Geniza Lab

Letter from Isḥāq b. ʿAlī al-Majjānī, probably in al-Mahdiyya, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dating: Aound 1040. In Judaeo-Arabic. The letter deals with disagreements about money and discussions on how to solve them. The writer orders a dirham of bitumen (qifār), "for the need is pressing" (lines 12–13). He is most likely alluding to an eye disease. In the margin, he sends greetings to Abū Zikrī Elḥanan the physician and writes, "tell the friend of Tammām, the physician, 'My hope is in you.'" Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #636. VMR. ASE.

Letter from a physician in Arabic script giving detailed instructions for the care of a sick man, especially about diet, baths, and regimen. It concludes in the margin, "By God! Take care of him... [do not let him eat?] chicken until he becomes stronger, God willing, praise be to God alone." Excerpts of the surviving text: "[he must not be excessive?] in anything, not air, not food, not drink, and not bathing. As for his food.... pomegranate syrup and bread and sugar. And he should be cautious in the bathhouse and not tarry there too long, rather he should enter for one hour and not.... shave his hair and pamper him and serve him and wash his hands in pomegranate blossom(?)...." ASE

Fragment from the beginning a letter in Judaeo-Arabic, in lovely and distinctive handwriting. The writer has been forced to stay in a funduq due to an illness, and there is no one there to help him. At one point he visited the house of al-Kohen al-Ṣiqillī, presumably a physician, to take a medicine. Most of the rest of the letter is lost. He mentions Umm Muslim and in the margin reiterates that he has been living in the funduq. ASE.

Hebrew letter from Yiṣḥaq b. Zeraḥya known as Faryol (?), a physician, to Avraham Talmid (known from other letters, fl. ca.1600). The first part of the letter deals with business matters. The writer mentions that he wished to examine some books, but the bookseller refused to untie them. He then asks the addressee to look after and mentor R. David ha-Kohen who is visiting Damascus with 200 gold pieces to exchange them for other gold and silver. The second part of the letter conveys information for al-Shaykh Ghāzī who left his wife in the hands of the writer to cure her from her illness. Thanks to the medicines sent by the husband and others that the writer gathered, the cure has been successful—her face has completely healed, and her legs, thank God. "Please remind him to send me a suitable gift, something suitable. In truth it has been nine months since I have seen my home (or: wife). Now, for Purim, they have begged me to come, but the sick woman, his wife, did not wish to let me go, and I could not go against her will. Copy out these words for him. . ." Information from Avraham David's edition. ASE.

Letter addressed to Sitt Shaʿl, in Dār al-Nāqa, Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The handwriting is distinctive, with stylized loops at the end of all the descenders. Dating: Perhaps 12th century; more precise dating may be possible based on the people named in the letter (e.g., Abū l-Murajjā Sālim and Rabbenu Zakkay). "The holiday has attacked (i.e, is upon us). You cannot stay by yourselves, and neither can I stay by myself. I know that the community will not let me leave the town, and also there will be a pesiqa on the holiday. Give to Abū l-Murajjā Sālim your relative the goods that you cannot carry, and send your sister's jar (zīr) with the bearer of this letter so that he can treat himself with it{s contents} (? yataṭabbabu fīhi). If my father asks for any wheat, give it to him." The writer expresses commiseration with a certain woman (his mother?) and then perhaps describes his own illness, but this section is damaged: ". . . on Friday, but only with a dirty body, and I was bled. And [my?] illness. . . ."

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 of appeal from a woman whose husband had abandoned her with Muslims. "In this fragmentary letter a woman bitterly describes her marital misfortunes. Her husband brought her and her eight year old daughter to live among non-Jews. He then abandoned them with no food or drink. She fell ill [with pleurisy—"itbarsamt"] and was forced to turn to her gentile neighbours for assistance. Her daughter died. Deserted, diseased and bereaved, she sought release from her marriage. She was advised, "Sell your hair and ransom yourself". The iftidā' or "ransom" divorce, which is referred to here, entailed the wife's renouncing her claim to the delayed mohar payment. The purport of the advice here seems to have been that even if she would be left completely destitute and would have to sell her hair for support, she should initiate divorce proceedings and ransom herself from the marriage. This reminds us of R. Akiba's instructions to a man who wanted to divorce his wife without paying her the full ketubah settlement: "Even if you have to sell the hair on your head, you must pay her her ketubah" (M. Ned. 9:5). In the present case the wife seems to have been reluctant to do this. She wanted assistance in accomplishing the divorce without losing what was due her as divorce settlement (ḥaqq). This document is described by Goitein, in Med. Soc. 3, 272. Goitein offers a different explanation of the advice given the woman to cut her hair, viz. by cutting her hair and sending it to the religious authorities, she would humiliate herself and thereby compel them to take action on her request to perform the ransom divorce. See the reference on p. 487, n. 136, for women of the court sending their hair to an important general. The fragment is in a poor state of preservation, and some of my readings are uncertain." Information, edition, and translation from Friedman, "Divorce Upon the Wife's Demand," p. 117f. See also Zinger, "She Aims to Harass Him," and "Long Distance Marriages" (note 57).

