Leadership, Halakha and History: The Torah and Public Work of Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenura
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Summary
This text surveys the life and multifaceted work of Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenura, from his roots in Italy as a banker and rabbi to his becoming the restorer of the Jewish community of Jerusalem at the end of the 15th century. The article stresses how he harnessed his administrative skills to fight the corruption of the local leadership, to establish charitable institutions and to lower the tax burden on the poor of the people. Alongside his public achievements, the source analyzes his revolutionary commentary on the Mishnah, which combines the verbal clarity of Rashi with the halakhic method of the Rambam, and thereby became the most fundamental commentary, studied to this day. Finally, the text documents his geographical journey through his historical letters, which serve as rare demographic testimony to the state of the Diaspora at that time, and sums up his legacy as a figure representing a cultural synthesis of the tradition of Ashkenaz, of Sepharad and of the spirit of the Renaissance.
Introduction and Geopolitical Background: Italian Jewry at the End of the 15th Century
Rabbi Ovadia ben Avraham Yare of Bertinoro (known by the acronyms the Ra'av and the Rav, or as Ovadyahu Yare of Rtanura) is counted among the great Torah scholars and public leaders who shaped the face of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel at the end of the Mamluk period.[1, 2, 3] There is some disagreement in historical scholarship about the exact year of his birth; some sources point to the year 5195 (c. 1435) [4], whereas other sources date his birth to the range between 1440 and 1450.[2, 3, 5] His family, the Yare family, lived in the town of Bertinoro in the region of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, near the city of Forlì (Forli), and after this town of origin he has been called for generations.[1, 3, 5]
In his youth the Ra'av received a comprehensive Torah education from his father, R. Avraham, and later became the foremost disciple of the greatest rabbi of Italy at that time, Rabbi Yosef Colon (the Maharik), and studied in his yeshiva in Bologna.[3, 4] The Maharik's influence on the Ra'av was immense, and the Maharik even mentions his disciple in his responsa.[3] This connection shows that the Ra'av absorbed the profound Ashkenazi method of study that prevailed in Italy at that time, which was later combined with his natural inclination toward systematic Sephardi legal decision.[1, 4]
Alongside his standing in Torah, the Ra'av established a high social and economic position in Italy. In the eighties of the 15th century he served as rabbi of the town of Città di Castello in the Papal States.[4] Archival documents reveal that the Ra'av's name appeared at the head of the list of Jewish bankers active in the town under the "condotta" agreements, contracts with the town authorities that granted privileges and citizenship to Jews in return for investment in loans and public finance.[4] This position shows that the Ra'av was a man of great personal wealth with a deep understanding of administration and finance.[3, 4] This administrative understanding, which he acquired in the flourishing communities of Italy, later served him as a critical tool when he was called upon to rebuild the shaky social and economic structure of the Jewish community in Jerusalem.[3, 4]
Despite his great economic prosperity in Italy, the decision ripened in his heart to emigrate to the Land of Israel. His motives for emigrating did not stem from persecution or material hardship, but from a pure religious and spiritual aspiration to fulfill the commandment of settling the Land.[4] At the end of 1486 (late 5247) he set out on his journey, apparently alone, without his wife and children.[4] To secure his financial existence in the Land of Israel without becoming a burden on the impoverished public, the Ra'av deposited his savings with the banker R. Immanuel Hai of Krimino.[4] This arrangement allowed him to receive in Jerusalem each year an allowance of one hundred Venetian ducats, transferred through the captains of pilgrim ships, along with an additional donation of 25 ducats designated for the poor of Jerusalem and for oil for the lamp.[3, 4]
The Journey to the Land of Israel: Geography, Economy and Demographic Records
