History of the Jews, Vol. 4 (of 6)

We have a striking instance of the restless wanderings of the Jewish exiles in the life of one of the sufferers, who, though insignificant, became known to fame by his zeal to raise the courage of the unfortunate. To Isaac ben Abraham Akrish, a Spaniard, a great traveler and a bookworm (born about 1489, died after 1575), Jewish literature owes the preservation of many a valuable document. Akrish said, half in joke, half in earnest, that he must have been born in the hour when the planet Jupiter was passing through the zodiacal sign of the Fishes, a nativity which indicates a wandering life. For, though lame in both feet, he spent his whole life in traveling from city to city, on land and on sea. When a boy, Akrish was banished from Spain, and at Naples he underwent all the sufferings which seem to have conspired against the exiles. Thus he limped from nation to nation, "whose languages he did not understand, and who spared neither old men nor children," until in Egypt, in the house of an exile, he found a few years' rest. Who can follow all the wandering exiles, with sore feet, and still sorer hearts, until they somewhere found rest, or the peace of the grave?

But the very enormity of the misery they endured raised the dignity of the Sephardic Jews to a height bordering on pride. That they whom God's hand had smitten so heavily, so persistently, and who had undergone such unspeakable sorrow, must occupy a peculiar position, and belong to the specially elect, was the thought or the feeling existing more or less clearly in the breasts of the survivors. They looked upon their banishment from Spain as a third exile, and upon themselves as favorites of God, whom, because of His greater love for them, He had chastised the more severely. Contrary to expectation, a certain exaltation took possession of them, which did not, indeed, cause them to forget, but transfigured, their sufferings. As soon as they felt even slightly relieved from the burden of their boundless calamity, and were able to breathe, they rose with elastic force, and carried their heads high like princes. They had lost everything except their Spanish pride, their distinguished manner. However humbled they might be, their pride did not forsake them; they asserted it wherever their wandering feet found a resting-place. And to some extent they were justified. They had, indeed, since the growth of the tendency among Jews towards strict orthodoxy and hostility to science, and since their exclusion from social circles, receded from the high scientific position they had held, and forfeited the supremacy they had maintained during many centuries; yet they far surpassed the Jews of all other countries in culture, manners, and also in worth, as was shown by their external bearing and their language. Their love for their country was too great to allow them to hate the unnatural mother who had cast them out. Hence, wherever they went, they founded Spanish or Portuguese colonies. They carried the Spanish tongue, Spanish dignity and distinction to Africa, Syria, and Palestine, Italy and Flanders; wherever fate cast their lot they cherished and cultivated this Spanish manner so lovingly, that it has maintained itself to this day in full vigor among their descendants. Far from being absorbed by the rest of the Jewish population in countries which had hospitably received them, they considered themselves a privileged race, the flower and nobility of the Jewish nation, kept aloof from others, looked down upon them with contempt, and not unfrequently dictated laws to them. This arose from the fact that the Spanish and Portuguese Jews spoke the languages of their native countries (which by the discoveries and conquests of the sixteenth century had become the languages of the world) with purity, took part in literature, and associated with Christians on equal terms, with manliness, and without fear or servility. On this point they contrasted with the German Jews, who despised pure and beautiful speech, the very thing which constitutes a true man, and considered a corrupt jargon and isolation from the Christian world as proofs of religious zeal. The Sephardic Jews attached importance to forms of all kinds, to taste in dress, to elegance in their synagogues, as well as to the medium for the exchange of thought. The Spanish and Portuguese rabbis preached in their native tongues, and laid great stress on pure pronunciation and euphony. Hence their language did not degenerate, at least not in the first centuries after their expulsion. "In the cities of Salonica, Constantinople, Alexandria, Cairo, Venice, and other resorts of commerce, the Jews transact their business only in the Spanish language. I have known Jews of Salonica who, though still young, pronounced Castilian as well as myself, and even better." This is the judgment of a Christian writer about half a century after their expulsion.

