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| The Alhambra Decree expelling the Jews from Spain in 1492. |
- ESTABLISHING
MESSIANIC STUDY CIRCLES IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE EXPULSION FROM SPAIN -
INTRODUCTION:
The
Expulsion of the practising Jews from Spain was initiated by the Alhambra
Decree which was issued on 31 March 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs of
Castile and Aragon. The Jews were to have left Spanish soil by 31 July of that
year.
The
Expulsion from Spain had a tremendous bearing on a number of aspects of Jewish
history. In this article, we will explore how it triggered an emphasis on
redemptive and messianic fervour which was to become a theological mainstay of
future Judaism. Of course, earlier Jewish literature had dealt with such
matters, but after the Expulsion, it took on a new and elevated urgency.
I
have drawn extensively from the research[1] of
Professor Elisheva Carlebach of Columbia University who specializes in the cultural, intellectual,
and religious history of the Jews in Early Modern Europe.
INTENSE
MESSIANIC SCHOOLS WERE ESTABLISHED IN THE POST-EXPULSION ERA:
As an immediate
spiritual reaction to the Expulsion, many intensely mystical and messianic
schools, or yeshivot, were established in attempts at theurgically
(through magical or supernatural means) bringing about a state of immediate
redemption.
Professor
Carlebach writes:
“Some of the most intense messianic spirituality was centered
in the many yeshivot and study circles established in the period after the
Expulsion for the express purpose of hastening the redemption.”
Besides both general Torah learning and the redemptive study
circles in particular taking on an urgent and overt messianic accentuation, other
aspects of Jewish life - including even the mundane politics within the
expelled community - became spiritualized.[2]
Everything was imbued with omnisignificance and messianic overtones.
HISTORY HAS OVERLOOKED THE BIRTH OF RADICAL MESSIANISM
AFTER THE EXPULSION:
It is important to remember that these redemptive study
circles were not just unique to the Spanish Jews of the post-Expulsion era, but
they continued in one form or another to dominate the religious study landscape
well into the future and their influence was later felt deep within Ashkenazic
circles as well.
Carlebach shows how the influence of these Sephardic
redemptive study circles spread to the Ashkenazic world and transformed their
study ethos to also include a redemptive component. Torah study was no longer
just about acquiring knowledge but it took on a pressing theurgic dimension as
well. Fascinatingly, for some reason, this important development has been
largely ignored by students of history.
According to Carlebach:
“Of all the messianic
pathways taken by Iberian [Spanish and Portuguese][3] Jews as a consequence of the persecutions
and expulsions of the fifteenth century, this one has been least explored,
although it lasted for centuries and spread beyond the Sephardic community...”
“[T]he significance of messianism as a central
and fundamental response to the Expulsion [from Spain][4]
remains unremarked.”
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEPHARDIC AND ASHKENAZIC YESHIVOT:
The Sephardic yeshiva was often called a hesger
which was a closed circle of not more than ten elite scholars. In a large
community there would be many such study circles. While Ashkenazic rabbis
usually sought positions of rabbinic leadership and authority, the Sephardic rabbis
were more interested in the prestige that came with heading a redemptive study circle.
It is possible that this difference in the way each group
asserted its authority was evidenced by the Ashkenazic rabbis sometimes being Halachically
stricter than their Sephardic counterparts.
POSSIBLE ISLAMIC INFLUENCE:
Interestingly, Carlebach writes:
“Similar schools, circles, and
voluntary societies, whose structure and function parallel those we have
described, flourished in medieval Islam and may have contributed to the genesis
or continuity of this form among the Sephardim.”[5]
FUNDING:
The funding for these study circles was from the wealthy
within the communities who were happy to be able to contribute and thereby,
they believed, vicariously gain a share in bringing about the anticipated messianic
state of redemption.
CURRICULA:
These messianic study circles did not just study Torah but
they developed specialized mystical curricula which would bring the redemption
closer.
As mentioned, these circles were elitist and in the words of
R. Raphael Treves:
“Our redemption...cannot be
attained by the masses, only by the elite.”
