Nahmanides in Jerusalem

NaHmanides in Jerusalem.

On Aug. 12, 1267, NaHmanides visited Jerusalem. He found there only two Jews, brothers, who were dyers, and who on Sabbath and at festivals gathered Jews from the neighboring villages (see his letter to his son in "Sha'ar ha-Gemul"). He reorganized the community, and on New-Year's Day, 1268, service was held in a new synagogue, later called , in a court to the right of the present synagogue. It was near the Zion Gate, which led down to the traditional graves of the kings of Judah ("YiHus ha-Abot," in Carmoly, l.c. p. 440), and seems to have been called "Midrash ha-Ramban" (Conforte, "kore ha-Dorot," p. 19a). Palestine at this time was under Egyptian rule. This rule was clement and the congregation grew. NaHmanides also founded a yeshibah and planted in Jerusalem the study of the Cabala. Pupils came to him from all parts of the Diaspora, among the most famous being the commentator and lexicographer R. TanHum, who may, however, have been there even before NaHmanides, as he was perhaps an eye-witness of the Tatar raids (see Bacher, "Aus dem Wörterbuch des TanHum," 1903, p. 11). NaHmanides died in 1270, and the yeshibah lost its attraction.

In the year 1322 Estori FarHi was in Jerusalem; and his "Kaftor wa-FeraH" (ch. vi.) gives an archeological description of the city (Eng. transl. in "Itinerary" of Benjamin of Tudela, ii. 393; German, in Zunz, "G. S." ii. 268). According to FarHi, Jerusalem was three parasangs long. He mentions the entrance to the Cave of Hezekiah (B. k. 16b), within the walls of Jerusalem to the north; the tent erected by David for the Ark, which was supposed to be still in a place called "David's Temple," south of Mt. Moriah (comp. "YiHus ha-Abot," p. 25); northwest of this was a place near which were a synagogue and the Jewish quarter (see David b. Zimrah, Responsa, No. 633). The city of Jerusalem is, according to him, higher than Mt. Moriah, and of course higher than the above-mentioned synagogue. A further description of the city is obtained from a letter written by Isaac Helo of Aragon in the year 1333 (Luncz, l.c. v. 55). He describes the community as a large one, most of its members having come from France (probably referring to the rabbis mentioned above); they lived at peace and in seeming tranquillity. Many were dyers, clothiers, and shoemakers; others were engaged in commerce and shopkeeping. A few were busy with medicine, astronomy, and mathematics; but most of them were students of the Law and were nourished by the community. It was an old institution that the Talmudic scholars should be exempt from all taxes except the poll-tax. This was reenforced by Isaac Cohen Sholal, and is mentioned in 1535 by Moses de Rossi ("J. Q. R." ix. 498, 23). Isaac Helo describes four gates of the city: Ha-RaHamim to the east, leading to the Mount of Olives, where the Jewish cemetery is; David's Gate, leading to the Valley of Rephaim on the west; the Gate of Abraham to the north, leading to the tombs of the kings and to the cavern of Ben Sira, the grandson of Jeremiah; and the Zion Gate to the south, leading to Mt. Zion, the Hinnom Valley, and Siloah. He places David's fortress upon Mt. Zion, but the temple upon Mt. Moriah. He enumerates seven remarkable things in Jerusalem: the Tower of David, where the Jews used to live, but which at his time was only a fortification; the Palace of Solomon, in Christian times a hospital, but at his time a market-place; the tomb of Huldah on the Mount of Olives; the sepulchers of the kings of Judah, the exact location of which was unknown to him; the tombs of the kings; the Palace of Helena, used in his day by the Mohammedan officials; the Gate ha-RaHamim and the western wall of the Temple.

Jerusalem