Geniza Lab

Recto and beginning of verso: Letter from a sick man to a physician. In Judaeo-Arabic. He reports that he has collected the prescription that the physician gave him and that he used it earlier in the day, but it had no effect. He is still in great and unmentionable distress whenever he leaves the toilet (murtafaq). He has sent the (substantial amount of) 109.5 dirhams that the physician charged him. He asks for further instructions, because he is in great distress. He is unable to leave the house but cannot bear sitting in in the house. Lower part of verso: The physician responds that the medicine has [not had enough time to] work, and that he should take another dose. There is then a cryptic instruction about doing something first that should be done first, "from whichever hand possible," for that is the greatest requirement for this illness. ASE.

Recto, with address on verso: Letter from Saʿdān b. Ḥ[...] to his 'brother' Abū Zikrī Yaḥyā b. Yiṣḥaq(?). The addressee had sent a letter reporting that he had gone to Alexandria and to Tinnīs. His family members are upset at him. "I read [your letter] to Sitt Faraj and she screamed and cried, and she still suffers the remnants of an illness, because she had ophthalmia that caused her to scream, may God protect her. She asked to me to write to you but did not want to inform you about [the illness] except with great anguish (ḍīq sadr)." They rebuke him for going to these places when there was no need, and urge him to come back quickly.

Letter from ʿIwāḍ b. Ḥananel, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Around 1060. The letter is in the hand of Benāya b. Mūsā and switches to the voice of Benāya starting in line v1. The letter discusses goods and shipments as well as books that ʿIwāḍ is buying for Nahray. ʿIwāḍ has been suffering a serious illness (wajaʿ) ever since Adar Rishon (this passage begins in line r16). People despaired of him; he recovered from the illness; but then he developed a swollen abdomen ("and I am frightened from it"). Now he does not travel unless absolutely necessary. He asks Nahray to obtain for him sugar and good-quality rhubarb. Information in part from Gil and Gotein's note card (#27102). VMR. ASE.

Recto: Letter from (or written on behalf of) a woman to her son Avraham ('Rabbenu'). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Probably no earlier than 14th century, and conceivably much later, based on script and vocabulary. Mentions an area called ḥawsh al-maghāriba in Fustat, where Avraham's sister lives. The letter contains cryptic exhortations about associating with Gentiles, directed at Avraham as well as a certain Raḥel (his wife?). The letter also informs him that his sister's daughter Ḥabība is "stricken" (maḍrūba) and is on the verge of death. "Every day brides and grooms go forth from the neighborhood. I do not wish to confound you by telling you who they are nor how many there are. My son, by God, by God, do not enter the neighborhood until God lifts this affliction from Israel." Is she referring obliquely to an epidemic, and to the victims as "brides and grooms"? Verso: Avraham's response to his mother. He expresses his distress at the death of his sister's husband Yaʿaqov and at the news of Ḥabība's condition. He also mentions the harrowing night he spent on a Nile boat after leaving Ḥayyim's house, which he thought he would not survive. Even in the morning, he [vomited?] from time to time and could not hold any food down until God had mercy. The particular words used to describe his symptoms are obscure, possibly as they are late colloquial Judaeo-Arabic. (Information in part from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 242, 479; IV, pp. 228, 431, and from Goitein's index cards.) It is possible that Avraham's letter came first and his mother's letter is the response. ASE.

Letter from a father to a son, containing detailed instructions concerning items that the sender sent and that the addressee should purchase. Gives specific quantities together with or underneath each item. Verso contains what is presumably the reply from the son to the father, but without information about commodities, only a report on the sender's dire gastrointestinal illness. "Do not ask what happened to me on Sunday when I (or: you) traveled. There came over me [...] from 20 directions, diarrhea and vomiting and more (ishāl wa-istifrāgh wa-akthar). No one thought I would live, but thank God that everything ended well, and I am doing well, thank God." There are also a couple lines of accounts in Arabic script and Greek/Coptic numerals. ASE

Letter fragment addressed to Ḥusayn al-Ṣabbagh al-Ḍāmin in formal style and in curious script of large characters, asking the recipient to pay 1/6 dinars for the hire of a boat, for which the writer had pawned his clothing with the captain al-Rayyis al-Ḥayfī. The writer is hungry and thirsty. It seems he ate something that gave him a bad case of gas ("wa-alqaʾat al-riyāh fī jawfī"), and he has not eaten anything since. Mentions Amīr al-Juyūsh and Saniyy al-Dawla. Information in part from Goitein's index card. Handwriting is the same as ENA 3360.7 (another letter) and may be the same as DK 344 (literary). ASE.

