RabbiBerel Wein
KE'YS TO THE CIIT OF SEVILLE SPAIN- engraved In Hebrew. Spanish and Arabic - were presented tl the Spanish king after reconquest by Chrtsttans In Its Jewish Greatness the 13th Century.
THE VIEW FROM FIVE serves a detailed review of his life and heir was unable to hold his father's CENTURIES contributions. Nevertheless, some in emptre together, and the country dis sight into the glory of Jewish life in integrated into small. warring and S year marks 500 years since Spain can be gained from a short re unstable states. The Christian en he expulsion of the Jews of view of the lives and times of three claves in the north of the peninsula TIpain from their long-standing pivotal personalities of Spanish and near Barcelona recognized a settlement on the Iberian peninsula. Jewry: Rabbi Shmuel Hanagid (the golden opportunity for conquest of This tragic event in Jewish history. Prince), who lived at the beginning of the South, but they too were badly di when viewed in historical perspective, the "Golden Age"; Rabbi Yehuda vided among themselves and were serves as a warning to all later Jew Halevi, who ilourtshed as the "Golden unable to unite to mount a concerted ish exiles of the dangers that threaten Age" waned; and Don Isaac attack. The Moslems nevertheless Jewish communities, no matter how Abarbanel, a leading figure among were frightened of the possibility of well settled, influential and deep the Jews expelled from Spain. This Christian success, and therefore in rooted they may be. Bigotry. jealousy, review, therefore, may add to an un tensified their search for talented persecutio11 on the one hand, and as derstanding of that cataclysmic courtiers and administrators to help similation on the other. conspired to event, half a millennium ago, since them retain and govern their territo bring down the home of the history is not only a distillation of ries. Thus the Jews were invited to Sephardim and jeopardize the entire events, trends and forces, or the story participate in government at all lev House oflsrael. of individual people and their lives, els, and the Jewish courtier became A full review of the story of Jewish but a revelation ofG-d's role in the af ubiquitous throughout Moslem Spain is beyond the purview of this fairs of man. Spain. This acceptance of the Jew in article. The great Torah scholars of a leading role in society by the Mos Spain-Rif, Rambam, Ramban. I. SPAIN UNDER MOSLEM RULE lem majority was one of the hall Rashba, Ritva and others-each de- THE LEADING JEWISH marks of the "Golden Age" of Spanish COURTIER: SHMUEL HANAGID Jewry. But beneath the serene ve Rabbi Wein. ofMonsey, N.Y .. is dean ofShaarei neer, the fearsome beast of resent Torah of Rockland County and the Bais Torah he great Caliph Abd-El ment was barely contained. The Jew, Academy, as well as Rav of the Congregation Bais Rahman died in 961, after even at the height of power and pres Torah in the same con1munHy. A popular lecturer uniting almost all of Spain tige, was silently, covertly and consis and wrtter, his Triumph ofSLuuival is a history of T tJ1e Jews in the Modem era. under Moslem control. However, his tently demeaned, because, in his
6 The Jewish Observer. September 1992 glory, he was reminder to the major tyrranical and hateful, and were thor Geonim of Babylonia, permeated ity population and its leaders of their oughiy despised. In 1012, the bloody Spanish Jewry so that scholars be own inadequacies. uprising of the masses toppled the came the true heroes of the age. In this precarious time, Shmuel Abassids and fully half of the popula Shmuel's success provoked court Hanagid rose to help the Moslems pre tion was either killed or exiled. The intrigues, personal animosities and serve their hegemony over Spain, Jews, because of their loyalty to the anti-Jewish jealousy. With his diplo while at the same time strengthening Abbasids, who were their patrons, matic genius, he was able to over the roles and rights of the Jews living suffered most cruelly. Most of them come all of the cabals and whispers there. Born in Cordova in 993, he was fled Cordova, Shmuel among them. and confound his foes, but his expe a disciple of Rabbi Chanoch, who After a year of wandering, Shmuel ar Iiences illustrated the dangers inher taught him Talmud, and Rabbi rived in the port city of Malaga-part ent whenever a Jew rose to a position Yehuda ibn Chayut who taught him of the Kingdom of Granada, which of temporal power in the Middle Ages. Hebrew grammar and Biblical com had always been governed by the In 1037, KingHabusdiedandabit mentartes, as well as other languages. Berbers, and had been relative calm. ter controversy ensued between his Shmuel also became erudite in math Shmuel established himself as a sons as to the succession to the ematics, astronomy, poetry and the shopkeeper but, by Providential guid throne. Shmuel supported Bodis, the prevailing arts and sciences, and even ance became friends with ibn-al-Arlf, eldest son, in his claim, though most the vizier of the King of Granada. The of the court advisors opposed him. Vizier was so deeply impressed with When Bodis prevailed, Shmuel be This pattern of envy and his personality, wisdom and medical came the most powerful commoner In knowledge that he introduced him to Spain, and his fame in both the Jew hatred for prominent