Geniza Lab

Letter from a sick man to a physician. In Arabic script. The verso is written at 90 degrees to the recto, which is unusual, but appears to be the same handwriting and the same letter. Mentions: "on Sunday... you wrote us a copy/prescription (nuskha)... my mother(?), another time to you, and compound for her... she/I entered the bath after two days... by your religion, prescribe me a medicine that will benefit me... I have / she has perished, we are all prostrated, I have no one to go out and bring me anything, and (your) kindness will not be lost on God the exalted. They said to me that it/he is a piece of flesh (qiṭʿat laḥm = a common phrase for describing a wretched sick person)... obtain(?) for me from the hospital (al-maristān) palm ointment (marham nakhlī, cf. T-S 8J20.26 and Yevr.-Arab. I 1700.22), and if I recover / she recovers... {your} kindness will not be lost on me. I salute/greet you (qaraʾtu ʿalayka al-salām)." ASE

Verso: Account of payments to a physician (al-Rayyis) by five patients: Bū ʿAlī, Ibn Shahrīn or Shahrayn (a 2-month-old boy?), Muslim, Muḥsin, and Karīm. He visited each of these almost daily, and they paid 1–4 (dirhems?) per visit; only on Friday two patients paid 6, presumably because there usually was no visit on the Sabbath. The payments were made (or listed as not made) at the end of the week. The physician is referred to in the third person. Goitein suggests that the patients were Muslims. (Information from Goitein, Med Soc II, p.579, n.12.) There are some additional names listed at the bottom of the first column under "al-bāqī," e.g., Farajūn, Ibrāhīm, Abū l-Khayr. The scribe uses a version of the ﭏ ligature as a numerical notation (as in T-S Ar.30.284).

Recto: Letter in Arabic script. Possibly a draft, as it is covered with subsequent jottings. Addressed to 'the brother' Abū l-ʿAlā' (this is not completely clear; line 4). Only in line 10 does the body of the letter begain (wa-ghayra dhālika). The writer reports that he lay sick in the house for a whole month(?), but then God had mercy and delivered him from his illness (وغير ذلك اعلم الاخ اني مرضت وقمت في البيت شهر(?) ايام ولطف الله سبحانه... المملوك وخلصه من الالم الذي كان...). There are greetings to various people in the margin, including to the writer's maternal aunt Hanā(?) and her son Nuṣayr and to Nadd and Ṣafā l-ʿAyn(?). Verso: Letter drafts? Covered with Arabic script (and the Hebrew phrase שובה ישראל), but less organized than recto and more difficult to decipher. Needs further examination.

Letter from a man in Minyat Ghamr to his brother Maḥfūẓ in Fustat. In Arabic script. The writer has been ill, and people tell him he must go to Fustat to recover. He has sent multiple letters asking the addressee to rent him a room in Fustat; no answer. Information from Goitein's note cards.

Letter of appeal in Arabic script. The writer, Faḍā'il al-ʿŪdī b. Baṣīla (?), had lived for 6 years in Alexandria until he had to come this year ("in which nothing is blessed") to Fustāṭ. He is unemployed there and unable to even enter the market of the druggists due to debts owed to Ibn Ṣ[...] and others. He now perishes of hunger and illness. No one in the family has eaten for three nights. He has three dependents: his wife, his daughter (a widow), and her three-year-old son. He asks for charity especially for the rent of a boat (to travel back to Alexandria?). He concludes with blesings for the addressee, in the midst of which he writes, "If it were not for God and your mercy with regard to this year's jāliya, I would be in prison." Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Verso (secondary use): Petition/letter of appeal for charity in Arabic script. From Manṣūr. The sender and his family have perished from illness (maraḍ, awjāʿ), poverty, and nakedness, and their rent is due. The sender reiterates in the final line that he is perishing "from the disease of arwāḥ (hemorrhoids?)."

Letter of condolence from Abū Naṣr to his brother's son ʿImrān. In Arabic script. Aodeh notes that the introduction contains formulae similar to those in Fatimid state documents. Abū Naṣr, his wife, and his sons Mufaḍḍal, Makārm, and Abū l-Khayr all offer their condolences upon the death of the young woman (ṣabiyya) Sitt Zaynihim (Aodeh reads "sayyidatuhum"). The sender excuses his delay in sending this letter by explaining that he was mortally ill, to the point that he made a will. Abū Manṣūr told the sender that the addressee had sent some bitumen (qifār), but it has not arrived. Regards to Umm Abū Isḥāq and her sister and to Abu l-Faraj. (Information in part from Aodeh)

Letter in Arabic script from a blind man, Barakāt al-Jiblī, to the man with whom his son Ḥassūn lives, Sābiq al-Kohen b. Maḥfūẓ, dictated to Yaʿqūb, the cousin (ibn ʿamm) of the addressee. The purpose of the letter is to rebuke Sābiq: "I think of you what I think of my son Ḥassūn, namely, that I have written him many letters and not received a single response. All this time he has not thought of me or inquired about my health (iftaqad ḥālī) at all. His mother passed away one year ago with a great fire (or: grief) in her heart on his account. I am an old man, and I have lost my vision and ceased earning a living." In the remainder of the letter he beseeches Sābiq to respond and to urge his son to behave properly and remember his father. Information in part from Goitein's note card and Med Soc, V, p. 124, n. 423. ASE

State document. Petition to a Fatimid ruler in which the writer asks to be exempted from the payment of his capitation tax (of 1 + 1/3 + 1/4 dinars and a dirham), since lost his sight as a consequence of an eye illness and is now unable to perform his job, while the tax collectors are increasingly pressing. The writer also states that in the past he had been able to pay his capitation tax only thanks to the charitable intervention of the community. Dating: 12th century. On verso there is Hebrew text, possibly liturgical. (Information in part from CUDL.)

