Geniza Lab

Letter from a physician to his uncle. Tells the writer's sad story, which involved the death of his beloved wife, an unfortunate second marriage, and his eventual flight. The writer asks his uncle to give his son the family bible. (Edited, translated, and analyzed at length in Oded Zinger's dissertation, chapter 5 and document #10.)

Letter fragment from a son to his remarried father, conveying family news and expressing regret that his father's previous wife is giving him trouble. The writer is suffering from an ailment of the ear: "If my ear were not bound, I would have come to visit you." (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 271, 273.)

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 from Hillel b. Yeshuʿa he-ḥaver the cantor, in Tiberias, to Shela/Sahlān b. Avraham he-ḥaver, in Fusṭāṭ, regarding help for the leper community in Tiberias. Dating to late 1034 CE. (Information from CUDL.) See also Goitein's index card. L-G Misc. 25 and T-S 10J12.22 are two copies of the same letter.

Letter in which a physician, probably named Abū l-Baqā', writes from somewhere outside of the capital to his son-in-law (?) Abū ʿImrān, probably in Fustat, who shared living quarters with him (?), complaining that a Christian physician is ruining his livelihood, writing: 'he behaves like a charlatan.' The letter also touches on several small business matters. The letter starts with two biblical quotations (line 2, Prov. 3:26, line 3, Dt. 7:15). (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 164, 462, Goitein's index cards, and CUDL.) Further interesting elements: The writer is upset about the lack of letters ("is this anger? why this great hostility?"). He supplies the addressee with a potential excuse by saying that he is very worried on account of his eye illness, and became still more worried when the messenger Raḥmān b. Ḥaydara returned with no news. "He who is absent imagines the worst. . . . If only the lady of the house [my wife] were with you. She is in the most dreadful state, fasting and weeping day and night. After describing the charlatanry of the new Christian physician, he asks the addressee to find out if the head physicians in Fusṭāṭ will do anything about it: "Go to al-Shaykh al-Sadīd al-Ṭabīb. . . so that he will tell our lord ʿAlam al-Dīn, who will not approve of this, for he is against their (charlatans'?) purposes. If you hear anything from our lord ʿAlam al-Dīn, write to me." Apparently moving on to the matter of grain that has yet to be "released" (already mentioned earlier in the letter), "The judge Jalāl al-Dīn, the fiscal adminstrator (ṣāḥib al-dīwān), has arrived and seen the situation for himself. I have explained this matter to him, and al-Faqīh al-Mudarris has also met with him regarding this. He wished to release the grain, but had to travel suddenly. May God make the end good." Umm Sulaymān sends her regards and rebukes. The writer sends regards to Sitt Misk and inquires about her daughter and about R. Menaḥem. Goitein does not explain why he identifies the addressee as the writer's son-in-law or when/where they would have shared living quarters. It also seems possible that this is his actual son, particularly with the description of his wife's heartsickness on account of what they fear about the addressee's illness. ASE.

Letter from Manṣūr b. Sālim, in Alexandria, to Eliyyahu the Judge (Abū l-Faraj b. al-Rayyis), in Fustat. Manṣūr asks Eliyyahu to help find his son, who had run away, perhaps to the army, perhaps to Cairo or Damascus. Manṣūr asks Eliyyahu to urge his son to come home, reminding him of his obligations towards his mother, who is very sick on account of her son's actions. The son had taken several objects with him on his flight without the father knowing it(?). The sender requests a quick reply to his letter. See also T-S 10J14.12 and T-S Ar.18(1).137, letters by the same sender concerning the same matter. (Information from Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 274, 468; II, pp. 379, 479, 610)

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe ha-Levi b. al-Qaṭā'if to his brother Peraḥya discussing business matters, the illness and recovery of Abu al-Muna, a forwarded letter, and conveying greetings. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 239, 477, and Goitein's index cards.) The description of Abū l-Munā's illness is particularly vivid. "What he had turned out to be pure pus (? qayḥ kāmil). It ruptured (infajara), and there emerged from it what cannot be mentioned. Great pits (ajwār) developed in his thighs (or hips, awrāk). It flowed so much that his robe was changed two or three times a day. Then God willed. and the flesh began to build up, and he could walk and work again." ASE.

Recto: Letter from an unknown writer, on his way to Alexandria, to an unknown addressee, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer apologizes for the delay in sending this letter, and explains that every time he began to write, he became sad and felt sick due to his separation from the addressee. He reports that he did not find the wool ʿarḍī garment in Fustat, but hopefully will find it in Alexandria and will send it to the addressee. He repeats at least twice more that the only reason he did not write earlier was his sadness and worry (ḍīq ṣadrī, shughl qalbī). (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 191.) Verso: List of materia medica in Arabic script. ASE.