The Ra'av's journey lasted more than a year and four months, during which he passed through many stations in the Mediterranean basin.[4] The route included long stays in Naples, Salerno and Palermo in Sicily (where he was required to preach before the community every Sabbath); from there he sailed to Rhodes, continued to Alexandria in Egypt, stayed about two months in Cairo, and finally crossed the Sinai desert to Gaza and Hebron, until his entry into Jerusalem on 13 Nisan 5248 (April 1488).[3, 4]
During the journey and his first years in the Land, the Ra'av sent three extremely detailed letters to his father and his brother.[3, 4, 5] These letters, which were later published in collections of historical sources such as "Iggerot Eretz Yisrael" (Letters from the Land of Israel), edited by Avraham Yaari, constitute a historical and demographic document of the first order.[3, 6] It is interesting to note that the printing of this collection in 1946 in Jerusalem was accompanied by heavy physical difficulties under the conditions of the siege and bombardments of the War of Independence, when the printing house was blown up and a large part of the typesetting of the book was destroyed.[7] This fact symbolically links the historical endurance of the Jewish community of Jerusalem in the days of the Ra'av with the struggles of later generations.[7]
The Ra'av's letters document with exceptional precision the economic, social and demographic condition of the Jewish communities he encountered on his way, as reflected in the following data:
Beyond the demographic description, the Ra'av's letters have great halakhic value. In his writings the Ra'av dealt at length with the question of the halakhic prohibition against settling in Egypt.[3] He analyzed the geopolitical standing of Egypt as a central hub of world trade between Europe and the Far East, and determined that "there is no land among all the lands like the land of Egypt for trade and for a man to grow rich in it".[3] This analysis was later used by Rabbi David ben Zimra (the Radbaz) in his responsa literature as a basis for permitting Jews to live in Egypt for the sake of livelihood and trade despite the halakhic restrictions.[3]
The Rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Struggle against the Corruption of the Local Leadership
When Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenura arrived in Jerusalem in 1488, at the end of the Mamluk period, he found a city sunk in deep physical and spiritual ruin.[2, 3] The Jewish community in the city was poor and oppressed, and numbered fewer than 70 householders who belonged to the lowest socio-economic strata.[3, 4, 5] The state of the community was so low that the city did not have even one proper Torah scroll for public use.[5]
Alongside the abject poverty, the community suffered from severe social distortions and from a corrupt local leadership. The community leaders, called "the Elders," exploited their position as treasurers of the communal endowment (hekdesh) and as supporters of the Mamluk government in order to oppress the poor of the people, and used ruthless methods against new proselytes and recent immigrants.[3, 4] In his letters the Ra'av described a painful reality in which those leaders actively awaited the death of lonely people and of immigrants without relatives, in order to seize their property on the claim that the property of strangers who have no heirs belongs to the public endowment.[3] Likewise, the demographic structure of the city was extremely unbalanced, with an especially high proportion of old and lonely widows, at a ratio of seven women to every one man.[3]
The Ra'av began to act with great energy to repair the social and spiritual situation in the city, but his path was not strewn with roses. His uncompromising struggles against the corruption of "the Elders" aroused fierce opposition against him, which forced him to leave Jerusalem temporarily and move to Hebron.[4] However, after a short period he returned to Jerusalem and established his position as the undisputed leader of the community.[4] Evidence of this appears in a letter written by his disciple in 1495 (5256), in which it is said: "And the man is very great, and by his word all the land is ruled, and without him no man lifts up his hand... and after his word they do not speak again".[4] The Radbaz later described him as one who was "renowned in wisdom and head of all the rabbis of Jerusalem".[3, 4]
The Ra'av's main public activities in Jerusalem included:
- Establishing a central yeshiva: The Ra'av founded a beit midrash and an advanced yeshiva that absorbed the multitudes of Spanish exiles who reached the city after the expulsion of 5252 (1492).[3, 5] The yeshiva won renown as one of the important centers of learning in the emerging Ottoman Empire.
