Geniza Lab

Document dated 21 December 1817 (12 Tevet 5578) in which Mordekhai Romano details the plan for medical treatment for the children of his niece Raḥel, who is the daughter of his brother Shemuel and the wife of Yāqūtī Yuʿbaṣ. Mordekhai will bring Dr. (al-Ḥakīm) Kaspa (?) to treat Raḥel's children who are blind from birth. The doctor is to receive 150 qirsh in advance (la-qūddām) and another 150 if he is successful. The last few lines are trickier to understand and may say that the second payment of 150 will come out of Raḥel's ketubba.

Verso: Account of communal expenditures. Date seems to be al-Muharram. The final name is X the blind man, illustrating the integration of needy and communal officials into expenditure lists. See separate record for recto.

Request from Masliah b. Gaon to let R. Abu al-Rasa b. Rabana Yehuda ha-Ḥaver, to sing in the synagogue of the Palestinians (אלשאמיין), because of: a.) his noble descent by his father; b.) he's blind; and c.) he's poor. (Information from Goitein's index card). EMS and VMR

Letter in Ladino. Dating: possibly 16th century. The letter seems to have been dictated by a blind man. He says: ,Rabi Jacob dijo ke afilu ke tuviera ojos podia enganarme kuanto mas ombre sagi naor. And elsewhere he says: ,ke no tengo ojos y no tengo kien me mire*. He continues and says: ,tengo miedo ke me akontesca lo ke me akontesio' and ask his wife: ,venid a Misrayim ke una mujer kon ojos esmas mejor ke mire, por dos vezes adije a meterme en barko y no tope conpania . . .' This blind man, then, lives in Cairo, separated from his wife who seems to live in the Holy Land. He hopes his wife will sell her clothes and jeweils (alajas) to support him." Elazar Gutwirth, "The Family in Judeo-Spanish Genizah Letters," 214. There are also sketches of leafy plants.

Recto: Distribution list for cash and wheat for the poor of the Rabbanites, administered by the ḥaver (al-ḥibr) [...] and Yaʿqūb al-[...]. This is a massive document, written in Arabic script, possibly in imitation of a chancery document, quite unlike the other known distribution lists from this period. About 55 lines are preserved, listing dozens of alms recipients, many of them blind. This document was subsequently cut up to form (at least) 3 folios, which were then reused for a halakhic text in the hand of Efrayim b. Shemarya. Merits further examination. ASE