Immigration of the three hundred rabbis

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Immigration of the three hundred rabbis , also known as the pilgrimage of the three hundred rabbis , describes a mass immigration of Jewish-French scholars, their relatives and followers to the Holy Land in the years 1210–1211.

Lore

The “ pilgrimage of the three hundred rabbis” is sometimes referred to as the early form of the aliyah or as proto- Zionist immigration to Palestine . The emigration of French and English rabbis to Jerusalem in the years 1210 to 1211 was first mentioned in the book Shevet Yehuda by Solomon ibn Verga (16th century). The report is based on an anonymous chronicle:

“In the year [171 = 4971] 1211 the Lord encouraged the rabbis of France and England to move to Jerusalem and there were more than 300 of them whom the king paid a great deal of honor, and they built synagogues and houses of teaching there. Our famous teacher R. Jonathan ha Cohen also moved there and a miracle happened to them in that when they prayed for rain they were exalted so that through them the name of God was sanctified. "

The chronicle is silent about the further fate of these early European-Jewish immigrants to the Holy Land.

Attendees

The report of the immigration to Palestine is confirmed by contemporary witnesses. Juda al-Charisi , for example , who visited Jerusalem in 1216, reported that he had met several French scholars. Even Abraham , the son of Maimonides , said French Tosafists that would have happened on the way to Israel Egypt. Despite these confirmations, some questions remain unanswered in the Shevet Yehuda report. The origin may only refer to France, England should at best denote English areas of France. The number three hundred also seems immensely exaggerated, since at that time the number of all French and German Tosafists could not have reached this level. If one adds their students and relatives to the number of rabbis willing to emigrate, the number three hundred could be realistic. A concrete historical reason that would suggest actual mass emigration cannot be identified at that time. The names of a handful of rabbis who set out for Palestine have been handed down. With Samson von Sens , Jonathan ha-Kohen von Lunel , Joseph ben Baruch von Clisson , Baruch ben Isaak von Worms and Samson von Coucy , however, some of the leading French Tosafists were among the emigrants.

Motifs

Various speculations have been made about the motives for the rabbis' emigration . Some researchers constructed a connection with the Maimonides dispute , others drew a connection to the messianic fever that had gripped many European Jews at the beginning of the 13th century. Often social and political reasons were given as the cause of this early aliyah. The situation of Jews in northern France and England had worsened a lot by the end of the 12th century. At the same time, the situation in Palestine seemed to have improved in favor of the Jews after Saladin's reconquest of Jerusalem in 1187. This and the fact that new special taxes were levied by both the French and the English king and that in 1198 with Innocent III. a more anti-Jewish pope had come to power, suggests some researchers that economic and political reasons were the main motives. However, this contradicts the fact that the wave of emigration was by no means a popular movement and was limited to a few scholars and their followers. From this it can be concluded that the emigration movement of 1210/1211 can best be seen as an expression of a new piety movement. In addition to the economic and political motives, according to Kanarfogel, primarily religious reasons were decisive. The focus was on the wish to fulfill the corresponding mitzvot upon return to the Holy Land . Assumptions that the re-establishment of the Sanhedrin in the sense of Maimonides was the real motive of the rabbis cannot be confirmed.

literature

  • Ephraim Kanarfogel The 'Aliyah of "Three Hundred Rabbis" in 1211: Tosafist Attitudes toward Settling in the Land of Israel . In: The Jewish Quarterly Review 76/3 (1986), pp. 191-215.
  • Elkan Nathan Adler : Note sur l'emigration en Palestine de 1211 . In: Révue des Etudes Juives (REJ) 85 (1918), pp. 70-71.
  • Samuel Krauss : L 'émigration de 300 Rabbins en Palestine en l'an. 1211 . In: Révue des Etudes Juives (REJ) 82 (1926), pp. 333-352.
  • Alexandra Cuffel : Call and Response: European Jewish Emigration to Egypt and Palestine in the Middle Ages . In: The Jewish Quarterly Review , 90 (1999), pp. 61-101.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Solomon Ibn Verga: The book Schevet Jehuda. Translated from Hebrew into German by M. Wiener . Hanover 1856. p. 232.
  2. ↑ a b c Kanarfogel: Aliyah (1986)
  3. ↑ Krauss (1926)
  4. ↑ Adler (1918). Cf. Israel Jacob Yuval : The year 1240: the end of a Jewish millennium . In: Johannes Fried (ed.): Cultural transfer and court society in the Middle Ages . Berlin 2008. pp. 13-40. Gary Dickson: Prophecy and Revivalism: Joachim of Fiore, Jewish Messianism and the Children's Crusade of 1212. In: Florensia 13/14 (1999-2000), pp. 97-104.
  5. ↑ There is no evidence that the emigration of 1211 consisted of anyone but Tosaphists, their families and their students. It was certainly not a popular movement . Kanarfogel (1986), p. 197.
  6. ↑ Itzhak Alfasi:  Israel, State of: Aliyah and absorption. In: Encyclopaedia Judaica . 2nd Edition. Volume 10, Detroit / New York a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-0-02-865938-1 , p. 331 (English).