Petition on Behalf of a Widowed Proselyte

To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice (Proverbs 21:3). And further: Ye shall love the stranger, for strangers [were ye in the land of Egypt] (Deuteronomy 10:19).

Repose and quietude, an abundance of peaceful tidings, knowledge, wisdom, and bounteous purity from the Creator of Spirits [to all those who tread] in faultless paths; a good name for those who walk in perfection; light and happiness to make glad the soul[s; the granting of inheritances] to all, through a third of the dust of the earth; and the building up of ruins, the foundation of spirits and the u[nitin]g of the inscribed happinesses. [To] our people, the nobles of our nation, the mighty ones of our masses, the congregation of the sons of Israel who [reside] in all their places of settle[ment], benefactors of nations, the tamarisk[s]‌ of the hosts of Israel, supporters of those in despair, offerers of benefits with goodly countenance, who “lift up [their bodies to the smiters] and their cheeks to them who make bald,” [see Isaiah 50:6], [to] those “who have said to their soul, ‘Bow down that we may pass over’” [see Isaiah 51:23]. All this has come upon them, yet they did not forget the Name of their Holy One [the Lord of Israel], may He lift up his ensign to the peoples, [may] He gather in our dispersed ones and bring together our scattered ones to His holy habitation, and may He plant us upon the mountain of our inheritance, as it is written: [For in My holy mountain, etc.] there shall they serve Me, etc. (Ezekiel 20:40). From us, the congregation of Monieux, the young of the flock (Jeremiah 49:20; 50:45), the oppressed and broken, who reside amidst d[ogs] . . . until we have been left, a few from many, as a bea[con upon the top of] a mountain, and as an ensign upon the hillock (Isaiah 30:17), to the heat by day and the frost by night (Jeremiah 36:30), h[enceforth may the Name of the Lord be] blessed forever and unto all eternity. Yet despite [the badness of] our oppression and the might of our distress, we offer pleadings, entreating the countenance of [our] K[ing to hasten the tidings of] gladness, to bind together our exiles and gather our dispersions together in the throne of glory on high from the beginning (Jeremiah 17:12), as it is written, And He will set up an ensign for [the nations, and will assemble the dispersed of Israel] (Isaiah 11:12).

We [hereby] inform our honorable lords of the matter of this widow the proselytess, whose husband was R. David, his soul rest in peace, of the members of the Narbonne community, [who was a member of the family of] R. Todros, his memory be for a blessing, in Narbonne. He came here six years ago to the day because of the matter of his wife, this proselytess, who had been a [Christian and entered the Covenant of] Holiness; she went forth from the house of her father, from great wealth and a distant land, and came on behalf of the Lord, and to take refuge under the wings of [the Shekinah. She left] her brothers and the great ones of her family, and was living in Narbonne; and R. David, the deceased person just mentioned, married her and was with her more than s[ix months, when he heard] that they were seeking her. So he fled with her to our place, until the Holy One decreed this persecution upon us, righteous is He and righteous . . . . [The husband was killed] in the synagogue and the two children were taken captive—a boy named Jacob and a girl named Justa, she being three years old [and all they owned was plundered.] The widow remained alive, weeping and crying because of her great degradation and poverty, there being no one to care for her; and there also remained alive unto her [a son of] . . . months. Thus was she left, in thirst and nakedness, lacking all provisions, and with no funds to pay for her [daily needs] and [those of] her orphaned son. So we have s[ought to turn to] our lords, to inform them of her oppressed state and her sorrow. And now, O our lords, lift up your eyes to heaven and take pity upon her poverty, her g[reat degradation and] her children who have been taken captive, and with regard to her husband who was slain. Perhaps the Lord of Hosts will be gracious (Amos 5:15) so that she may redeem them. So accept her with friendly [countenance and treat] her in the same goodly measure as you do every wayfarer and passerby [and you shall merit] for yourselves [life in the world to come, as it is said:] Call and the Lord will answer, beseech and He will say, “Here am I” (Isaiah 58:9). May the Holy One, blessed be He, answer all your requests] . . . as it is said: If I do not open unto you the windows of heaven and pour out upon you [a blessing, more than sufficiency (Malachi 3:10) . . . the Lord God] has spoken. He in his mercifulness will double your reward and will surely lead you in joy to the place of His glory.

Source: CUL T-S 16.100.