Geniza Lab

Letter of a woman, who was seriously ill, requesting her sister to provide her younger daughter with a proper education. Concerning the illness: "This is to inform you that I have become seriously ill with little hope for recovery. I have dreams indicating that my end is near. . . . Let Abū l-Barakāt come and treat me, for I am in a serious condition. . . . God knows how I wrote these lines." Concerning her daughter's education: "My most urgent request to you, if God decrees my death, is to take care of my little daughter and make efforts to give her an education." She repeats several times not to separate the Sudanese female slave from the little girl and to give nothing but the younger female slave to the elder daughter Sitt al-Sirr. "Cursed be he who acts against my dying wish." ASE

Letter by the son of the judge (dayyan) of Minyat Zifta to a certain Peraḥya, requesting his intercession with a certain sayyidnā David. Dating: If this David is David Maimonides, the letter would be dated 1237 CE at the earliest. The letter is a litany of the the troubles of the writer's father and the acts of his enemies against him. The father's troubles include the following. His creditors are demanding that he turn over his house to the Muslim authorities (sulṭān). He fell sick one week (parshat Ki Tetze) and wished to take out the Torah scroll and say the blessing—evidently this was thought to be helpful against illness. But his rival humiliated him and took out and made the blessing over the Torah himself. Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Letter. From a woman (see lines 13–15), possibly in Bilbays, to the Nasi Shelomo b. Yishay. Dating: ca. 1240 CE. This letter was likely dictated. The hand and format is the same as that of T-S 13J21.24 and perhaps ENA 2592.3. The writer excuses herself for not coming to the addressee's location in person. Her "temperament is scattered" (mushattā al-mizāj) due to a hidden illness (maraḍ bāṭin), which has made it impossible for her to ride. Instead, she insists that the addressee come to spend the holiday with her. At the end of the letter, the excuse is repeated. "Sharaf al-Nasab (a man, perhaps the bearer) will inform the master her excuse, that she was unable to ride and that otherwise she would have come to serve him." ASE.

Letter from Yehuda b. Moshe b. Sughmār, in Alexandria, to Abū Bishr Azhar b. Manṣūr (aka Avraham), in Fustat, ca. 1075. Mentions a shipment of silk to Fustat that got wet. The writer cannot come to Fustat, and he asks the addressee to handle some business and money matters for him. The reason for this is that he has numerous illnesses (amrāḍ shattā), the least of which is the jarab (probably trachoma, but the word can also refer to skin diseases), and so he cannot sit or ride. Furthermore, factoring in travel expenses, he does not think the gains will outweigh the losses in his money and his health. But if the addressee thinks it is absolutely necessary, he will bear the 'fasting and difficulty' and make the trip. Meanwhile, a rumor spread in Fustat about Yehuda b. Moshe b. Sughmār, somehow involving Abū l-Faraj Dā'ūd b. Shaʿyā and the ruler Sayf al-Islam (=Badr al-Jamālī?). However, the person who was said to have been the source of the rumour publicly denied it in the synagogue, swearing truthfulness on pain of excommunication. A court decision denying the rumour was also issued. (Information from Gil.) 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 man in Egypt to his brother or brother-in-law, an India trader in Aden. In Judaeo-Arabic. Frenkel identifies the writer's location as Alexandria, the addressee as Ismāʿīl al-Fāṣid, and the date as 1176 CE, but does not seem to explain her reasoning. The letter recounts an interesting family saga. The addressee's maternal uncle passed away while traveling with the addressee to India. The addressee took care of him before his death. The family has taken great pains to conceal the news of the uncle's death until they receive a detailed account of his will. This long letter repeatedly describes everyone's anxiety waiting for news of the addressee's health and the will. His mother, when she heard of the death of her brother and the news of the addressee's difficulties at sea, fell sick and fasted until news came of the addressee's health. His father stays up all night praying for him. "If you knew how much reward (in Heaven) you receive from every letter you write us, you would do nothing but write us letters." The family congratulates the addressee on his purchase of a male slave (ghulām). Finally, the reason for the anxiety about the will comes to light at the end. The uncle knew or thought that his wife was pregnant when he departed, however, they counted 9 months, and there was no baby. They counted another 9 months, and she had a baby boy. The family evidently wishes to ensure that none of the uncle's inheritance ends up with his wife or son. Even the Muslims say, "We have never heard anything like what this Jewish woman has done. She deserves nothing but hellfire." The widow was able to round up some allies from among the Byzantine Jews, and they managed to gather 10 Jews for the circumcision, but with no cantor or judge present. In the midst of sending everyone's regards in the margin of verso, the writer reports sarcastically that the newborn infant also sends his. Information in part from Frenkel and from Goitein's attached notes. ASE.

Letter of condolence from a certain Yaʿaqov to Eliyyahu the Judge ("wherever he is"). Dating: Early 13th century. In Judaeo-Arabic and Hebrew. The orthography, including of biblical quotations, is phonetic and idiosyncratic. It is not clear who died. The main text consists almost entirely of condolences and exhortations to have patience (ṣabr). Four lines from the bottom, Yaʿaqov writes, "As for Abū Zikrī, the world very nearly departed him. But he is still wretched. He had patience and was consoled. He was hardly able to write to you after the terrible blow, had we not made him him write to you. . . . He lay sick in bed for a period of three months. [. . .] took up his treatment . . . until God saw fit take to His trust." (For the strange-seeming phrase "lahu marīḍ," see also ENA 2738.37.) The context is unfortunately quite difficult to decipher. It is possible that Abū Zikrī died, or, perhaps more likely, the 'taking of the trust' refers to the same person whose death provided the occasion for this letter. There is no way to know for sure, but it is plausible that this letter is connected to T-S 24.72, a letter of condolence from Abū Zikrī to his father Eliyyahu in which he describes the terrible illnesses that afflicted him after he learned of the death of his brother. ASE.

