Letter: Halper 406

Description

Letter from (perhaps) Shelomo b. Moshe Lanyado to Shemuel Lanyado. Dated Shevat 5485 AM, which is 1725 CE. The letter is in Judaeo-Arabic but uses the Ladino "senyor" and "senyora" and איל שי״ת (=el shem yitbarakh; the definite article is probably Ladino because this writer consistently writes אל for the Judaeo-Arabic definite article). The writer reports on a difficult illness that befell him and his financial need and hunger and debts. A certain Yiṣḥaq Shalom helped him in his distress. He is still in great need and asks the addressee to send him money lest he die of hunger. It is possible to see how the letter was folded and what was written on each fold. On the middle fold, the name Shelomo b. Moshe Lanyado appears; this is in a different hand from the letter. It may be (but is not necessarily) the name of the writer. The address to Shemuel Lanyado appears on the outermost fold. On verso there is an ex-libris signature of the addressee (citing a barayta: "the rabbis taught (tanu rabbanan) that one ought to put his name on his books/letters. . . .). Information in part from FGP.