Geniza Lab

Letter from an older Maghribī traveler, in Alexandria, to his cousin, somewhere in the Maghrib. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 1100 CE. Evidently this letter was never sent. The writer has spent the last five years in Egypt attempting to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He describes the various disasters of the years 1095–1100 to justify both why he has failed to reach Jerusalem and why too he has remained in Egypt instead of returning to his family and waṭan. First, he describes the chaos in Palestine under the Seljuq occupation ("many armed bands made their appearance in Palestine"). He next describes the 1095 siege of Alexandria in which the vizier al-Afḍal deposed Nizār and secured the caliphate for al-Mustaʿlī ("the city was ruined. . . the Sultan conquered the city and caused justice to abound"). He again prepared for travel "when God conquered Jerusalem at his [the caliph's] hands," i.e., in 1098, only to be foiled by the appearance of the Franks, who "killed everyone in the city, whether Jew or Muslim." The writer is confident that the Fatimids will retake Jerusalem this very year, so he intends to remain in Egypt until he sees Jerusalem or gives up all hope. The letter ends with the writer's protracted illnesses. Throughout these years, the land has been filled with epidemic diseases (wabā', aʿlāl, amrāḍ, dever). The wealthy became impoverished, "most people died," entire families were destroyed. The writer himself developed a grave illness (maraḍ ṣaʿb), which lasted one year, and was shortly followed by another grave illness, which has lasted four years and perhaps continues to the present day. "Indeed [true is] what the Scripture has said of the dreadful disease of Egypt (Deut. 7:15). . . . He who hiccups (yastanshiq) will not escape from it. . . . ailments and will die from them. . . . Otherwise, he will remain alive." Note that "yastanshiq" typically means "inhale" or "snuff" (e.g., water for ritual ablutions) rather than "hiccup." Information largely from Goitein's attached translation and notes, and Goldman, "Arabic-Speaking Jews in Crusader Syria" (diss.), pp. 38–42, where there is a thorough analysis of the letter's context and a discussion of the writer's penchant for hyperbole.

Letter from Yiṣḥaq b. David b. Sughmār, Fustat, to his partner Makhlūf b. ʿAzarya, Jerusalem. (DK XV, ed. Gil, Palestine, Pt. 3, pp. 178-183.) The market was at a standstill because of an epidemic (amrāḍ). ASE.

Letter from Yosef b. Yehuda b. Simḥa (Alexandria) to Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā b. Nissim (Fustat), ca. 1050. The writer mentions a number of deals in beads and pearls. He is worried about owing money to a number of people including Yaḥyā b. Nissim and, although they do not demand payment, is anxious to settle the issue. He also mentions having heard about diseases (amrāḍ) that have spread in Fustat. The address is written in both Judaeo-Arabic and Arabic script. (Information from Gil.)

Letter from Moshe b. Elʿazar the teacher (ha-Melammed) to Elʿazar the scholar (ha-Talmid). In Hebrew (for the introduction and address) and Judaeo-Arabic (for the body). The writer excuses himself for not having written earlier because of illnesses. Probably there is an epidemic: amrāḍ wa-awjāʿ wa-mawt. He reports that al-Ḥamishi ('the Fifth') died, but the addressee's family is well. They have moved to a new location. Abū l-Maʿānī al-Kohen sends regards. The writer begs indulgence "for the magnitude of my ignorance, for I wrote this (letter) after drinking the medicine. I am sick. I did not know what/how to write [...]. I know that you will not blame me for this." It is not completely clear what lapse he is referring to. Perhaps the lapse of having written God's name incorrectly (פאללל) and crossing it out in the previous line. Information in part from Goitein's index cards. 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

Letter from an unknown writer to Abu Zikri Yehuda ha-Kohen b. Yosef. The main purpose of the letter is to ask Abū Zikrī to send 50 dinars to the writer, "because my lack of employment has killed me" (ll.12–22). The writer prefaces this request with describing how he was saddened to hear from Abū l-Ḥasan al-Dimashqī that Abū Zikrī had been ill (mutakassil) and how he rejoiced to hear that Abū Zikrī had recovered (ll.6–12). There seems to be an epidemic in Abū Zikrī's location. "May God protect you from this year and these illneses and protect your children for your sake" (ll.11–12). Goitein interpreted Abū Zikrī's illness as dysentery, reading "mutarassil" (index card 27123), but see T-S 13J22.28 and ENA 1822a.12 for similar instances of "mutakassil" (the exact meaning of which is not clear). ASE.

Letter from Eliyahu b. Nissim, in Alexandria, to Shela b. Isḥāq, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably early 13th century. The sender, a foreigner, asks why he has been neglected. He states that he is in Alexandria and cannot come to Cairo without an invitation. The sender is worried because he has not heard from anyone for four months and because a disease had spread in Fustat. The letter opens with a biblical quotation (Proverbs 13:12). (Information in part from CUDL, from Goitein, Med Soc III, 47, 437, and from Goitein's index cards.) Join: Oded Zinger. VMR. ASE.

Letter from a sick man, complaining about illness in general and death among the population. Information from CUDL. Dated: Kislev 1528 Seleucid, which is 1216 CE. The month of Kislev began on November 13, 1216. See also T-S NS 321.93 (likely from the same period) and T-S 16.305 (March 1217), two other letters regarding the great epidemic of that year, discussed by Goitein in Med Soc V, pp. 114 and 538, notes 375 and 376. When Goitein referred to T-S Ar.54.91 as being written in Kislev 1528, he probably intended T-S 6J6.20 instead. Incidentally, the handwriting of this letter resembles that of Meir b. Yakhin (Bū l-Majd b. Thābit). ASE.

Letter from Menashshe, in Damsīs, to Abū Hārūn Akhlābū ha-Kohen b. Hārūn, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: January 1, 1063. Regarding a purchase of shoes for Abu Nasr, the writer’ son. In addition, the writer mentions that he expects to receive letters from the Maghreb. Mentions the death of al-Muʿizz b. Badīs, the ruler of Ifrīqiyya. Menashshe has heard that Akhlābū has traveled to Fustat, and he conveys his worry and prayers because of what he has heard about the epidemic (amrāḍ) currently in Fustat. (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, #758) VMR. ASE.