A Pilgrimage to a Personality: Doña Gracia Mendes Rifka Cook A Pilgrimage to a Personality: Doña Gracia Mendes Rifka Cook Northwestern University “Rabot banot asu hayil, veat alit al kulana”. [Many women have done worthily, but you surpass them all]. Proverbs 31: 10-31. My purpose, in this paper, is to share with you part of my research relating to an extraordinary Sephardi woman from the Sixteenth Century known as Doña Gracia Mendes. Rather than merely presenting her biography, I intend to describe, in particular, about her remarkable courage and the values we have received from her legacy. Why, you may ask, did I choose this particular title, after considerable reflection and revision? I feel that this title is simple, engaging, and evocative of the "journey" embodied by the life story of this incredible woman, who would otherwise be "lost in the mists of time" if we did not serve as pilgrims seeking to visit her again. I invite you, my readers, to travel with me to her hearth – and her heart. It is my hope that you will be able to follow along with me, in tracing her foosteps, through two separate parts of this paper. First, I will offer a brief description of the political and historical moment in which Doña Gracia first appeared. I will also describe in detail this intriguing female personage, including the various names, by which she is known, as well as her journey from Portugal, the country of her birth, to Turkey, her last port-of-call. Secondly, I will present the one of the responsa which reveals somehow her life and the language the Jews of that period used as their spoken and written language in their everyday life. It is my desire, at the conclusion of this paper, to leave the door open, as it were, for continuing research on this topic. With this structural outline in mind, let's embark together on this fascinating and provocative journey into a human life. The year 1492 is familiar to all of us. Among other events which took place then, it was also the year in which the Jews were expelled from Spain by the document known as Expulsion Edict or Alhambra Decree issued on Mach 31, 1492 by Spanish Monarchs Cook | 1 A Pilgrimage to a Personality: Doña Gracia Mendes Rifka Cook (Isabella and Ferdinand). The Edict expresses that “No Jews were permitted to remain within the Spanish Kingdom, and the Jew who wished to convert was welcome to stay”1 Many Jews believed that, by accepting the new religion, their lives would be more tranquil and pleasant. Nevertheless, several Jews decided to escape from the horrors of the Inquisition. They settled in Portugal, Israel, Italy, and in countries under the role of the Ottoman empire. Certain families decided to go to Portugal because it was the country nearest to Spain. Also, they were able to profess their Jewish religion there -- at least, until 1497, the year in which the son of King Juan II asked the Spanish King for the hand of his daughter in marriage. Nevertheless, there was a condition placed on this union: the princess demanded that all the Jews of Portugal would be expelled. Consequently, some Jews in the region, even when they accepted Christianity, professed Judaism secretly. This group of Jews was identified as Marranos or New Christians. Among the Jewish communities today, they are known as anusim2. Among these anusim were the members of the families Mendes and de Luna. Years later, in 1528, these families came together through the marriage of Beatriz de Luna and Francisco Mendes. Having pinpointed the historical context in which Doña Gracia appeared, we turn to the next segment of this Presentation. Who was this extraordinary woman, whom some even called the "Queen Esther of the Sixteenth Century"? Gracia Nasi Mendes was born in Portugal, in 1510, from an anus family. Her parents came to Portugal in 1492, after fleeing the atrocities of the Inquisition. As time went on, she became known through different names. At birth, she received the name of Beatriz de Luna Miques. In 1528, she married Francisco Mendes, and changed her name to Beatriz Mendes. Before Francisco died (1535), he left a will appointing her and his daughter Reyna as recipients to his fortune. In 1537, Doña Gracia Mendes fled from Portugal with her daughter Reyna and her sister Brianda, and arrived in Antwerp [Belgium], where they stayed with Diogo, 1 The Edict of Expulsion of the Jews - 1492 Spain. Web. August 4, 2013. http://www.sephardicstudies.org/decree.html. 2 For more information about the concept of anusim, see Encyclopedia Judaica, Vol. I, pp. 170-74. Among the especially useful works cited there is B. Netanyahu, Marranos of Spain from the Late 14th to the Early 16th Centuries (1966). Cook | 2 A Pilgrimage