The Ottoman Empire arose out of Turkish tribes in Anatolia, Asia Minor, and it grew into one of the most powerful Empires in the world at its height during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. They ruled their territory from 1299 and it came to an end in 1922 after 600 years, when it was replaced by the Turkish Republic and other states in South Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Their area of control covered present-day Hungary, the Balkan region, Greece and parts of Ukraine, along with portions of the Middle East including the present Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Egypt. It also included North Africa as far west as Algeria and large parts of the Arabian Peninsula. The Empire took its name from its first ruler Osman I (Arabic: ʿUthmān), who was a nomadic Turkmen chief who founded the empire about 1300. The many powers in the conquered areas tried to resist but because of internal conflicts and expediency for alliances with the Turks, they proved too weak to stop the Ottoman advance. Except for a brief period in the fifteenth century, the Empire settled and began to institute means of Government and military power that facilitated its continued growth. Whilst the Empire was basically Islamic, it did tolerate all the older religions with some Christians and Jews converting to enjoy the full benefits of the Empire; the greater number continued to practice their faith without hindrance. This was still not the case in countries outside the Ottoman control.
In Neubrandenburg, Germany, in 1492, an allegation of desecrating the host caused a massacre that brought the Jewish community there to an end with 65 Jews being tortured, 27 of them being burned alive and the remainder expelled. It was in that same year that the Catholic authorities in Spain became concerned about Jewish influence on their members. The allegation was made that they were converting Christians and circumcising their children and that the Jews had not stayed within the quarters of the cities to which they were confined. The penalty for non-compliance with the order was death and seizure of property. The result was that Ferdinand reluctantly expelled over 150,000 Jews who were still in Spain and they made their way into the Ottoman Empire, after Bayezid II issued an invitation to the Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal and even sent out ships to safely bring them to their new home. Some decided to go to Holland and Portugal and settled among a Jewish community established there. Sicily in the same year was experiencing the Italian Inquisition, and an edict of Ferdinand against the Jews was also applied there, despite the local population’s petitions and protests, with even the Inquisitor testifying that they were of righteous behaviour. The Jews were there in great numbers and were prosperous, contributing to the overall wealth through taxation so that their departure was a major blow to the island. Many of them resettled in other parts of the Italian mainland but many also moved into the relative safety of the Ottomans. Manuel I of Portugal, with an eye to political advancement and the approval of the papacy, began the process of removing both Jews and Moslems from Portugal in 1496. Around 30,000 Jews had gone there from Spain and many argue that it was this pressure that brought about Manuel’s decision, but this does not appear to be so, as the Jews paid huge ‘entrance fees’ to the Portuguese Exchequer and had resources to look after themselves. It is therefore likely that Manuel was following the line of all other European states and ensuring that his country remained Christian through and through, as it became, after the expulsions. With this background, the Jews were faced with an Odyssean choice; to remain in the countries where they lived and accept the risk of death, exploitation and forced conversion or to move to the shelter of the Ottomans and accept the second class status of a non-Moslem. Many choose the latter. However, some went to Palestine and took passage to the land their hearts had always longed for, even though it was under Mamluk control, though that was soon to change. When Salim I came to power in 1512, he was intent on increasing the Ottoman Empire and marched on Syria with great military firepower. Both Mamluk and Egyptian armies were crushed and before long the Ottomans had taken full control of Syria and Palestine and both these areas would once more be joined as one, just as the Romans had done many years earlier. In its greatest period or power, the empire included most of South Eastern Europe right up to the gates of Vienna.
