Effect of Expulsion from Spain

Effect of Expulsion from Spain.

The expulsion of the Jews from Spain and Portugal in 1492 sent large numbers of Jews to the East. In a few years 130 families were added to those already in Jerusalem, and the community numbered 1,500 souls. The anonymous writer who came to Bertinoro in Jerusalem in 1495 (Neubauer, "Zwei Briefe Obadjahs," pp. 80 et seq.) could hardly find a dwelling-place in the city. With the exception of the goldsmiths, it was difficult for workmen to make a living. The Jews had to pay a poll-tax of 1½ ducats. Near the Jews' quarter there was a gate of which they had the key. The houses were made of stone and brick, no wood being used; they contained five or six rooms each. He mentions the Midrash of King Solomon (i.e., the Akṣa Mosque), near the synagogue, and states that the Jews were not allowed to enter it. This midrash is also mentioned by Isaac b. Meïr Latif (see his letter in "Ozar tob," p. 33). He says that Jerusalem was twice the size of Ancona, and that it took him six hours to make the tour of the city. He found the Jews living on good terms with the Moslems, which had not always been the case, at least as regards the Ulemas. A significant example of their fanaticism is given in connection with the synagogue of NaHmanides. It is said that a woman out of spite had sold a piece of property near the synagogue to the Mohammedans, who had built there a mosque and who desired to make a street leading directly to it. The Moslems wished to buy a courtyard for this purpose, but the Jews refused to sell. The rain had washed away part of the wall and disclosed a door in this courtyard west of the mosque. The matter was carried before the sultan in Egypt. It was held that the synagogue was a new one and that therefore, according to the Pact of Omar, it had no right to exist. It was closed for a time, and though the Jews paid a large sum of money, it was pulled down by the fanatical religious leaders. The case was again brought before the sultan; the ringleaders were punished; and the synagogue was eventually rebuilt (1478; see the account by Mujir al Din in Luncz, l.c. iii, 72; Grätz, "Gesch." viii. 295; Obadiah of Bertinoro, p. 60; Kolon, Responsa, No. 5; Schwarz, "Tebu'ot ha-Arez," ed. Luncz, 1900, p. 465).

The exiles from Spain commenced to form a new congregation ('Adat Sefardim), which caused the Ashkenazim to form one also; the North Africans instituted a third ('Adat ha-Ma'arabim); and the old inhabitants were thus left to themselves ('Adat ha-Moriskos or Musta'ribim). These communities, however, still seem to have used one and the same synagogue. In course of time the Arabic-speaking Jews drew together again and joined the Sephar dim, the result being the establishment of two mainclasses, the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim. The first set of takkanot for the community seems to have been laid down by the nagid of Egypt, Isaac Cohen Sholal, in 1509, and accepted by tHe Jerusalem yeshibah. In 1517 a further series of takkanot was drawn up, approved by the nagid, engraved on a plate, and affixed to the wall of the synagogue.

Jerusalem