Scholarship on Letter: Bodl. MS heb. b 11/7

1. In Your name, You Merciful. 
2. If I attempted to describe my longing for you, my Lord, my brother and cousin, 
3. – may God prolong your days and make permanent your honour, success, happiness, health, 
4. and welfare; and [. . .] subdue your enemies – all the paper in the world would not suffice. My longing will but increase 
5. and double, just as the days will grow and double. May the Creator of the World presently 
6. make us meet together in joy when I return under His guidance to my homeland and to the inheritance of my Fathers in complete 
7. happiness, so that we rejoice and be happy through His great mercy 
8. and His vast bounty; and thus may be His will ! You may remember, my Lord, that many years ago 
9. I left our country to seek God's mercy and help in my poverty, 
10. to behold Jerusalem and return thereupon. However, when I was in Alexandria 
11. God brought about circumstances which caused a slight delay. Afterwards, however,
12. " the sea grew stormy," and many armed bands made their appearance in Palestine;
13. " and he who went forth and he who came had no peace," so that hardly one survivor out of a whole group 
14. came back to us from Palestine and told us that scarcely anyone could save himself 
15. from those armed bands, since they were so numerous and were gathered round 
16. …  every town. There was further the journey through the desert, among 
17. [the bedouins] and whoever escaped from the one, fell into the hands of the other. Moreover, mutinies 
18. [spread throughout the country and reached] even Alexandria, so that we ourselves were besieged several times and the city was ruined; 
19. . . . the end however was good, for the Sultan – may God bestow glory upon his victories – conquered the city 
20. and caused justice to abound in it in a manner unprecedented in the 
21. history of any king in the world; not even a dirham 
22. was looted from anyone. Thus I had come to hope that because of his justice and strength God would give the 
23. land into his hands, and I should thereupon go to Jerusalem in safety and tranquillity. For this reason I proceeded from Alexandria 
24. to Cairo, in order to start [my journey] from there. When, however, God had given Jerusalem, the blessed, into his hands 
25. this state of affairs continued for too short a time to allow for making a journey there.
26. The Franks arrived and killed everybody in the city, whether of Ishmael or of Israel;
27. and the few who survived the slaughter were made prisoners. Some of these have been ransomed since, 
28. while others are still in captivity in all parts of the world. 
29. Now, all of us had anticipated that our Sultan – may God bestow glory upon his victories – would set out against them [the Franks] with 
30. his troops and chase them away. But time after time our hope failed. Yet, to this very
31. present moment we do hope that God will give his [the Sultan's] enemies into his hands. For it is inevitable that the armies will join in battle this year; 
32. and, if God grants us victory through him [the Sultan] and he conquers Jerusalem – and so it may be, with God's will – 
33. I for one shall not be amongst those who will linger, but shall go there to behold the city; and shall afterwards return  
34. straight to you – if God wills it. My salvation is in God, for this 
35. [is unlike] the other previous occasions [of making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem]. God, indeed, will exonerate me, 
36. since at my age I cannot afford to delay and wait any longer; 
37. I want to return home under any circumstances, if I still remain alive – whether I shall have seen 
38. Jerusalem or have given up the hope of doing it – both of which are possible. 
39. You know, of course, my Lord, what has happened to us in the course of the last five years: the plague, the illnesses, 
40. and ailments have continued unabated for four successive years. As a result of this the wealthy became impoverished 
41. and a great number of people died of the plague, so that entire families 
42. perished in it. I, too, was affected with a grave illness, from which I recovered only
43. about a year ago; then I was taken ill the following year so that 

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for four years I have remained [. .]. He who has said: The evil diseases of Egypt [Deut. vii, 15] . . . he who hiccups does not live . . . ailments and will die . . . otherwise . . . will remain alive.