- Raising financial resources: The existence of the yeshiva and the consolidation of the community were made possible thanks to the ties the Ra'av forged with the leaders of Diaspora Jewry, foremost among them the wealthy Nagid of Egypt, Rabbi Yitzhak ben Natan Sholal, who supported the yeshiva regularly and on a large scale.[3]
- Reform of religious and burial services: The Ra'av re-established the institution of the "Chevra Kadisha" (burial society) in Jerusalem to ensure a decent and equal burial for every deceased person, and even engaged in this physically and personally in order to set a personal example and to fight those greedy for gain.[3]
Easing the tax burden and relations with the authorities: Thanks to his wisdom and authority, the Ra'av was recognized as the official representative of the Jewish community before the institutions of the Muslim government, and succeeded in significantly reducing the heavy tax burden that lay on the necks of the Jews.[8]
Reviving the Hebrew language: The Ra'av worked consistently to strengthen the Hebrew language, and delivered his public sermons every Sabbath in the holy tongue, which contributed to social cohesion among the different communities (Ashkenazim, Sephardim and Musta'arabim) that lived in the city.[8]
This strenuous activity bore fruit within a short time. Within only eight years of the Ra'av's immigration, the Jewish community of Jerusalem grew from about 70 householders to more than two hundred families.[4]
His Torah Teaching and Works: The Revolution in the Interpretation of the Mishnah
The literary work of Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenura extends over various branches of Torah and halakhic literature, but the crowning achievement of his oeuvre, which earned him everlasting fame, is his systematic commentary on the six orders of the Mishnah.[2, 4]
Historical studies show that the Ra'av wrote most of his commentary on the Mishnah while still living in Italy, around the year 5242 (c. 1482), before his immigration to the Land of Israel.[9, 10] The work was first printed in Venice, and there is a slight ambiguity in the bibliographical sources about the exact year of printing; whereas some sources point to the year 5309 (1539) [3], better-founded bibliographical evidence shows that the first complete printing of the six orders of the Mishnah with his commentary was published in Venice in the years 5308–5309 (1548–1549) by his nephew, Rabbi Ovadia Hamon, with the assistance of the printer Rabbi Meir ben Yaakov of Florence.[2, 9, 10] Since its first printing, the work has become the most fundamental, central and widespread commentary on the Mishnah, and it is printed in almost every edition to this day.[3, 9] The standing of the commentary in relation to the Mishnah was compared by the sages of later generations to the standing of Rashi's commentary in relation to the Talmud.[8]
The Ra'av's methodological aim in writing the commentary was to offer a work that makes it possible to study the six orders of the Mishnah as an independent textbook, without the need for a parallel and continuous study of the discussions of the Babylonian or Jerusalem Talmud in order to understand the plain meaning, while incorporating the practical halakhic ruling ("according to the halakha").[4, 8] In places where the Tannaim disagreed, he states explicitly according to whom the halakha was decided, and adds practical details needed to apply the laws in the present time.[4]
To understand the revolutionary innovation of the Ra'av's commentary, one must compare it with the two main commentaries that preceded it and served him as major sources of inspiration: Rashi's commentary on the Torah and the Talmud, and the Rambam's Commentary on the Mishnah.[4, 9, 10] The Ra'av copied whole passages from these works word for word, while reworking, abridging and adapting them to his purpose.[4]
- In comparison with Rashi's commentary: Rashi interpreted the Mishnah mainly as part of the flow of the Talmudic discussion. Therefore his commentary did not give the learner a tool for deciding halakha from the Mishnah itself, and was not built as an independent codex aimed at practical halakhic decision.[4]
