Geniza Lab

Letter of Abū l-Maḥāsin b. ʿAlī the trader, introduced by citations from Proverbs 3:4, Psalms 37:11 and 119:165. Mentions consingments of medical commodities such as betel palm (fawfal), amomum (qāqulla) and quince (safarjal), a doctor’s visit and names such as Naḥūm the perfumer and Abū Manṣūr Ibn al-Ṣāʾiḡ (goldsmith), cousin of the writer. (Information from CUDL.) The writer excuses the poor appearance of his letter ('my mind is not present') on account of his great preoccupation for his two friends who are sick, Naḥum al-ʿAṭṭār and his cousin (b. ʿammatī) Abū Manṣūr the son of the tax farmer of ברמא. The writer leaves the shop and visits each of them 5 or 6 times a day, because they are 'cut off' from anyone who can go to the physician for them. ASE.

Letter mentioning [Abū] Zikrī and illnesses. Small fragment. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from an India trader in Quṣ. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably end of 11th or early 12th century, based on Goitein's assessment. The writer departed when sick (wajiʿ) and arrived healthy in Qūṣ after a Nile voyage of 14 days. He reports that a tremendous Fatimid treasure had been commandeered by al-Bulyanī (perhaps the head of the tribe which commanded the Qūṣ-ʿAydhāb route). The treasure included 70 slave women, each with a eunuch and jewels and a chest of textiles. See Goitein's attached transcription and correspondence with Claude Cahen.

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions numerous items of clothing and textiles. Written during an epidemic (wa-l-zamān zamān maraḍ, 3 lines from the bottom of recto). The sender’s brother is in Maḥalla, and he is rumored to be sick. The sender mentions greetings from and to Abū l-Ḥasan, Natan and Shemuel al-Baghdādī, and asks for things to be sent either with the carrier of the letter or with ‘the rayyis’, whoever travels first. (Information in part from CUDL)

Communal petition. Petition from a man claiming to be without shelter and saying he was living in a donkey's stable without anything to eat. He asks the recipient to extricate from another man the 13 5/8 dinars he owes him and apologizes for being unable to attend public prayer service because of his present state. "For one month, thirty days, I have been living in a donkey's stable, alone, starving, and ill; most of the time I do not eat or drink. Meat, fish, or rich food do not come into my mouth. My strength fails because of my sinfullness" (Mediterranean Society, V, pp. 90, 91).

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe probably to his brother Abū l-Surūr Peraḥya b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. (We know the addressee has to be Peraḥya, because Yefet talks about their brother Abū Saʿīd Ḥalfon in the third person.) Yefet complains about his isolation and urges the addressee(s) to come quickly. He reports that the mummy (אלמומיא) has sold for 6 dinars and 45 dirhams. The term mūmiyāʾ referred to three different medicinal substances in this period—bitumen, pissasphalt, and a substance extracted from mummified corpses—and it is hard to know which of these is most likely in this letter. (For a review of the evolving meanings of mumiyāʾ, see Karl Dannenfeldt, "Egyptian Mumia: The Sixteenth Century Experience and Debate," The Sixteenth Century Journal 16 no. 2 (1985), 163–80.) Yefet has spoken to Ibn Salma and to Efrayim about something. There follows advice or exhortations about travel, but these are tricky to understand (". . . if you wanted to travel every two months, you would, and others are not cleverer(?) than you. Rent from Fustat to Alexandria. . . the time of the departure of the ships, may God guide them. . . ." Greetings to Ḥalfon and "those with him" (man ʿindahū). Greetings from their mother and sisters. It seems the letter initially ended here. Yefet continues with a reminder for Ḥalfon to obtain a letter or document from the judge "concerning the thing I asked him about." Yefet wants the addressee to bring tutty and other medicinal ingredients, since they have been prescribed for his eyes and they tell him that nothing else will work. Greetings to Sitt Naʿīm and to Ibrāhīm (who should come together with the addressee). Joins: Oded Zinger. ASE

Letter of appeal for charity. Fragment (upper part only). The op line is in Arabic script (the address?), and the rest in Judaeo-Arabic. The sender asks for two dirhams until after the Sabbath in order to buy bread and a medicinal syrup, for "nothing has entered his mouth."

