Don Yitzchak Abarbanel
Shalom Magazine Rosh Hashanah 2024
Don Yitzchak Abarbanel: A servant of kings, a guardian of his people
By Rabbi Shlomo Pereira
This article presents a brief sketch of the life of R. Yitzchak Abarbanel, usually referred to with a mixture of formality and affection, as Don Abarbanel, and shares the story of his tireless efforts in 1471 to redeem Jewish captives sold into slavery in Portugal.
The immediate motivation for revisiting the life of Don Abarbanel is the recent death, in August 17, 2024, of Senor Abravanel, better known as Silvio Santos, a Brazilian media mogul who was his direct descendant. In turn, sharing the story about redeeming captives requires no justification in light of the events of October 7, 2023.
A statesman of affluence and influence
Don Abarbanel was born in Lisbon in 1437, where he received a Jewish education under R. Yosef Chayon and was groomed for a court position under the tutelage of his father, Yehudah, who himself served the courts of D. Duarte (r: 1433-1438) and D. Afonso V (r: 1438-1481). Indeed, upon his father's demise in 1471, he successfully served as treasurer and close advisor to D. Afonso V.
Early during the reign of D. João II (r: 1481-1495), however, Don Abarbanel was suspected of being part of a conspiracy against the crown led by the powerful House of Braganza, with whom the Abarbanel family had a very close association. In 1483, faced with an imminent threat to their lives, Don Abarbanel and most of his family were forced to flee Portugal.
Taking refuge in Castile, Don Abarbanel settled in Toledo and entered the service of Ferdinand of Aragon (r. 1479–1516) and Isabella of Castile (r. 1474–1504) as a tax farmer and financial advisor. For the next eight years, he played a prominent financial and advisory role in helping the monarchs end the centuries-old Muslim presence. And upon the promulgation of the decree of expulsion of the Jews in 1492, he did all within his power to have it reversed. After adamantly refusing to convert, he and his family were once again forced to flee.
In early 1493, Don Abarbanel settled in Naples, where Ferdinand I (r. 1458-1494) promptly appointed him to a similar position. However, the monarch died in early 1494, the French forces invaded in 1495, and Don Abarbanel and his family were yet once again running for their lives. He eventually returned and dedicated much of the next eight years to writing.
A prolific and successful writer
Don Abarbanel was one of the most prolific of his generation. However, most of his literary output was produced after leaving Portugal in 1483. A notable exception is his commentary on Deuteronomy, which he began in Lisbon. It was published under the title Merkevet HaMisheh (Second Chariot) in Sabbioneta in 1551. In turn, Perush Al HaTorah, the commentary on the whole Torah, was first printed in Venice in 1579.
Among his many other works, only a few were published during his lifetime: Rosh Amanah (Pinnacle of Faith), a discussion of theological questions relating to the Thirteen Principles of Faith by R. Moshe ben Maimon (1138-1204); Zevach Pesach (Passover Sacrifice), the first Haggadah ever published with a commentary; and Nahalat Avot (Inheritance of the Fathers), a commentary on Ethics of the Fathers. These three books were published together in Constantinople in 1505 by the printing shop of David and Shmuel ibn Nachmias, the Spanish refugee who introduced the printing press to the Ottoman Empire.
A redeemer of Jewish captives
In 1471, as part of its ongoing expansion in North Africa, the Portuguese captured the city of Arzila. D. Afonso V personally led the campaign, commanding an army of 30,000 soldiers and 400 vessels.
As they arrived at the Moroccan coast, a fierce storm erupted, causing heavy rainfall over the next three days that caused the loss of several Portuguese ships and the death of over 200 men. Despite these challenges, the city was captured. The battle left 2,000 defenders dead. Five thousand residents were taken as captives and sold into slavery.
Among the thousands of captives were 250 Jews from Arzila, men, women, and children, who were sold into slavery throughout Portugal. Upon learning about the plight of these Jewish captives, Don Abarbanel formed a committee of twelve leaders from the Lisbon Jewish community with the goal of raising funds to redeem them from captivity.
On behalf of the Jewish community of Lisbon, Don Abarbanel traveled across the country. Going from town to town, he raised the enormous sum of 10,000 gold doubloons, enough to purchase the freedom of 150 captives. Notably, Don Abarbanel mentions that this amount was collected only from the Jewish community and that it represented the full price of the transactions.
For perspective, 10,000 gold doubloons would be enough to sponsor an entire fleet or to sustain a lifestyle of luxury and power at the highest level. The booty extracted from Arzila by the Portuguese forces, deemed particularly good, was estimated at 80,000 gold doubloons.
Despite these achievements, for Don Abarbanel, the challenges were far from over. There were still 100 Jews in captivity. Besides, the newly freed Jews, many destitute and unfamiliar with the local language, required clothing, shelter, and support.
Realizing that he could not ask for more help from the Portuguese Jewish community, Don Abarbanel turned to his friend and close business associate R. Yechiel of Pisa (d.1492), a banker and philanthropist and one of the most prominent Jews in Italy.
In March 1472, Don Abarbanel sent a lengthy letter in Hebrew to his Italian friend. This letter was delivered by ship through two Portuguese ambassadors on a diplomatic mission to Italy dispatched by Afonso V to pledge his obedience to the newly elected pope.
Despite all the success already achieved, Don Abarbanel could not ignore what still needed to be done. He did not rest or hesitate to engage his connections to find the funds necessary to redeem the remaining captives and to support the remaining fellow Jews in need. This was a remarkable case of fulfillment of the mitzvah of “redeeming the captives.”