For the Jewish people, Europe remained a dangerous place and in Venice the authorities needed the Jews as money lenders, but at the same time the Catholic authorities were in conflict over the treatment of Jews. On one hand, the papacy ordered that Jews should not be interfered with but locally, the clergy preached vehemently against them, often inciting riots and expulsions. There was also the introduction of Monte di Pietà,1 a system of charitable lending that would harm the Jewish trade in finance. Further restrictions on Jewish pawnshops and papacy concerns led to an order that the Jews were only allowed to sell second-hand clothing, but the industrious Jews were able to make their own new clothing and with subtle deliberate ‘marks’ sewn into obscure places, they could sell the new clothes as used and thus avoid the magistrates. Eventually expulsion of Jews from Venice was carried out but not with great success as the Jews found ways to return to the city and maintain trade. Increasing pressure was then brought to bear and more restrictions ensued. However, Venice was reaching its own crisis with banks failing; the great Venetian dream was beginning to crumble and once more it was realised that Venice needed the Jews. In 1508, war between the Venetian republic and a confederation of Pope Julius II, Emperor Maximilian and King Ferdinand of Spain, saw Venice lose mainland cities and Venice itself threatened. The Jews fled the areas of conflict and took shelter in Venice and began to experience a relaxation of the distinctive clothing laws and were even allowed to be armed in certain areas. The money the Jews brought with them was much needed by the Venetian government and they did all they could to make them welcome. The Church authorities were not so gracious and as the city fell into great moral corruption, religious fervour was whipped up and the Jews became the object of fiery sermons and an explosive situation was developing. By 1514, the military situation was improving with the moral climate still deteriorating but the Jews remained relatively free of legal burdens. However, tensions were growing with the Venetian senate demanding huge sums from the Jews who in turn resisted. The Ottoman Empire stood on the boundaries of the Venetian territory and the Jews used their presence as a bargaining chip: if the Venetian state did not want the Jews and their money, then the Ottoman Empire would welcome them. Eventually a settlement was reached, but the troubles of the Jews were not over. In 1515, the idea of a ghetto was raised, with pressure being put on the authorities to hem the Jews in and restrict their movements and abilities to trade. On 29 March 1516, a decree was issued by the Venetian Senate:
‘The Jews must all live together in the Corte de Case, which are in the Ghetto near San Girolamo: and in order to prevent their roaming about at night: Let there be built two gates on the side of the Old Ghetto where there is a little Bridge, and likewise on the other side of the Bridge, that is one for each of said two places. Which Gates shall be opened in the morning at the sound of the Marangona, and shall be closed at midnight by four Christian guards appointed and paid for by the Jews at a rate deemed suitable by Our Cabinet’
Not only this, but the Jews had to pay for two patrol boats that would make sure they could not use any waterway to leave the ghetto. Anyone familiar with Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice will appreciate how he portrayed Shylock with all the prejudice of the Elizabethan era against Jews which reflected the same virulent anti-Semitism that marked Venice. Once more, we see the great need that existed for a country the Jews could call their own and where they could live and practice their religion in peace and safety.
This would be further reinforced in Germany when Martin Luther became increasingly angry with the established Roman Church and was reinforced when Pope Leo X introduced a new set of indulgences to raise money to help build St. Peter’s Basilica. On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed a parchment with his 95 Theses on the University of Wittenberg’s chapel door. The printing press enabled copies of the Theses to spread throughout Germany within two weeks and throughout Europe within two months. The actions of Martin Luther would eventually irrevocably split the universal church in two; Protestantism and Romanism would now compete for adherents in the arena of Christian faith. Whilst Luther had admirable aims of reformation and was seeking genuinely to improve the lot of Christians, especially the poor, there was a horrific side effect the later Nazis would embrace in their genocide attempt on the Jewish people. The long-held ambition of the Catholic Church to bring the Jews to the Christian faith was totally accepted by Luther, who initially believed the Jews were the people of God. In That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew, he was clear on his views at that time (1523):
‘Therefore, I will cite from Scripture the reasons that move me to believe that Christ was a Jew born of a virgin, that I might perhaps also win some Jews to the Christian faith. Our fools, the popes, bishops, sophists, and monks - the crude asses’ heads - have hitherto so treated the Jews that anyone who wished to be a good Christian would almost have had to become a Jew. If I had been a Jew and had seen such dolts and blockheads govern and teach the Christian faith, I would sooner have become a hog than a Christian. They have dealt with the Jews as if they were dogs rather than human beings; they have done little else than deride them and seize their property. When they baptize them they show them nothing of Christian doctrine or life, but only subject them to popishness and monkery.’2
Luther’s wish was that the Jews would become Christian and he held a sincere belief that if treated properly by Christians, they would convert. However, earlier, in a letter to George Spalatin in 1517, he seemed to believe that the Jews would not abandon their faith and had written:
‘But what am I doing? My heart is fuller of these thoughts than my tongue can tell. I have come to the conclusion that the Jews will always curse and blaspheme God and his King Christ, as all the prophets have predicted. He who neither reads nor understands this, as yet knows no theology, in my opinion. And so I presume the men of Cologne cannot understand the Scripture, because it is necessary that such things take place to fulfil prophecy. If they are trying to stop the Jews blaspheming, they are working to prove the Bible and God liars.’
Gradually, Luther became increasingly frustrated that the Jews were not converting and his attitude became more strident in his opposition to them and reached the point where he decided that they never would:
‘It is not my purpose to quarrel with the Jews, nor to learn from them how they interpret or understand Scripture; I know all of that very well already. Much less do I propose to convert the Jews, for that is impossible.’