the King, Habus. By dint of his ex ish and Moslem worlds soared. At the traordinary political acumen, com time of his death 1n 1055, Shmuel was Jews would hold true in manding presence and impressive the most successful combination of moral tone, Shmuel eventually rose court Jew, Torah scholar, and leader the Middle Ages, for both to become the vizier on the death of of his people since Mordechai in an ibn-al-Arif. cient Persia, fifteen centuries earlier. Moslem Spain and He was a wanior as well as a dip His success, however, was not lomat, and personally participated in transferable. Shmuel's son, Joseph, Christian Europe. Golden many of the battles waged by King succeeded his father, with the sup Habus against neighboring powers. It port of King Bodis, but he alienated Ages always had a dark was his keen business sense and his the Moslem majolity by appointing mastery of contemporary knowledge Jews, exclusively, to high administra and tarnished underside and culture, however, that advanced tive office, and maintaining a harsh, the quality of l!fe and the prosperity authoritartan tone towards Moslem to them. of the inhabitants of Granada and colleagues and subordinates. Soon propelled this kingdom Into the lead anti-Jewish and anti-Joseph leaflets ership of Moslem Spain. were circulating among the Moslem composed Arabic poems in his youth. masses. All of the ills and excesses of His contacts with his Arab mentors in Torah Scholar, Patron, the government were laid at Joseph's these subjects and his friendship with Statesman some of his fellow students who were of wealthy and influential Moslem hmuel's great Jove of Torah was homes, allowed him to have a window evidenced in all his dealings At the time of his death into the Arab world. He deftly exploited S with the Jewish community in in l 055, Shmuel this set of circumstances to his advan Spain. He authored Torah works, tage during his public career as states among them the famous Introduction Hanagid was the most man and political leader. to the Talmud, which has become a As a young man, he was a small classic of rabbinic literature. He was successful combination shopkeeper in Cordova in 1012, the patron of great Torah scholars when civil war wracked the city. and of yeshivos, and devoted much of of court Jew, Torah Though the Berbers were the major his wealth and time to the spread of ity population, the ruling community Torah knowledge. Under his patron scholar, and leader of his was almost totally Arab, and the age, and later that of his son, Joseph, Berbers felt themselves exploited and numerous immortal Jewish works of people since Mordechai restricted. The Berber Abbasid dy scholarship and culture emerged, nasty had been in power since the which set the tone for Spanish-Jew in ancient Persia, fifteen year 759, but by the tum of the mil ish life for centuries. This spirit of lennium, they were perceived by their learning and creativity, enhanced by centuries earlier. fellow Berbers as being Arab, the great Talmudic insights of the
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8 The Jewish Obseroer, September 1992 IT1 P&fu*.§dr: --pi@&'..,.! I ! .,,w,, N"ll)I j::JNi't ill. SPAIN UNDER CHRISTIAN merchant and important Jewish po RULE-THE EXILED MlNISTER, litical figure, was forced to publicly MASTER OF TORAH: convert to Christianity in the riots of DON ISAAC ABARBANEL 1391. His son, Judah, the father of Don Isaac, was smuggled out of Spain s the Christian reconquest of and raised as a Jew in Lisbon, the Spain gained speed, the Jews capital of Portugal. There he suc of Spain came increasingly ceeded in finance, eventually becom Pagejromfirst edition oj'lbn Ezra on the Torah ( 1488) courtesy Columbia under Christian domination. This ing the royal treasurer of the court of University Library single political fact of life was to doom King Alfonso V, of Portugal. In 1437, Spanish Jewry. The Christian rulers, his son, Isaac, was born in Lisbon. Yehuda Halevi builds the case of To flushed by their success over the Isaac studied under Rabbi Joseph rah and the tradition oflsrael. Unlike Moslems in Spain, viewed the Jews as Hayun and was well known in his Saadia Goan before him and the the remaining infidels in their midst youth for his prowess in Talmud and Rambam after him, Rabbi Yehuda and set their goal to eliminate them Biblical studies. He also knew Latin, Halevi relies little on classic philoso from Spanish society. Economic and Greek, philosophy, astronomy, math phy and formal logic, and bases his social discrimination, sporadic vio ematics and the intricacies of finance, arguments on traditional Jewish lence, and ultimately, forced conver banking and mercantile credit. Isaac sources, employing historical continu sions at the threat of exile or death was truly a Renaissance person in the ity of the Jewish people and their col were now the facts of life that faced breadth of his knowledge and inter lective recollection of the events at Spanish Jewry. ests. In 1471, when his father died, Mount Sinai as proof of the Torah's Isaac succeeded him as the treasurer validity. Itis this direction of thought of the royal court of Portugal. At the free of the cultural confines and phi Don Isaac Abarbanel same time, he taught Torah in the losophies of a specific era- that synagogue of Lisbon-his commen makes