect my master in any case, for I am sick, and I don't know if I will die or if he will die while we are separated, going to the grave with terrible grief (? reading חצרה as חסרה). By God, act with me for the sake of Heaven and have mercy on me." Verso: Two orders of payment, written at right angles, one to Abū Isḥāq and one to Abū l-Ḥasan. ASE.

Letter fragment from Ḥalfon b. Menashshe's wife, in Fustat, to her brother Abū l-Ḥasan ʿEli b. Hillel, probably in Bahnasa (based on T-S 13J21.18). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1100–38. The writer thanks the addressee for a gift of 12 dirhams (r9). She urges him to come together with his son Yisrael to her, in a hurry, it seems to escape from the smallpox (judarī) about which everyone is anxious (r10–24). Without the join, the part about the smallpox remains ambiguous: someone in the writer's location is "in a difficult state from it" (r14), but this could either mean that they have smallpox or that they are worried about the outbreak in the addressee's location. Turfa and her husband send their regards (r28–29). (Information from Goitein, Mediterranean Society, III, p. 22, and Goitein's note card.) ASE.

Letter from Peraḥya b. Yosef Yijū to Saadya b. Avraham Ibn al-Amshāṭī. Fragment. Dating: ca. 1160s. Same writer and addressee: Moss. VII,152.1, ENA 4020.1, ENA 4011.32. He expresses hope that someone will make a complete convalescence (yanqah naqah kullī) and asks the addressee to send a letter on his behalf to the son of the faqīh Manṣūr, it seems to ask for a prescription.

Business letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment. The writer excuses himself from something on account of his illness (ḍuʿfī) and worry (shughl sirrī).

Letter from Ibn al-Nasr (the son of the eagle?) to Abū l-Maḥāsin al-Tājir, in Alexandria. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer includes a request for medicinal substances. He also urges the addressee to return quickly to his mother, because she has been afflicted lately with 'what cannot be described,' and she would have perished were it not for the solicitude of friends. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE.

Letter in which the sender addresses a cantor, who has been sick, and whom the writer has not recently seen, and from whom he now requests some liturgical hymns (yotzrot) for Passover. "Letter in the handwriting of Hillel b. ʿEli to an unnamed cantor, expressing regret for a missed meeting and asking him to send the Yoṣrot for Passover so that he may copy them." (Information from CUDL)

Letter from the cantor Yedutun ha-Levi, Fustat, to his brother Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, Qalyub. Narrow strips were torn from both the left and right sides of the paper, making the contents obscure. Yedutun refers to several matters known from their other correspondence: he says that ibn al-Taffal continues to slander Moshe to Abu Zikri (the Gaon Sar Shalom ha-Levi), but Abu Zikri does not believe him (cf. T-S 13J20.18 and T-S 8J10.16). The daughter of Berakhot is suffering from a “mental illness,” with spells of relief from hour to hour; he [presumably Berakhot] consulted the brothers’ paternal uncle Imran about this. Abu l-Yusr sends his regards. ASE.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Neither sender nor addressee are named. The first half consists of good wishes for the addressee's recovery from illness and the writer's excuses for not coming to see him. He then asks, "Whenever al-Shaykh al-Ṭāhir al-Nā'ib visits you, make sure to detain him and send word to me so that I can come and ask him about something that some people told me that he can take care of."

Fragment of a begging letter addressed to Avraham Maimonides in the name of a poor, sick man.

Responsum by Moshe Maimonides. A copy. The responsum corresponds to #355 in Blau's edition ("I am very troubled by various matters, and my body is week, and I have no ability to even read the letters, let alone respond to them..."). Another copy of the same responsum may be found in ENA 2743.3. (Information from Amir Ashur via FGP)

Verso: Letter of appeal from a poor man [...] ha-Levi addressed to the Nagid David I Maimonides (r. 1237–1300) or David II Maimonides (r. 1355–1410). In Judaeo-Arabic. Opens with standard praises as well as a prayer for David's speedy recovery from his illness. There follows a detailed story about money that may be owed to the writer.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. The writer mentions a father and [Abū S]aʿīd al-Ḥazzān and being prostrated (inṭaraḥt) and cut off (munqaṭiʿa) on account of an illness (marḍa). From the gender of the adjective, the letter seems to be in the voice of a woman. Needs examination. ASE.

Letter from Abū Sahl Levi, in Fustat, to his son Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, in Qalyūb. In Judaeo-Arabic. "As for the news of your paternal uncle, your brother Abū l-Ḥasan (Yedutun) is looking after him, and thank God, he has turned the corner and is recovering, and there is no longer cause for fear. As for traveling, the bible codex was consulted and it came out good/auspicious for you, and I too saw for you that it would be good. But as you know, no one knows the unknown except God the almighty and exalted. My son, you know that if you stay in Qalyūb, you would earn money ("a dinar") in the same time that you would be traveling, and I would lead a good life, hearing your news every hour. But if you travel, you know that the traveler has no control over his own fate, and we fear that the winter will come, and you will be delayed longer than you intended. May God guide you to the best choice. Your siblings and mother and I send our greetings." On verso he offers an excuse for why Moshe's brother (presumably Yedutun) has not come to visit (Abū Khalaf told him not to travel ṭarīq al-khawḍ(??)). Then, "As for news of Abū Zikrī (=possibly the Gaʾon Sar Shalom ha-Levi), he met with me but did not tell me anything. If you have need of anything when your brother comes out, let me know." ASE