His increasing anger was displayed in his book, The Jews and Their Lies, which was a long theological discourse in which he set out his interpretation of Scripture and saw himself in the tradition of the Jewish Prophets who had invoked curses on the Jewish people when they had strayed from the Laws of God. The modern mind will recoil at what he wrote, but it must be seen in the light of medieval anti-Semitism to which Luther had succumbed:
‘First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honour of our Lord and of Christendom, … But if we, now that we are informed, were to protect and shield such a house for the Jews, existing right before our very nose, in which they lie about, blaspheme, curse, vilify, and defame Christ and us (as was heard above), it would be the same as if we were doing all this and even worse ourselves, as we very well know. … I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. … I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them. … I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb. … I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews. For they have no business in the countryside, since they are not lords, officials, tradesmen, or the like. Let they stay at home. … I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them and put aside for safekeeping … I commend putting a flail, an axe, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow, as was imposed on the children of Adam (Gen 3[:19].) … all who are able toss in sulphur and pitch; it would be good if someone could also throw in some hellfire. … Burn down their synagogues, forbid all that I enumerated earlier, force them to work, and deal harshly with them … we must drive them out like mad dogs, … Now let everyone see to his. I am exonerated.’
There is no defence for Luther in this terrible venom and it was an unwise decision to write as he did. It could be argued that Luther had no intention that the Jewish people should be actually destroyed, but his foolish diatribe, which included the account of the killing of the 3,000 by Moses, led to a misunderstanding by many anti-Semites and became rooted in the Lutheran German psyche. The Nazis would later embrace it in their barbaric plans, using Luther’s own phrase that they ‘were doing their duty’, although Luther would have been horrified to see anyone use his theological arguments as a pretext for genocide on an almost industrial scale. Thus, the Jewish people were now the object of hate from many in the reformed Protestant and Catholic traditions and throughout Europe. The old medieval institutions and attitudes were disappearing as the Catholic Church was challenged with nationalism and humanism beginning to flower. Men and women everywhere had begun to seek to throw of bondage and serfdom as the Renaissance threw light on the practices and powers of the Ecclesiastic establishment and exposed their wickedness and manipulations. Though for the Jews this was not the case, as they continued to be the object of persecution and hate and their lives, property and freedom to follow their faith, remained at hazard. In Palestine in 1520, an internal revolt was attempted by Mamluks, joined by Bedouins, but this was savagely put down and new governors were appointed. However, these steps were very inadequate and the Bedouins, although also Moslem, continued to harass and disrupt the governance of the region, making even the collection of taxes impossible in some areas.
In 1524, the pope, Clement VII, was under great pressure with the reformation in Germany, the European Renaissance and the opposition of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. He had devastated Italy and brought it into servile dependency and now held power over German, Spain and areas of France. The Pope, in the centre of all of this, also saw the Ottoman expansion, conquering Belgrade and Rhodes with Hungary and Austria being the objects of its military might. Clement cast his eyes around for anything that might help relieve his problems, especially the growing threat of the Moslem Ottomans. His Inquisition was continuing its purges of Christendom and it did not mind if its net fell over the Jews, even though they were not supposed to be their concern. However, many Jews who had converted to Christianity for expedient reasons and the many who converted but continued to practice Judaism, called Marranos, were considered fair game for the Inquisitor’s torture, if any signs of relapse were detected. Once more the Ottoman Empire became a place of refuge for many Jews and Marranos who fled the Inquisition’s onslaught.
It was therefore a surprise when a Jew, David Reubeni, came into Rome riding on a white stallion for an audience with the pope, to offer him a solution to his Moslem problem. He presented Clement with the strangest letter:
‘I am David the son of King Solomon (may the memory of the righteous be blessed), 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 [Chalabar], 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 counsellors, the seventy elders. They charged me to go first to Rome to the presence of the pope, may his glory be exalted.’
