2024 Messengers to Themselves: Private Letters from Jerusalem
This study highlights a unique phenomenon in 16th and 17th-century Jerusalem: "Messengers to Themselves" (שלוחים לעצמם), individuals who sought alms for personal survival. Unlike traditional emissaries who solicited funds for communal needs, these individuals carried letters from Jerusalem's leaders addressing personal crises such as poverty, dowry funds, or captivity. The letters reveal the precarious circumstances of Jerusalem's Jewish population during the Ottoman period and the community's reliance on diaspora networks.