the book so original, meaning stands as a symbol of the tary to Devarim (completed in 1496) ful and timeless. Perhaps of all the Jew in exile, who serves was wholly based on his teachings as philosophical works of medieval a young man in Lisbon-and became Jewry, Kuzari has best stood the test strange and perfidious the effective leader of the Jewish com of time and remains vital and relevant munity of Portugal. He had strong to modern man. Written in Arabic, and masters and who is contacts in the highest circle of non translated into Hebrew and many Jewish Portugese society and was in other languages, the book conveys in successful against all strumental in ransoming many Jew cogent and telling language the ideas ish captives abducted by Portugese and faith of Torah and Talmudic Ju opposition, and slave-traders and mercenaries. daism. Thus Rabbi Yehuda Halevi be By 1481, when he was forty four came one of the main conduits of To nevertheless remains years old, he was firmly ensconced as rah thought for all future generations. the most important courtier of resented, unappreciated Alfonso V. Alfonso died that year, however, and Abarbanel's fortunes "'·<' i The Jewish Observer, September 1992 9 climb onto o platform of clouds, along with the angels." They recognize G-d, Why Was yetdispensewith lzilzisand tefil/in, succa and lulov. Other times they recall the words of Shlomo Homelech: "The sum of ''Go/us the matter, when all hos been consid ered: Fear G-d and keep Hismitzvos, for that is mon's whole duty" (Kohe/les Sephorad'' 12, 13). "Enlightenmenr' was meant for the angels, while mortols are enjoined to engage in Torah and mitzvos. I coll out to you, noble people. I om DestroyedP from Go/us Sephorad, from where we were expelled fur our numerous, weighly Translated from selected passages in Ohr HaChayim, written by RabbiYosef sins. Most took pride in their wisdom and Yaavetz (known as T/1£ ChassidYaavetz) who was one ofSpanish Jewry's leading good deeds, yet all of them capitulated to the pressures to convert [to Christian spiritual figures during the late 15th Century, when the Expulsion tookplam ity] when the bitter day arrived. The women and the simple folk1 however, just....This evil generation has sinned gave up their lives and their torlunes for hy was'· Go/us Sephorad mightily... with transgressions beyond num the sanctity of their Creator. destroyed? Close to 3,000 ber. The gravest sin on our hands is that we Let us examine the Mishna in Avos: aymen were exiled to the hove indeed abandoned the Torah. Since the "Anyone whose wisdom exceeds his Isle of Sicilv, and were lost-many were ea~iest times, Spain did not hove so many good deeds ... is likened to a tree who killed by the sword, some drowned at yeshivas and lolmidim as it did otthe time of branches ore numerous but whose roots sea, some by hunger or thirst. Noble, ihe Expulsion. But these lo/midim were of are few. The wind comes and uproots it aristocratic men, removed from their many categories. and turns it upside down" (3:22) .... The seals of power, naked and locking all There were those who studied for six or stress should be on the lotter, serving our necessities, they were forced lo beg for seven years under great rabbis, sharpening Crealorwith good deeds, rather than on bread at the gates al the mighty. Who their minds like razors. Aller that, they studc the former, inlellectuolity, which is our can recount aTI the troubles we have en ied secular knowledge, "no longer to soy source of pride. Should we do as the dured since the year 5752 (1492)? [with commitment]: 'The Aron Bris Mishna tells us, then our wisdom would Who con describe the new troubles we Hashem-the Holy Ark of G-d!"' No longer be preserved. Such people ore superior suffer in the Kingdom of Naples, where do they remember the Torah or refer lo it or lo ten thousand. Their wisdom remained we hove lollen, and G-d hos cast his fi toke 1t to heart. They regret their earlier with them and guided them .... ery wrath upon us? And we encounter years [of Torah study], and some among Those who did otherwise [and did not neither healing nor good fortune! them leave religious practice altogether, and stress service lo G-d through actions], "And G-d said, Because you have engage in empty, temporal pursuits. found that their wisdom became their en abandoned My Torah." You are righ Others remained involved in Torah study, emy, and they utilized their inlellectuol teous, 0 G-d, for Your ways ore but only for pilpul, to display their mental gifis to surrender [to the Church]. Thus prowess, "to purify the forbidden sheretz" they were similar lo the tree with many -thus did they spend their days without re branches, and few roots, where their alizing the purpose of Torah study. Never branches were the cause of their down mind the ultimate purpose, which is ta fal I. If they would hove hod fewer achieve chossidus (piety), but they did not branches, theywoukl hove survived. Thllt even know the laws of daily religious prac is how it was with the simple folk, who tice, such as lzilzis, tel1/lin, and issurv'hetter only "knew" G-d as a part of their heri (the permitted and the forbidden). toge [rother than through philo5ophical And even that tiny minoritythatochieved speculation]. Their roots, their good whot is expected of them did so for ullerior