The desperate pope allowed Reubeni to continue and he went on to inform the pope that he had a plan to drive the Ottomans out of Europe and Palestine and establish a homeland for the Jews. Despite the incredible claims being made the pope did enquire about Reubeni and granted him letters to take to Portugal and Ethiopia to gather more support for the plan. Portugal proved a difficult place for Reubeni as many of the Jews who had converted for one reason or another decided he was a true man from God and deserted Christianity to return to their Jewish faith. This stirred up the animosity of the Inquisitors and the Portuguese Catholics, who put pressure on the pope to reconsider his support for Reubeni and institute the Inquisition in Portugal. Reubeni was captured by the Spanish after being shipwrecked near Spain and was only released on the intervention of Charles V, after which he fled to papal protection in Avignon. Pressure grew from both Spain and Portugal who saw the activities of one of his early ‘disciples’, Molcho, disturb their countries, particularly the Jews who had converted to Christianity. Molcho (aka Diogo Pires), born into Christianity, became a follower of Judaism and saw himself as a prophetic fore-runner of the Messiah, was associated in minds as connected to Reubeni and indeed did make some plans with him in northern Italy to help the plight of the Marranos. However, both men eventually were imprisoned by the authorities in Italy with Molcho being tried by the Inquisition and refusing to recant his Jewish ‘conversion’. He was burned at the stake. Reubeni, not ever being a Christian of any sort, could not be touched by the Inquisition but he was returned to prison in Spain, where he died, probably being poisoned. The dream of a Jewish homeland therefore remained just that and the Jews continued under persecution in Europe and in the Ottoman Empire continued to have the protection of their Moslem overlords.
Some of the Marranos sought to flee to Mexico to evade the Inquisition but even there they were pursued and in 1528, in the first auto-da-fé,3 three Jews were burned at the stake. This would not be the last of these public punishments, which grew into great occasions for the crowds and would spread to other countries under Spanish rule. The Spanish were also active against the Ottomans and in 1535 they captured Tunis from them after the Ottomans had taken it the year before. The attempt to flee by Tunisian Jews to another area of the Empire was prevented and many were sold into slavery by the conquering Spaniards, with 150 being rescued by Italian Jews paying a ransom. The European pursuit of Jews continued in Prague and in 1540 they were expelled, whilst in Russia, the Jews had been living and promoting their faith, even into the higher circles of royalty and the nobility, causing rivalry between Poland and Moscow. The church authorities were also becoming concerned and agitation against the Jews increased. The arrival of Ivan IV (the Terrible) brought harsh pressure on them and in 1550, when a request was made to allow Polish Jews to come to Moscow to trade, his reply was ominous for the future of the Jews:
‘We have more than once written and noted the evil deeds of the Jews, who have led our people astray from Christianity, who have brought poisonous weeds into our land and also wrought much wickedness among our people’
These were not empty words; they turned to physical hatred and he began a campaign of forced conversions, with those not accepting his offer being drowned in the river at Polotsk. It was also in 1550 that Genoa expelled all Jews residing there following a decree by the Dominican friar Bonifazio da Casale. This was despite the Jews having had a very good relationship with many Christians in the city, who managed to get some exceptions, but the few that were able to remain had to wear the yellow badge to identify them as Jews. Genoa was not the only city in Italy to continue the hatred of the Jews and in 1554, a Franciscan friar, Cornelio da Montalcino, who had converted to Judaism, was burned alive at the stake. The following year more invectives came from the papal authorities with Pope Paul IV issuing a papal bull against the Jews:
‘Since it is completely senseless and inappropriate to be in a situation where Christian piety allows the Jews (whose guilt-all of their own doing-has condemned them to eternal slavery) access to our society and even to live among us; indeed, they are without gratitude to Christians, as, instead of thanks for gracious treatment, they return invective, and among themselves, instead of the slavery, which they deserve, they manage to claim superiority: we, who recently learned that these very Jews have insolently invaded Rome from a number of the Papal States, territories and domains, to the extent that not only have they mingled with Christians (even when close to their churches) and wearing no identifying garments, but to dwell in homes, indeed, even in the more noble [dwellings] of the states, territories and domains in which they lingered, conducting business from their houses and in the streets and dealing in real estate; they even have nurses and housemaids and other Christians as hired servants. And they would dare to perpetrate a wide variety of other dishonourable things, contemptuous of the name Christian. Considering that the Church of Rome tolerates these very Jews (evidence of the true Christian faith) and to this end [we declare]: that they, won over by the piety and kindness of the See, should at long last recognize their erroneous ways, and should lose no time in seeing the true light of the catholic faith, and thus to agree that while they persist in their errors, realizing that they are slaves because of their deeds, whereas Christians have been freed through our Lord God Yeshua Christ, and that it is unwarranted for it to appear that the sons of free women serve the sons of maids.’