The spread of Lurianic Kabbala (from the Ari Zal) also
contributed to the messianic urgency as it imbued the study and practice of
Torah with theurgical significance. And many practitioners within the study circles
maintained that Kabbalah study should be elevated over traditional Talmudic
study.[6]
Bear in mind that the Zohar, a foundation work of Jewish
mysticism, had been published in Spain in around 1290, which in relative terms
was not that long before the Expulsion, and by its nature would certainly have
lent itself to messianic enterprises.
GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION:
While many believed that the Holy land was the ultimate
geographical location to host messianic study circles, some maintained that
centres within the Diaspora were crucial to prepare the world for the imminent
messianic manifestation.[7]
There was much debate over which particular region of the
Holy Land was best suited for these messianic circles. Besides the obvious
choice of Jerusalem, some preferred Safed (particularly during the 16th
–century), Tiberius, Chevron and even Gaza. Actually, Safed was dominant as
long as it held its strong economic position but, as soon as it lost that
dominance, Jerusalem took over.
ABULAFIA:
In the 18th-century, the great mystic R. Chaim ben Moshe Abulafia (1660-1744) founded a yeshiva in Tiberius called Mashmia Yeshua (Harbinger of
Redemption). He told the Jews of Tiberius that:
“[T]he messiah would soon
arrive and come from the Sea of Galilee.”
OHR HACHAIM:
R. Chaim Benattar (1696-1743), known as the Ohr haChaim, was
attracted to Abulafia in Tiberius. He specifically wanted to establish a
redemptive yeshiva to hasten the arrival of Messiah and he moved his Kabbalistic
circle to Jerusalem. Some believe he was the inspirational model for the
up-and-coming Chassidic movement.[8]
ESTABLISHING SETTLEMENTS IN THE HOLY LAND:
The Diaspora communities often supported the messianic yeshivot
of the Holy Land. Only selected candidates qualified to be sent to the Holy
Land. It was also very expensive to travel during the 18th-century, as
the fare was twice the annual income needed to live in the Land of Israel.
AUSPICIOUS REDEMPTIVE DATES:
Carlebach writes:
“The attempts to establish
redemptive centres of rabbinic scholarship [in the Holy Land] began with the
first exiles [from Spain][9],
and continued for centuries. They tended to cluster around certain redemptive
dates, such as 1575, 1700-1706, and 1740...
Rabbinic circles were
similarly established all over the Sephardic Diaspora, in Italy, North Africa,
and the Ottoman Empire. While some were simply traditional centers of study,
many had esoteric agendas which transformed their activities into intense
theurgic dramas.“
FROM SMALL ELITIST GROUPS TO WIDER PARTICIPANTS:
The post-Expulsion messianic study circles continued to
flourish for centuries into the future. Initially, they maintained their elitist
nature but gradually, after being adopted to some degree by the Sabbateans -
the followers of the false messiah Shabbatai Tzvi (1626-1676) - and later by the
Chassidic movement, they opened up to the masses who were encouraged to
participate in the enterprise of study for redemptive purposes. Thereafter,
this messianic ethos slowly wound its way into the general mainstream.
SABBATEANS ADOPT THE SEPHARDIC STUDY CIRCLE MODEL:
Bear in mind that the Sabbateans were not just a fringe
movement. Their numbers included up to half - if not more - of the Jewish
population at that time. Many of their leaders were prominent rabbis and, after
Shabbatai Tzvi was shown to be a false messiah and the movement went
underground, it was very difficult to distinguish a secret Sabbatean from a
mainstream religious Jew. The secret Sabbateans were known to have established secret cells.
Carlebach writes:
“Many prominent Sabbateans,
some with messianic pretensions of their own, planned to build redemptive
yeshivot.”
