Medical Responsum

Unknown

12th or 13th Century

About This Entry

This Judeo-Arabic medical inquiry, sent from patient to physician, asks about diet and bathing practices but does not describe the symptoms or disease, which were probably already known to the doctor from earlier written or oral exchanges. Using natural substances as a remedy was a frequent feature of medieval medical treatments. This document, found in the Cairo Geniza, has the query on one side of the paper and the answer on the other.

Question: My master, what is the amount I can eat from the bread? And can I enter the bath house a bit? May your well-being be elevated. Also, what drink can I have at different times? Can I drink much water if I need it? And [may] peace [be upon you].

Answer: From the bread—eat only a bit. And bathing is not proper for one day. And the drink—apples soaked in roses and you should consume it with sorrel and apples, rose or lemon tablets. The water should be made with Tabashir, and a few seeds of garden purslane washed, crushed then [?]‌ bind in bandage, and drink a bit each time. And may the doctor of the sick heal you.

Source: CUL T-S AS 152.34.

Translated by Amir Ashur and Efraim Lev.

Notes

Words in brackets appear in the original translation.

Credits

Unknown, Medical Responsum, trans. Amir Ashur and Efraim Lev, in Amir Ashur and Efraim Lev, “New Genizah Documents: Three Fragments on Practical Medicine in Medieval Egypt,” Ginzei Qedem, vol. 9 (2013): 9–35 (27). With the gracious permission of Dr. Albert D. and Mrs. Nancy Friedberg, The Friedberg Jewish Manuscript Society (FJMS) and The Friedberg Genizah Project (FGP).

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.