‘I developed a serious affliction upon my nose’

After a disfiguring disease afflicted this woman’s face, she wrote to the Jewish leader in Egypt, David son of Daniel, Nagid and Nasi, requesting charity. Because the number of charity cases was a drain on the finances of the larger communities, people needing help were often sent out to smaller towns and villages to be supported by the local Jewish congregations there.

Egypt, c. 1090 CE

Hebrew, paper

T-S 13J13.16

Extended captions