RABBI AVRAHAM ROVIGO:
During the time of the secret Sabbateans similar redemptive
study circles were established in Jerusalem by R. Avraham Rovigo in 1702[10],
and by R. Isaiah Hasid who established a ten-scholar Sabbatean yeshiva in
Mannheim, Germany.[11]
RABBI RAPHAEL MORDEKHAI MALKHI:
Another example of this is the secret or crypto-Sabbatean,
R. Raphael Mordechai Malkhi. Malkhi intended to make Jerusalem the centre of
Sabbatean ideology and his primary tool for so doing was to establish a
redemptive yeshiva.
Raphael Mordechai Malkhi wrote:
“At the end of days...they
[the Jews of the Diaspora][12] will establish a midrash [yeshiva] in
Jerusalem of seventy scholars over them. The Lord will bring many settlers out
of oppression who will cultivate the land...The era of this restoration...is
the time of the approach of the redemption...The King Messiah will emerge from
them.”[13]
RABBI AVRAHAM CARDOSA:
In 1703, another Sabbatean - R. Avraham Cardosa - who
competed for authority with Malkhi, arrived in the Holy Land and also wanted to
establish a redemptive yeshiva in Jerusalem. He was an interesting
personality because he had lived as a Marrano in Spain until his twentieth year
and then became a crypto-Sabbatean. He hired copyists to disseminate his
writings in Jerusalem in order to counter the other Sabbatean literature which
was popular there.
Cardosa wrote in no uncertain terms:
“In the Academy on High there
are two yeshivot, one for Elijah and one for R. Simon bar Yohai. And I will
establish a third one...for I possess a veritable treasury of esoteric lore.”[14]
The anti-Sabbatean Rabbinate of Jerusalem, however, blocked
him from opening up his yeshiva in Jerusalem. In 1708, his student, Nechemya
Hayon collected funds from Smyrna to establish a redemptive yeshiva in Israel
but it was also blocked by the Rabbinate.
RABBI MORDECHAI ASHKENAZI:
During the 18th-century, another
crypto-Sabbatean, R. Mordechai Ashkenazi wrote a work entitled Eshel Avraham
(Terebinth of Abraham). He named the work after his teacher, R. Avraham
Rovigo and writes that most of the ideas in the book were from Rovigo.
What is significant about Eshel Avraham is that it
offers a window into the nature of these redemptive study circles. It quotes
Rovigo as saying:
“The signs have now been
revealed that this is the generation of King Messiah.”[15]
Carlebach writes:
“The curriculum proposed by
the Sabbatians did not differ from that of many of their predecessors – they
championed an almost exclusive reliance on kabbalistic texts, beginning with
the Zohar, and particularly the study of Lurianic Kabbalah.”
However, what set them apart from the other redemptive yeshivot
was their insistence that the study of Talmudic literature actually impeded the
redemption.
Eshel Avraham explains that Moshe’s Torah from Sinai
was not powerful enough to affect a full and permanent redemption, and it was
only the Torah of R. Shimon bar Yochai - the alleged
author of the Zohar - that could lead to a complete messianic
redemption.[16]
Eshel Avraham continues to explain that there are
three types of individuals who study Torah: 1) Those who just read it as a
story. They are regarded as “the fools of the world.” 2) Then there are
those on a slightly higher level who study “the principles of Torah.” 3)
And then there are those on the highest level, who:
“penetrate the soul...Because
Israel did not engage itself in Kabbalistic lore, but only in peshat [the
simple or literal meaning of the words of the Torah][17],
there can be no redemption unless the matter is rectified.”[18]
The Talmudic or Halachic study of Torah is
compared to the bark of as tree, while the Kabbalah is the sap. Eshel
Avraham issues a warning:
“Woe to those rabbis who eat
of the husk of the Torah but don’t know its secrets.”[19]
ANALYSIS:
As Carlebach has pointed out, history has overlooked the
fundamental and powerful influence of the messianic study circles that sprung
up in the aftermath of the Expulsion.
These redemptive attempts at turning mystical study into
theurgical catalysts for the dawning of the Messianic Era were the springboard
from which many of the more modern messianic movements sprung.
