Jewish people rescued by Ottoman Sultan in 1492: How Beyazid II evacuated, welcomed & sheltered Sephardic Jewish people fleeing Spanish Inquisition & expulsion
Summary
The Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II, in the year 1492, evacuated the Sephardi Jewish people from Spain, following the fall of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada and the proclamation of the Alhambra Decree.
He resettled the Jewish people throughout Ottoman lands, especially in Ottoman ruled greek city of Salonica/ Salonika (now known as Thessaloniki in Greece.)
Many other Jewish people were settled in other places in the Ottoman Empire, such as:
- Istanbul's Galata neighborhood,
- Turkey's Aegean city of Izmir,and
- present-day northern Israeli city of Safed.
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Introduction
Beyazid II was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512.
Background
Jewish people living in Spain and Portugal - ie, the Iberian Peninsula were called Sephardic Jews (as distinguished from the Ashkenazi Jews of Europe)
The Spanish Inquisition
In 1478, Spain instituted the Spanish Inquisition.
Spain issues the Expulsion Edict
On March 31, 1492,. Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella signed an edict, the Alhambra Decree, to expell the Jewish people (& Muslims) from Spain.
This decree gave Spanish Jewish people four months—until July 31—to choose between abandoning their religion or leaving Spain.
In July 1492, Spain started the expulsion of the Jewish and Muslim peoples.
The Despair of Jewish people
"The decree of expulsion was greeted by the Jews with despair and disbelief.
They were given four months to wind up their affairs, and were not permitted to take any gold, silver, or precious metal with them..."
"...King Ferdinand ordered Jewish communities to pay the communal taxes due for the next several years so that he would not lose revenue by their departure.
Debts outstanding to Jews were deferred or transferred to the crown.."
Dilemma - Where could the expelled Jewish people go?
Jane Gerber frames the dilemma as
"The major problem, however, was finding a country of asylum.
England and France had banished their Jewish communities in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
After the Black Death of 1348, which wiped out almost a fifth of Europe’s population, many German towns had expelled Jews or destroyed their communities, accusing them of causing the deaths by poisoning the wells.. "
Go to Portugal?
The Ottoman Empire welcomes the Jewish people (a gesture that is in stark contrast to the treatment in the European nations)
Bayezid II - The Ottoman Sultan sent out the Ottoman Navy under the command of admiral Kemal Reis to Spain in 1492 in order to evacuate the Jewish people safely to Ottoman lands.
The Ottoman Sultan grants the Jewish people refuge & citizenship in the Empire
Beyazid II granted the refugees permission to settle in the Ottoman Empire and become Ottoman citizens.
Jewish people settle in Salonica or Salonika or Thessaloniki as it's known now
Jews were most often placed in Greece’s main northern city of Thessaloniki, which was an Ottoman territory in the 1490s.
Jewish people also settled in Istanbul, Izmir & Safed territories of the Ottoman Empire
Many other Jews were also settled in Istanbul's Galata neighborhood, Turkey's Aegean city of Izmir, and present-day northern Israeli city of Safed.
Bayezid II sends empire-wide proclamations to all governors to welcome the Jewish people
Bayezid II sent out proclamations / firmans throughout the empire, esp to all the governors of his European provinces, that the refugees were to be welcomed warmly and not repelled. He threatened with death all those who treated the Jews harshly or refused them admission into the empire.
Ottoman Empire becomes a place of cultural, religious & economic flourishing for the Jewish people
Under Bayezid's reign, Jewish people enjoyed a period of cultural flourishing, with the presence of scholars like the Talmudist and scientist Mordecai Comtino; astronomer and poet Solomon ben Elijah SharbiαΉ ha Zahab;
According to Wiki
"During the Ottoman period, the centre of Jewish life in the Balkans was Salonica or Thessaloniki.
The Sephardim of Thessaloniki were the exclusive tailors for the Ottoman Janissaries, and enjoyed economic prosperity through commercial trading in the Balkans.
After their expulsion from Spain, between 15,000 -20,000 Sephardim settled in Thessaloniki.
According to the Jewish Virtual Library:
"Greece (under ottoman rule♧) became a haven of religious tolerance for Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition and other persecution in Europe.
The Ottomans welcomed the Jews. Jews occupied administrative posts and played an important role in intellectual and commercial life throughout the empire."
These immigrants established the city's first printing press, and the city became known as a centre for commerce and learning."
According to Wiki
"Thessaloniki is the only known example of a city of this size in the Jewish diaspora that retained a Jewish majority for centuries.
The city was nicknamed la madre de Israel (mother of Israel).
The community experienced a "golden age" in the 16th century, when they developed a strong culture in the city."
Jewish writer Devin E. Naar in the online article Jerusalem of the Balkans notes that
"Salonica became a center not only of rabbinic learning, but also of early modern Hebrew publishing.
It was the birthplace of Solomon Alkabetz, the author of the Sabbath prayer, Lecha Dodi, and the city where Joseph Karo prepared his famous code of Jewish law, Beit Yosef.
By the mid-16th century, Jewish people constituted half of the city’s residents and formed one of the largest Jewish communities in the early modern world.
The image of the 16th-century golden age of Salonica as a center of Jewish refuge and Jewish learning is conjured by the expression, “the Jerusalem of the Balkans.”
1519 - Thessaloniki is a Jewish-majority city
The entry of other exiled Jewish communities swelled the city's Jewish population, until Jews were the majority population in 1519.
Ottomon Empire at the end of 16th century had the largest Jewish population of 1.5 million
By the end of the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire had the largest Jewish population in the world, with 150,000 compared to Poland's and non-Ottoman Ukraine's combined figures of 75,000
In contrast to Europe, Ottoman Empire becomes a relative safe haven for Jews
The Ottoman Empire became a relative safe haven for many Jewish people in marked contrast to those living in Europe under varying conditions of persecution.
Jewish people live in relative peace & prosperity till the end of Ottoman Rule in 1913
The Jewish community lived in prosperity and relative peace as long as Ottoman rule lasted, till 1913, to be precise.
1913 - Thessaloniki passes from Ottomans to the Greeks
After the Second Balkan War, Thessaloniki and the rest of the Greek portion of Macedonia were officially annexed to Greece by the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913.
πΉ️******π ******πΉ️
Next Post Coming up -
After 1913:
Thessaloniki and the fate of the Salonika Jews.
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Footnotes
* On 5 December 1496, signed the decree of expulsion of Jews and Muslims to take effect by the end of October of the next year.
♧ - parenthesis added
Reference
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thessalonika
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsion_of_Jews_from_Spain
- https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-expulsion-from-portugal/
- https://www.aa.com.tr/en/culture-and-art/ottoman-empire-welcomed-jews-exiled-from-spain/
- https://www.pbs.org/wnet/exploring-hate/2022/07/26/expelled-from-spain-july-31-1492/#:~:text=We%20knew%20also%20that%2C%20on,expelling%20the%20Jews%20from%20Spain.
- https://www.dailysabah.com/arts/portrait/bayezid-ii-art-enthusiast-heir-of-mehmed-the-conqueror
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Greece
Further Readings
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09503110802283432
- https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/797
- https://jewishreviewofbooks.com/articles/134/jerusalem-of-the-balkans/
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