Geniza Lab

Letter from Yūsuf b. Faraḥ al-Qābisī, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1050 CE. The writer is about to travel to Fustat and he asks Nahray to secure an apartment for him and to lock it. As long as the apartment is clean, he doesn't care where it is or how much it costs (r8–11). The reason Yūsuf has not yet traveled is that he has been staying in Alexandria with his brother, Ismāʿīl b. Faraḥ, who is sick with fever and chills (v7–8: wajiʿ bi-bard wa-ḥummā, which seems preferable to Gil's reading of wajaʿ kabīr wa-ḥummā). "This has increased my preoccupation on top of what I already had." (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #511.) VMR. ASE.

Letter from Alexandria to Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Fragment: Bottom half only. Dating: There are reports of men seized for forced labor to dig a ditch around the city. Goitein and Frenkel both suggest that this reference can date the document to 1219 CE, during the fifth crusade. The crusaders besieged Damietta from May 1218 until November 2019 when they finally took it. Evidently, people feared that Alexandria would be next. (See also T-S 16.286, a letter from Alexandria dated 21 October 1219.) This letter reports on the state of the city: "The city is in a dire state because of the digging of the ditch. The city is locked up, and forced labor is imposed upon the population." The writer then gives a detailed report about the medical condition and treatment of a woman who had been injured in an unrelated accident, then discusses some small errands, then an important family affair, and concludes with greetings to at least fifteen persons. Two postscripts are added. "As to Abū l-ʿAlā'—when I arrived, I found the city locked up; no male person could appear in the streets, because he would be taken to the [digging of the] ditch. That's why I was unable to meet him. As to the malḥafa [a blanket serving also as outer garment], the bazaars are locked and no one sells and buys. I am telling you this that you should not think that I am neglectful of your affairs." Regarding the injury of Yumn: "When coming home, I found Yumn—on whom the door fell—in a serious condition. She has been ill for forty days. At the time she was impure and remained in that state; thus all the other members of the household became impure together with her. Only God knows how the situation is; she cries so much that I forget my own tribulations. However, if God wills, she has good prospect for recovery. Her leg is in a case (tābūt) especially made for her. A Christian doctor (ʿarel) treats her and I was told that he did not take any money for her treatment. He at that time was treating the wounded (al-majārīḥ). I did not find any bandage (or plaster/dressing) of palm fibers (marham al-nakhlī) in the house and could not move her; for she cannot get up or sit; she bends forward only a little (qad ittajaha qalīl). Her foot and leg are swollen (manfūkh)." Information and translations from Goitein, Med Soc, V, 56, and note cards #27138–39. This date-palm plaster is recommended for treating wounds and abscesses in the medieval medical literature—a Google search of مرهم نخلي will lead to citations in works by the Andalusians Aḥmad b. ʿIsā al-Hāshimī (d. 1077) and Ibn Zuhr (d. 1162). For Ibn Zuhr, its consistency is like that of honey, and threads are dipped in it before being used to wick fluid out of a wound. Thus, perhaps it is a substance deriving from the date itself, rather than from the palm-fibers. The solution might also be found in Yevr.-Arab. I 1700.22, recto, text block c (PGPID 2724), which may be a recipe for מרהם נכלי. Note also that "ittajaha" in the context of injury or illness most often means "improved" (rather than "bend"), and sick people are often described as "having improved a little" even if they are still in critical condition. The hand of the letter resembles that of T-S 16.272, written by an Alexandrian judge. ASE.

Letter from Yehuda b. Salāma, in an unknown location, to Yosef b. ʿEli ha-Kohen Fāsī, in Fustat. Dating: Ca. 1054 CE. Concerning money shipments. The writer has been unable to obtain anything from Ibn Khafāja, who is sick (r8–9). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, vol. 4, pp. 377-379, #725). VMR

Informal note from an unknown writer to R. Ḥiyya. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer requests the excellent jug of wine (al-nabīdh al-mamzūj) that Ḥiyya had promised him on Saturday, as he received bloodletting today, and the doctor prescribed that he drink wine afterward. Trans. Goitein, Med Soc IV, 255.

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 Mevorakh b. Yiṣḥaq from Alexandria to his father in law, Seror (Surur) b. Ḥayyim b. Sabra in Fustat. Written a month after another letter: CUL Or.1080 J264 (Doc. #100 in Frenkel). He mentions pillaging in Maḥalla (the writer hopes that Abū l-Ḵayr Mubārak is safe), an epidemic (dever) in Fusṭāṭ and that the writer himself had been robbed. Also mentions Ibn Naḥum the cantor. Probably written in the 1060s. The scribe gives his name too: Musa b. Da'ud b. Ezra. Information from CUDL. ASE.

Letter from a woman in Fustat to her sons. In a mixture of Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic written in an elegant scribal hand. The writer reports the dire conditions in Fustat, including the plunder of the Dār al-Fā'izī (in the Judaeo-Arabic portion) and conveys news of the sick children in the house who are worsening day by day (in the Arabic portion). On verso are jottings in Arabic script, unclear if connected to recto. (Information from Goitein's index cards and Renee Levine Melammed.)

