The leaders of the community lament their insufferable condition in this letter: “They cry out because the crisis has grown as big as the sea; it has been three years now of famine in this Land, each year it increases; there is no bread in the entire Land, small children and babies beg and demand a small slice of bread to sustain themselves, and we don’t even have livelihood for one day, we are the image of soulless corpses, as such, have pity and be filled with mercy …”
Nine personages signed the letter, with the final signatory being: Rabbi Petachyah Mordechai Ashkenazi of the Katzelboigen family, Jerusalem’s emissary to Italy.
This letter is a copy which was made in Verona upon receipt of the original letter, per the request of Jerusalem residents, that they copy the letter and distribute it. (Refer to A. Ya’ari Shluchei Eretz Yisrael pp. 523-524, and in note 14.)
Leaf white paper 30×22 cm. Oriental script. Very fine condition.