Geniza Lab

Recto: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic addressed to Abū l-Faraj. Only the opening remains. Verso: Letter from Shelomo (likely Shelomo b. Eliyyahu) to his father. In Judaeo-Arabic. He writes, "I met with Ibn al-ʿAmīd, and he prescribed me herb water (? mā' baql) and chicory syrup. Every doctor prescribes herb water for me." One senses frustration. The rest is quite faded. 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 Shelomo b. Ḥayyim, in Alexandria, to Abū l-Faḍl Maṣliaḥ b. Yosef, in Fustat. Dating: Ca. first half of the 12th century. The writer had been informed that the boat from Cairo to Alexandria, on which the addressee was aboard, had been turned back by the qāḍī. The addressee is expected to return to Alexandria soon. (Information from Mediterranean Society, II, p. 611 and Goitein's attached notes.) After making some purchases in Fustat, the writer realized that he lost some gold, whether in Fustat or while in transit. In the margin, he excuses himself from returning to Fustat and seeing the address in person because he was ill. He hopes that the addressee will be able to see his state when they are reunited (perhaps he has some medical expertise?). In the meantime, the son of the Rayyis, Ibn Naḥūm, has seen him and will give a report on the writer's state to the addressee. ASE.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Addressed to Abū ʿAlī. The sender says that "all the doc[tors] prescribed [...] for me... and after that they prescribed me the iṭr[īfal]...." On verso, assuming this is still the same letter, he complains of his old age and frailty (or perhaps poverty). He expresses gratitude to the addressee.

Verso: Account of payments to a physician (al-Rayyis) by five patients: Bū ʿAlī, Ibn Shahrīn or Shahrayn (a 2-month-old boy?), Muslim, Muḥsin, and Karīm. He visited each of these almost daily, and they paid 1–4 (dirhems?) per visit; only on Friday two patients paid 6, presumably because there usually was no visit on the Sabbath. The payments were made (or listed as not made) at the end of the week. The physician is referred to in the third person. Goitein suggests that the patients were Muslims. (Information from Goitein, Med Soc II, p.579, n.12.) There are some additional names listed at the bottom of the first column under "al-bāqī," e.g., Farajūn, Ibrāhīm, Abū l-Khayr. The scribe uses a version of the ﭏ ligature as a numerical notation (as in T-S Ar.30.284).

Letter from Mevorakh b. Natan ha-Ḥaver (judge in Fustat, 1150–81) to Shabbetay b. Avraham (judge in Minyat Zifta, 1135–78). Concerning (1) a muqaddam who has been causing trouble and making light of notables; (2) a question submitted to the physicians in the capital by Shabbetay's son Abu Saʿd: all the physicians reply that they must see the patient, hear his words, and see his (urine) flask before prescribing an effectve remedy; (3) a recommendation for the bearer, a brother of the late Judge Menaḥem. Information from Goitein's note card. ASE.

Letter describing two meetings with physicians. At least part of the letter is addressed to the sender's mother. The first meeting was a visit to Maimonides, who discussed medical topics with the writer, who intends to being a course of study in medicine as soon he sorts out an issue with his brother and maternal aunt. The second was with another physician who visited the writer, checked his pulse, examined a flask of his urine, and prescribed barley water (kashk shaʿīr). Mention is made of a trip to Alexandria. The fragment mentions others and their wealth and very large debts: Abū Manṣūr, Abū l-Maḥāsin, Rīḍā al-Dawla, Ibn Hillel. It also mentions several distinguished physicians apart from Maimonides. (Information in part from CUDL)

Letter from a Jewish shipowner from Alexandria. Dating: ca. 1212 CE. He provides an exciting story about traveling to Cyprus but being diverted by a storm to Tarsus (then the capital of Lesser Armenia, a Christian kingdom ruled by Leon II (1187–1219)). The shipowner was afraid that the king would force him to take up his residence in Tarsus instead of Alexandria. But a Christian business friend, probably himself a native of Egypt, helpfully secured a strong letter of safe-conduct. The writer had a good time in Tarsus and would have remained longer, had not illness forced him to hurry back to Alexandria. The second part of the letter reports the successful treatment of the writer and mentions the name of four physicians. In the third section the writer alludees to an illustrious person of Sicily, Yiṣḥaq b. Avraham, who had been forced to leave his home. The community in Alexandria was unable to take care of him for at the same time a large company had arrived from France, and the cost of their stay in the town and the expenses for their travel (to the Holy Land) put a heavy strain on public charity. Information from Goitein, Letters of Medieval Jewish Traders (attached). The handwriting looks like that of Berakhot b. Shemuel (which, if correct, may simply mean that he was hired as scribe by the sender). ASE