Letter from Jalāl al-Dawla, in Cairo, to Shelomo b. Yishai the Mosul Nasi, in Bilbays. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Ca. 1240 CE. The writer had sent a pair of red woolen children's shoes with Muʿammar al-Dimashqī intended for the addressee's son Yishai. He devotes much of the letter to a vivid description of his illnesses. “As for my state, I inform the masters that I came down with diarrhea, and I endured it. When it increased and multiplied, it became an illness. A physician was treating me, al-Rayyis Sulaymān al-Ḥakīm al-Fāḍil of the family of Rabbenu Menaḥem (ZL). They concocted the medicine in the house of Rabbenu (ZL): every day, roasted seeds and the like, and a pullet, and he visited me frequently. And R. Eliyya the Judge was also generous. When I recovered after some days… [I came down] with what was worse than it… ophthalmia in my eye on the night of Shabbat Shoftim… a painful scream, against my will, all night…. May God afflict my enemies [with what I was afflicted with]. The illness became public. What I suffered cannot be [described].” In the continuation, he sends regards to the judge Peraḥya and praises him as the most learned and powerful judge in the country. He concludes, "As for my eye, fog and darkness were upon it." There is a postscript in the same hand but in the third person (perhaps meaning that a secretary wrote this letter for Jalāl al-Dawla or that somebody later copied it): "After he wrote this letter, he entered the bathhouse (meaning, he was fully recovered) on the 26th of Elul, so be glad of heart." ASE

Letter from Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi, in Qalyub, to Gaon Sar Shalom ha-Levi, in Fustat. In Hebrew. After a poem in praise in the Gaon and lengthy salutations, Moshe tells the story of a certain Yefet b. Shelomo the physician, known as Ibn al-Ṭaffāl (“son of the fuller”), who arrived in Qalyub bearing a letter from Sar Shalom supposedly appointing him as the exclusive mohel for “all the villages.” Moshe could not find Sar Shalom’s distinctive mark in the letter, so he announced that the letter was counterfeit. The poor man Ma‘ani’s son was circumcised by Yefet ha-Qatzar instead, pro bono. Moshe now gets to the point of the letter: he has heard that Ibn al-Ṭaffāl slandered him to Sar Shalom, claiming that he said things against the Gaon that he never said. Moshe concludes by begging for mercy: he insists that has not done anything wrong, Sar Shalom must not believe anything without witnesses and proofs, and, finally, who is he that Sar Shalom should be angry at him? “After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea” (1 Samuel 24:14). On verso, he apologizes for the poor quality of the paper, stating that it was the best he could find, and for the poor quality of his writing. He would have presented himself in person, but it was all he could do to even write a letter. He wrote it lying down, prostrated by illness of his intestines and eyes. See S. D. Goitein, Mediterranean Society, 2:232, 573; 3:503; 4:407. EMS. ASE.

Letter from Abū l-Surūr b. Ṭarīf to the brothers Abū l-Makārim and Abū Yaʿqub ha-Kohen. The writer describes in detail the severe fever and dysentery (zaḥīr) of the addressees' brother Abū l-Riḍā, "as if you were present." There is no expert physician in the town from which he writes, and there are no medical ingredients. He therefore asks the addressees to approach a physician, to procure medication with the four dirhams attached to the letter, and to send it back with the courier. Initially there was a "cold" fever for 50 days, followed by a "hot" fever for 8 days. The patient was then afflicted with terror (wahul) and dysentery. There follows a detailed description of his bowel movements. At first there were 'filings' but no blood, and there were solid BMs along with the filings which had a terrible smell. Then the BMs became soft, without the terrible smell. His tongue is [tied? loosened?] but he is overcome by silence (? al-sukūna) all night long. "This is the description of his illness as if you were present." (Information in part from Med Soc, V, pp. 193, 194, and from Goitein's index cards.) Postscript on verso: "Obtain a prescription for what his diet should be. If he prescribes [...] Levantine sour grapes, obtain them, for we have none here [...] and exchange them for something else." The prescription is written at the bottom of the letter in Arabic script. ASE

Note to R. David to summon a Maghribi named Abu Dawud Khayyat, whose grown-up son had died and whose wife is critically ill with dysentery and fears that she will not see her husband again. On verso are accounts and several versions of the signature of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu, placing the date in the early 13th century. ASE.

