Letter to Jonathan ha-Kohen of Lunel

I, Moses, declare to you, priest and rabbi, R. Jonathan, that when your letter and questions reached me, I greatly rejoiced over them and said to myself, “Blessed be God, who has not left you without a redeemer” [see Ruth 4:4]. And I knew that my statements have reached someone who understands these matters and can comprehend their secrets and will analyze them properly. I said to myself, “He shall be a restorer of life for you, a nourisher of your old age” [see Ruth 4:15].

All your questions are good, your difficulties excellent. Fear not, for I am with you (Isaiah 43:5), and I have provided answers today to each and every one of your questions. As for the delay of several years in my responses—is it not due to worry over illness and the many other upheavals I have suffered? For about a year I have been sick, and even now, after my recovery, I am still suffering, although my condition is not life-threatening. I spend most of the day lying in bed, while the non-Jews have tied the burden of medical problems around my neck, sapping my strength, not leaving me a single hour for myself in the day or night. What can I do, when my reputation has spread throughout most lands? Furthermore, I am not the same as I was in my youth; rather, my strength has ebbed, my heart is failing, I am short of breath, my tongue is heavy, and my hand shakes to such an extent that writing even a short letter wears me out. Consequently, do not be upset that I have dictated the responses and some of my correspondence instead of writing them all in my own hand, as I do not have the time for it, with my weakness and shortness of breath, and because of the people who are constantly badgering me.

But I, Moses, declare to the honorable R. Jonathan ha-Kohen and to all the scholars and colleagues who read my writings that although You made me know the Torah before I was formed in the belly and before I came forth from the womb, You sanctified me to learn it, and You appointed me [see Jeremiah 1:5] to disperse abroad its springs [see Proverbs 5:16], and the Torah is my lovely hind [see Proverbs 5:19] and the wife of my youth [see Isaiah 54:6], in whose love I found delight from my early years. Nevertheless, strange women have become rival wives to her, women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and Heth. God knows that these were only taken at first to serve her as perfumers, cooks, and bakers [see 1 Samuel 8:13], to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she is extremely fair to look upon [see Esther 1:11]. Yet the time for intimacy with her was reduced, as my heart was split into myriad parts, in all fields of wisdom. O how I toiled day and night for some ten consecutive years to assemble this work! Great ones like you will realize what I have done, for I have gathered together many scattered and dispersed [see Esther 3:8] materials from the hills and mountains, and I have called them out, one of a city, and two of a family [see Jeremiah 3:14]. Now who can discern errors? (Psalms 19:13). Forgetfulness is found everywhere, especially among the elderly.

For all these reasons, it is proper to analyze my statements and examine my opinions. One who reads my work should not say: For what can the man do who comes after the king? (Ecclesiastes 2:12). Rather, I hereby grant him permission: And the king said: Let him come in (Esther 6:5). You have done me a great favor; you are scholars, and anyone who finds something and informs me is repaying me kindness until no stumbling block remains in this work, God forbid. My sole intention was to clear the paths and remove the stumbling blocks from before the students, so that they should not grow weak from the many discussions and come to err in their legal rulings.