Masterpieces of Hebew Literature: Selections from 2000 Years of Jewish Creativity

DAVID REUBENI: Introduction

David Reubeni David Reubeni (1480-1532) is one of the most intriguing and enigmatic figures of the Middle Ages. Besides his own partly autobiographical diary there is little outside information available about him. He claimed to have been born in Arabia, where his brother, King Joseph, ruled over 300,000 members of the tribe of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh. Reubeni's account of his travels in the East and in Palestine prior to his arrival in Italy has the same legendary-romantic quality as the narrative of Eldad the Danite; indeed, Reubeni's work, a fusion of vivid imagination, extant folk stories, travelers' tales and real events, is influenced by Eldad's travelogue. Ninth-century Jews were no less enchanted by Eldad and his tales of the lost tribes (see p. 148), than sixteenth-century Jews were by David Reubeni. Short of stature, dark-skinned, clad in striking oriental garb, Reubeni appeared in Rome on a white horse (symbolically suggestive of the Messiah's white donkey). His entourage, his flag, his personal magnetism, and above all, his plan to recapture the Holy Land, impressed all his listeners, and he was soon granted an audience by the philo-Semitic Pope Clement VII. The emissary of a far-off Jewish nation of warriors, Reubeni wanted the Pope's aid in securing weapons to drive the Muslims from the Holy Land—a request to which any Christian spiritual and temporal leader would be favorably disposed. Although the Pope was cautious, he sent Reubeni to the King of Portugal with letters of recommendation. 503 504 MASTERPIECES OF HEBREW LITERATURE In post-expulsion Portugal, where the only Jews were Marranos , the story of David Reubeni takes a dramatic and crucial turn. Where it had hitherto been a historic adventure, a political gamble with some Jewish nationalistic overtones, in Portugal it took on the guise of an apocalyptic and messianic mission. The Marranos in Portugal gathered about Reubeni and considered him a redeemer. This ferment naturally irritated the king, who began to suspect that Reubeni had come to bring the Marranos back to Judaism. When one of Reubeni's adherents in Portugal, Shlomo Molkho (the noted pseudo-Messiah) formally reembraced Judaism, Reubeni was ordered to leave the land. Although the events in Portugal have some historic confirmation , the details are enveloped in novelistic exaggeration and fabrication. Reubeni asserted that Hebrew was his mother tongue; however, an analysis of his vocabulary, grammar and syntax shows that many of his Hebrew phrases were translated from one of the European languages, most probably German; hence the supposition that David Reubeni may actually have been an Ashkenazic Jew who resided for a time in the East. It is noteworthy that Reubeni's travel diary is silent concerning his origin and his life prior to his European mission; the same silence and air of mystery surrounds much of his activity—to the extent that modern scholarship is still not sure what to make of him, whether to regard him as a charlatan or a visionary. In any event, Reubeni was certainly a sensitive Jew who bore in mind his fellow-Jews' plight and sought to alleviate their suffering and degradation; and his coreligionists in Italy and Portugal saw him precisely in this light. Naive to political considerations , Reubeni was a dreamer who sought salvation in terms beyond the realistic—i.e., the miraculous. Unfortunately, his end was bitter. When he came to Emperor Charles V in Germany with his new-found disciple, Shlomo Molkho, both were put in chains and returned to Italy. There Molkho was burned at the stake; and Reubeni was incarcerated in Spain, where he later died. THE TRAVEL DIARY OF DAVID REUBENI I am David, the son of King Solomon (may the memory of the righteous be for a blessing), and my brother is King Joseph, who is older than I, and who sits on the throne of his kingdom in the wilderness of Habor [Khorgbar ], and rules over thirty myriads of the tribe of Gad and of the tribe of Reuben and of the half-tribe of Manasseh. I have journeyed from before the King, my brother and his counselors, the seventy Elders. They charged me to go first to Rome to the presence of the Pope, may his glory be exalted. I left them by way of the hills, ten days' journey, till I arrived at Jeddah, where I was taken...