To Come to the Land: Immigration and Settlement in 16th-Century Eretz-Israel

9. The Jewish Quarter

86 Jerusalem He continued: "All the l).averim [scholars) listen to him and then proceed to the yeshivah."41 We can infer on this basis that the daily study sessions in the synagogue were attended by scholars and householders alike. In the interval between prayer times, the yeshivah students attended their own study sessions in the yeshivah, which was probably located in a different building. Both sources note the monthly rotation system among the instructors in the synagogue. As we have seen, this arrangement was apparently instituted as a means of preventing anyone individual from acquiring a permanent hold on key positions in the kehillah or its institutions .42 A letter sent by yeshivah students in 1521, most likely to the notable Abraham of Perugia, provides some details of the course of study in the yeshivah: "We study the entire Talmud in consecutive order with Rashi of blessed memory and the tosafot (glosses) of our French rabbis. In the morning we also learn halakhot in the long [Babylonian) Talmud [as opposed to the abbreviated compendium of Isaac Alfasi, popular among Spanish Jews-A. D.], two, or one-and-a-half pages daily, however it works out. And in the evening one chapter of the Mishnah with the commentary of Maimonides of blessed memory" [Yaari, Letters, 163).43 It appears that at the time when this missive was written, both Jerusalem yeshivot followed a similar course of study. Mornings were devoted to intensive study of the complete version of the Talmud, covering one and a half to two folios daily, and evenings were devoted to the study of a chapter of the Mishnah with Maimonides' commentary. This inclusion of Mishnah as an integral part of the curriculum represents an innovation, a singular phenomenon in the medieval age. Until the late fifteenth century, no known program of study in the yeshivot of Germany, Spain, or Italy included this subject. I have no adequate explanation for this new interest in Mishnah; I can only suggest that it may have been related to the development and increased influence of kabbalistic trends on the early-sixteenth-century Jerusalem kehillah, as the link between kabbalah and Mishnah has been clearly demonstrated.44 Alternately, the emphasis on Mishnah may be attributable to other factors. A late-fifteenth-century letter by an anonymous traveler who reached Jerusalem in late 1495 provides evidence that the study sessions in the synagogue incorporated both Mishnah and Talmud: "Every day after the prayer service and the derashah (sermon ) people remain in the synagogue for about three hours to study Mishnah and Talmud.,,45 It is possible that this refers to study by householders rather than scholars and that the emphasis on Mishnah may be attributable to the influence of Obadiah of Bertinoro, then engaged in writing his commentary on the Mishnah. Although not singled out Intellectual Life 87 in the yeshivah students' letter to Abraham of Perugia cited above, it seems logical to assume that Obadiah of Bertinoro's commentary had its place in the curriculum of the Jerusalem yeshivot, based on his prestige among the most eminent scholars of his day in Eretz-Israel and Egypt.46 Nor can we discount the possibility that the study of Mishnah received practical impetus following its publication with Maimonides' commentary in Naples in 1492. How did the heads of the yeshivot assess their academic level? Israel Ashkenazi, himself the head of one of the two Jerusalem yeshivot, by no means held the level of study in high estimationj indeed, he regarded it as superficial as compared to his yeshivah in Perugia, Italy. He wrote, "There is no in-depth study of the halakhic material in the Talmud by the students, especially not of the Tosafists in particular." Worse still, in his opinion, was the sparse amount of material covered: "For what we studied in Perugia in one day exceeded what is studied here in a month.,,47 Although undoubtedly exaggerated, this observation must be seen as an indication that the level of study in Jerusalem fell far short of that in the best Italian yeshivot.48 Israel Ashkenazi's complaints notwithstanding, Jerusalem was home not only to yeshivah heads and their students but also to the greatest scholars of the day, who served as dayyanim and posekim (decisors ). Most were Spanish scholars of the first and second generation after the expulsion. Listed below are sages whose works of rabbinic scholarship have survived in the form of responsa and legal decisions, novellae or commentaries on...