Geniza Lab

Family letter from Natan b. Yehuda (Alexandria, ca. 1160) to Moshe b. Ṣemaḥ and his brother (Fustat), the writer’s cousins-in-law. Natan b. Yehuda reports that everyone in the house was ill because of a great epidemic of sweating sickness (wakham) in Alexandria. He praises the brothers for their munificence but also politely reminds them that it was time for them to marry and wishes that their mother may see their “joy”. (Information from Goitein notes and index card linked below and from Goitein, MedSoc, Vol. 3, p. 61 and p. 440n61 and Vol. 5, p. 113.)

A pregnant woman, seemingly well-to-do, complains to her sister in the city about neglect and expresses apprehension that part of her house will be taken by the military, the Ghuzz or Turkomans, in billeting (nazl). The ṣāḥib al-dīwān lives now in the neighborhing house and walks over the roofs and knows what is going on—particularly that there is plenty of space for soldiers in the house. The sister, who possibly had a part in the house, should come. Information from Goitein's note card and Med Soc, IV, p. 24. The letter was dictated to Ibrāhīm (the writer's father?) and addressed to Abū l-Ḥasan b. Ibrāhīm al-Ṣā'igh in the market of the goldsmiths in Fusṭāṭ. The first part of the letter is a rebuke for the addressee's silence. "We could all die, and still you would not ask after us. We hear news of you only from hearsay. If it were not for my pregnancy, I would have traveled [to Fusṭāṭ] to ask after you, because I am tired of sending letters without receiving responses. You now write to tell me, 'Come to us,' because my maternal aunt has died. You did not even write to tell me that you were sick [as well]. Even if I were your enemy, that much at least you would owe me. My cousin died, and you did not even write to console me or your paternal uncle. . . What is the solution to (or reason for?) this enmity? Please come and visit, for the house is derelict and empty. We fear the billeting—for the ṣāḥib al-dīwān lives next door in the house of Yūsuf and walks over the roofs—and that the Ghuzz will take it, and we will not be able to say anything. Even Ibn al-Sarūjī sold his house because of the Ghuzz." On verso: "By God, my sister, console the daughter of my maternal aunt on my behalf. I was sick and was unable to write to her to console her about her mother. As soon as you see this letter, send its response and whatever you see fit with whomever will deliver it. I will pay for it. All of my children have fallen sick, and the female slave is also sick, may God make the end good. By God, I do not need to urge you to send the response quickly, for my eyes are on the road and on every person who arrives. When I hear you are healthy, I will rejoice. I have taken a vow not to break my fast during the day until your letter arrives. I have perished from fasting. Perhaps you will come in place of your letter, and look into what you will do with your [share in the house?]. For Ibn Hilāl is not waiting for Ibn al-Qāḍī to arrive. He has already sent and made me take a vow regarding you. . . ." She concludes with sending regards to Abū l-Ḥasan and his siblings and his son, and to Ibrāhīm. ASE.

Letter from a woman, in Qayrawān, to a benefactor, unknown location. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: Likely 11th century. The beginning is missing. Her children have nothing to eat or wear, and they have 'exposed themselves' (inkashafnā), that is, become dependent on public charity. "But do not suppose that [in] Qayrawān that they have compassion and give. By no means do they do this! They give to those whom they know." The wife of ʿAṭā' gave them only a couple measly garments, and when they put them on their bodies, they felt chills. She and her children all have an ear illness. The addressee evidently left 5 dinars for her with Farḥūn, although she has not yet been able to get her hands on it. When she does, she will have the community (or just her children?) bless his name every Shabbat. ASE

Letter from Nissim b. Salāma to his father Salāma b. Nissim. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 11th century. The writer reports on various financial matters, reports that everyone in his location is in good health, and conveys his preoccupation on behalf of his father, his grandfather, and his paternal aunt. He heard that all of them were "mutakassil," an obscure word referring to some type of illness—Goitein suggests fatigue. Information from Goitein's index cards. ASE.

Two letters. (a) Letter from Yaʿaqov b. Yosef [..]ān al-Barqī to Shemarya b. Shemuel. He decribes the difficult winter they have had, not to mention the illness and inkisār (debts to the diwan? see T-S 13J3.6v) of Nissim; the illness of Ezra; the "arrival of that [woman]" and their expenses on her behalf. He mentions the arrival of Barakāt b. Khulayf (mentioned in several other letters) and having purchased two robes (shuqqatayn) for the addressee. ʿAwāḍ is also seriously ill, as well as his elder daughter. He has likely become dependent on public charity (inkashafa), and he even put up his ghulām for sale, but there are no buyers. Faḍl bought a donkey and has gone wandering about. "As for ʿAwāḍ [finding relief?], here no [travelers?] enter or leave." Mūsā b. ʿAllūsh has run away from his family. ASE.