The contempt which even Isaac Abrabanel, mild and broken though he was, entertained for the barbarous jargon spoken by German Jews is characteristic. He was surprised to discover in a letter, sent to him by Saul Cohen of Candia, a native of Germany, a finished Hebrew style and close reasoning, and freely expressed his astonishment: "I am surprised to find so excellent a style among the Germans (Jews), which is rare even among their leaders and rabbis, however gifted they may be in other respects. Their language is full of awkwardness and clumsiness, a stammering without judgment." This superiority of the Jews of Spanish descent in culture, bearing, social manners, and knowledge of the world, was appreciated and admired by other Jews, especially by German Jews, with whom they everywhere came into contact. Hence Spanish Jews could presume to play the rôle of masters, and frequently, in spite of their paucity of numbers, they dominated a majority speaking other tongues. In the century after their expulsion they are almost exclusively the leaders; the names of their spokesmen are heard everywhere; they furnished rabbis, authors, thinkers and visionaries, whilst German and Italian Jews occupied a humble place. In all countries, except Germany and Poland, into which they had not penetrated, or only as solitary individuals, the Sephardic Jews were the leaders.

The northern coast of Africa, and the inhabitable regions inland, were full of Jews of Spanish descent. They had congregated there in great numbers during the century from the persecution of 1391 to their total expulsion. From Safi (Assafi), the most southwestern town of Morocco, to Tripoli in the northeast, there were many communities, of varying numbers, speaking the Spanish language. Though mostly hated, arbitrarily treated, and often compelled by petty barbarian tyrants and the uncivilized, degenerate Moorish population to wear a disgraceful costume, yet prominent Jews found opportunities to distinguish themselves, to rise to high honors and acquire widespread influence. In Morocco a rich Jew, learned in history, who had rendered important services to the ruler of that country, was held in high esteem. At Fez, where there existed a community of five thousand Jewish families, who monopolized most trades, Samuel Alvalensi, a Jew of Spanish descent, was greatly beloved by the king, on account of his ability and his courage, and so trusted by the populace that it accepted him as its leader. In the struggle between the two reigning families, the Merinos and the Xerifs, he sided with the former, led one thousand four hundred Jews and Moors against the followers of the latter, and defeated them at Ceuta. A very numerous Jewish community of Spanish descent occupied the greater portion of Tlemçen, or Tremçen, an important town, where the court resided. Here Jacob Berab (born 1474, died 1541), fleeing from Spain, found a refuge. He was one of the most active men among the Spanish emigrants, and the most acute rabbi of his age. At the same time, he was a crusty, dogmatical and quarrelsome man, who had many enemies, but also many admirers. Born at Maqueda, near Toledo, Jacob Berab, after passing through many dangers, suffering want, hunger and thirst, reached Tlemçen, whence he went to Fez, the Jewish community of which chose him, a needy youth, for their rabbi, on account of his learning and sagacity. There he conducted a college until the fanatic Spaniards made conquests in northern Africa, and disturbed the quiet asylum that the Jews had found there.

The reduced community of Algiers was under the direction of Simon Duran II, a descendant of the Spanish fugitives of 1391 (born 1439, died after 1510), a son of Solomon Duran, the rabbi with philosophic culture. Like his brother, he was considered in his day a high rabbinical authority, and the advice of both was sought by many persons. Of as noble a disposition as his father, Simon Duran was the protector of his co-religionists and the sheet-anchor of the Spanish exiles who came within his reach, for he shunned neither cost nor danger when the religion, morals and safety of his compatriots were in question. Fifty fugitive Jews, who had suffered shipwreck, had been cast on the coast of Seville, where the fanatical Spaniards, in accordance with the edict, put them into prison, and kept them there for two years. They were in daily expectation of death, but finally they were pardoned – that is to say, sold for slaves. As such they reached Algiers in a deplorable condition; but by the exertions of Simon Duran they were redeemed for the sum of seven hundred ducats, which the small community managed to collect.

Two eminent Spanish Jews, the aged historian and astronomer, Abraham Zacuto, and a younger man, Moses Alashkar, found a refuge at Tunis. Zacuto, who had taught mathematics and astronomy to Christian and Mahometan pupils in Spain, and whose published writings were widely read and made use of, was nevertheless compelled to wander about like an outlaw, and had only with difficulty escaped death. He seems to have spent some quiet years at Tunis, where he completed his more celebrated than useful chronicle ("Sefer Yochasin," 1504), history it cannot be called. It is an epitome of Jewish history, with especial reference to the literature of the Jews. It has the merit of having promoted historical research among Jews, but lacks artistic arrangement and completeness. It is a mere compilation from works accessible to the writer, who has even failed to give a complete sketch of the history of his own times, the sufferings of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews. Zacuto's chronicle was a child of his old age and misery; he wrote it with a trembling hand, in fear of impending events, and without sufficient literary materials. On this account it must be judged leniently.

