Scholarship on Letter: T-S 13J18.14

Recto

1. Your slave Yaḥyā the Alexandrian

2. b. ʿAmmār 

3. In (your) name O M[e]rc(iful)

4. “Happy is he who is thoughtful of the wretched; in bad times may (the Lord) keep him from harm” (Psalm 41:2).

5. May the Creator, may His mention be exalted and His names be sanctified, answer the pious prayer for your excellency the illustrious elder Abuʾ l-ʿAlā

6. Ṣāʿid, (your) h(onor,) g(reatness), ho (liness), (our) ma(ster) and t(eacher) ʿUlla ha-Levi the Trustee, Trustee of the Court and Favorite to the Yeshiva,

7. and make you always one of the besought rather than a beseecher and protect you from what you fear. May He grant that we witness the joy

8. of seeing children of your children, may He not deprive you of good success, and may He be your help and salvation, for the sake of His great name,

9. and s[o] may it be His will. Your slave informs you that I am an [A]l[ex]andrian who has

10. never [b]een in the habit of taking from anyone nor of uncovering his face to anyone.

11. I have been earning a livelihood, just managing to get by. I have responsibility for children and a family

12. and an old mother, [a]dvanced in years and blind. I incurred losses because of d[e]bts owed to

13. Muslims in Alexa[ndria]. I remained in hiding, unable to appear in public, to the point that my mind became racked by the situation.

14. Unable to [go out], I began watching my children and old mother starve. My heart could not bear to let me sit and watch them in

15. this state. So I fled, seeking re[f]uge in God's mercy and the kindness of the Jewish community (lit. "Israel"). [As of to]day it has been a (long) time since

16. I have been able to get any bread. One of my creditors arrived and I went back into hiding I heard that your excellency

17. has a heart for his fellows Jews and is a generous person, who acts

18. to receive reward (from God) and seeks to do good work[s], so I throw myself before God and you to help me against the vicissitudes of Time and furnish me

19. something to eat and something to bring back to my family, // including the widow of the elder Abuʾl-Ḥasan b. Masʿūd and her sister and the daughter of her maternal aunt, the widow of the elder Salāma b. [S]aʿīd, and others, // and my children and old mother, and to pay some of my debts. In fact,

20. your slave has just heard that his old mother has been injured and I fear that her t[im]e has come near because of me and that I will not be rewarded by seeing her; rather, an unrequited desire will remain

21. in my heart and in hers. So do with me what will bring you close to God,

22. be [p]raised, and ear[n] reward (for helping) me and her and my children. To you, may God

23. perpetuate your high rank, belongs the lofty decision concerning what to do for your humble slave. And may the welfare of your excellency increase forever. Great salvation.