Letter to David ben Daniel ha-Nasi

This Hebrew letter was composed by a woman with leprosy, apparently from outside the Cairo community. The document is unusual, for it preserves a woman’s voice (although dictated to a scribe, as was common for both women and men) and includes her own description of her body. It is possible that the scribe added the scriptural quotations. She asks a leading member of Egyptian Jewry, David ben Daniel ben ‘Azariah (served as exilarch 1082–1094), to arrange a pesikah, a charitable fundraiser, to alleviate her plight. Her case illustrates the difficult situation of a woman with no family and few funds; among her limited options for improving her situation was to appeal to the leaders of her community. Ellipses indicate lacunae in the manuscript.