Letter from Mevorakh b. Natan to Thiqat al-Mulk. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mevorakh describes his financial difficulties and asks for help obtaining wheat. He complains that al-Shaykh al-ʿAfīf Masarra had failed to provide wheat to Mevorakh's family during his absence on a journey (r9–11). When Mevorakh returned, he found his family sick and perishing of hunger (r6–7). (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 243, 439)

Letter from Yehuda b. Sahl, probably in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat, ca. 1050. Mentions the sale of a house that may have belonged to Nahray. Also mentions flax and the copper trade. Yehuda b. Sahl’s wife (a relative of Nahray?) sends him regards for the holidays and prays all the time for his health. She was sick (tawajjaʿat), then Yehuda became sick, then he got better, then he relapsed, and also their daughter was sick (r14–18). His wife asks Nahray b. Nissim to send them an order of payment (suftaja) for 10 dinars (r22–23). The letter mentions Abū l-Surūr and Abū Iṣḥāq Barhūn. (Information from Gil.) ASE.

Letter from Abū Naṣr b. Avraham, in Alexandria, to Ḥalfon b. Netanel ha-Levi, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. The letter contains information about trade in silk and pearls. In addition, Abu Nasr reported how he acted in regard to a precious headgear given to him by Yehuda ha-Levi, the Spanish poet. The letter also transmits news from Spanish travelers about the passing away of two great Spanish Rabbis. The letter was written in the 12th of November 1141. (Information from Frenkel.) "I and every human being in the house was ill for forty days. I have not left the house. . . . Your letter arrived in which you asked me to deliver the bales of silk to Abū ʿUmar Ibn al-Bahgdadī al-Laffāt. However, he has not received a thing, for I have nobody who could carry them to him; my brother Abū ʿUmar is ill since his arrival from Cairo and I have nobody able to act for me, for Abū l-Najm (the writer's factotum or partner often mentioned) and his son are ill also. I ask God to turn the end to the good." At the end of the letter: "As soon as I gain a little strength, I will not stay in this city for one hour." See Goitein's note card #27107, and Med Soc V, 103.

Letter written by a sick man who asks the recipient to buy him a female slave, for "I have no one to give me medicine," and the children are sick (maṭrūḥīn) as well. Someone in the past told him not to buy a female slave, but now this person tells him to buy one. However, he has no way of accessing his money. Abū l-Faḍl has not been helpful in this matter. He urges the recipient (possibly his brother, since he invokes "my master's upbringing" of the recipient) to do his utmost to get hold of the 5 dinars belonging to the writer, and to go to the Rayyis Abū l-Najm and purchase a female slave with the money. At the bottom appears the signaure Shelomo ha-Levi b. Moshe ha-Shishi, but this name is not completely legible and may not belong to the letter. The handwriting of this signature may be consistent with that of Shelomo ha-Levi b. Moshe ha-Sheviʿi, who appears in T-S 16.356, a legal document dated 1120 CE. If the two are the same person (one before and one after his promotion), this letter was composed some time after 1120 CE. Verso contains several of the same phrases from recto. Information in part from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Letter from Mevasser b. David, in Tinnīs, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 22 Elul (25 August [1068 — Gil's inference]), with plentiful blessings for the Jewish new year. Mevasser inquires about previous letters and asks Nahray to pass on any news from Ifrīqiyya. It is rumored that ʿAbdallāh Ibn al-Baʿbāʿ, who became the (last) Muslim ruler of Sicily the following year, arrived in Alexandria in a ghurāb (river boat) and may have escaped. Probably this refers to his flight from the ruler of Ifrīqiyya, Tamīm b. Muʿizz. In the margin of recto, Mevasser offers an apology having to do with his correspondence, because he has an illness (tawajjuʿ), and his son and wife are sick as well, and his entire household, "may God deliver them. What will become of a small baby and his mother—may God exempt you—who do not have anyone to go in for them (from context, perhaps this should be read yadkhul rather than Gil's yattakil) or go out? Every person is occupied with himself (mashghūl bi-rūḥihi)." Gil understands Mevasser's sick family members to be not in Tinnīs with him but in al-Mahdiyya, which is currently under siege, with no ships coming and going (connecting recto, right margin, lines 4–5, with verso, lines 10–11). (Information from Gil, Kingdom, Vol. 4, # 695 and Goitein notes linked below.) ASE.

Letter from Avraham b. Seʿadya the Hebronite, in Bilbays, to Moshe ha-Kohen b. Ghulayb, in Fustat. Dating: beginning of the twelfth century. Recto 1-15: Flowery Hebrew greetings and Passover blessings for Moshe and his three boys, Yoshiyahu, Sa'adya, and Yeshu'a. Recto 15-19: Updates on the health of family members since Moshe departed. Abu l-Bayan and his sister and mother are healthy. Recto 19-24: Avraham and everybody are extremely anxious about the outbreak of smallpox (juddarī) among aṣḥābunā. It afflicted one house, then two, then three. Suhayl's 3-year-old son died, and Mevorakh's son Khulayl is critically ill. Recto 24-25: Avraham and Abu l-Husayn and Abu Sa'id and Umm Abu l-Bayan and Bayan and _____ all send holiday greetings. Verso 1-3: Avraham's knee pain has gotten worse. He wrote this letter while lying on his side. Verso 4-7: Avraham enclosed another letter to his in-law Abu l-Surur and asks Moshe to forward it to Cairo. He asks Moshe to send him some kohl. ASE.

