Geniza Lab

Late accounts, listing sales of garments and syrups, mostly to Yaʿaqov ʿAṭias, Yūsuf Seviliah, and Avraham al-Darʿī.

Will, in which the testator grants a lot of valuable property to various people in his family, including a kānūn sharābiyya (a syrup-maker's brazier?) and a female slave named עב[...] to one of the women in his family.

A miscellany. On recto there are very elaborate praises for God in Judaeo-Arabic. On verso there are three different keys to Hebrew ciphers. The first is the same as in Bodl. MS heb. f 102/28, the second is simply atbash, and the third is based on the mnemonic הקץ עצל דיך מנום כזב גרש פן תסף חטא, a Hebrew version of "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." On the facing page there is a prescription for a medicinal syrup ("sharāb mudabbir") (cf. Chipman, The World of Pharmacy and Pharmacists, p. 189).

Letter from Umm Abū ʿAlī, in the Rif, likely near Damīra, to her son Isḥāq, in Fustat. The latter may live with his aunt and uncle, as the letter is addressed to the writer's sister’s son, Abū l-Munā. The writer is ill, and she repeatedly tells Isḥāq to tell Umm Abū l-Munā to send myrobalan and a medicinal syrup back with the messenger, presumably to be furnished by Abu l-Muna’s father who is a maker of syrups (sharābī). Isḥāq's wife seems to be pregnant (the writer is waiting for "khalāṣ zawjatak"). The writer invites her sister Umm Abū l-Munā to visit her in the village by promising plenty of watermelons to eat. This letter is mentioned in Mediterranean Society, I, p. 121. The Arabic address reads: "yaṣil hādhā l-kitāb ilā waladī al-shaykh Abū l-Munā b. Abū Surrī al-sharābī min khālatihi Umm Abū ʿAlī ... dār al-wāzīr (or wāzīn?)." ASE.

Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: 12th or 13th century. Ordering drugs (ḥawā'ij ʿiṭr), some of which may be read on verso, such as quince syrup and rose syrup.

Letter from Natan b. Nahray to Abū ʿImrān Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy. Among other matters, Natan mentions that he has given 1 dinar each to Moshe the Judge and Yeḥezqel the Alexandrian, the two frail old men who wrote T-S 13J28.10 requesting charity from Mūsā b. Abī l-Ḥayy. Natan also mentions a medicinal syrup that he has asked Abū l-Afrāḥ to buy him. ASE.

Order. In Arabic script. Abū l-Munā is to give the boy some medicinal syrups (sharāb), including one ounce of rose syrup.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic. Mainly materia medica: sharāb (syrup); ṭabāshīr; samgh (=ṣamgh, gum); sabr (=ṣabr) soqoṭrī (=Socotrene aloe). Also mentions [...] b. al-Rūmiyya ('the son of the Byzantine woman').

Letter from a woman to a female family member. In Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions: Ibn al-Rayyis Abū l-B[arakāt] (=Shelomo b. Eliyyahu); the addressee's sister; "he does not read and does not pray..."; "I am at a loss..."; someone going up to the dīwān by foot; someone wasting his days in idleness; "yā sittī, here I am stuck with him..."; "the inflamed eye, and I have remained..."; "from al-Rayyis Eliyya (=Eliyyahu the Judge) all that we need..."; "my greatest need... for the cough and the syrup..."; expenses; a blanket; "I found that they had purchased wheat..."; regards to everyone in the family. ASE

Informal notes in Judaeo-Arabic, one on each side. Neither note seems complete. Recto: inviting al-Shaykh al-Nafīs to "come out (perhaps from Fustat to the Rif) and enjoy yourself." Verso: Asking the writer's father to kindly obtain for him an ounce and a half of raw quince syrup.

Document in Arabic script. Possibly a medical prescription: the word sharāb (syrup) appears in the first line, and words for weights (dirham and ūqiya) appear several times. There are two fragments under this shelfmark. The lower one is Arabic poetry

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 Avraham Ibn Miṣbāḥ, in Alexandria to Eliyyahu the Judge, in Fustat. Written in the hand of Avraham ha-Melammed b. Yefet. "I arrived in Alexandria with Manṣūr b. Simḥa ha-Kohen and found all the {orphan} children sick (marḍā tālifīn). They had taken on my account one dinar (?), and Manṣūr paid me 5 dinars." For some reason the money for the orphans has come out of the writer's account. The writer himself is in difficult straits; a judge wept when he heard the tale. He brought with him a letter of recommendation to show to Abū Surūr al-Kohen and somebody else, but they did not give him a response to the letter. Avraham reports that the orphans are praying on behalf of Eliyyahu that he will be rewarded for his good deeds with them. He does not have anything left of the 5 dinars, because he bought two thawbs and a blanket and the rest went to syrups (probably for the sick orphans). Eliyyahu is his patron; he repeatedly praises his generosity and reports how he praised him to various people in Alexandria. The writer has been waiting around in Alexandria for various officials to help him, and in the interim receives bread from the public distribution. He wants Eliyyahu to read this very letter to somebody else who will hopefully come to his aid. Some parts of the letter are quite difficult; merits further examination. Join: Oded Zinger. ASE.

Verso: List of names with numbers, distributions to individuals, followed, in another hand, by a list of arṭāl of some beverages (speficially: syrups/ashriba, including of quince/safarjal). MRC. ASE.

Accounts in Judaeo-Arabic, including for medicinal items such as syrups (sharāb) and oxymel (sakanjabīn). ASE.

Accounts of a merchant. Mentioning goods such as pepper (filfil), oil (dihn), cumin (kammūn), bitumen (qifār), brazilwood (baqqam), sugar and syrup (sukkar wa-sharāb). Mentioning names such as Abū Naṣr, Abū 'Alī, al-Shaykh al-Itrābulsi, and Abū l-Qāsim. ASE.

Recto: Letter fragment in Judaeo-Arabic. Mentions R. Yeshuʿa and instructions about taking a medicinal syrup. Verso: Order in Arabic script instructing the addressee to give the bearer something involving violets (banafsaj). Underneath there is the respectful opening of a letter in Judaeo-Arabic (in the hand of Shelomo b. Eliyyahu? Torn up and reused for this order?). (Information in part from CUDL)

Shelomo b. Eliyyahu asks Abu l-Ḥasan to give the (medicinal) syrup that he kindly cooked to the young boy for delivery. (Information from Goitein's index cards.)

Verso, with the address on recto: Letter from Madhkūr to Bū Yaʿqūb Yūsuf. In Judaeo-Arabic, with a ḥamdala in Arabic script at the end. He sends enclosed 1 1/8 dirhams as payment for a half raṭl of syrup (sharāb). Half should be [...] and half rose. If Abū l-Karam should arrive, he should hire a riding animal from Malīj. (Information in part from Goitein's index card.)