Letter fragment to an unidentified physician. In Judaeo-Arabic. The format is notable: written in a narrow column, with the width of the margin almost equal to the width of the text. The writer mentions that he has heard that the addressee will be coming into Fustat 'for the treatment of a patient.' Needs further examination.

Letter from an unknown sender to Eliyyahu the Judge (called Abū l-Faraj al-Dayyān), in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script ("[to be delivered to] Ibn al-ʿAjamī who should give it to the judge Abū l-Faraj"). The sender complains about a female slave (al-jāriya) and says that he only went to the trouble of bringing her to Fustat because it was Eliyyahu's idea. He asks Eliyyahu to take possession of her from Abū l-Makārim and pass her on to Abū l-Munā b. Ṣāʿid ("I heard that he is a (slave?) broker, and he is my friend, and he will do his best with her in accordance with his manliness and nobility and benefaction...."). He repeats the instruction to obtain the slave from Abū l-Makārim and to thank him. Possibly mentions a woman (קמטה?) who gave birth (but this is not at all clear), and then urges Eliyyahu to help him "for God's sake." He reports that Eliyyahu's sons—Abū Zikrī the physician and Abū l-Barakāt—and Eliyyahu's wife (ahl baytak) are well. The reason Abū Zikrī has not yet come in person is that he has "a touch of ophthalmia" (ramad yasīr). Join: Alan Elbaum.

Recto: Legal document in Judaeo-Arabic, which partly consists of a deathbed will. In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe ha-Levi. Location: Fustat. Dated: Wednesday, 24 Iyyar, 1437 Seleucid, which is 1126 CE. The testator appoints someone as his agent in all his affairs, but if he should recover (ואן חב אללה תעאלי ונקהת מן מרצי ותצרפת וכרגת אלטריק ודכלת אלחמאם), this provision is void. The continuation of the document describes what happened on Sunday the 28th of the same month and mentions Rabbenu ha-Meʿulle (but it is torn away here). AA. ASE.

Letter from Isma'il al-Tahirti to Abu al-Bishr Yaʿaqov b. Yosef b. Awkal (from Ifrīqiya to Egypt). Mentions "the remnants of an illness" (athar al-ʿilla) in l. 4

Letter from a blind man in Salonica to his son Ismāʿīl in Egypt. In Judaeo-Arabic. Written on vellum in a scholarly hand. The first page of the letter is lost. Dating: 1088/89 CE, or shortly after, based on Goitein's interpretation of the year "48" as 4848 AM. The letter picks up with the father explaining his happy situation in Salonica and why he cannot possibly return to Egypt, as his son had asked him to do (r1–19). The writer lives in Salonica with his wife (not the addressee's mother) and a daughter with many suitors. He fears that they would be a burden on the family in Egypt. He is blind and weak—"I have nothing left but my tongue and my heart" (i.e., mind)—but he has not perished. On the contrary, he is in a thousand states of well-being and is highly regarded by all who fear God. He overhears the Shabbat services from his dwelling. None of the scholars of Salonica are able to match him in his knowledge of the law. He next sends regards to various family members and congratulates his son on the acquisition of noble in-laws (r20–27). He is worried about his family, because he heard that "in the year 48 the Nile had a low flood, and my heart trembled, and I have no rest, neither by day or by night. For God's sake, write me immediately regarding your well-being" and about each person's livelihood (r27–32). The son should send his response to ʿImrān b. Naḥum in Alexandria who will forward it to Salonica, to the upper synagogue, to the house of Shabbetay b. Moshe Matakla 'the head' (r33–36). He exhorts his son not to neglect the study of Torah or be distracted by his business affairs (r36–v1). He then recapitulates the reasons for his departure from Egypt 26 years earlier and what has happened in the interim (v1–v21). It seems his motives for traveling were both pious (wishing to bury his bones in Jerusalem) and financial. At first he sent all the money he earned back to his family, and had none with which to travel back himself. He traveled from place to place for 30 months. At that time he learned that a business partner of the family perished in a fire, from which point onward, "I never had anything but expenses." The 'Turks' then invaded the Byzantine east, so he fled to the west, ultimately reaching Salonica. His vision weakened, gradually, over the course of five years. In Salonica, he has refrained from granting his daughter to any of her many suitors until he received word from his son and his brother-in-law Abū l-Ḥ̋asan. The writer then returns to the subject of why he cannot possibly travel back to Egypt (v21–v34). Even as his son's letter was read to him, he had no strength to go out his door or leave his house without being supported. He can hardly see or hear. If his son saw him, he would "flee the distance of a month's journey." This is apart from the grave danger of the travel itself and his anxiety on account of his old age and his wife—even though she herself would love to travel. It is not in his nature to save money, and he repeats his fear that he would be a burden on the family. There is then a cryptic passage (v30–34) warning his son against listening to 'a generation that left us' and which had various faults that cannot be written in a letter. He concludes (v34–39) with another exhortation to study Torah diligently. When the son was 13 years old, he used to astound people with his intelligence. Information in part from Goitein and from Joshua Holo, Byzantine Jewry in the Mediterranean Economy, p. 53, 56. ASE.