He went on to order that states within the papal authority should create controlled locked ghettos for Jews and they were only allowed one synagogue in a city, all others to be destroyed. He put restraint on their ability to socialise and to use any Christians as servants or to allow them to treat Christians medically. They were also restricted in their ability to lend money and only allowed the job of ‘rag-picking’. The persecution of the Jews continued with the pope only allowing Talmuds that were censored and printed by Christians. In Venice, Spain and Portugal, the situation was becoming more and more dangerous, so much so that many Jews decided they wanted to go to Palestine and the shelter of the Ottomans.
One prominent Jew, Donna Gracia Mendes Nasi, from the Mendes family, who were among the Marranos in Portugal, left with her own family and went to Antwerp, where she became the head of a large banking concern. One of her nephews, Joao Miquez, abandoned the Marrano class and returned to his Jewish roots, taking the name Joseph Nasi. In 1561, he gained the support of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in Turkey and was able to get land in Tiberius, Palestine, where Jews could be settled and live free from persecution. He was so angered by the treatment of his people that he encouraged the Sultan to invade Venice, which in turn resulted in the capturing of Cyprus from Venice by the Ottomans. There were also stirrings within certain Christian circles that the fate of the Jews was linked to the return of Christ and the idea of the restoration of the Jewish people to their homeland. Indeed, it was thought by some that the Jews would be the ones who would deal with the Moslems. One English Protestant preacher, Thomas Brightman, was particularly stirred with this notion and regularly preached for every encouragement to be given to the Jews to fulfil their destiny. In a work published after his death in 1607 he wrote in an exegesis of Revelations dealing with the enemies of the Jews:
‘Then, and there, he comes to the last enemies of the Jews, the Romans, which had clipped the wings of Antiochus, in the 30th verse, till at the end, their own eagles wings were also clipped by the Saracens, and Turks, in verse 40, the one like a tossing beast, does push forth at him; the other coming against him, like a whirlwind that cannot be resisted, overflows, bears down all before it, enters Judea, the Glorious Land, which has been then a long time, the cockpit of the world, in the midst of their enemies, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Egyptians, Seleucids, and now at this day by the Turks, the last though not the least, of their adversaries, which shall be troubled with the tidings of the Eastern and Northern Jews conversion, which shall make him march out furiously against them, like another Jehu … Then follow the joyful return, and resurrection of the Jews: who lay dead for almost seventeen hundred years.’
Therefore, whilst the Roman church maintained its opposition to the Jews, the Protestant church was hearing the stirrings of some voices calling for a different approach to them, although it has to be noted that the concern for the Jews was more to do with the Christian hope of redemption and the notion of the conversion of the Jews.
While the Jews of Rome experienced a relaxation of pressure, the arrival of Pope Pius V saw the re-imposition of the harsh orders of Paul IV and in 1569, he expelled Jews dwelling outside of the ghettos of Rome, Ancona, and Avignon from the Papal States, pushing more Jews to flee to the Ottoman’s security. There was no let-up in action against the Jewish people, particularly in Spain and Mexico with more autos-da-fé, which saw many Marranos, suspected of false conversion, burned at the stake after torture by the Inquisition, such as Francisca Nuñez de Carabajal, in 1596 and Frei Diogo da Assumpcão, in Lisbon in 1603. The animosity of the Roman church was further seen when the Jesuits banned admission to anyone descended from Jews to the fifth generation in 1608. It is incredible that this was not rescinded until late in the twentieth century. There was also the problem of state authority decreeing one thing and the anti-Semitic reactions of local citizens. In Frankfurt, the Jews had protection under the Emperor, but local Guild craftsmen had a dispute with the patrician families and the council over high taxation. They also had taken umbrage at the large Jewish population. In 1614, this led to an attack on the city hall and the forced resignation of the council, after which they plundered the Jewish ghetto and violently expelled the Jews. The ring leader, Vincenz Fettmilch, and his associates were eventually arrested, tried and executed and their families flogged and banished. Fettmilch was called the ‘Haman’ of Frankfurt, echoing the Haman in the Biblical Esther story. In Worms, a leader in the Guild organisation led by Dr Chemnitz, had learned from the Frankfurt experience and as a lawyer he looked for ‘tricks’ that could remove the Jews without violence. They chose chicanery and insults of every sort and sought to wear the Jewish people down by closing the outlets of the city to them, hindered them from purchasing food, drove their cattle from the meadows and prevented milk deliveries for Jewish children being brought to the Jewish quarter. Eventually, their continued activity forced the Jews to emigrate in 1615, after which their synagogue was demolished, the cemetery laid waste, and the tombstones destroyed. It was the same year that Louis XIII re-issued the edict of 1394 for the expulsion of all Jews and they were to leave all French soil under pain of death for refusal. However, it seems that despite Louis’ anti-Semitism, the edict never seemed to be enforced, although there were anti-Jewish riots in Provence which forced them to move to the northern part of France.