A life of achievements
Don Abarbanel passed away in Venice in 1508 and is buried in Padua. The last two and a half decades of his life were anything but easy, as he and his family were victims of three forced exiles: from Portugal in 1482; from Castile in 1492; and from Naples in 1495. With each exile, Don Abarbanel was left impoverished. Each time, he managed to recover and rebuild his life, influence, and affluence.
More importantly, throughout it all, Don Abarbanel managed to establish himself as a prolific writer, a prominent Jewish scholar, and a philanthropist whose heart was never oblivious to the suffering of his brethren.
Rabbi Shlomo Pereira is the director of adult education at the Chabad of Virginia, Richmond. He can be reached at shlomo@chabadofva.org.
Photos: Wikipedia.
When the Rabbi from Hebron meets the Reverend from Newport
By Rabbi Shlomo Pereira
From the 13th to the late 19th century, Jewish communities in the Land of Israel relied on charity funds from the Diaspora for their livelihoods. Most Jews resided in the so-called four Holy cities of Safed, Hebron, Jerusalem, and Tiberias, dedicating their time to prayer and the study of Torah, Talmud, or Kabbalah, with limited opportunities for earning a living.
The presence of a Jewish population in the Land of Israel fostered a stronger connection for the Diaspora to their ancestral roots, solidifying its general and Jewish identities. In return, the Diaspora provided the communities in the Land of Israel with financial support through a worldwide communal system known as Chalukah, or “distribution.”
Beginning in the early 17th century, four major Jewish communities regularly sent emissaries to the Diaspora to collect and facilitate the transfer of funds needed for their sustenance. In the latter half of the 18th century, this system achieved a high level of coordination and efficiency under the authority of the Committee of Officials for Palestine, based in Istanbul.
At around the same time, these communities in the Land of Israel, primarily Sephardic, began dispatching emissaries to North America. The Jewish community there, also largely Sephardic, was entering a period of stability and prosperity. It is within this context that R. Karigal, an emissary from Hebron, established a close friendship with Rev. Stiles during his visit to Newport, Rhode Island, in 1773.
R. Raphael Chaim Yitzchak Karigal (1733-1777) was born in Hebron in 1733. His academic journey led him to the Chesed L’Avraham V’emes LeYaakov Sephardic yeshiva in Hebron, and then briefly to Jerusalem. He demonstrated extraordinary talent by achieving rabbinic education and ordination at the remarkably young age of 17.
R. Karigal’s appointment as an emissary of Hebron to the Diaspora in 1754 was equally impressive. His appointment at the young age of 21 demonstrated the high regard in which his contemporaries held him. Although the primary mission of an emissary was to fundraise, its role extended to bringing the teachings of the Land of Israel to the Diaspora, addressing complex Jewish legal questions, resolving communal disputes, and helping with the development of the local Torah institutions, all of which required substantial knowledge and maturity.
In 1754, R. Karigal’s travels took him first on a two-year journey across the Middle East that included visits to Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Persia, Syria, and Turkey, and then, in 1757, on a five-year trip through Europe, making stops in Italy, England, Germany, and Holland.
In 1761, he departed from Holland to Curaçao, where he spent two years at the behest of the Dutch Jewish communities, temporarily replacing R. Rafael Mendes de Sola, who had just passed away. In 1764, R. Karigal returned to Holland, eventually moving on to Germany and Italy.
Still, in 1764, after a ten-year absence, he returned to Hebron, where he spent the next four years. In 1768, he ventured to France and England, where he taught in London for over two years. His journey continued with stops in Jamaica for a year (1771–72) and then in the British colonies of North America for another year (1772–73). Here, he visited for a month, first Philadelphia and then New York City, and finally Newport, where he stayed for about four and a half months.
Following his stay in the American colonies, R. Karigal sailed to Suriname and subsequently took on a rabbinic role in Barbados in 1775. This appointment was significant for the Barbadian Jewish community, which had been without a rabbi for over two decades. R. Karigal served as their spiritual leader until his passing in 1777.
Notably, during his visit to Newport, R. Karigal formed a close friendship with Rev. Ezra Stiles (1727-1795), an educator, theologian, and ordained Christian minister. Rev. Stiles, a founder of Brown University in 1764 and later president of Yale University from 1778 to 1795, first encountered R. Karigal during the 1773 Purim service at the by then already venerable Newport synagogue Khal Kadosh Yeshuat Yisrael.
On March 30, 1773, impressed by R. Karigal’s depth of knowledge and character, Rev. Stiles invited him and respected local Jewish merchant Aaron Lopez to his home. R. Karigal and Rev. Stiles developed a profound connection, meeting 28 times in four and a half months until R. Karigal’s departure.
Their discussions spanned a wide range of topics, from Holy Land politics to Jewish mysticism. R. Karigal also tutored Rev. Stiles in Hebrew, resulting in extensive correspondence in Hebrew between them.
In his diary, Rev. Stiles documented their interactions in great detail, expressing deep admiration for his Jewish friend. He described R. Karigal's attire, manner, and personality, dedicating many pages to detailing his passage through Newport. In 1781, Rev. Stiles commissioned a portrait of R. Karigal by artist Samuel King for Yale University, which is still on display.
In addition, in 1773, two of R. Karigal’s sermons were published in Newport, marking the first Jewish sermons printed in North America. R. Karigal's legacy lives on as a scholar, emissary, and most of all, as a bridge between communities across continents.
Rabbi Shlomo Pereira is the director of adult education at the Chabad of Virginia, Richmond. He can be reached at shlomo@ chabadofva.org. Photos: Rabbi Raphael Haijm Isaac Karigal (1733–1777) Yale University and Cover of R. Karigal first sermon.
