FROM SPAIN TO TURKEY
In Turkey, the Jews lived very well, under the auspices and protection of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566), who generously received Sephardic refugees, allowed them to freely exercise their religion, and facilitated their permanent residence in the empire. Suleiman was confident that the presence of the Jews benefited his kingdom economically and politically. And he is credited with the following phrase, making fun of King Ferdinand of Spain: “Do you call this an intelligent king, who impoverishes his states to enrich mine?” Turkey was the ideal refuge for Sephardic Jews. In fact, everyone dreamed of living in Turkey in total freedom and outside the horrible arm of the inquisition. The big problem was getting there, as explained below.
THE QUEEN OF CHESED
In the year 1553 Doña Gracia Mendes Nasí arrived from Ferrara, Italy, to Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. She was accompanied by an entourage of 200 people and 40 guards. In Constantinople, she was received with the honors accorded to a queen. While her successful businesses in Europe were managed by her nephew Yosef Nasí, in Constantinople Doña Gracia dedicated herself exclusively to charitable works and especially to helping materially and spiritually to the reestablishment of the anusim, the Jewish refugees from Spain and Portugal. Cecil Roth writes something that surprised him. He recounts —and documents— that Doña Gracia lived in a very luxurious mansion… “and she had in her house every day 80 poor people, eating at her table.” (p.103). Taking the needy to eat at her table raised the prestige of the poor and their dignity. I heard from my uncle, Rabbi Yosef Faur z”l, that Doña Gracia deliberately brought the poor to her own table to set an example for other wealthy Jews, who always tried to imitate everything Gracia Mendes did. And as expected, the example of Doña Gracia multiplied. And there was no shortage of poor Jews… because more and more refugees, who did not have what to eat, were constantly arriving to Constantinople from Spain, Portugal, and other European countries.
SALONICA: THE CITY OF REFUGE
With the consent of the Sultan, Doña Gracia got the Sephardic refugees to settle in Salonica (Thessaloniki). This port-city was not developed at that time, but over time “it became the second most important metropolis of the Ottoman Empire, thanks, in good measure, to those Sephardim” (see here). Thessaloniki became the only city in the world with a majority Jewish population. The predominant language was Ladino, a language that continued to be used by the Jews of Salonica until modern times. . Doña Gracia worried that these exiles will not lack the means of life. In addition to hiring them in her own company for the port activity, the commercial expertise of the Mendes, Doña Gracia also established a textile company in the city to provide more jobs for the refugees. And in Salonica Doña Gracia also took care of a very important Mitzvah: redeeming captives.
PIDYON SHEBUYIM
At that time it was very common for pirates to attack ships, steal the cargo and capture the passengers to sell them as slaves. The Jewish prisoners were the favorites of the pirates. Why? Because the criminals knew that they would always find other Jews who would pay a good price to rescue their brothers. “There is no greater merit than rescuing captives.” אין לך מצווה גדולה כפדיון שבויים , said the Sages of the Talmud. Ships with Jewish human cargo constantly arrived at the port of Thessaloniki. And Doña Gracia was behind the efforts and negotiations to free the captives, even knowing that the kidnappers abused the price they demanded to free their captives. There is documentation that records the data of a ship that was hijacked by pirates from Malta and arrived in Salonica with 70 Jewish prisoners. It is said that Doña Gracia Mendes paid up to 500 ducats (a ducat was a 3.5-gram gold coin) per person for their ransom. Thanks to the efforts of this extraordinary woman, thousands of Sephardic captives were rescued and released from captivity.
JEWISH EDUCATION
In Salonica, Doña Gracia also founded a Talmud Tora –a Jewish school–that after a few years had 10,000 students and 200 teachers. She also founded and maintained a prestigious Yeshiba (higher rabbinical academy) headed by the famous Ribbi Shemuel of Medina. This was a very special Yeshiba. In addition to sponsoring the regular Tora schollars, every year Doña Gracia invited three Rabbis from other Jewish communities to study for a year with Ribbí Shemuel de Medina, the most brilliant Halakhic mind in the diaspora at the time. After a year these Rabbis would return to their communities with more knowledge and experience. Doña Gracia also founded a very special Synagogue in the city: Leviyat Chen (ח“ן, are the initials of her Hebrew name: Chaná Nasí). This Synagogue was like an “ulpan”: it was conceived exclusively for the anusim, that is, those Jews who had been forcibly converted to Christianity and knew nothing of Judaism. In this Synagogue, they were first taught the Hebrew language and the basics of the Tora and Tefilla, to facilitate their active integration into the Jewish community.
To be continued
JOURNEY TO DEATH
Sea travel from Spain or Portugal to Turkey was unaffordable for the vast majority of Jews since when they left Spain they were not allowed to take anything of value with them. Those Jews who somehow had the means to pay for transportation to Turkey exposed themselves to very high risks since there were no minimum guarantees for the safety of the passengers. Once on the high-sea, the helpless refugees were at the complete mercy of the ship’s captain and crew, who normally abused them, stole their belongings or sold them as slaves. Even in the rare event that the ship’s captain was honest and kept his promise to take the Jewish refugees to their destination, the ships could be attacked by pirates, who would seize the cargo, kidnap the passengers and sell them into slavery. But the worst threat on the ships, especially the less expensive ones, was disease and epidemics. Since the refugees traveled without the basic health or hygiene conditions. Thus, most of the passengers did not survive the journey. Take the case of Rabbi Isaac Caro, who wrote about his journey. He escaped from Portugal when King Manuel gave the order to forcefully baptize all Jewish children. He left with his wife and his children (at least 4 boys) and when he arrived, he only had one daughter left. Although he does not provide us with the details of all the dangers of his journey, Rabbi Caro says that on that journey “all my sons, young and old, died” (halechu lebet olamam kol banay hazecharim, gedolim uqtanim). He also hints that he wrote his book Toledot Ytschaq, as a consolation for his great loss. And he says that, despite the tragic ending, he was blessed to have escaped from Portugal, because otherwise he and his children would have been forced to be baptized.
All this should help us understand a little better two things:
1. That the expulsion of the Jews from Spain was virtually a death sentence for most Sephardic refugees.
2. The enormous importance of the humanitarian mission that Doña Gracia Mendes carried out to save the lives of Sephardic refugees by transporting them on the ships of her own commercial company from Europe to Turkey.