A contemporary of Zacuto at Tunis was Moses ben Isaac Alashkar, as deeply learned a Talmudist as his teacher, Samuel Alvalensi. He was a correct thinker, and devoid of narrow one-sidedness. He plunged into the dark labyrinths of the Kabbala, yet, at the same time, raised his eyes to the bright heights of philosophy – a mental mésalliance possible in those days. Alashkar even defended Maimuni and his philosophical system against the charge of heresy brought by obscurantists.

Terrified by the perils which the Spanish arms foreboded to the Jews of northern Africa, Zacuto and Alashkar, with many others, appear to have quitted Tunis. They were but too well acquainted with the cruelties practiced against Jews by the ultra-Catholic Spaniards. The former went to Turkey, where he died shortly after his arrival (before 1515). Alashkar fled to Egypt, where his extensive learning and wealth secured for him an honorable position.

Egypt, especially its capital, Cairo, had become the home of many Jewish-Spanish fugitives, who had in a short time acquired an influence surpassing that of the original Jewish inhabitants. On their arrival, all the Jewish communities were, as of old, ruled by a Jewish chief justice or prince (Nagid, Reis). The office was then held by the noble and rich Isaac Cohen Shalal, a man of upright character, learned in the Talmud, who employed his wealth and the high esteem in which he was held by all, even including the Egyptian Mameluke sultan, for the benefit of his community and the fugitives who settled in their midst. He impartially promoted deserving men of the Spanish immigration to offices, whereby they gradually obtained paramount influence. The Spanish scholar, Samuel Sidillo (or Sid, Ibn-Sid), a disciple of the last Toledan rabbi, Isaac de Leon, highly venerated in his day on account of his piety and his profound rabbinical knowledge, found a refuge at Cairo. A Spanish fugitive who acquired still higher distinction was David Ibn-Abi Zimra (born 1470, died about 1573). A disciple of the mystic Joseph Saragossi, he was rich in knowledge and virtues, as well as in property and distinguished descendants, and he soon outshone the natives, acquiring the reputation of being the highest rabbinical authority in Egypt. Many other Spanish rabbinical scholars found rest in Egypt; to those already named, including Jacob Berab and Moses Alashkar, we may add Abraham Ibn-Shoshan, all eventually becoming official rabbis.

Political changes in Egypt placed the Spaniards at the head of the Jewish communities in that country. The land of the Nile, together with Syria and Palestine, whose conquest was so difficult a task for the sultans of Constantinople, finally became the well-secured prey of Selim I, who won a splendid victory over the Mameluke sultan in a decisive battle not far from Aleppo (1517). His march from Syria to Egypt was a triumphal progress. Selim spent the summer of that year in remodeling the order of things in Egypt, reducing it to a real dependency of Turkey, turning it, in fact, into a province, ruled by a viceroy, a pasha entirely devoted to him. Abraham de Castro, a Jew of Spanish descent, was appointed by Selim master of the mint for the new Turkish coinage, and, by his wealth and influence, he acquired great weight among Turkish officials and the Egyptian Jews. De Castro was very benevolent; he annually spent three thousand gold florins in alms, and in every way took lively interest in the affairs of his co-religionists.

