can Jews know little about. And
new thinking among scholars is
reevaluating the effects wrought
by the events of 1492.

Jews Move East

priest who witnessed
the expulsion de-
scribed it this way:
"In the first week
of July, the Jews
took the hardship of the road upon
themselves and left the lands of
their birth . . . And they went
along the roads and through the
fields with great travail and
misfortune, some falling, others
rising, some dying, others being
born, and always through
wherever they passed the Jews
were invited to be baptized.
"Those who were to embark at
the port of Cadiz, as soon as they
glimpsed the sea, let out loud
shouts, men and women, the old
and the children. In their prayers
they beseeched God for mercy and
hoped to see some miracles of
God, that He might open a path
for them in the sea."
Perhaps 50,000 Spanish Jews
chose baptism over exile, in-
cluding the chief rabbi, Abraham
Seneor. Of the rest, tens of
thousands settled in North
Africa, but the vast majority,
some 100,000 Jews, crossed the
border into Portugal. Their stay
would not last long. Under
pressure from Spain, the Portu-
guese king expelled the Jews in
1497.
Some went to Italy. Others
traveled as far into Europe as
Germany and Poland. Most took
advantage of a historical window
of opportunity, finding a haven
that not only tolerated, but
welcomed them.
"What! You call this Ferdinand
wise?" the Turkish sultan, Ba-
jazet, is reputed to have said after
Spain expelled the Jews. "He who
depopulates his own dominions
has enriched mine."
The Ottoman Turks were the
new masters of Constantinople
and the Balkans. In 1516 they
captured Israel and Syria. The
following year they took Egypt.
With an empire to run, the sultan
invited foreigners to manage his
trade and finances. The Sephar-
dim — educated, cosmopolitan
and well-connected — obliged.
They moved to Turkey, Greece,
Yugoslavia and Bulgaria.

A

Israel experienced a wave of im-
"They established an enormous
migration not repeated until the
mercantile network which even-
beginning
of modern Zionism in
tually covered Europe, the New
the
late
19th
century.
World and the Islamic world,"
n Safed, about 40 years
Safed — now on the trade route
says Dr. Norman Stillman, pro-
after the expulsion, it was
connecting Ottoman Europe with
fessor of history and Arabic at the
the
habit
of
a
group
of
Ottoman Asia, and in proximity
State University of New York-
to
the major towns of Beirut and
mystics
to
go
to
the
fields
Binghamton.
Damascus —became a magnet.
on Friday afternoons to
"The Sephardim brought the
The Jews there traded in spices,
meditate and sing. There, high in
printing press from Spain," says
cheese, oil, vegetables and fruit;
the
Galilee
hills
in
the
land
of
Rabbi M. Mitchell Serels, director
and developed a thriving textile
Israel, the kabbalists welcomed
of the Jacob E. Safra Institute of
industry as well as 18 yeshivot
Sephardic Studies at Yeshiva
what they had named the Sab-
and 21 synagogues.
University in New York. "North
bath Queen.
Also trickling into Safed were
Africa and the Turkish world had
One kabbalist, Rabbi Shlomo
mystics, most of them Sephardim
printing 200 years before the
Alkabetz, the grandson of
and heirs to an old Spanish kab-
Jews in Poland."
Spanish Jews, composed a hymn
balistic tradition grounded in the
The Sephardim took with them
to reflect this custom. It became
their language, Judeo-Spanish,
Zohar, the 13th century "Book of
so popular that by 1584 the hymn
Splendor." Whereas their
which took root and flourished in
was incorporated into the prayer-
predecessors were engaged in
the lands they settled. So dyL
book. Even now, as the sun sets
discovering the esoteric path to
namic were the new Sephardi
on Friday nights, Jews in com-
God, the Safed mystics were
communities that their language
munities around the world turn
preoccupied
by coming to grips
and culture in many places
toward the door, bend the knee to
eclipsed that of the already-
with the expulsion.
welcome the Sabbath Queen and
"In all these upheavals they
established Jews. Within 100
sing Rabbi Alkabetz's hymn,
thought that maybe there was a
years, the Greek-speaking Jewish
"Lechah Dodi."
mystical role the Almighty was
community on Rhodes became
In Safed, the trauma of the ex-
playing," says Rabbi Serels of
Spanish-speaking.
pulsion changed Jewish- religion.
"In most places they were so
Yeshiva University.
Jewish mysticism, until then the
"They wanted to know what
dominant intellectually that all
property of the initiated, spread
had
gone wrong with history and
the others were submerged and
to the masses waiting for the
if the end of days was ap-
started to call themselves
messiah to arrive. In time, this
proaching," says Professor Jane
Sephardim," Dr. Stillman says.
messianic impulse led to the rise
Gerber, director of the Institute of
While much of the hooplah sur-
of Chasidism, which thrives to-
Sephardic Studies at the City
rounding the quincentennial con-
day.
University of New• York Graduate
cerns Spain, many Sephardim
At the same time as kabbalists
believe the real focus should be on
Center.
were reshaping Jewish
Turkey.
mysticism, scholars in Safed were
The kabbalists of Safed reinter-
completing a code of traditional
Spain is the land that expelled
preted ancient mystical symbols
Jewish practice, which remains
the Sephardim after living there
to tell a myth of exile and
largely unchanged.
for more than a millenium, says
redemption and drew up a
Safed had a handful of Jews in
Ed Alcosser, director of the New
blueprint for bringing the Messiah.
1492. One hundred years after
York-based Quincentennial
the Turks captured the land of
The universe was in a state of
Foundation and chairman of the
Israel
in
1516,
Safed
had
grown
to
chaos,
according to the mystical
board of the American Sephardi
a town of perhaps 15,000 Jews.
belief of Rabbi Isaac Luria —
Federation. "We need to celebrate
Indeed, in the wake of the expul-
known as Ha'ari, or the Lion — a
with the Turks for providing us a
sion from Spain the whole land of
Jew of mixed Sephardi-Ashkenazi
home. For 500 wonderful years
(after the expulsion)
we lived in Moslem
lands."
The American Seph-
ardi Federation has
1480 — Spanish Inquisition created in
he expulsion from Spain came
called on Jews to mem-
at the end of 'a series of expul- response to a request by the pope.
orialize the expulsion
1483 — Tomas de Torquemada ap-
on Tisha B'Av, Aug.
sions of Jews from Western
8-9, 1992. Where
pointed
inquisitor general.
Europe, according to Dr. Aron Rodrigue,
Spain is concerned,
Jan. 2, 1492 — Ferdinand and Isabella
associate professor of history at Stanford
there is nothing to
University. By 1500, "Western Europe complete reconquest of Spain by enter-
celebrate, Mr. Alcosser
is emptied of Jews and the Jewish world ing Granada.
says.
March 31, 1492 — The monarchs sign
shifts east," he says.
the Edict of Expulsion in Granada.
"Five hundred years
1290 — England expels Jews.
from now, you're not
July 31, 1492 — Last Jews leave
1391 — Destruction of Jewish com-
going to have a sym-
Spain.
Many go to Portugal.
munities in Aragon and Castile.
phony in Berlin to
1497 — Jews expelled from Portugal.
Emigration from Spain begins.
celebrate the anniver-
— David Holzel
1394 — France expels Jews.
sary of the Holocaust."

Spread
Of Messianism

I

Chronology Of The Expulsion

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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