Request for Assistance

The unnamed sister of Yeshu‘a ibn Ismā‘īl al-Makhmūrī sent this Judeo-Arabic letter from Tripoli, Syria (now Lebanon), to request financial assistance from her brother. As was commonly done by both women and men, this letter was dictated to a scribe, as can be seen in its conclusion, where the scribe, ‘Alūsh, interjects with his own greetings. The sister, a widow, has suffered a series of financial and familial setbacks, some of which she hints at in this text.