Selim, or his viceroy, appears to have introduced an entirely new order into the management of the Egyptian Jews. For ages a chief rabbi and judge had ruled all the communities; the person holding the office had possessed a kind of princely power, similar to that formerly exercised by the princes of the exile in Babylon. The chief rabbi or prince (Nagid) nominated the rabbis of the communities, had the supreme decision of disputes among Jews, confirmed or rejected every new regulation, was even authorized to decree corporal punishment for offenses and crimes committed by Jews under his jurisdiction. From these functions he derived a considerable revenue, but all this ceased with the Turkish conquest. Every community was thenceforth declared independent in the election of its head, and allowed to manage its own affairs. The last Jewish-Egyptian prince or chief rabbi was deposed from his dignity, and betook himself with his riches to Jerusalem, where he became a benefactor of its growing community. The office of rabbi of Cairo was bestowed on the Spanish immigrant David Ibn-Abi Zimra, on account of his upright character, learning, benevolent disposition, and chiefly, probably, on account of his wealth. His authority rose to such a degree that he could venture to abolish a very ancient custom, which excessive conservatism had dragged along from century to century, like a dead limb. The Babylonian Jews had more than eighteen hundred years before adopted the Syrian or Seleucidan chronology (Minyan Yavanim, Minyan Shetaroth), in memory of the victory of the Syrian king Seleucus over the other generals of Alexander the Great. The Syrian empire and the Seleucidæ had perished long ago, Syria had by turns become the prey of Romans, Byzantines, Mahometans, Mongols and Turks; nevertheless, the Babylonian and Egyptian Jews had retained that chronology, employing it not only in historical records and secular papers, but also in the dating of documents of divorce and similar deeds. Whilst the Jews of Palestine and of Europe had gradually adopted other chronologies, as "After the Destruction of the Temple," or "Since the Creation" (æra mundi), the Babylonian and Egyptian Jews so pertinaciously adhered to the Seleucidan era as to declare invalid every letter of divorce not so dated. Ibn-Abi Zimra abolished this antiquated chronology, as far as Egypt was concerned, introducing in its stead the already accepted mode of reckoning from the Creation, and his innovation met with no opposition. The ascendency of the immigrant Sephardic Jews over the majority of the original community (the Mostarabi) was so great and so well established, that the former, in spite of the objections of the latter, succeeded in the bold attempt to abolish an ancient and beautiful custom, introduced by Maimuni himself. The Mostarabian Jews for more than three centuries had been accustomed to have the chief prayer said aloud in the synagogue, by the reader (Chazan), without themselves participating in it. But to the pious immigrants from the Peninsula this custom, though promoting decorum and devotion, appeared illegal, anti-Talmudic, if not heretical, and they zealously set to work to abolish it. Terrible sufferings had hardened the hearts of the Sephardic Jews, and they were but too ready to exercise the utmost severity in religious matters, and slavishly to follow the letter. The rabbi, David Ibn-Abi Zimra, was their leader.

During his term of office a great danger hovered over the Cairo community. The fourth viceroy of Egypt, Achmed Shaitan (Satan), harbored the design of severing Egypt from Turkey, and making himself its independent master. Having succeeded in his first measures, he proposed to the Jewish superintendent of the mint, Abraham de Castro, to have his name placed on the coins. De Castro pretended compliance, but asked for a written order. Having obtained it he secretly left Egypt, and hastened to the court of Solyman I, at Constantinople, to inform the sultan of the treacherous design of the pasha, which was thus frustrated. Achmed vented his rage on the Jews, threw some of them, probably De Castro's friends and relatives, into prison, and permitted the Mamelukes to plunder the Jewish quarter of Cairo. He then sent for twelve of the most eminent Jews, and commanded them within a short time to find an exorbitant sum of money, threatening them, in case of non-compliance, with a cruel death for themselves and their families. For greater security he retained them as hostages. To the supplications of the Jewish community for mercy and delay, the tyrant replied by more terrible threats. In their hopelessness the Jews of Cairo turned in fervent prayer to God. Meanwhile the collectors had got together a considerable sum, which they offered as a payment on account. But as it scarcely amounted to the tenth part of Achmed's demand, his private secretary had the collectors put in irons, and threatened them, and all the members of the community, with certain death on that very day, as soon as his master left his bath. At the very moment when the secretary uttered these words, the pasha was attacked in his bath by Mahomet Bey, one of his vizirs, and some other conspirators, and severely wounded. Achmed Shaitan made good his escape from the palace, but was betrayed, overtaken, cast into fetters and then beheaded. The imprisoned Jews were set free, and their community escaped a great peril. The Egyptian Jews for a long period afterwards commemorated the day of their deliverance (Adar 27th or 28th, 1524 – a Cairoan Purim, Furin al-Mizrayim).