Letter from Tamīm to his two brothers. In Judaeo-Arabic (for the body) and Hebrew (for the learned blessings). Dating: Unknown. Goitein identifies the handwriting with that of Tamīm b. Yosef, who gave a legal testimony in Qalyūb in 1231 CE (GW Plate XII corresponds to the current shelfmark F 1908.44H). He also wrote a letter addressed to Maimonides, TS Misc. 28.98 (See Ashur, 'A new letter to Maimonides', Fragment of the Month October 2010 Cambridge University Library) . In this letter, Tamīm informs his brothers of his terrible misfortune this winter. The family had amassed a substantial store of wheat from the earnings of Tamīm's wife, which they had chosen to buy in lieu of warm clothing, saying, "this will be a support behind us." They then hosted foreigners in their upper room (ghurfa) despite the fact that Tamīm, his wife, and their little children were seriously ill. When he began to recover, he found that all the wheat stored in the upper room had been stolen except for 3.5 waybas and two qadaḥs, along with their sleeping carpet (waṭa'). "I emerged from the ranks of the sick as a beggar." On top of all this, he still has to pay the capitation tax. He asks his brother to urgently send him 'Qedoshim' (the tractate?) and to inform him of when sixty days have passed from the autumnal equinox ('ha-tequfa') so that he knows when to begin saying 've-ten ṭal u-maṭar.' Information in part from Goitein's index cards. See also Med Soc IV, p. 370, n. 164. ASE.

Letter from Ḥalfon b. Menashshe's wife, in Fustat, to her brother Abū l-Ḥasan ʿEli b. Hillel, probably in Bahnasa (based on T-S 13J21.18). In the hand of Ḥalfon b. Menashshe. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 1121–25 CE. She reports that the young son of Sitt al-Jamāl died immediately after ʿEli departed. They buried him in the 'desert' early on Friday, and when they returned, they found Sitt al-Jamāl's son Abū l-Mufaḍḍal sick as well, and he remains in a difficult condition (r6–11). She reports that later the same day, Abū l-Faḍl b. al-Ne'eman was fired from his post by the vizier al-Ma'mūn (1121–25) and was commanded to leave Cairo and take up residence in Fustat. Abū l-Faḍl cannot show his face now, and the rest cannot be explained in a letter (r11–14). "These things came to me upon emptiness of heart (farāgh qalb)" (cf. Quran 28:10)—perhaps she means that she could spare no attention for this matter, because she was so preoccupied on account of her children, who are still sick, as the addressee knows. "My heart became split, rising and falling, and if it weren't for your rebuke, I wouldn't have written you a single letter of all this" (r14–16). Abū ʿImrān is in the same state (probably of illness) that the addressee knows about (r16–17). She here describes the weaving of a shuqqa cloth and a complex deal involving al-Qazzāz and the addressee and money to be sent (r19–25). Goitein writes that the letter contains information about wages for silk weaving. (Information in part from Goitein's index cards; also Mediterranean Society, I, pp. 90, 404, 412; II, pp. 183, 345, 558; V, pp. 243, 574.) ASE.

Business letter from Natan b. Nahray, in Alexandria, to Nahray b. Nissim, in Fustat. Dated: ca. 1063 CE. Natan's son, and his son's eldest daughter, came down with an illness (ʿāriḍ). He despaired of them and went out of his mind, until God sent some improvement. But they are still weak. He interjects, "By God, watch out for the smallpox (iyyāka al-juddarī)!" The son and granddaughter have erupted in "jarab" and "ḥabba" (skin conditions). Hopefully with this suffering something worse has been averted from them. Please pray for them (r13–19).

Letter from a sick man to a physician. In Arabic script. The verso is written at 90 degrees to the recto, which is unusual, but appears to be the same handwriting and the same letter. Mentions: "on Sunday... you wrote us a copy/prescription (nuskha)... my mother(?), another time to you, and compound for her... she/I entered the bath after two days... by your religion, prescribe me a medicine that will benefit me... I have / she has perished, we are all prostrated, I have no one to go out and bring me anything, and (your) kindness will not be lost on God the exalted. They said to me that it/he is a piece of flesh (qiṭʿat laḥm = a common phrase for describing a wretched sick person)... obtain(?) for me from the hospital (al-maristān) palm ointment (marham nakhlī, cf. T-S 8J20.26 and Yevr.-Arab. I 1700.22), and if I recover / she recovers... {your} kindness will not be lost on me. I salute/greet you (qaraʾtu ʿalayka al-salām)." ASE

Recto: Letter from Ṭurfa, in Fustat, to her sister Esther in the house of Subayʿ (?), unknown location. In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: No earlier than 1422 CE, based on the mention of the currency ashrafī. The writer conveys her concern when she heard that the addressee and her children were sick, and she has sent her 10 ashrafīs with ʿAbdallāh the son of the maternal uncle of Esther's husband. Verso: Response from Esther confirming receipt of the money and begging for news of everyone in the family.