- Mar 16, 2012
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Like I said before, Jews have been coming back to their holy land for 2000 years. Despite the many invasions and expulsions, Israel has always been with them. The migration during the Ottoman Empire in the 1400's and 1500's laid the foundation and seeds of Zionism and Jewish return and reestablishment of the state of Israel:
EARLY MODERN JEWISH HISTORY Overview d Ottoman Empire
EARLY MODERN JEWISH HISTORY: Overview
In the period after the Expulsion, some exiles made their way to Egypt, Syria and the Holy Land. Their numbers were small, though, because these areas were held by the Mamlukes, and were quite inhospitable places for settlement. This changed, however, in 1516-1517, with the Ottoman conquest of these territories. Exiles, descendants of exiles and conversos began making their way to ancient Jewish communities in the east: Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, Damascus, Halab and Beirut in Syria, and Jerusalem and Safed in Eretz Israel. In a colorful and probably exaggerated account from 1517-1523, an Ashkenazic author writes as follows:
“In the time of the great Rabbi Ovadia [of Bertinora] the prayers were said according to the rite of the Mustarabim [indigenous Jews] who follow Maimonides in matters of custom and law. But now that the Sephardim have been added to the population, they have practically eliminated every other usage, and they do as they please. Three of the cantors are Sephardim and one is Mustarab, and each does as he pleases.”
We have especially good data on the growth of Sephardic settlement in Safed in the sixteenth century, the period of this community’s great material and spiritual flowering. Turkish tax records show that in 1525 there were some 48 European (probably Spanish-Jewish) families in Safed; by 1555 there were 143 Portuguese-Jewish and 324 Spanish-Jewish households. Incidentally, this data illustrates that the movement of Iberian Jews through the Mediterranean was an extended one that continued for many years after the expulsion.
EARLY MODERN JEWISH HISTORY Overview d Ottoman Empire
EARLY MODERN JEWISH HISTORY: Overview
In the period after the Expulsion, some exiles made their way to Egypt, Syria and the Holy Land. Their numbers were small, though, because these areas were held by the Mamlukes, and were quite inhospitable places for settlement. This changed, however, in 1516-1517, with the Ottoman conquest of these territories. Exiles, descendants of exiles and conversos began making their way to ancient Jewish communities in the east: Cairo and Alexandria in Egypt, Damascus, Halab and Beirut in Syria, and Jerusalem and Safed in Eretz Israel. In a colorful and probably exaggerated account from 1517-1523, an Ashkenazic author writes as follows:
“In the time of the great Rabbi Ovadia [of Bertinora] the prayers were said according to the rite of the Mustarabim [indigenous Jews] who follow Maimonides in matters of custom and law. But now that the Sephardim have been added to the population, they have practically eliminated every other usage, and they do as they please. Three of the cantors are Sephardim and one is Mustarab, and each does as he pleases.”
We have especially good data on the growth of Sephardic settlement in Safed in the sixteenth century, the period of this community’s great material and spiritual flowering. Turkish tax records show that in 1525 there were some 48 European (probably Spanish-Jewish) families in Safed; by 1555 there were 143 Portuguese-Jewish and 324 Spanish-Jewish households. Incidentally, this data illustrates that the movement of Iberian Jews through the Mediterranean was an extended one that continued for many years after the expulsion.
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