Letter from Shelomo Kohen b. Abū Zikrī Yehuda b. Yosef ha-Sijilmasi, in Fustat, to his father, most likely in Aden while on his return journey from India. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: January 1148 CE. Shelomo gives a detailed account of the Almohad invasions and persecutions in the West from 1145 to the present-day (on the day he wrote the letter, a messenger arrived with the news that Bejaia had fallen to the Almohads). He also gives a detailed description of his illness. "As for me, after having opened a shop, a great general depression (kasār) occurred. I was ill for nine months with tertiary fever (al-muthallatha) and fever of the liver (ḥummā l-kabd). Neither I, nor anyone else believed that I would recover from this. In the wake of the illness, difficulties in breathing (ḍīq nafas) befell me, which lasted two months. Had I not made up my mind to leave the business, I would have perished. At present, I do nothing, sitting partly in the qāʿa [workshop or Bible school] of Joseph and partly in the store of the Son of the Scholar. I study a good part of the night with him every night" (Goitein, Med Soc, V, p. 337). Shelomo concludes with a profuse expression of filial dedication: “Please, with the help of the Almighty, may the reply to this my letter be the sight of you, if God wills. Be not enticed by business so that you forget us. For—by my faith in Heaven—every additional day of your absence takes a year from our lives. Consider that the life of the son of man is nothing but light. You are our light. If you are not with us, how can we live?” (Goitein, Med. Soc., viii, C, 2, n. 125; translation slightly altered for clarity). Partial English translation by Goitein, Med Soc V, 59-61 and 107. Discussed in Miriam Frenkel, “Genizah Documents as Literary Products.” ASE.

Complete letter in the same unmistakeable hand as several others (see the tag). In other letters, he writes to his father in Minyat Qa'id and is treated for a febrile disease by Ibn Habib. In this one: he is upset about a lack of letters in response to his own and to those from his brother Abu l-Ḥasan. He mentions news from al-Mahallah. Much of the letter has to with plans for the holidays, possibly encouraging the recipient (likely his father) to "come out" and spend it with him. Abu l-Faraj b. al-Sammāk (son of the fishmonger) also encourages this. Then there is discussion of transfers of money involving his brother Abu l-Ḥasan. A certain Abu Bakr accompanies the bearer of the letter. The writer has also enclosed a letter to Waḥshī (? a man) and another one to Berakhah to Bilbays. ASE.

Letter from ʿIwāḍ b. Ḥananel, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Around 1060. The letter is in the hand of Benāya b. Mūsā and switches to the voice of Benāya starting in line v1. The letter discusses goods and shipments as well as books that ʿIwāḍ is buying for Nahray. ʿIwāḍ has been suffering a serious illness (wajaʿ) ever since Adar Rishon (this passage begins in line r16). People despaired of him; he recovered from the illness; but then he developed a swollen abdomen ("and I am frightened from it"). Now he does not travel unless absolutely necessary. He asks Nahray to obtain for him sugar and good-quality rhubarb. Information in part from Gil and Gotein's note card (#27102). VMR. ASE.

Letter from Shemuel b. Ibrahīm, in Fustat, to his father Abū Isḥāq Ibrahīm b. Shabbetay (aka Shubbāṭ), in Palermo. Fragment: upper part of the letter only. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic. Dating: Early 11th century, by Gil's estimate. He suggests that this family may be connected to Benei Sunbāṭ, the family of Sahlān b. Avraham. Contents: Shemuel conveys everyone's worry on account of the addressee, as they have received no news ever since the father's departure from Alexandria. Shemuel then conveys the news of his sister al-Turfa, who is very ill. "She came down with a terrible illness (wajaʿ) at the beginning of Marḥeshvan, which lasted two months, and the illness culminated in a stomach abscess (? dubayla 'alā ra's fu'ādhā). There was not a doctor in Fustat that we did not bring to see her or a single medicine or syrup that we did not give her to drink. After this, terrible fainting fits (ghashw, probably = ghashwa) came over her. We asked her, having despaired of her, saying, "What do you want? What do you desire?" And she said, crying, "By God, there is no desire (shahwa) in my heart and no........ [the fragment ends here]." Gil suggests that her statement should be connected to the writer's expression of longing for the father, something like, "there is no desire in my heart except to see you." (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 304, 476; III, pp. 241, 479,and Goitein's index cards.) The significance of 'dubayla' is ambiguous not only here but also in the medieval Islamic medical literature: see the thorough discussion in Alvarez-Millan, “Disease in Tenth-Century Iran and Irak according to al-Razi’s Casebook”, Suhayl 14 (2015), pp. 69f. Also ambiguous is whether 'ra's al-fu'ād' refers to the stomach or rather to the skin overlying the heart (as it does in al-Razi's casebook). See CUL Or.1080 J24 for another account of a woman with a prolonged illness who developed fainting fits (ghashawāt). ASE.

Letter from a penniless woman, the widow of Abū Surrī, to Mevorakh b. Saadya (1094–1111). She begs him to come to her rescue in a litigation brought against her by the relatives of her deceased son-in-law for a modest amount. Her daughter was married to Yosef b. Asad b. Qirqas who left her to travel three and a half years ago. That was prior to al-Afḍal's siege of Alexandria in 1094. The daughter was then ill two years while the mother used her dowry (רחלהא) for nursing her in her illness and for the burial when she died. It has recently become known that Yosef was killed in Nastaro (an island between Damietta and Alexandria), and his cousin claimed his estate—which was non-existent. (Information from Goitein's note card and from M. R. Cohen, Jewish Self Government, pp. 221-260.) For a detailed discussion of the geographical situation of Nastaro, see Khan, "A Copy of a Decree from the Archives of the Fāṭimid Chancery in Egypt," BSOAS, Vol. 49, No. 3, 1986, p. 444.

Letter (draft) from individuals in physical discomfort, appealing for help. The writers may be lepers, as they refer to their flesh being damaged and their bones uncovered. (Information from CUDL)