Letter to a doctor with his reply (CUDL). "Medical enquiry to a doctor with his reply. This document type is a responsa type dealing with a few questions sent by a man to his physician; the verso is the practitioner’s answer. The patient does not describe his medical problem, but asks about food (the amount of bread he can eat), drink and if he can go bathing. Most probably the doctor knew the patient and his medical problem, since he gave precise answers without asking for the symptoms. The doctor ends his reply with the phrase ‘ve-rofe holim yerape’kha’ (‘May He who heals the sick heal you!’) This short letter is informal, lacking honorary titles and names of both the sender and the recipient, as opposed to the previous document. Therefore this document can be considered a medical responsum between patient and physician. The drink that was recommended by the physician is, in fact, a recipe for medicine." Information from Amir Ashur and Efraim Lev. The handwriting of the physician looks like that of Yedutun ha-Levi (cf. L-G Misc. 99, T-S NS 305.115, and CUL Or.1080 J117v for evidence that Yedutun was a physician). ASE

Letter in which a patient reports to his physician, describing his illness and asking for a prescription. Full translation by Goitein, Mediterranean Society, V, 105. "I[n Your name, O] M[erciful]. My lord, the chief physician Abu Rida. May your Excellency take notice that cold and heat have shaken me from Sunday until this hour. I cannot taste anything edible. Yesterday I rolled bread crumbs into two little balls, but after having eaten about a quarter ounce of bread, I hiccupped until midnight, and believed the hiccup would never stop. Then my soul desired a bit of fried cheese, but.... For three days more [the call of] nature has not come to me. Fever, headache, weakness, and shaking do not leave me all day long. Moreover, I cannot taste anything, not even lemon with sugar. I am also unable to give myself an enema. So, what do you prescribe for me? I drink very much water. May your well-being increase and never decrease. And Peace."

Part of a letter with holiday greetings; writer describes his illness and explains that he is spending the holiday in the house of his brother’s father (probably his stepfather) to get some rest; citing Genesis 15:13 and Job 2:10. (Information from CUDL)

Verso: note from an invalid begging for oil for the sabbath to be sent with the carrier of the note. (Information from CUDL)

Informal note from Abū l-Faraj. In Arabic script. He complains about his illness and inability to go out (on account of the jāliya?). He asks the addressee to send something with the bearer. Maybe wine—the second word of the penultimate line looks like nabīdh.

Family letter in Arabic, in Arabic script. There are a handful of Hebrew words, also in Arabic script. Dating: Likely 11th century, based on the reference to the Tustaris. After the opening greetings, the sender reports on somebody who was sick with fever (ḥummā) and chills (bard) for 40 days but who then improved. Mentioned next: a house, rent, a banker (al-Ṣayrafī), 2.5 dinars paid in nuqra every year, and renovations (tarammum/tarammama). In the upper margin of recto, mentions a woman planning to travel; also mentions the Tustaris (al-Dasātira) and Umm Abū l-Khayr(?). On verso the sender is talking about another woman (Umm ʿAzzūz?) and says more about the house — cleaning it and its roof (naẓẓafnā al-dār kullhā... al-saṭḥ...). There is a line that contains the Hebrew word "dreams' (الحلوموث). The letter concludes with a report on the children, who are all well. One of the female family members wishes to travel. She has been studying a tafsīr but has finished (qad faraghat). Sittūna (a female name) is studying the book of Kings. Abū Manṣu{r?} is studying the book of Samuel. Someone is studying the Torah with Shelomo Ibn al-[...]. This letter offers a rare glimpse into the religious education of girls, perhaps upper-class Qaraite girls, based on the casual reference to the Tustaris. Merits further examination. ASE