Letter from Yaʿaqov b. Salmān al-Ḥarīrī, in Alexandria, to his mother and father, in Qayrawān. Dating: ca. 1050 CE. The address bears the name of the writer's father Salmān b. Ibrāhīm, whom Yaʿaqov addresses at the end of the letter, but he addresses his mother for the bulk of the letter. The writer expresses his disappointment in the Maghrebis in Egypt, who did not assist him as he expected when he was newly arrived in Fustat and very ill for one month. He recovered and is now healthier than ever. When he returned to Abū l-Faraj Ibn ʿAllān who had previously promised to employ him, he found that Abū l-Faraj had lost his mother and his sister, "and was too preoccupied for me" (ishtaghala ʿannī). Yaʿaqov set out on his own and started to trade flaxes. He is planning to travel to the north, perhaps to al-Lādhiqiyya (a plan he carried out: see CUL Or.1080 J17, which he wrote from Tripoli, and T-S 8J19.27, which he wrote from Ramla). But he will wait in Alexandria until he learns what his family thinks of this plan, and he will follow their counsel. The end of the letter has the curious line, "Abū Yaḥyā is well, in complete health, and aṣḥābunā are in complete health, no one died except Abū l-Khayr b. Barukh in Tinnīs" (verso, lines 22–23)—which, along with the illness of Yaʿaqov and the deaths in Abū l-Faraj's family, suggests that there was then an epidemic. Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #661. See also ENA 2738.34, a very similar letter which Yaʿaqov wrote at the same time and addressed to his sister. VMR. ASE.

Recto: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions a sick woman. Verso: A few words in Arabic script.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions a serious illness (marḍa shadīda).

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 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 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.

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 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 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 from Yeshūʿa ha-Kohen b. Avraham ha-Galili, in Shubra Damsīs, to Efrayim b. Meshullam (judge, active 1142–54). Dated: 1142 CE (month of Av). The writer sends greetings in the name of his two sons. He encloses a letter from Rabbenu Zakkay for Efrayim, as well as another letter from R. Zakkay and a letter from himself to be delivered to the Nagid, whether by Efrayim himself or by the bearer of the present letter. The bearer is a worthy man and has with him a sick girl whom he "wishes to treat," and the bearer himself is also chronically ill and weak of sight. (S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:513; Norman Golb, “Topography of the Jews of Medieval Egypt,” JNES 33 (1974), 141. See also Goitein's index card) EMS. ASE.

Petition from Yefet ha-Melammed the schoolmaster to Avraham Maimonides; the latter's answer is on verso, lines 18–26. Yefet writes that he is ill and losing his vision, and consequently has been unable to pay his rent (?) which has accumulated in arrears of six dirhams. Avraham grants him the money. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, II, pp. 37, 529, and Goitein's index cards.) Many of the specifics of the writer's financial situation are lost. There is an ambiguity as to whether "ujra" here means rent or wage/tuition. In "Side Lights on Jewish Education" (p. 96), Goitein prefers the latter: "The community paid for [the tuition of] the sons of those who were impeded by any reason to go after their usual professions (munqaṭiʿ)," referring to recto, lines 9–11. In this reading, the word munqaṭīʿ refers not to the writer of the letter but to the parents of his pupils who have been unable to pay him. "[This] teacher receives 1 dirham per pupil and week, probably for special reasons," referring to recto, lines 13–14 and 17–19. Yefet has evidently continued to work despite his condition, but has not received the wages officially due to him from the community. He thus writes with a description of his current plight (shidda) to expedite the payments. ASE

Letter of appeal addressed to Shelomo ha-Nasi. The writer asks for assistance after having been arrested. He suffers severe poverty and illness and bedbugs (al-baqq). "May God spare you such a trial, and may God place all whom you hate in my situation."

Letter from Abū Naṣr b. Avraham, in Alexandria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The letter contains information about trade in silk and pearls. In addition, Abu Nasr reported how he acted in regard to a precious headgear given to him by Yehuda ha-Levi, the Spanish poet. The letter also transmits news from Spanish travelers about the passing away of two great Spanish Rabbis. The letter was written in the 12th of November 1141. (Information from Frenkel.) "I and every human being in the house was ill for forty days. I have not left the house. . . . Your letter arrived in which you asked me to deliver the bales of silk to Abū ʿUmar Ibn al-Bahgdadī al-Laffāt. However, he has not received a thing, for I have nobody who could carry them to him; my brother Abū ʿUmar is ill since his arrival from Cairo and I have nobody able to act for me, for Abū l-Najm (the writer's factotum or partner often mentioned) and his son are ill also. I ask God to turn the end to the good." At the end of the letter: "As soon as I gain a little strength, I will not stay in this city for one hour." See Goitein's note card #27107, and Med Soc V, 103.