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

11. Communal Organization

108 Safed pIes: Abraham ha-Levi Berukhim (late sixteenth/early seventeenth centuries ), also called Abraham the Maghrebi, known for his prominent role in folktales and for his personal, idiosyncratic customs; Masud Azulay, known also as Masud the Blind, or Masud Maaravi; and Suleiman Ol;1ana, also called Solomon Maaravi.40 Although scanty, the available data on Maghrebis in Eretz-Israel in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries disclose that the vast majority were of Moroccan origin. It is perhaps not coincidental that the outstanding Maghrebi figures of whom we have some knowledge were associated with the kabbalistic trends in Safed. Separate consideration must be given to the question of whether a mystic orientation linked the influential Moroccan kabbalistic centers in Fez and Dr'aa, of such great importance to the Jews of the Maghreb, with the kabbalistic center in Safed.41 In any event, the notable contribution of Maghrebi sages confirms their position as a force to be reckoned with in Safed's intellectuallife , a role that was enhanced in late century as Sefardi influence waned. E. ITALIANS In the sixteenth century's latter half, Safed boasted three congregations from various regions in Italy, two from the south-Apulia and Calabria-and one from central and northern Italy.42 Contemporary sources relating to the "Italian kahal" in the last quarter of the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries document a well-established congregation.43 According to the tal;1rir register from 1555/56, Safed's Italian Jewish component totaled seventy-four households; in 1567/68 it numbered eighty.44 Relatively little is known of Safed's sages of Italian origin. In the 1490s and early 1500s (prior to 1504), Peretz Colon, son of the eminent Italian-Jewish scholar Joseph Colon and father of the Jerusalemite sage Joseph Colon, headed a Safed yeshivah. In the early 1520s, Abraham Rafael ben Azriel, a member of the leading Italian-Jewish Trabot family , resided in Safed and corresponded with the nagid, Isaac Shola1.45 In the sixteenth century's latter half we know of two kabbalists of Italian origin: l:Iayyim Vital (1543-1620), foremost disciple of Isaac Luria, known also as l:Iayyim Calabrese (that is, from Calabria, South Italy), who was born in Safed in 1543 and lived there for most of his life, and Samson Back (Bacchi), who arrived in Safed in 1582 and must be counted among the students of Isaac Luria's disciples. In 1584 Back moved to Jerusalem. Other Italian sages known to have resided in Safed in the sixteenth century's latter half include Moses Basola, a noted rabbi and posek who settled in Safed in 1560, the year of his demise, and whose travel book recording his visit to Eretz-Israel in the early The Communities 109 1520s has been frequently cited throughout this book; Elisha Gallico, a disciple of Joseph Caro; Abraham Gabriel, a disciple of Isaac Luria; and Isaac Gershon, a well-known proofreader in the Italian-Hebrew press, who lived in Safed in the last quarter of the sixteenth century, from whence he returned to his birthplace, Italy. F. PROVEN\=AL (FRANKISH) JEWS The existence of a Provenc;al kahal in Safed is attested by a variety of sources that also testify to its strong ties with the Provenc;al congregations in Italy and in Provence. The congregation in Safed was evidently founded either by Jews expelled from Provence in the late fifteenth century, or by their descendants. In the 1525/26 census Provenc;al Jews numbered forty-eight families .46 Although the taIJrir registers refer to this kahal as Ifranjiye, it is certainly the Provenc;al congregation of southern France that is meant, as the Jews of northern and central France had last been expelled from that land in 1394. It seems doubtful that some 130 years later descendants of Jews from the last-named regions still maintained their congregational framework; it is more likely that they were absorbed into the local communities where they settled. Significant data concerning the Provenc;al kahal in Safed are extant in sources dating from the last third of the sixteenth to the first half of the seventeenth century. Of special interest are its close ties with the Provenc;al kehillah of Cuneo, in the Piedmont, during the sixteenth century's last quarter, which provided its compatriots in Safed with ample monetary aid.47 In the latter part of the century, Joseph Caro promoted the founding of a yeshivah for the Provenc;al community in Safed, as...