Letter in which Shelomo, who was appointed to a new post, complains that he found only opponents and asks advice of the Nagid. He also complains about his illness (l. 16). (Information from Goitein's index cards)

Fragment of a letter (right margin, top and bottom cut off). First part discusses the plight of a 'humble' cantor and teacher of small children (in a kuttāb) who has spent all his money and needs assistance, which the writer requests on his behalf from the addressee. Next matter: writer asks the addressee to help the bearer of this letter, who is 'from a good family' (mi-benei tovim), and who arrived 'in this country' from another place after great effort, apparently escaping something untoward, only to find himself in another kind of difficulty, including an illness. (Information from Mark Cohen)

Letter from Natan b. Nahray, from Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, Fustat. Around 1062. The writer mentions his difficulties with a person named Abu Zikri Menashshe. Mentions several goods as beads, red dresses, and kosher oil. Natan needs oil for light. He shows his interest in ruby. Natan was very frightened on account of his father, Nahray b. Natan, who was very ill but recovered. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 3, #415) VMR

Letter to [... b.] Ḥalfon. In Judaeo-Arabic. Concerning business issues, mentioning commodities such as gum and walnuts. Containing an order of Abbadani mats, which were stronger and more durable than regular mats. The writer expresses his preoccupation for the addressee's illness (r4–5). (Information from CUDL; Mediterranean Society, IV, p. 128; and from Goitein's index cards.)

Letter from the wife of Baṣīr the bell-maker (al-jalājilī) to the Nagid David, asking him to help return her husband, who was living in a Sufi community, to his family and to the Jewish faith. She also asks for medicine for her child. "Our Lord has promised the little one a medicine for the ear, for he suffers from it. There is no harm in trying it out, seeing that even the barber is playing with it without experience. May God have mercy!." "[This very night.]" (Information from CUDL)

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.

Recto: Letter in which a teacher complains about an unruly pupil. "Whenever I beat him, I do so excessively; but as soon as I begin, the mistress rushes along and, after having hit him four or five times, releases him. Had it not been for his illness, I would have killed him with beating, although as a poorly clothed newcomer, he is entitled to some consideration." The teacher wants the pupil's family to discipline him in the same manner at home. Verso: Reply of a family member to the teacher's letter on recto. The writer thanks the teacher for his efforts and emphasizes that they spare no pains in trying to educate the boy. He encourages the teacher to keep writing, as perhaps the notes will scare the boy into behaving well. ASE.

Upper part of a letter from Musa b. Yusuf b. Nissim, possibly to Ishaq al-Nafusi (line 8), who had written regarding the wife of his son Abu Zikri, apparently asking her to travel. Musa tells him that she cannot travel for several reasons, among them that she has been sick since Sukkot.

Petition from Yusuf requesting help from the addressee, Natan, for a woman who has weak vision and a blind daughter. The sender also enquires after another woman.

Letter from Yaʿaqov to his father. In Judaeo-Arabic. The writer had not received a letter from the addressee for some time (arjū shughl khayr). It seems he heard bad news about the addressee from the ghulām of [...] and was very worried. Someone else came down with a terrible illness (maraḍa maraḍ shadīd), but he is now in good health. This person cried out (yastaghīth) "sīdi, sīdi!" all day long. The writer mentions Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAllān. A third person was sick for 20 days with a fever, but he too is better now. It appears that the father began his response on verso. ASE.

Letter from Yefet b. Shemuel to Moshe ha-Sar b. Peraḥya. In Judaeo-Arabic. Regarding the affairs of scholars and inquiring about the needs of a little girl who has been sick (ll. 16–18). Mentions Rabbenu Yeḥiel and Abū l-Bayān b. Ṭoviya ha-Ḥaver ha-Kohen.

Letter from Yaʿaqov the physician (known as 'the effective'), in Shamṭūniyya, near Kūfa, Iraq, to his pupil and perhaps son-in-law Yūsuf, in Jūma Mazīdat (unidentified location; Gil suggests that it is also in Iraq, near Sūra). Dating: Probably beginning of the 11th century. Yaʿaqov reports that he arrived safely in Baghdad on the 15th of Tammuz. He looked for Mājid but was told that he had already come and gone before Shavuot, and he looked for Abū l-Riḍā b. al-Ṣadr al-Tājir al-Baghdādī but was told that he had traveled to Hamadān. Yaʿaqov is optimistic that these men will return with the ḥajj caravans. As for the two yeshivot, Yaʿaqov declined to join either one of them so as not to offend the other. He told them that he had made a vow to visit the graves of holy men (Gil suggests specifically the grave of Ezekiel). He then traveled to Shamṭuniyya, where he found everyone sick from an epidemic disease. The writer himself became ill with a swelling, probably an abscess, on his leg, from which he developed a fever and was bedbound for 17 days. His son Abū l-Barakāt then became ill with a very high constant fever ("like a blazing fire"). Yaʿaqov sent to Baghdad for materia medica and mixed the medicinal syrup (sharāb) for his son himself, which he gave him each day together with barley water (mā' al-shaʿīrūn). His son is now feeling better. At first they were staying in the house of Abū Saʿd 'the paqid' b. Khalaf (probably a relative, at least by marriage, see verso lines 4–5), but when he and his family became ill, they 'cut off' their guests, "and you know that the people of Shamṭuniyya, even when they are healthy, do not care for foreigners." The saving grace for Yaʿaqov was that the people of Shamṭuniyya needed his services as a physician. The geography of Shamṭūniyya/Shamṭūnya is also described by Golb as follows: "[T]his locality is now a ruin known as Tell el-Shamṭūnī, located to the south of Baghdad on the western side of the Tigris near Ctesiphon (al-Madāʾin)." Norman Golb, "A Marriage Deed from 'Wardūniā of Baghdad,'" JNES 43 no. 2 (1984), 154. VMR. ASE.

Brief letter from a person in dire straits suffering from illness and lack of clothing, and unable to buy anything to eat for the upcoming holiday. (Information from Goitein's index cards.)