Letter: BL OR 10794.15

Description

Family letter in Hebrew. The writer consoles the recipient (perhaps his brother, see line 2) on a loss. Then he writes, "From the day you gave your daughter to the man, it seems to me that I have not had a single good week due to the quarrels and indignities that are between you (pl.), because I cannot bear to hear these things. If I had been able to leave the place without anyone's knowledge, I would have left from the great pain that was in my heart. I said in my heart, 'Woe is us from the sins, I don't have... sons or daughters...." A significant portion of the letter is torn off at this point. On verso he describes how God saved him from some trouble, and it seems that the recipient has wanted him to write to his wife so that she would come back to him, but the news in the city is nothing but disasters, so he is not going to write until conditions are better. This reading is somewhat speculative, and the relationships between the writer, the recipient, the daughter, the wives, and the people who were fighting are all ambiguous. ASE.