Letter from Avraham b. Abī l-Ḥayy, Alexandria, to his brother Mūsā, Fusṭāṭ, around 1075 CE. The writer, whose livelihood depends on payments from the addressee, asks to receive the payments early (r6–9). The letter also discusses the upcoming wedding of their sister Gharba (r21–27) and the family house which is to be sold (rm16–um13). Abū l-Ḥayy, their father, is sick with dry skin (nashāf badn, yubs) and lesions (ḥabba) from his hip to his foot, and Mūsā is to obtain a prescription for him from Sar ha-Sarim, i.e., Mevorakh b. Saadya, the brother of the Nagid Yehuda b. Saadya (v7–10). He concludes with the issue of his debts and the capitation tax (v10–15). Information mostly from Gil. ASE

Informal note from the cantor Abū Sahl Levi to his son Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi (identification based on handwriting and typical content). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Prior to 1211 CE. The writer gives repeated assurances that Moshe's brother Abū l-Ḥasan (Yedutun) is doing well. Abū l-Ḥasan even asked to write this letter in his own hand, but the writer feared this would tax him and make him weak. Abū l-Ḥasan is administering his own medicine. Another note on the same topic: ENA NS 32.14, in which the recipient is identified as Moshe and Abū l-Ḥasan is identified his brother. ASE.

Legal document in Arabic script. A woman named Jamīla has an eye disease and contracts Hibat Allāh b. Ibrāhīm b. Yaʿqūb al-Yahūdī to treat her. The date is given but difficult to read. Needs examination. ASE.

Letter from Shelomo b. Eliyyahu to an unidentified benefactor. Shelomo asks him to help him out with the payment of the capitation tax, as he had been ill and had to spend all the money he could save from school fees paid to him on medicine and chicken. (Information from Halper Catalogue and from Goitein's notes in margin)

Calligraphic letter sent to a notable, possibly the Nagid Mevorakh b. Saadya, asking him to help Natan ha-Kohen, the legal representative of the writer's family, to obtain a favorable settlement in court for a widow and her children. She is owed 10 months' worth of maintenance payments, including for the price of the treatment of her ophthalmia. (Information from Goitein's index cards and from Goitein's hand list)

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 Saʿdān to ʿEli. In Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. The sender reports that he is prostrated in his house (maṭrūḥ fī l-bayt) and the doctor comes twice a day and "cuts his flesh with scissors" (wa-yaqṣuṣ laḥmahu bi-l-miqaṣṣ). Even worse is the poverty. The sender seems to be asking for money -- perhaps some of the money owed him by Abū Saʿīd -- in order to pay the doctor's fees. 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 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 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.

Letter from the Qaraite Jews of Ashqelon to the Qaraites and Rabbanites of Fustat. Dating: Summer 1100 CE. The letter deals with the ransoming of Qaraite captives from Jerusalem following the Crusader conquest of the city. (Qaraites represented a large percentage of the small number of Jews who still lived in Jerusalem after the Seljuk conquest[s] in the 1070s.) The letter also explains that the fortified city of Ashqelon had not yet fallen, but the residents are struggling to cope with an influx of refugees and the need to make large payments to the Crusaders to ransom back Jewish captives - men, women and children - as well as books and scrolls pillaged from the synagogues of the Holy Land. Despite the terrible circumstances, they take solace in the fact that that the Crusaders appeared not to have mistreated the women. The writers report that they had received the suftaja (bill of exchange), at least the second substantial donation from the Jews of Fustat to the campaign to redeem captives and books. This letter is a request for further donations. The community in Ashqelon had spent over 500 dinars; ransomed over 40 captives; continues to bear the high expenses of caring for the 20 redeemed captives who remain in Ashqelon; and is now in debt for more than 200 dinars. The writers also mention Jews who had escaped from Jerusalem on their own, and others who had been given safe-conduct with the wālī. Of the refugees who arrived in Ashkelon, many had died of the epidemic they encountered there: "The attacks of these illnesses (amrāḍ), the falling of that plague (wabā'), that pest (fanā'), that disaster (balā')" (recto, lines 17–19); later, describing how the refugees perished, "Some of them arrived here healthy, and the climate turned against them (ikhtalafa ʿalayim al-hawā'), and they arrived at the height of that plague (wa-waṣalū fī ʿunfuwān dhālik al-wabā'), and many of them died" (recto, lines 42–44); then, twice more, the writers emphasize their great expenses caring for those who have survived but are still sick, who need not only food and clothing but medicines and syrups (recto, lines 53–55 and right margin 19–20). There are notes by the writers and forwarders of the letter in the right margin on verso, including Yehayyahu ha-Kohen b. Maṣliaḥ, David b. Shelomo and Ḥanina b. Manṣūr b. ʿUbayd. See DK 242 + T-S AS 146.3 for a letter written one year earlier from the Rabbanites of Fustat to the Rabbanites of Ashqelon, also having to do with the campaign for the ransoming of captives. (Information CUDL and from Goldman, "Arabic-Speaking Jews of Crusader Syria" (PhD diss., 2018), 49–58. See also Goitein, Med Soc 5:537; Goitein, "New Sources on the Fate of the Jews during the Crusaders' Conquest of Jerusalem" (Heb.) Zion, 17 (1952), 136; Goitein, Palestinian Jewry, pp. 241-242; and Goitein's notes attached to Bodl. MS Heb d 11/7 (page 9f). ASE/MR

Legal query addressed to Maṣliaḥ Gaon. In Judaeo-Arabic. Scribed by Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Signed by Natan ha-Kohen b. Shelomo, Nathan b. Shemuel he-Ḥaver and Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. Halakhic question concerning a possible excommunication over a legal dispute. Mentions a reclamation document (ורקה אלדעאוי), al-Kohen Abū l-Faraj, al-Melammed Sayyid al-Kull the cantor and Ṣadaqa. Regarding certain claims on clothing, on tamarind (kept on hand as medicine for when they fell sick), 43 dinars and 20 dirhams between husband and father of divorcee. Husband refuses to pay alimony (mezonot) to the amount of 1 dirham. (Information from CUDL and from Goitein's note card.)