Letter from Mevorakh b. Natan to Elazar ha-Kohen expressing sympathy at the death of his father. The writer notes that he had already sent a letter to the same effect but was afraid that it had gone astray. He excuses himself for not attending the funeral because of his poor health. Second half of the 12th century. (Information from Goitein's index cards and CUDL)

Letter from Makhlūf b. Musa ibn al-Yatim, Alexandria, to Abu Yiṣḥaq Avraham b. Yahya Fasi, Fustat. The main part of the letter is an apology that the recipient was not met and was not bidden farewell before his departure to Fustat. The intended meeting point was Bab al-Sidara, the entrance to Alexandria from the mainland. (Information from Frenkel.) Goitein adds that the recipient was Abu Yiṣḥaq Avraham b. Yahya Fasi. The writer castigated the addressee for choosing the wrong company and excused himself for not seeing him off on account of the bad weather and his toothache, which he describes in graphic detail (see Med. Soc. 5:108, 248). Makhlūf accidentally wrote part of a letter intended for another person on the verso of this letter, then crossed it out and explained what had happened underneath.

Letter from the sister of Yeshuʿa b. Ismāʿīl al-Makhmūrī, in Tripoli, Libya, to her brother Yeshuʿa b. Ismāʿīl al-Makhmūrī. In the handwriting of ʿAllūsh the shammash. Dating: ca. 1065. While Yeshuʿa is dealing with the import and export of goods, his sister asks for help because she is in a very bad situation. T-S 10J19.20 is another version of the same letter (differences are noted in curly brackets in this partial translation). "I have been waiting all year for a letter from you to learn your news. The fuyūj came, and I did not see a letter. {This increased the preoccupation of my heart.} I went out to inquire about your news, and they told me you were ill (ḍaʿīf). I went out of my mind. {I fasted and wept and did not change my clothing or enter the bath, neither I nor your sister.} I vowed not to eat during the day, not to change my clothing, and not to enter the bath, neither I nor my daughter, until your letter arrived with your news. The ships arrived, and I went down, with my hand on my heart, to hear your news. The men came down and told us that you were well. I thanked God who made the end good." Goitein, and later Krakowski, used this letter to illustrate the intense affective bonds between brother and sister, as well as the notion of fasting as an intercession for a loved one who is sick (Goitein, Med Soc V, p. 97). Yet it is also the case that their relationship has lapsed—the brother has not contacted the sister in a year, not even sending greetings in his letter to Tammām ("my heart was wounded by this"). In the meantime, she has fallen into terrible financial difficulties. Her vows of self-negation and insistent repetition of "I have nobody except God and you" are also a demonstration of how much the sister has suffered from the brother's behavior, how much she thinks about him despite his neglect, and an attempt to elicit a response from him at last. Regarding the specifics of her financial difficulties, see Krakowski, Coming of Age, p. 150, where the relevant passage is translated: "My brother, I have become embroiled in a quagmire from which I do not think we can be freed—I and a young orphan girl (i.e., her daughter). What occurred was that my son-in-law (i.e., the girl’s fiancé) wintered in Salerno and returned only with the Egyptian ships; then he said to me, “I will take the girl.” I said to him, “What are you thinking? As I was this year, I have nothing.” Then people advised me that I should borrow and incur debt (i.e., for a lavish dowry) and give her to him, because the Rūm (i.e., Normans) have burnt the world. Now . . . if free persons could be sold for dirhams, I would be the first to be sold, for I cannot describe my predicament to you . . . (I swear) by these lines that when Passover came I had not even a farthing’s worth of chard, nor even a dirham; instead I cut a nettle from the ruins and cooked it. . . . My brother, help me with some portion of this debt engulfing me—do not abandon me and do not forsake me." Yeshuʿa b. Ismāʿīl al-Makhmūrī, incidentally, was prone to illness: see also T-S 16.163 and T-S Misc.25.124 (as noted by Krakowski), and T-S 12.389 and BL OR 5542.20. (Information largely from Goitein, Gil, and Krakowski.) VMR. ASE.

Letter from a man who has been seized with unbearable chills to Mevorakh b. Yiṣḥaq, appealing for his help. The letter ends with extensive prayers to God to protect the recipient and his family. (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Letter from Sahlān b. Avraham perhaps to Efrayim b. Shemarya. Dating: ca. 1030 CE. Written in a calligraphic hand and beautiful biblical style. Only the right side of the letter is preserved. Sahlān refers to his illness, a physician, and going to the synagogue. Information from Bareket and from Goitein's index cards. ASE.