What the redemptive study circles did after the Expulsion
from Spain in the 15th-century, was to transform the traditional
view of Torah study into an urgent and powerful tool to bring about the ‘immediate
redemption’. It was a mystical attempt to ‘rectify’ the evils of the
Expulsion.
This messianic ethos, almost like a manifesto, was then
capitalized upon by the mystics of the 16th-century. They too had
study circles and signed pledges of allegiance. [See Appendix to Sefer
haTzoref link below.]
A similar mystical character and tenor was then adopted and
reworked by the followers of Shabbatai Tzvi in the 17th-century.
The same thread found its way into the Chassidic Movement of
the 18th-century which also had closed messianic study circles such
as the Chevraya Kadisha of the Baal Shem Tov.
All of this was later appropriated to a large degree by the
mainstream Jewish world during the 19th- century which similarly
ascribed redemptive and messianic value to Torah Study.
This accounts, in no insignificant manner, for the popular
messianism which dominated much of 20th century Judaism and
continues to this day where - not just Torah study - but every event is somehow
linked to the immediate redemption.
In a remarkable article published, surprisingly, in the Chareidi
Mishpacha
Magazine, Rabbi Aaron Lopiansky[20]
wrote:
“We need to teach our children history. And that history
needs to include much more than dry names and dates and stories of gedolim...
My first concern is our deep ignorance of Jewish
history — or any history for that matter. It is simply mind-boggling to
hear people state that ‘Never has anything like this happened before. This [Corona][21] virus must be heralding the coming of
Mashiach!’...
The second source of distress is the current Mashiach fervor.
Klal Yisrael has had many “Mashiach is here” moments. Read the excellent ‘Mashichei Hasheker U’misnagdeihem’ (all 700 pages) of
Rabbi Binyomin Hamburger, and you will get a feel for how numerous and how
destructive these movements were...”
FURTHER READING:
[Sefer
haTzoref – Were these the ‘Secret Writings’ Which Had to be Hidden?] See
Appendix for a ‘Pledge of Allegiance’ to ‘form a single company’,
as found in the Stolin Geniza.
[1]
Elisheva Carlebach, Rabbinic Circles as Messianic Pathways in the
Post-Expulsion Era.
[2]
Rachel Elior, Messianic Expectations and Spiritualization of Religious Life in
the Sixteenth Century, 145:35-49. And; H.H. Ben-Sasson, Exile and Redemption in
the Eyes of Spanish Exiles, pp. 216-227.
[3]
Parenthesis mine.
[4]
Parenthesis mine.
[5]
See Joel L. Kraemer, Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam (Leiden 1986), p.
103.
[6]
See Moshe Idel, Infinities of Torah in Kabbalah (New Haven 1986), pp. 141-157.
[7]
See Elisheva Carlebach, Pursuit pp. 62-63. And: Elisheva Carlebach, “Redemption
and Persecution”, pp. 19-20.
[8]
Marc D. Angel, Voices in Exile: A Study of Sephardic Intellectual History
(Hoboken 1991), pp. 89-94.
[9]
Parentheses mine.
[10]
Some accounts have it in 1701.
[11]
Jacob Mann, The Settlement of the Kabbalist Abraham Rovigo and his Circle in
Jerusalem in 1702, 6:10.
[12]
Parenthesis mine.
[13]
Y. Rivlin, The Proposal of Rabbi Raphael Mordekhai Malkhi to Establish a
Yeshiva in Jerusalem as a Center for Jewry [Heb.], p. 46.
[14]
Elijah Kohen, Sefer Meribat Kadesh, in Inyanei Shabtai Zevi (Berlin 1912). Pp.
18-19.
[15]
Eshel Avraham 5b.
[16]
Eshel Avraham 3a.
[17]
Parenthesis mine.
[18]
Eshel Avraham 3a-3b.
[19]
Eshel Avraham 5a.
[20]
Rabbi Lopiansky is the Rosh HaYeshiva of the
Yeshiva of Greater Washington.
[21]
Parenthesis mine.
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