deeds, survived and they withstood the motives (shelo lishma), to be exalted and test. They hod fulfilled their quota of glorified before the simple folk-exemplify deeds, in occardance with their minimal ing the evil of arrogance. Leaving a minor understanding and knowledge. ity of a minority who were too insignifont in Not so those who were wise in their number to shield their generation from the own eyes, whose branches were plenti terrible decree. ful and whose roots were weak. When II. the winds of challenge blew, it turned ome people are inconsistent. At times them upside down and uprooted them they grab onto books of secular wis from their faith l:lnd their Torah; and they Sdom, and soy, "This represents the ul blasphemed: "Who is G-d that we Ort the tragic road to execution timate goal! For this was man created! I'll should serve Him?" 10 The Jewish Observer, September 1992 fame as a financier and diplomat hav ing preceding him, he was enlisted by the monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, to participate in their gov ernment. He, together with another Jew, Abraham Senior of Segovia, be came the leading tax franchisers for Spain and he helped finance the suc cessful war of Ferdinand and Isabella against Granada. Spain now was ai most completely united under Chrts tian rule, and saw itself as a major world power. Abarbanel was likely re The magnificent synagogue of Toledo, 13th Century; today, a church. sponsible for financing Chrtstopher Columbus's voyage of discovery as vice as royal treasurer. In 1494, the leadership of the Jewish people. Don well as managing the prtvate wealth French sacked Naples, and Isaac Abarbanel stands as a symbol of the monarchs and the national Abarbanel's home and precious li of the Jew in exile, who serves strange wealth of Spain. brary went up in flames. He wan and perfidious masters and who is dered to Sicily and then to Corfu, and successful against all opposition, and The Expulsion finally returned to Naples in 1496. nevertheless remains resented, un There he completed his commentary appreciated and eventually punished nMarch31, 1492,afterenor to the Bible as well as his works on by his beneficiartes for his greatness, mous pressure from the Avos and the Pesach Hagadda., and yet trtumphant because of his spirt O Church and its Chieflnquisi numerous philosophical works. In tual contrtbutions. tor, Torquemada, Ferdinand and 1503, he moved to Venice, and there EPILOGUE The Christian rulers, flushed by their success over the panish Jewry struggled to achieve and survive. It Moslems in Spain, viewed the Jews as the remaining S brought the Jewish people a great age of Torah and spirtt, and infidels in their midst and set their goal to eliminate made Spain a world empire. Yet the dangers to the Jewish existence in them from Spanish society. Economic and social Spain, which always lurked there and discrimination, sporadic violence, and ultimately, sporadically flashed, finally exploded. Goodbye Spain, but not Sephardim. forced conversions at the threat of exile or death Goodbye to art, literature, poetry and finance as guarantors of Jewish sur were now the facts of life that faced Spanish Jewry. vival, but not to Torah. (See quotation from Ohr Hachayim.) Goodbye to Marannos and Conversos, but not to Isabella signed the decree of expul too performed valuable service on be staunch Jews who remained loyal to sion of the Jews from Spain. The Jews half of the Venetian Senate in negoti their tradition and themselves. had four months-until Tisha B'Av ating trade treaties with Portugal and Five centuries later, most to leave or to agree to conversion. The other European powers. Sephardic Jews are home in the Land Spanish monarchs agreed to except He sensed the Messianic era com of Israel. Spain is no longer a world Abarbanel and his family from the ing and wrote extensively to empire, and its contributions to civi edict. Don Isaac, who had tried strengthen the spirtt of his dejected lization have faded over time. But the mightily but unsuccessfully to pre Sephardic brethren and their belief in Sephardic Jews remain a strong force vent the decrees from being signed, Messianic redemption. He died in his in Jewish life. Their legacy of Torah spurned the offer and left Spain with seventieth year, in 1507, in Venice, greatness, vitality, creativity and wis his entire family. He was able also to and was burted in the ancientJewish dom proved to be eternal. In all of the remove with him some of his wealth cemetery in Padua. In 1509, however, Jewish world, their scholars are re and his large library of rare books and the cemetery was levelled by warrtng membered and revered, their words manuscrtpts. armies, and no trace of his physical analyzed and sutdied, and their lives He settled in Naples, intending to remains. But he lives on eternally, memorialized. Through this Torah devote himself wholly to Torah study. not in his accomplishments for Por legacy, Spanish Jewry lives till today. But again he was to know no perma tugal, Spain, Naples and Venice, nor "And all of you who yet cleave unto nent peace, for the king of Naples, for his great financial acumen, but the L-rd your G-d, are alive until this Ferrante J., drafted him into hisser- because of his books ofTorah and his very day." B The Jewish Observer. September 1992 11