- In comparison with the Rambam's commentary: The Rambam did incorporate halakhic rulings in his commentary, but his work was not built as a systematic verbal commentary ("word by word") on every passage that needs explanation.[4] In addition, the Rambam did not always bring all the details of the discussion, the contextual restrictions (ukimtot) and the reasons raised in the Talmudic discussions for understanding the Mishnah.[4]
- The Ra'av created a perfect synthesis: he combined the clear and simple verbal structure of Rashi with the halakhic, decisional dimension of the Rambam.[4] In this way he overcame the shortcomings of his predecessors and gave the world of Torah an accessible, concise and precise work. The commentary won such great admiration that the greatest commentators of later generations built their own works upon it; the most famous of them are the "Tosafot Yom Tov" by Rabbi Yom Tov Lipmann Heller, and the "Melekhet Shlomo" by Rabbi Shlomo Adeni.[3] Likewise, the popular work "Kav ve-Naki" is a kind of direct abridgement and condensation of the Ra'av's commentary.[2]
His Further Literary Work and Halakhic Integration
Besides the commentary on the Mishnah, Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenura composed a series of important works in the fields of exegesis, halakha and midrash, which testify to the breadth of his teaching:
His Burial Place in the Kidron Valley and His Historical Influence on the Generations
Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenura died in Jerusalem around the year 5270 (1510) or 5275 (1515).[2, 3] He was buried in the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives, whose geographical location and geological composition (soft limestone, easy to dig) made it an ideal and continuous burial place from as early as the days of the First Temple.[1] The Ra'av's grave is located in the Kidron Valley, at the foot of the Mount of Olives, in an area abounding in massive stone tombstones and monumental structures hewn in the rock, such as Absalom's Pillar, the Tomb of the Sons of Hezir and the Tomb of Zechariah.[1, 3]
As part of the modern mapping project of the City of David, more than 40,000 graves on the Mount of Olives have been mapped, which today makes it possible to locate the exact resting place of the righteous man by means of computerized systems.[1] His grave has become a major pilgrimage site, and many Jews customarily go up and prostrate themselves on it on the traditional day of his death.[3]
The figure of Rabbi Ovadia of Bartenura represents a rare cultural and halakhic synthesis. He combined the Ashkenazi method of study and legal decision that he absorbed from his teacher the Maharik [3, 4], the principles of analysis and of legal organization of the Sephardi Rambam [4, 9, 10], and the culture, aesthetics and organizational ability of the Jewry of the Italian Renaissance.[4] His work in Jerusalem saved the community from physical and moral annihilation, and prepared the ground for the absorption of the Spanish exiles, who made the Land of Israel the leading Torah center of the Jewish world in the 16th century.[3, 4]
Sources11
- 1.ר' עובדיה מברטנורא - City of David - עיר דוד, cityofdavid.org.il/rabbi-ovadia-bartenura/
- 2.עובדיה מברטנורא - ויקיפדיה, he.wikipedia.org/wiki/עובדיה_מברטנורא
- 3.רבי עובדיה מברטנורא – ויקישיבה - אתר ישיבה, yeshiva.org.il/wiki/index.php/רבי_עובדיה_מברטנורא
- 4.הוא חיבר פירוש למשנה ותיעד את חיי הקהילות: לדמותו של רבי עובדיה ..., he.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3545225
- 5.רבנו עובדיה מברטנורא, daat.ac.il/daat/toshba/ishim/ovadya.htm
- 6.אגרות ארץ ישראל - ויקיפדיה, he.wikipedia.org/wiki/אגרות_ארץ_ישראל
- 7.אַגָּדוֹת אֶרֶץ־יִשְרַאֵל - כרך א': ירושלים, יהודה, ים־המלח, שומרון / זאב וילנאי, benyehuda.org/read/49419
- 8.עובדיה מברטנורא | מקורות מתוך ספריית ספריא, sefaria.org.il/topics/ovadiah-bartenura
- 9.ברטנורא על משנה תמיד | ספריית ספריא, sefaria.org.il/Bartenura_on_Mishnah_Tamid
- 10.ברטנורא על משנה ערכין | ספריית ספריא, sefaria.org.il/Bartenura_on_Mishnah_Arakhin
- 11.ברטנורא על התורה | ספריית ספריא, sefaria.org.il/Bartenura_on_Torah