Letter in Judaeo-Arabic. All four fragments likely belong to the same letter. T-S AS 207.180 + T-S AS 207.198 is almost a direct join, and T-S AS 207.179 + T-S AS 207.17 is definitely a direct join; the first pair does not seem to directly join with the second pair. In the first pair of fragments, after the standard opening greetings, the sender reports that (s)he ran into [Yaʿ?]qūb al-Kohen al-[...] al-Khawlī (=agricultural overseer) and asked after the addressees' news. Then (s)he met with Masʿūd the Parnas and asked after them. This is followed by a fragmentary reference to "the siege of the city" (al-ḥiṣār ʿalā l-balad); "you are in Fustat every day"; and instructions about sending letters. The second pair of fragments transitions into standard closing greetings, including from "my mother" to "her/your mother and her brothers and sisters." The sender has learned that the addressees are sick, probably an ocular complaint, because (s)he next mentions a sack (ṭillīs), 3/4 of a raṭl, and "within it is an ophthalmic" (ashyāf), and "there is benefit in it, for people were preoccupied with the diseases..." Joins by Amir Ashur. AA. ASE.

Petition from a woman to a group of men, presumably communal leaders: [...] wa-sādatī wa-l-ʿazīzīn ʿalayya wa-ʿindī. She says "I am perplexed (wa-anā ḥāʾira) and do not know [...]." She mentions her small daughter (and a female slave (waṣīfa)?), her father, and a man who was very sick. AA. ASE.

One of two drafts (the other is Moss. Ia,7) of a curious and obsequious letter from a man whose handwriting is known, apparently to a man named Yahya b. Khalid who has a son named Abu l-Mahasin. In this version: he describes how he saw the recipient in the kitchen on Sunday and an idea occurred to him that the recipient approved of (possibly to travel to somewhere other than Bilbays?). However, the writer decided it would be better for him to travel to Bilbays. He has not traveled yet, because it is unthinkable to travel when the doors of the house are still in their sorry state: the main door needs to be fixed, and the door of the upper floor/apartmnet needs to be replaced completely. He alludes in very vague terms to his personal difficulties (according to the other copy, a febrile illness since Friday). He then gives his excuse for not having come to attend the recipient (before he traveled?) as requested; he says merely that he had a good reason (in the other copy, he cites his fever) and that he cut off his prayers and tried to fulfill the command. He goes back to the matter of the doors to explain why he has not yet left the house. Other letters that may be in his handwriting (distinctive in part for including Arabic diacritics over Hebrew letters, e.g. two dots for "t" and three dots for "th"): T-S 12.346, T-S 8J15.20, T-S 12.652 (dated after 1165/6), and T-S AS 151.22. ASE.

Business letter dealing with spices. In Judaeo-Arabic. The hand is likely that of Yedutun ha-Levi. (Goitein, too, flagged the script as familiar.) The letter is addressed to a 'brother' (Moshe ha-Levi?); mentions Abū Saʿd and 'your paternal uncle Bayān.' The letter is damaged but is a valuable source of information for the business of a druggist (ʿaṭṭār). Commodities mentioned include storax (mayʿa) and saffron. The writer does not know precisely the weight of the saffron; the addressee should weigh the burniyya together with the saffron in it and subtract the weight of the burniyya. The writer is suffering an attack of ophthalmia (and Isḥāq is too), but he will try to "go out" (from Fustat) if he is able to. On verso there are piyyutim (not necessarily in the same hand as recto; needs examination). ASE

Most of the page contains series of poems. On one page there is a short note addressed to Eliyyahu the Judge from an in-law of his. "In which I inform Rabbi Eliyya: If I were to describe the severity of my illness and my pain, you would say, 'How can this one walk on the earth?!'" The sender goes on to complain about the difficult circumstances in which he sent this poetry (so maybe he is the author of the poetry on the other three pages). Greetings to Eliyyahu's wife (called Umm al-Rayyis Abū Zikrī), her daughter, her son, and her siblings.

Letter fragment (lower part) from a muqaddam named Moshe, probably addressed to the dayyanim of Fustat, complaining that after the death of the Nagid Avraham his unworthy opponent had been appointed. A sick, old man is mentioned in the margin, but the surrounding text is damaged, so it is unclear if this is an aspersion directed at the rival or a complaint about his own condition. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards.) ASE

Letter fragment (lower part) probably from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi in Qalyub to his father in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Discusses sundry small business dealings (in wine, onions, honey, garments) and mentions his delight when he learned that his sister had recovered and that his brother Abu l-Ḥasan [Yedutun] planned to come out [to Qalyub] to spend Shabbat with him. ASE