By the immigration of Spaniards and Portuguese, Jerusalem and other Palestinian cities also obtained a great increase of members to their congregations, and considerable importance. Here, too, the immigrants in a short time became the social and religious leaders. In the very brief period of seven years the number of Jewish families in the Holy City grew from scarcely seventy to two hundred, and again within the space of two decades (1495-1521), it rose from two hundred to fifteen hundred. The influx of new settlers had largely augmented the prosperity of the Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem. Whilst formerly nearly all the members of the community were in a state of destitution, three decades afterwards there were only two hundred receiving alms. And what is of greater importance, morality was greatly benefited by the immigrants. Jerusalem was no longer the den of robbers found by Obadyah (Obadiah) di Bertinoro (1470–1520), who had immigrated from Italy. The members of the community were no longer harassed to death, and driven to despair or voluntary exile by a rapacious, tyrannical and treacherous faction; harmony, union, a sense of justice, and peace had found an abode with them. There was indeed a show of excessive piety, but it no longer flagrantly contrasted with a revoltingly immoral mode of life. Obadyah di Bertinoro, the gentle and amiable Italian preacher, had greatly contributed to this improvement of the moral tone of Jerusalem; for more than two decades he taught the growing community, by precept and example, genuine piety, nobility of sentiment and relinquishment of barbarian coarseness. After his arrival at Jerusalem, he wrote to his friends: "If there were in this country one sagacious Jew, who knew how to lead a community gently and justly, not Jews only, but also Mahometans would willingly submit to him, for the latter are not at all hostile to the Jews, but full of consideration for strangers. But there is not one Jew in this country possessing either sense or social virtues; all are coarse, misanthropical and avaricious." Bertinoro did not anticipate that he himself would soften that coarseness, improve the morals, mitigate that immorality, ennoble that baseness. But his genial, amiable manner disarmed evil and healed the sores he had discovered, lamented, and pitilessly exposed. Obadyah was the guardian angel of the Holy City, he cleansed it from pollution, and clothed it with a pure festival garment. "Were I to attempt proclaiming his praise," writes an Italian pilgrim to Jerusalem, "I should never cease. He is the man who is held in the highest esteem in the country; everything is done according to his orders, and no one dares gainsay his words. From all parts he is sought after and consulted; his merits are acknowledged by Egyptians and Babylonians, and even Mahometans honor him. Withal, he is modest and humble; his speech is gentle; he is accessible to every one. All praise him and say: He is not like an earthly being. When he preaches every ear listens intently; not the least sound is heard, his hearers are so silently devout." Exiles from the Pyrenean Peninsula supported him in his humane work.

To the intervention of Obadyah di Bertinoro, and of those who shared his opinions, probably were due the excellent ordinances which the community voluntarily imposed on itself, and for remembrance graved on a tablet in the synagogue. They were directed against the abuses which had crept in by degrees. These ordinances included amongst others the following decrees: In disputes between Jews, the Mahometan authorities are to be applied to only in the utmost necessity. The Jewish judge or rabbi is not to be allowed to compel wealthy members of the community to make advances for communal wants. Students of the Talmud and widows shall not contribute to the communal funds. Jews are not to purchase bad coin, and, if they acquire any accidentally, are not to pass it. The pilgrims to the grave of the prophet Samuel are not to drink wine, for men and women traveled together, the latter unveiled, and if the men had been excited by wine, great mischief might have ensued.

The Holy City acquired still higher importance by the immigration of Isaac Shalal, with his riches, experience, and authority.

Safet in Galilee, the youngest town of Palestine, next to Jerusalem acquired the largest Jewish population and considerable importance, which increased to such a degree that Safet not only rivaled, but excelled the mother-city. At the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the next century it sheltered only some three hundred Jewish families, original inhabitants (Moriscos), Berbers, and Sephardim. It did not at first possess any eminent native expounder of the Talmud, who might have become a leader. It owed its importance and far-reaching influence to the arrival of a Spanish fugitive, under whose direction the community was strengthened. Joseph Saragossi became for Safet what Obadyah di Bertinoro had been for Jerusalem. Driven from Saragossa, he passed through Sicily, Beyrout and Sidon, in which latter place he resided for some time, and finally reached Safet, where he settled. Joseph Saragossi possessed a mild, fascinating character, and considered it the task of his life to preach peace and restore harmony in private and communal life. Even among Mahometans he worked in a conciliating and appeasing spirit, and on this account he was loved and revered as an angel of peace. At one time he wished to leave Safet. The inhabitants fairly clung to him, and promised him an annual salary of fifty ducats, two thirds of which the Mahometan governor of the town offered to furnish. Joseph Saragossi transplanted the study of the Talmud to Safet, and also that of the Kabbala, as he was an ultra-pious mystic. Through him the hitherto untainted community became a nest of Kabbalists.