Part III

By 1211, sizable numbers of Torah scholars from Europe and North Africa immigrated to Palestine, historian Aryeh Morgenstern noted. Called the “aliyah of the 300 rabbis” because of its composition and the amount of Jews it attracted, the aliyah included Rabbi Samson of Schantz, a foremost French Talmudic scholar; Rabbi Jonathan Hacohen of Lunel of Provence; and Rabbi Moses ben Nahman (Nahmanides), Spanish-born philosopher and scholar. Little is known about this aliyah except that some Jews settled in Jerusalem.

Morgenstern said that when Acre fell to the Muslims in 1291, they destroyed its considerable Jewish community along with the yeshiva of Rabbi Yehiel of Paris. The constant battles and fluctuations of rule between the Muslims and Crusaders was a key reason why the Jewish communities in Palestine had so much difficulty in establishing themselves. Tragically, the aliyah failed. Although another aliyah was not attempted for a while, it set the precedent for future immigration.

Jews as Guides

Christian travelers visiting the Holy Land often used Jews as guides for their competent knowledge of the land, observed historian Martin Gilbert. Jacques of Verona, a monk who visited in 1335, wrote about the deep-rooted Jewish community he found in Jerusalem near Mount Zion: “A pilgrim who wished to visit ancient forts and towns in the Holy Land would have been unable to locate these without a good guide who knew the Land well or without one of the Jews who lived there. The Jews were able to recount the history of these places since this knowledge had been handed down from their forefathers and wise men. So when I journeyed overseas I often requested and managed to obtain an excellent guide among the Jews who lived there.”

Following the surge of persecution in Europe, the immigration of large numbers of Jews from Italy prompted a papal order in 1428 forbidding sea captains from transporting Jews to Palestine, followed by similar proclamations in Venice and Sicily.

Gilbert said the Vatican feared an increase of Jews in the Holy Land because the Jews of Jerusalem had tried to wrest control of the Tomb of King David on Mount Zion from the Franciscan order by obtaining the site from the Muslim authorities. The dispute ended with the Franciscans being removed and the Jews failing to keep their hold on the site. Still, the Jews managed to buy a large amount of property in a new area of Jerusalem on the “Street of the Jews’ Synagogue,” known today as the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. Building a synagogue, which was a violation of Islamic law, demonstrated Jewish confidence. According to a document from 1245, an Islamic court accepted a Jewish claim that a synagogue existed on the site many years before and agreed that it remain in possession of the Jews.

Jewish Presence in the Holy Land

Throughout the 15th century, a Jewish presence in the Holy Land impressed Christian observers, Gilbert pointed out. In 1486, Bernhard von Breidenbach, dean of Mainz Cathedral, remarked that Jews in Hebron and Jerusalem “will treat you in full fidelity—more so than anyone else in those countries of the unbelievers.”

Life under the Muslims had become severe and intolerant, noted Martin Kabtanik, a pilgrim from Bohemia, while on a visit to Jerusalem. In his “Journey to Jerusalem,” he wrote:

There are few Christians but there are many Jews, and these the Moslems persecute in various ways. Christians and Jews go about in Jerusalem in clothes considered fit only for wandering beggars. The Moslems know that the Jews think and even say that this is the Holy Land which has been promised to them and that those Jews who dwell there are regarded as holy by Jews elsewhere, because in spite of all the troubles and sorrows inflicted on them by the Moslems, they refuse to leave.

The growth in the Jewish community in Jerusalem was short-lived, observed Morgenstern. A prohibitive increase in taxes compelled many Jews to sell their property. After Muslims were unable to persuade the Mamluk sultan in Cairo to demolish the synagogue on the Street of the Jews, they simply razed it themselves in 1474. Had it not been for the government of Egypt, the Muslims would have thrown the Jews out of the city as well. Jewish hopes that this period would usher in their impending redemption ended with this and other actions against the community.

Jewish Mysticism and
The Code of Jewish Law

The most well-known messianic aliyah involving the migration of thousands of families from Europe to the northern town of Safed, occurred during the years prior to 1540, Morgenstern added. By 1530, there were 10,000 Jews living around the city, mostly Sephardim, noted Gilbert. This number grew to about 20,000 in the early 17th century and may have even reached 30,000, according to historian Hillel Ben Sasson. In Jerusalem, Gilbert said, the Jews built four synagogues where Jews worshiped continuously for 400 years, destroyed only in the 1948 war.

Morgenstern stated that a new group of immigrants who were centered in Safed, produced some of the most significant works of Judaism: the Shulchan Aruch and Beit Yosef, the authoritative code of Jewish law, by Rabbi Joseph Karo, and the kabbalistic work of Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Ari) that transformed Jewish mysticism and became the foundation of the Hasidic movement in the 18th century.

Other leading scholars and kabbalists left their mark, as well, Morgenstern said. Rabbi Jacob Berab, one of the greatest Spanish scholars of the period, attempted to reinstitute rabbinic ordination (semicha) through which the Sanhedrin could be restored in preparation for redemption. Semicha was a prerequisite for appointment to the Sanhedrin. With the approval of 25 of the foremost rabbis in Safed, Berab was ordained in 1538. Opposition by Rabbi Levi ibn Habib of Jerusalem, and the possibility of incarceration, forced Rabbi Berab to seek refuge in Cairo. Before fleeing, he ordained four scholars in Safed, including Rabbi Karo, who became the leader of the community.

Rabbi Karo had come to Safed with Rabbi Solomon Alkabetz and a group of kabbalists. He became a leading spiritual figure of Safed, where he wrote works on Kabbalah and prayers, including Lecha Dodi, Come My Beloved, which became part of the Friday Sabbath service. In one prayer, he asked God to redeem the Jewish people, contending that by making aliyah, he and his contemporaries had demonstrated their commitment and thus merited divine support.

He added that Safed became one of the foremost Jewish intellectual and spiritual centers “since the redaction of the Talmud” because of the belief that the Messiah would appear first in the Galilee, the absence of Muslim and Christian institutions in the city, the local textile industry and the beneficial economic ties with Syria which offered the opportunity to earn an income. Ben Sasson points out the city was also close to many graves of the tannaim (Jewish sages) buried in the Galilee, including that of Shimon bar Yochai, the author of the Zohar (mystical commentary on the Torah). Jews who traveled to the Holy Land from the northwestern part of the Ottoman Empire came through Safed, the closest Jewish center near Syria. Within 10 years of the arrival of the first Jews, Morgenstern said, the Galilee and Safed became a successful economic hub that exported sheep, wool, grain and fruit.

Dr. Alex Grobman, a Hebrew University-trained historian, is senior resident scholar at the John C. Danforth Society and a member of the Council of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.