Despite the Ottoman protection in Palestine, in other Moslem areas there were still those who would persecute the Jews. In 1619, Shah Abbasi of the Persian Sufi dynasty, forced Jews to publicly practice Islam and he instituted harsh rules to govern their behaviour. Under him, the Jews were classed as unclean heretics and experienced the worst treatment from any Moslem ruler. This led to many Jews deciding to leave Persia and to go to the Ottoman Empire’s other territory, rather than continue to suffer the indignities inflicted on them and for those that remained the situation grew gradually even more severe. There was one European country that did try to help the Jews at this time by introducing laws to stop anti-Semitism and that was Poland. By 1648, the Jewish population there was 450,000 (4 per cent of the population as a whole) whilst the worldwide Jewish population was estimated at 750,000.4 However, not all was well within the Polish commonwealth and in the area now known as Ukraine, a Cossack leader, Bohdan Chmielnicki, carried out a hate campaign with brutal pogroms, attacks and massacres that destroyed hundreds of Jewish communities and murdered around 20,000 men out of estimated 40,000 in the region. In 1648, they turned their anger towards others they saw as their enemies; Poles, Catholics and Jews. In an attack on the town of Nemerov in Poland, anyone who refused to convert to the Orthodox faith was slaughtered and between 3,000 and 6,000 Jews were massacred and a further 1,500 in Tulczyn were also killed a few weeks later. The atrocities continued until the Polish authorities defeated him and he was forced to sign a treaty that ended his horrific onslaught.
In England in 1642, the first Civil War began followed by a second in 1648 and by January 30 1649 the English had executed their king – Oliver Cromwell was now securely in charge of England. His early religious life is not too clear, but he did come to a ‘conversion’ somewhere around 1638 when he wrote to his cousin and gave the account of his experience and the statement, ‘My soul is with the congregation of the first born’. This was good news for the Jews who had been expelled from the country, because the Puritan Protestant was sympathetic to the plight of the Jews. It was in 1656 that, Menasseh ben Israel, the son of a Marrano and a notable Jew from Amsterdam, wrote, ‘The communication and correspondence I have held for some years since, with eminent persons of England.’ This indicated that Jews would like to return to England and held a dream for their future liberty set out in a pamphlet The Hope Of Israel. The idea of religious liberty was well held by the puritans and there was also the idea of Christian millennialism similar to Thomas Brightman’s and Sergeant Finch who wrote a book in 1621, The Calling of The Jews, which was a call for a ‘national existence in Palestine’ of the Jews. Such early Zionism was not welcomed in royal circles and the publisher was put into gaol by James I. All this did was to fan the flames of millennialism, seeing the persecution as part of the end time prophecies and the restoration of the Jews. The belief was held that if England were to become enthusiastic about Jewish liberty and welcome them back with open arms, then other countries around the world would follow. Therefore, in Cromwell’s England, a bill was to be presented to parliament repealing Edward’s edict of expulsion but the new government was cautious and the beheading of the king led to a delay. However, there can be no doubt that Cromwell was supportive and desired toleration, writing in a letter to Lawrence Crawford, a Scottish Presbyterian general in the parliamentary army:
‘The State, in choosing men to serve it, takes no notice of their opinions; if they be willing faithfully to serve it, that satisfies … bear with men of different minds from yourself’.’5
Indeed, the difficulties between England and Holland and issues around trade, caused many Jewish traders to seek to move to London and ben Israel was not slow to capitalise on this, writing:
‘Hence it may be seen that God hath not left us; for if one persecutes us, another receives us civilly and courteously; and if this prince treats us ill, another treats us well; if one banisheth us out of his country, another invites us with a thousand privileges; as divers princes of Italy have done, the most eminent King of Denmark, and the mighty Duke of Savoy in Nissa. And do we not see that those Republiques do flourish and much increase in trade who admit the Israelites?” The idea of this prosperous benefit to England was not lost on Cromwell and he sanctioned petitions to allow the Jews to return. He even acted on behalf of Jews to gain back property taken from them in Portugal and thus his religious tolerance coincided with his desire for the improvement of the country’s financial welfare.’