Letter from ʿEli b. Yehezqel ha-Kohen, Jerusalem, to Eli b. Hayyim ha-Kohen, Fustat, concerning Eli b. Yehezqel's travels to Acre and Tyre, return to Ramla, and his serious illness there. "I was attacked by vomiting; I exploded from above and below, over 300 times (lit. "sittings"); everybody in the house gave me up. The doctors came on Saturday night and saw that I was finished and that there was nothing to be done any more. I made my will... [then improved]... but I still have terrible weakness." Also mentions the rent from the heqdesh (pious foundation) to the poor people in Jerusalem and other private and public affairs. 1060 (Gil's estimation). (Information from Gil, Palestine; and Goitein's index cards, including index card #27100.) VMR; ASE.

Letter from Natan b. Avraham to Ḥalfon. Dating: ca. 1037 CE. The writer excuses himself for not seeing the recipient off. The writer was not the host, but he had talked to the recipient a few days before his departure. His excuse is that he had an intense pain, like colic, and he could hardly sit down, let alone stand or ride. The illness persisted for most of the day, and when it relented and Natan asked after Ḥalfon, he was told that he had already departed. Information in part from Goitein's note card.

Awaiting description - see Goitein notes linked below. This letter may be continued in Bodl. MS heb. d 66/14 (identified by Oded Zinger).

Letter from Jalāl al-Dawla (or at least a person from the family of Shelomo b. Yishai the Nasi), written during an epidemic, and mentioning the Nagid [Avraham Maimonides] as being ill and also mentioning his (father?)-in-law the judge R. Hananel, who says, "These days are like the Day of Judgment: everyone is preoccupied (mashghul) with himself." He goes on, "We are doing our utmost to escape from this terrible epidemic. There is not a house in Fustat or Cairo among the important Jews—or anyone else—that does not have at least one sick person. The people are in terrible distress, too preoccupied to care for each other--let alone for a stranger." Jalāl al-Dawla also provides an update on his own diarrhea (v7–8): it is intermixed with white phlegm, coiled/twisted (multaff), and it burns when it comes out (yaldhaʿu waqta majī’ihi). ASE.

Letter of a prisoner mistreated by a Maghribi guard and affected by illness, who asks a notable ("my brother, Abu Imran") to intervene for him with a judge. He mentions an incident on Friday when he attempted to use the toilet after three days without a bowel movement, which is when the guard beat him. "They were also allowed to send letters out of prison, some of which we still have, and since in one such letter a complaint is made against a particularly wicked jailer who cursed and beat the writer without reason, we may assume that in some places at least the authorities in charge did not tolerate excesive cruelty." (Med Soc II, 373 and Goitein's index card.)

Recto: Beginning of a letter/petition addressed to a judge named Peraḥya. In Judaeo-Arabic, with three Hebrew biblical citations at the top. The sender has sent this letter with his son Yosef, who is in difficult circumstances—something happened that made it impossible for him to live in Fustat, let alone earn a living there. It seems that Yosef wants to travel to al-Shām now. In the missing continuation, the sender presumably asks Peraḥya to help him. Verso: Beginning of a letter from 'your paternal uncle' to a younger man named Efrayim. In Judaeo-Arabic. The sender reports that he came down with a stomachache (tukhma) and nearly died and everyone despaired of his health—but now he is better.

Letter from a woman named Harja (הרגה), somewhere in Syria, to her mother, the wife of Mūsā Ibn Fayrūz, in Cairo. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Late, probably no earlier than 14th century. The letter is a remarkable account of Harja's months-long illness. "My heart flared up until I nearly died. I received an enema three times a day, but it did not relieve me. I remained anxious about how I would pass the fast. When the fast came, I let loose (my bowels) like one who has been loosened (in his bowels). I thought it was colic and considered that it was due to a discharge from my brain that settled in my stomach and felt like the colic. I did not sleep during the night of the fast, but I managed to last until midday, and from midday onward, it began to subside. I remained three or four days after the fast as it subsided(?) from me (or: gave me strength?). And when it subsided from me, I remained troubled on account of my eyes, for I could not see the light of the world with them. After that, the pain in my heart returned, and whenever it flared up the basin was not taken away from under my mouth, for whatever went down into my stomach came back up, and my stomach churned from all the vomit. But for now, it has abated, thanks to God for all things. I never imagined I would be carried to Syria sick and blind. I had taken the sickness into account, but not the blindness. I am afraid to have my eye treated, due to the season (i.e., season of illnesses) in Syria, and I am afraid that something else might come over me. I await a sign from God to illuminate my eyes. When you tell me that I am behaving recklessly as is my wont, I have never been more patient in all my life than I have been in these days. Someone who has not seen the light of the world for four months should not feel defeated? Whenever I awake and see the black obscurity of the morning and do not perceive the evening, my only remaining desire is to end my life. When they took me out into the sun, I didn't even see gloom, I saw only blackness." The margin and verso contain mostly greetings. See tag for more of her letters. ASE.