Geniza Lab

Letter from Al-Mubārak b. Yiṣḥaq Ibn Sabra to his "father" (paternal uncle?) Abū l-Ḥasan Surūr b. Ḥayyim Ibn Sabra. He reports that Ibn Siman Ṭov (בן סימנטב) arrived and told him that the addressee had purchased a sack (tillīs) of wheat for 7 dinars, which saddened him, because Mubārak could have gotten him 2 sacks of superior wheat from his supply in Tinnīs. Indeed, Mubārak is struggling financially, and that would have helped him. He has been worrying so much about his goods in Tinnīs that he suffered an attack of yellow bile and broke out in pustules (fa-min kuthrat mā ḥamaltu ʿalā qalbī laḥaqanī khulṭ ṣafrāwī wa-ṭalaʿa ʿalayya bathr). People are in state of fear due to an unspecified situation. Mubārak had sent a letter with Maymūn al-Maghribī concerning garments that the addressee is supposed to send, because he hasn't even been able to afford a שראשי(?) to wear. He hasn't gone to the synagogue for several Shabbats (it seems due to his financial straits and lack of decent clothing). ASE

Letter from Avraham b. Abī l-Ḥayy, Alexandria, to his brother Mūsā, Fusṭāṭ, around 1075 CE. The writer, whose livelihood depends on payments from the addressee, asks to receive the payments early (r6–9). The letter also discusses the upcoming wedding of their sister Gharba (r21–27) and the family house which is to be sold (rm16–um13). Abū l-Ḥayy, their father, is sick with dry skin (nashāf badn, yubs) and lesions (ḥabba) from his hip to his foot, and Mūsā is to obtain a prescription for him from Sar ha-Sarim, i.e., Mevorakh b. Saadya, the brother of the Nagid Yehuda b. Saadya (v7–10). He concludes with the issue of his debts and the capitation tax (v10–15). Information mostly from Gil. ASE

Letter from Yefet b. Menashshe ha-Levi b. al-Qaṭā'if to his brother Peraḥya discussing business matters, the illness and recovery of Abu al-Muna, a forwarded letter, and conveying greetings. (Information from Mediterranean Society, III, pp. 239, 477, and Goitein's index cards.) The description of Abū l-Munā's illness is particularly vivid. "What he had turned out to be pure pus (? qayḥ kāmil). It ruptured (infajara), and there emerged from it what cannot be mentioned. Great pits (ajwār) developed in his thighs (or hips, awrāk). It flowed so much that his robe was changed two or three times a day. Then God willed. and the flesh began to build up, and he could walk and work again." ASE.

Letter from Nahray b. Nissim, Alexandria, to Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm (a.k.a. ʿIwāḍ) b. Ḥananel, Fustat. Abū l-Khayr became ill following ʿIwāḍ's departure, and his mother suffered greatly on his account. He then improved. Nahray himself developed an abscess on his left hip. He too recovered, but the remnants of the illness are still with him. He was not able to go about his work until the present moment. The rest of the letter deals with business matters. ASE.

Petition to David b. Daniel from a destitute woman with no family and afflicted with a serious illness (leprosy, it seems). Dating: ca. 1090 CE. She begs “Our lord David, the great nasi, head of the diasporas of all Israel,” to assist her and concludes the note with wishes for David, that “male children may fill your place.” (Mark Cohen, Jewish Self-government in Medieval Egypt, 207, 219; trans. Cohen, Voice of the Poor, #21, pp.52-3); EMS. The letter describes her as a "lonesome bird on a rooftop"; the same phrase appears in a poem attributed to Yehuda ha-Levi in L-G Lit. I.50. The scribe, a Byzantine, has been identified by Ben Outhwaite. This scribe wrote T-S 12.237, T-S NS 325.184, T-S 13J13.16, and T-S 8J16.29.

Letter from Yaʿaqov b. Isḥāq to his son Isḥāq describing in detail his severe illness, but emphasizing that he had recovered. He sends holiday greetings to Isḥāq and their relatives, and he urges Isḥāq to take care of his old mother if worse should happen to the author. (Information from Goitein's index cards.) Goitein's partial translation: "I need not describe to you my present state after the grave illness experienced by me, so that I despaired of life. My body became completely bloated, then the disease eased a bit; then the blisters covered me even more malignantly than before, and became permanent. I had to lie down, unable to sit up when I wished so. I hated life. Then the Creator chose to grant me health, and a complete turn occurred. Then the pockmarks became apparent on me so that the improvement was not beneficial. But you [plural] should not think that I am already dead. Do not give me up. So, if the Creator chooses to grant me health, you will see me. Otherwise, nothing can be done." Med Soc V, p. 107.

