Avigdor Kara's Appeal Reconsidered: A Transcription and English Translation of a Begging Letter Written By a Late Medieval Scholar from Prague
Abstract
This paper presents a commented edition and English translation of a unique document preserved in the manuscript Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS heb. 242 - a letter written by Prague scholar Avigdor Kara (d. 1432). The brief letter (one manuscript folio) represents a poetic request for financial assistance addressed to members of an unspecified community and describes Kara's living conditions as a teacher of schoolchildren in the wake of an attack on the Jewish community in his place of residence.
The article analyses Kara's literary description of his occupation in the context of his intellectual interests, as attested in other texts. Furthermore, it suggests that the letter was written in the aftermath of the 1389 Easter attack against the Jews in Prague.
The presented edition of this document aims to correct the shortcomings of previous published versions and it supplements them by providing an English translation of the letter.