Ben Israel was invited to London on Cromwell’s personal invitation to promote the Jewish case and a tract De Fidelitate et Utilate Judaica Gentis, (Loyalty to the Jewish People) described as Libellus Anglicus (the English Petition) was prepared. Cromwell wanted the Jews to be fully admitted but the Council of State was cautious about a decision and threw the matter back to Cromwell, who in turn decided that a conference be called of notables to give advice on the issue. This conference turned into a division between supporters and opponents until eventually a proposal was formed to admit Jews but to severely restrict them and to tax them heavily. Cromwell was totally opposed to this and intervened to bring the conference to a close and once more tried the Council of State route. This was proving a struggle but by now Jews were entering England and a note in the state papers shows that Cromwell was turning a blind eye to their arrival. ‘The Jews we hear, will be admitted by way of connivancy [connivance], though the generality oppose.’ Whilst this allowed Marranos, and openly Jewish adherents to begin to enter England, it was not without opposition from anti-Semites who continually sought to prevent Jewish immigration. War with Spain provided such an opportunity, with anti-Semitic royalists seeking out Spanish Jews and using legislation that allowed the seizure of Spanish property in England, and obtaining warrants for the arrest of Spanish Marrano/Jews. Cromwell himself intervened and with clever political skill thwarted their efforts and eventually the cause of Jews entering the country was established and the roots of Jews in England steadily deepened. The ending of the Commonwealth and the restitution of the Monarchy under Charles II was another opportunity for the anti-Semites, but Charles, who had been supported financially by Jews when in exile, refused to comply with petitions to reintroduce the expulsions of Jews and so, though Edward I’s edict was never formally revoked, the legacy of Cromwell was a thriving Jewish community that once more flowered in England. However, whilst this was positive, the original dream expressed by ben Israel for the Jewish people, ‘that they keep their true religion, as hoping to returne againe into the Holy Land in due time’ was not achieved.
At Safed in the Ottoman Empire, in the mid-seventeenth century, an incident took place that has been the subject of debate on the historical record. Safed had been a very active centre for Judaism and mystic studies but by the early 1600s it had become less important as a centre of Judaism and ‘Safed thus ceases to be a centre of attraction. It decays slowly.’ The Druze community there were involved in a struggle for power with the Ottomans and there followed the destruction of Safed and Tiberius. Some reports suggested that the Jews were utterly massacred, but this has been disputed. As with most things concerning such matters, the truth lies somewhere in between. There is no doubt that there was the destruction of the two cities and indeed Jews were killed and displaced in the event, but the evidence suggests that there still was a community of Jews in the area in 1667, who continued to benefit from the shelter of the Ottoman Empire. One man, Sabbatai Sevi, was a Jewish mystic connected with Safed and he became the focus of Jewish Messianic attention. A Jerusalem Jew, Nathan Benjamin, was sent to Africa and Europe to collect funds for Jews settling in Jerusalem. He became involved in the Jewish community in Gaza and announced that he had a vision in which he had a ‘message from an angel, “now is the time of the last end meant by Scripture, for the day of vengeance is in my heart”.’ The persecution of the Jews over many years and his experiences in travelling, seeing the plight of Jews, would have weighed heavily upon him. In 1665, Benjamin went into a mystic state and issued a prophesy:
‘Heed ye Nathan my beloved, to do according to his word. Heed ye Sabbatai Sevi, my beloved. For if ye knew the praise of Rabbi Hamnuna the Ancient, “and the man Moses was very weak”.’
When asked to explain this, after his mystical state, Benjamin proclaimed Sevi as the Messiah and that he was ‘worthy to be king over Israel’. The reference to ‘very weak’ reflected the illnesses Sevi is reported to have suffered and result of the proclamation was that Sevi’s reputation as the Messiah spread across Europe and the realisation of the Messiah’s return was taken seriously. Even ben Israel in his communications to Cromwell cited Sevi and set the return of Jews to England in that context. In Baghdad, many Jews gave away property to the poor and removed the roofs of their houses.6 In Poland, Crimea, Jerusalem, Moldovia, France and London there arose a real desire to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and these Jews saw their suffering as the necessary preparation for the coming of the Messiah. Indeed, there was a real movement towards repentance, fasting and holiness of great numbers of Jews. Whatever the explanation or belief in this vision, it demonstrates the heart of yearning with the Jewish people for that day of redemption when they would be free from their oppressors and under their own king, in their own kingdom. Köprülü Fazil Ahmed Paşa, the Turkish Vizier, became concerned about the disturbance being caused and Sevi was imprisoned in the fortress at Gallipoli. This did not stop growing messianic expectation and the suffering was added to the mysticism of the Messiah, but eventually Sevi come to a point where he was made by the then ruler of the Ottoman Empire, Mohammed IV, to convert to Islam or die and, for reasons that are not truly clear, he chose to embrace Islam. After the news of the apostasy spread across the Jewish world many deserted Sevi and the dream of redemption was shattered. Sevi, continued to live a double life, sometimes following Islam and other times taking part in Jewish rituals and thus retained a following. He was eventually caught in the act of Jewish worship by Moslems and he was banished. On his death, Benjamin, faithful to the bitter end, tried to make a mystic point that it was merely an ‘occultation’ but by now another movement for a Jewish homeland vanished into disappointment. This episode, whilst ending in the disappointment, did have the effect of many Jews returning to a greater passion for their faith and many who had converted to Christianity now returned to openly profess their Jewish roots. This in turn meant that in many countries they once more stood out as different and in turn brought on the unwelcomed attention of the anti-Semites. Therefore, in 1667, in Vienna, more expulsions took place and in the Yemen forced conversions were followed by expulsions in 1679 of those who remained faithful to their religion.