to a Personality: Doña Gracia Mendes Rifka Cook brother of Francisco, Garcia’s husband. Two years later, Diogo married Garcia’s sister Brianda. A daughter, "La Chica", was born of this union. Before Diogo died, in 1543, he had appointed Doña Gracia as the guardian of Brianda and La Chica. Let me show you an illustration of this family tree. While she was in Antwerp, Doña Gracia invited her nephew Joao Miques [also known as Joseph Nasi] to work with her. He was appointed as a partner in their business. Moreover, she also took his last name – also using her Hebrew name Hanna, now choosing to be called Hanna Mendes Nasi. Two years later, in 1545, Doña Gracia was forced to leave Antwerp after King Charles V asked Gracia’s daughter to marry a noble of his court. Gracia and her daughter, along with her sister Brianda and her daughter, moved to Venice, where she stayed for two more years, until she was accused by her sister in keeping with Jewish traditions. What were Brianda‘s intentions? Was it to receive the heritance which her husband had left to her and her daughter; or to live the frivolous life of Venice in 1547 and not be under the tutelage of her sister. As a result of Brianda’s accusation, the Italian government confiscated all the possessions of both sisters. Moreover, Brianda was similarly accused of Judaizing. The struggle, which lasted several years, resulted in Doña Garcia’s receiving a deposit of half of his fortune in the House of Currency of Venice (La Casa de la Moneda) on behalf of Brianda’s daughter. Later, with the help of Dr. Moses Hamon, the personal physician of the Sultan Suleiman of Turkey, Gracia managed to get out of jail with her daughter, sister and niece. However, instead of going directly to Turkey, she decided to stop off in Cook | 3 A Pilgrimage to a Personality: Doña Gracia Mendes Rifka Cook Ferrara. While in Ferrara, Doña Gracia met Rabbi Abravanel’s wife. Together, they created a charity center to help her fellow Jews, as well as sponsoring several works of art by both Michelangelo and Titian. During her stay, the well-known Bible of Ferrara [in Ladino, for the Sephardic Jews] was published and dedicated to Doña Gracia. A version in Spanish [for Christians] was likewise published and dedicated to the Duke of Ferrara. It was translated by Yom Tov Athias (whose Christian name was Jerónimo Vargas) and Abraham ben Salomon Usque (whose Christian name was Duarte Pinhel). Finally, in 1552, Doña Gracia, along with her daughter, her sister, and her niece, decided to move to Turkey, accepting the invitation reissued by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Suleiman the Magnificent. There, in Turkey, Doña Gracia is known by her people as "Ha-giveret" (La Señora) because of her benevolent actions towards the Jews, especially during and after one of the darkest and most painful periods in Jewish history: the Spanish Inquisition. In order to illustrate her journey, let us look at the map3: Up until this point, in this paper, we have described the itinerary of Doña Gracia/Hanna Mendes Nasi/La Señora since her leaving Portugal, up to the point of her arrival in Turkey. We also delineated, in a general manner, the problems and experiences that touched her life during this same period, from the time she fled from Portugal until her arrival as a guest of the Turkish Sultan. Let me turn now to present the second part of this article: the commentary on one of the responsa in which Doña Gracia is tacitly involved. This text, is included in the book Avkat Rochel4 , a group of responsa, whose author is 3 Cecil Roth (1977). Doña Gracia of the House of the Nasi. The Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia-Jerusalem 4 Karo, Y. Avkat Rochel. Edited by Yeruham Fishel (Leiipzig, 1859). Web. August 5, 2013. Pages 69-72. http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/vl/avkatrochel/avkatrochel10.pdf Cook | 4 A Pilgrimage to a Personality: Doña Gracia Mendes Rifka Cook Rabbi Joseph Karo. Before analyzing this rabbinical text, I wish to share with you, briefly the nature of Jewish life at that time. I will then present some linguistic aspects which I feel are important. I also wish to clarify that, from now on, for purposes of clarity and simplification, I shall use only the name Doña Gracia to refer to this admirable – and amazing – character. The Jews of the Ottoman Empires were organized in Kehilot [communities]. The members of each Kehila [community] lived in proximity to a synagogue and had its own Chaham [rabbi]. Often, the names of these communities were taken from the land of origin of its members –for instance, Catalonia, Aragon, and Toledo from Spain, and Lisbon and Evora from Portugal.