Letter from Isma’il b. Farah, Alexandria, to his son Farah, Fustat. Dating: November 1056. The writer describes the terrible famine in Egypt, which even leads to cases of eating people. The writer also describes the epidemic in the area. Despite all that, business continues. He writes about pepper, linen, and oil. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #495) VMR. The part about the epidemic begins in line 14 of recto. "There is a great epidemic (wabā') in the cities of the coast. As for Qayrawān, no one remains there [alive? or who has not fled?]—may God preserve you in health. Do not go roaming about the villages, for these are difficult times. [Or, if you read mā instead of lā, "Difficult times have recurred in the villages."] By God, by God, be vigilant for yourself. 'Who is called wise? He who sees the consequences' [Tamid 32a]. Be vigilant in all things before you enter into them." The next sentence is difficult; Gil marks his translation as doubtful and suggests that Ismāʿīl is exhorting his son to be careful about whom he puts his trust in. But perhaps it reads instead, "wa-lā taṭam'an man yabqa li-yabqa wa-lā lī hūwa waqt yūjibuhu bihi lā ḥīla," meaning "do not trust in [the belief that] 'he who [is destined to] survive, will survive,' for in my view this time does not call for a 'nothing can be done.'" This would be an unusual use of "lā ḥīla," since usually the writer means to say, "nothing can be done [except trust in God]." But it would fit the preceding exhortation to be exceedingly vigilant and to consider the consequences of his actions instead of simply trusting in God. ASE. On verso in line 2, he mentions the arrival of some letters ḍabāratan, in a bundle or a file, possibly one pierced and loosely bound with string (on which see this short lecture by Marina Rustow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1nMtoEDbmc).

Letter of condolence to Abu al-Faraj Yeshua b. Shabbatay on the death of his father. The letter starts with four Bible quotations (line 1, Dt. 32:4; line 2, Dt. 32:39; line 3, Lam. 5:14; line 4, Ps. 145:17). "The reason for his death was his 'movement' and agitation and distress (ḥaraka, tanaqqul, inziʿāj) in the state he was in of weakness and illness." ASE

Letter from a woman to her husband (ṣāḥib al-bayt). In Judaeo-Arabic. After the greetings, which include wishes for the husband's recovery from illness, she continues, "Don't ask what I suffered on the road due to riding. Ever since I arrived, I have been sick (mariḍa). Your father certainly quarreled with me in the middle of al-Muṣāṣa (a neighborhood in Fustat), and not all that was said needs to be repeated. Don't ask what I suffered with the wife of your father, and Abū l-Surūr who was exceedingly generous, and everyone treated me well (are these euphemisms?). May God repay each servant according to his deeds. He (it seems one of her own family members) said to me, 'Divorce him, and I will take care of all that is necessary.' Now, if I divorce you. . . ." The fragment cuts off here. Information in part from Zinger; this translation differs slightly from his. ASE.

Letter. Postscript to a letter addressed to the Nasi Shelomo by the scion of the house of David in Mosul who also wrote Bodl. MS Heb. a 3/24. Mentions that he acquired for his son a permit to practice a profession and travel to Bilbays in Egypt. (Information from Goitein's index cards.) The writer mentions that he intended to travel that week, but his son fell ill; he also mentions that the rayyis is ill and cannot read or write letters, but that the sons of Rabbenu Menaḥem have been helping. Circa 1236 based on Bodl. MS Heb. a 3/24.

Letter fragment probably from ʿEli b. Hillel to his brother-in-law Ḥalfon b. Menashshe (identification is tentative, based on comparison with T-S 13J19.5). In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions an item of iron and two rings. The writer is preoccupied on account of the illness of the addressee's wife and has taken a vow to fast. If the identifications are correct, the sick woman is probably his sister (Ḥalfon's wife) Sitt al-Fakhr. VMR. ASE.

Letter to the Gaon Sar Shalom ha-Levi, head of the Palestinian yeshiva (in office ca. 1170–71 and 1173–95), in which the muqaddam of Qalyub (the handwriting is that of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi) excuses himself from appearing in person on account of his illness. He certifies that there was no civil or religious impediment to the marriage of the girl called Ama'im, daughter of Abu 'l-Ḥasan. The Gaon ordered an inquiry because the family had moved from one place to another, the girl's sister was married to a freedman, and her brother had moved from Qalyub to the Manufiyya district, where he embraced Islam. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 301, 591; III, p. 81; V, pp. 108, 110) VMR

Letter with a special request from the addressee to report about his illness. [An assumption that he was ill after not having heard from him for longer than usual]. VMR (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 103, 109-110, 535, 536)