Scholarship on Letter: T-S 12.122

Recto

1. [...] the first among the foremost, He who is adorned with the crown, "Final and First,"
2. who hears the whispered voice and listens to utterance and tongue, may He guard them
3. "as the pupil (of one's eye)" (cf. Deuteronomy 32: 10), and make them to dwell with Naḥshon on high as at first,
4. men of truth, despisers of gain, doers of lovingkindness and pursuers of charity,
5. guardians of salvation whose bread is available to every wayfarer and passerby,
6. holy communities scattered to all (the world's) comers: may it be the will of
7. the Master of peace to make them dwell as a crown of peace. Now, our dignitaries and masters,
8. we, the community of Kiev, inform you of the troublesome affair of this Mar Jacob b.
9. Ḥanukkah, who is from a [good] family. He was of the givers and not of the
10. takers, until a cruel Fate was decreed against him, in that his brother went
11. and took mone[y] from gentiles; this Jacob stood surety. His brother went on the road, and there came
12. [bri]gands who slew him and took his money. Then came the creditors
13. [and t]ook this (man) Jacob captive, they put chains of iron on his neck
14. and fetters about his legs. He stayed there an entire year [... and after]ward
15.  we took him in surety; we paid out sixty [coins and there ye[t...]
16. remained forty coins; so we have sent him among the holy communities
17. that they might take pity on him. So now, O our masters, raise up your eyes to heaven
18. and do as is your goodly custom, for you know how great is the virtue
19. of charity. For "charity saves from death" (Proverbs 11:4). Nor are we as warners
20. but rather as those who remind. "It will be to your merit as an act of charity before the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 24:13).
21. You shall eat (the) fruits (thereof) in this world, and the capital fund (of merit) shall be yours perpetually in the world to come.
22. Only be strong and of good courage, and do not put our words behind
23. your back; and may the Omnipresent bless you and build Jerusalem in your days
24. and redeem you and also u[s] with you. A(men?) A(men?) A(men?) BQZ
25. Abraham the parnas [...]el bar MNS Reuben bar 
26. GWSTTʾ bar KhYBR (Khaybar?) Kohen Simson 
27. Judah, called SWRTH Ḥanukkah bar Moses 
28. QWFYN bar Joseph MNR bar Samuel Kohen 
29. Judah bar Isaac Levi Sinai bar Samuel 
30. Isaac the parnas 

Recto (in Turkish runes)

 HWQWRWM, "I have read (it)."