Recto: Letter of appeal for charity addressed to al-Rayyis Yūsuf. In Arabic script, calligraphic with large letters. Asking him to bestow two garments (thawbayn) on the sender, since his family is almost dying from the cold. Verso: Letter from a certain Yūsuf who is ill. In Judaeo-Arabic, with erratic handwriting and spelling, difficult to read. He explains why he couldn't come. He says that he even loaded up his donkey and set out, but then was overtaken by sukūna (a medical term that appears in other documents but whose meaning is not entirely clear) and an attack of colic (qawlanjiyya). He feared that he wouldn't make it through the night. Unclear if or how the two letters are related to each other. (Information in part from Goitein’s index card.) ASE

Family letter written by Abū l-Faraj to Abu ʿImran in Fustat at the time of R. Ḥananel (early 13th century). The writer reports that he inquired about Muhadhdhab from two Jews who arrived from Minyat Zifta and learned that he has recovered from his illness. He is now well (fī ʿāfiya) & left his house (kharaj al-ṭarīq) & returned to work (taṣarraf). The writer also inquires four times after al-ṣaghīra, 'the little one,' referring to the recipient's wife. This urgent request for information can be explained by the fact that the plague was then raging in Cairo in 1216. Hananel will forward an answer together with his letter to Abu al-Tahir. (Information from Mediterranean Society, V, p. 113.) Note that this dating is tentative; Goitein writes that this document is dated Kislev 1528 = November/December 1216 (Med Soc V, p. 538, n. 375). But he almost certainly meant to cite T-S 6J6.20. By contrast, T-S Ar.54.91 is not dated and does not refer to a 'great plague' but rather to 'the wakham.' ASE.

Letter probably from a man, in Jerusalem, probably to a woman named Marḥaba, perhaps in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic, with many colloquial forms (incl. the suffix שי for verbs that are negated). Dating: Late, probably no earlier than 15th century, based on handwriting and language. The letter is full of grief and self-pity. This fragment begins with a discussion of the death of a woman; the writer's father and mother have also died; the writer resents being rebuked for the lack of letters. On verso, "We see others congratulating each other on/with their children, and I am in sorrow. . . You have killed my soul. . . This deed that you have done, nobody does this. If someone sends a piece of news and reports that someone (or the wife of someone, āl fulānī?) died, I am confounded, I don't know if I should mourn or not." The writer requests a proper letter containing news of the address and the family. "You asked if we have an epidemic (magefa) here in Jerusalem. Thank God, there is no evil and no heat (? lā sharr wa-lā ḥarr, probably an idiom). After greeting those of you who have survived, (I inform you) that your son and brother-in-law are well." ASE

Letter from Shelomo Mizraḥi or a female family member, in Alexandria, to Ibrāhīm/Brahim Aghion, in Cairo (Miṣr). In Judaeo-Arabic, with the address in slightly broken French ("Monsier Brahim Aghion: si vous plez de le remettre tout de suite"). Dated: 20 Luglio 1885 CE. The letter is signed by Shelomo Mizraḥi, but the narrator of the letter seems to be a woman, as she uses feminine adjectives—perhaps she is Shelomo's sister. The relationship with the addressee is also confusing, because the sender refers to her "wālida" (mother) and "umm" (mother) as if they are different people. It seems that the "wālida," who is named סרינא, is actually the sender's paternal grandmother, and the addressee is her brother, which would explain why he is addressed as ʿamm (paternal uncle). In any case, everyone in the sender's household is sick (ʿayyān, ʿayyānīn). "The son of your sister" is swollen (wārim, manfūkh). "Your sister" is sick (ʿayyāna). The sender's mother (ummī) has swollen legs (rijlayhā wārimīn). The sender has a stomach ailment (ʿayyāna bi-miʿdatī). One man in the household was especially sick. The physician came to visit him twice every day. He remained bedbound for 22 days, but is now doing better. (There may be a rebuke here for the addressee, who failed to write and inquire about his health.) There may also be a couple lines of poetry (the part with long hyphens), but this needs examination. (Information in part from CUDL.) ASE

Informal note in Hebrew. Asking for money for supporting the sick people (?חולין) in the writer's household. (Information from Goitein's index card)

Tiny fragment of a letter mentioning Ḥayya ha-Kohen b. [...] and the writer’s illness. (Information from CUDL)