Geniza Lab

Letter from Abu Zikri the physician (in Jerusalem?) to his father Eliyyahu the judge in Fustat. Abu Zikri is terribly worried that he will die before seeing his father again, and he begs his father to forgive his offenses. He has sent many letters already with the same purpose. Apart from a hidden illness that he cannot divulge in a letter lest it fall into the hands of his enemies, he suffers from a weak liver, an enlarged spleen, indigestion, lack of appetite, and fatigue with the smallest exertion. He only goes to the market once or twice a week to obtain necessaries, and even that is with difficulty. ASE.

Letter. From a woman (see lines 13–15), possibly in Bilbays, to the Nasi Shelomo b. Yishay. Dating: ca. 1240 CE. This letter was likely dictated. The hand and format is the same as that of T-S 13J21.24 and perhaps ENA 2592.3. The writer excuses herself for not coming to the addressee's location in person. Her "temperament is scattered" (mushattā al-mizāj) due to a hidden illness (maraḍ bāṭin), which has made it impossible for her to ride. Instead, she insists that the addressee come to spend the holiday with her. At the end of the letter, the excuse is repeated. "Sharaf al-Nasab (a man, perhaps the bearer) will inform the master her excuse, that she was unable to ride and that otherwise she would have come to serve him." ASE.

Letter from Yehuda b. Moshe b. Sughmār, in Alexandria, to Abū Bishr Azhar b. Manṣūr (aka Avraham), in Fustat, ca. 1075. Mentions a shipment of silk to Fustat that got wet. The writer cannot come to Fustat, and he asks the addressee to handle some business and money matters for him. The reason for this is that he has numerous illnesses (amrāḍ shattā), the least of which is the jarab (probably trachoma, but the word can also refer to skin diseases), and so he cannot sit or ride. Furthermore, factoring in travel expenses, he does not think the gains will outweigh the losses in his money and his health. But if the addressee thinks it is absolutely necessary, he will bear the 'fasting and difficulty' and make the trip. Meanwhile, a rumor spread in Fustat about Yehuda b. Moshe b. Sughmār, somehow involving Abū l-Faraj Dā'ūd b. Shaʿyā and the ruler Sayf al-Islam (=Badr al-Jamālī?). However, the person who was said to have been the source of the rumour publicly denied it in the synagogue, swearing truthfulness on pain of excommunication. A court decision denying the rumour was also issued. (Information from Gil.) ASE.

Legal query in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi regarding a man who married a widow, then found in her a "hidden defect" from which he contracted an illness. He is a poor man without even enough money for food and has no source of livelihood except public charity. He is in bad straits because whenever he demands a divorce, she insists on receiving her ketubba payment in full. Does the law permit him to pay it in installments? He insists that he is unable to pay one lump sum because of his illness and poverty. On verso there is a fragment of a page of piyyutim in the hand of Moshe b. Levi ha-Levi. ASE.