The persecution by non-Jews was not the only issue in the Jewish world because of the residue of the disciples of Sevi, who maintained their belief that he was indeed the Messiah, and became known as Shabbetaians. One Shabbetaian preacher who came to Lithuania was heard by a Kabbala teacher, Judah Hassid ha-Levi (aka Judah the Saint), who was so impressed by the preacher that he was swept up in the idea of a return to the land of Israel. He went throughout Poland and Lithuania passionately preaching his message of repentance, mortification and good deeds. He was now in conflict with the traditional Orthodox rabbis, who became alarmed at their renewed activity which called for a return of the Jews to the Holy Land. In 1700, the group decided to begin the process of returning to Palestine and as their journey progressed, Judah was joined by another teacher, Hayyim Malakh, a radical Shabbetaian, who helped establish the group – he would become known as Malakh, the Angel. Malakh preached his radical message and began to hold secret meetings, where he taught that Sevi was indeed the Messiah and was a type of Moses who would lead the people to the Promised Land. He went further and declared that in 1707, Sevi would rise from the dead and redeem the Jewish people. The two preachers went separately to different countries in Europe, raising funds and gaining followers with their passionate preaching. By the time they arranged the final leg of the journey to the Holy Land, the group numbered 1500, travelling in two groups under Malakh and Judah and using different routes. On 14 October 1700, around 1,000 reached their destination; the remainder had perished on the journey and Judah himself died within days of his arrival, with Malakh assuming leadership of the group. Unfortunately, when they arrived they did not find the paradise they expected but found a Jewish community in poverty and misery with internal corruption and division. Malakh himself and some of his followers also were expelled from Jerusalem because of his unorthodox views and behaviour. The desperation of the situation led some to return to Europe, some to embrace the Moslem religion and some fell under the preaching of Christians and were baptised into that faith. Whilst this expedition was a disaster it entered the lore of the Jewish people as the first organised Aliyah7 of the Jews to their homeland and would remain an aspiration for many throughout the Jewish world.
One publication in 1700 which would have a huge impact on the relationship of Jews with their non-Jewish communities was an anti-Semitic publication by Johann Andreas Eisenmenger, from Mannheim. He had spent many years with Jewish scholars investigating Judaism and studying the Scriptures and literature of the Jews and his interaction with Christians who had converted to Judaism developed in him an irrational hatred of Jews. His publication, Entdecktes Judenthum (Judaism Unmasked), was a compilation of slander and misinterpretation of the Jewish religion and way of life. The Jews around him tried to encourage him to withhold publication, even offering him a sum of money, and though he asked for more, it did nothing to prevent his attempts at publication. The work poisoned the minds of many and indeed ever since he is uncritically quoted by many anti-Semites seeking to blacken the Jewish people. Carl Gustav Adolf Siegfried, a German theologian, wrote of Eisenmenger’s work:
‘Taken as a whole, it is a collection of scandals. Some passages are misinterpreted; others are insinuations based on one-sided inferences; and even if this were not the case, a work which has for its object the presentation of the dark side of Jewish literature cannot give us a proper understanding of Judaism.’
The continuing journey of the Jewish people was one marked by such prejudicial views and opinions, based on misunderstanding, envy, ignorance and often an irrational hatred, fuelled by anti-Semitic preaching from religious pulpits. Thus, Blood Libel accusations continued in such places as Sandomierz in Poland in 1710, where the Cathedral has a depiction of the event, and the result was another expulsion of Jews from the city.