Solomon al-Gazi's Description

Solomon al-Gazi's Description.

In 1635 Solomon al-Gazi came to Jerusalem from Smyrna. He was the progenitor of a large and important family. Of the scholars of that time may be mentioned Samuel Garmizon, Moses Galante, and Jacob Hagiz. A special bet ha-midrash had been founded for Hagiz by the Vega brothers of Leghorn; and among his pupils may be mentioned Moses ibn Habib and Joseph Almosnino. In 1641 Samuel b. David, the Karaite, visited Jerusalem (Gurland, l.c. pp. 12 et seq.). He gives an account of the Karaite synagogue, founded, he says, by Anan, which was built so low down that it had to be reached by twenty steps; he also states that there were fifteen houses provided for the poor, in which twenty-seven persons (families?) were maintained. He mentions six gates of the city, and a hill near the Mount of Olives, where Abraham had caused his attendants to wait, and where the Jews were accustomed to pray. In 1654 another Karaite, Moses b. Elijah ha-Levi (Gurland, l.c. p. 36), visited the city. He describes the same synagogue as very beautiful, and has much to say of the wonderful cave under the sanctuary, mentioned above in connection with David Reubeni. In 1645 the chief rabbi of Jerusalem was Jacob Hayyim zemaH, a physician from Portugal. The important rabbis of the time were Nathan Spira of Cracow, Uri Shraga Phoebus, and Meïr Poppers. In 1650 appeared the "Darke ziyyon" of Moses b. Israel Naphtali Porges (Moses Präger; transl. by Steinschneider in "Z. D. P. V." iii. 225). At the gate of Jerusalem Moses had to pay a tax of 2 löwenthaler (60 paras; see Gurland, l.c. p. 12). He mentions the synagogue in the court of the Temple, which was closed to the public after the evening prayer, and the two yeshibot. The poll-tax amounted to 3 löwenthaler for each householder. The community, he found, had been in great want, especially since the Chmielnicki disasters in Poland, from which country much money had usually come. Near the Jewish burial-ground were two holes in the earth popularly supposed to lead to Gehenna (see Steinschneider, "Hebr. Bibl." 1864, p. 105).

(see image) Pool of Hezekiah, Jerusalem.(From a photograph by the American Colony, Jerusalem.)

Jerusalem