Letter from Alexandria from the 21st of October 1219, a short time before the crusaders' assault on Damietta. A man who had to flee Cairo to Alexandria due to debts writes to his sister, who still resided in Cairo, to ask for her help. The letter reflects the difficult situation in Alexandria. The Jewish community cannot manage to support all those in need, since it has only recently paid a large sum to the ruling authorities, a kind of a war tax (tabarru' and ju‘l). (Information from Frenkel). See additional information in Goitein, Med. Soc. 1:98-99 and the detailed discussion in V:55-56. Goitein adds that the letter was sent from Alexandria by a former official of the imperial mint of Fustat to his rich sister. The writer describes how he had lost his post, his house and all his possessions. He hired out his boy to a tailor who paid him half a dirham per week. He lists ten reasons why he cannot possibly come to Cairo; the tenth and "most stringent reason for not making the trip to Cairo was the certainty that his enemies seeing him in such a state of humiliation would rejoice over his misfortune." "Despite the careful enumeration of all his afflictions he forgot one, possibly the worst of all, which he added as a postscript ot his long letter: 'Because of my worries I got dry pimples and my skin peeled off my bones.' Of all concerns, bad health is most apt to move hardhearted relatives" (Med Soc V:56). See also T-S 8J20.26.

Letter from Yaʿaqov the physician (known as 'the effective'), in Shamṭūniyya, near Kūfa, Iraq, to his pupil and perhaps son-in-law Yūsuf, in Jūma Mazīdat (unidentified location; Gil suggests that it is also in Iraq, near Sūra). Dating: Probably beginning of the 11th century. Yaʿaqov reports that he arrived safely in Baghdad on the 15th of Tammuz. He looked for Mājid but was told that he had already come and gone before Shavuot, and he looked for Abū l-Riḍā b. al-Ṣadr al-Tājir al-Baghdādī but was told that he had traveled to Hamadān. Yaʿaqov is optimistic that these men will return with the ḥajj caravans. As for the two yeshivot, Yaʿaqov declined to join either one of them so as not to offend the other. He told them that he had made a vow to visit the graves of holy men (Gil suggests specifically the grave of Ezekiel). He then traveled to Shamṭuniyya, where he found everyone sick from an epidemic disease. The writer himself became ill with a swelling, probably an abscess, on his leg, from which he developed a fever and was bedbound for 17 days. His son Abū l-Barakāt then became ill with a very high constant fever ("like a blazing fire"). Yaʿaqov sent to Baghdad for materia medica and mixed the medicinal syrup (sharāb) for his son himself, which he gave him each day together with barley water (mā' al-shaʿīrūn). His son is now feeling better. At first they were staying in the house of Abū Saʿd 'the paqid' b. Khalaf (probably a relative, at least by marriage, see verso lines 4–5), but when he and his family became ill, they 'cut off' their guests, "and you know that the people of Shamṭuniyya, even when they are healthy, do not care for foreigners." The saving grace for Yaʿaqov was that the people of Shamṭuniyya needed his services as a physician. The geography of Shamṭūniyya/Shamṭūnya is also described by Golb as follows: "[T]his locality is now a ruin known as Tell el-Shamṭūnī, located to the south of Baghdad on the western side of the Tigris near Ctesiphon (al-Madāʾin)." Norman Golb, "A Marriage Deed from 'Wardūniā of Baghdad,'" JNES 43 no. 2 (1984), 154. VMR. 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).

Personal letter giving condolences on the occasion of the death of a little girl (presumably the daughter of the recipient) and reporting family news. (Information from Mediterranean Society, IV, pp. 97, 374; V, pp. 110, 536.) Also: "The daughter of Futūḥ al-Shamshūrī says that the wife of my paternal uncle fasts for her son because of his illness. But he has no illness (maraḍ) and nothing wrong with him (ba's), only his body is covered with little scabs (ḥuṣayfāt)." Dating: Probably early 13th century, based on the mention of Abū l-Futūḥ al-Shamshūrī in a letter by Shelomo b. Eliyyahu: Moss. VII,170.1. This letter also mentions the faqīh Jamāl al-Dīn, presumably the same as in Bodl. MS heb. c 28/64.

Legal testimony. In Arabic script. The witnesses have examined (bāsharū) the Jew Ibrāhīm b. Abū l-ʿAlāʾ, and found that he had developed leprosy (judhām) on account of a black humor (al-khilṭ al-sawdāwī) and is therefore banned from moving freely and conducting business among Muslims. Witnessed by Aḥmad b. Abū l-Ḥasan and Abū l-Ṭāhir b. Abū l-Ḥasan. Dated: First decade of Rabīʿ II 660 AH, which is February 1262 CE. (Information from Khan's edition.)