Letter from Jerusalem

Now I shall come to fulfill your desire by writing to you at length about the customs of the residents of the land of Israel; for although I also wrote to you by way of the pilgrims, and I sent them to Venice, I shall add a second time, to make it faithfully known among the people of Israel that in these lands the people greatly cherish the commandments. First of all, concerning prayer, they pray with great intention. The cantors are permanent; they are four good men who fear the Lord, who are experts in their trade. They have gathered here from all of the various places in order to serve in the house of the Lord, in the holy city; and they do not receive a salary, but rather, they live off of donations. Anyone who goes up to read from the Torah has the prayer “He who has blessed” [Mi she-berakh] said for him, and he pledges to the poor, or to the cantors, or to the yeshiva; but this happens only rarely. The form of prayer is close to the version of the non-Hebrew speakers [i.e., the diaspora], and is according to your good customs: on Mondays and Thursdays, they say the additional supplicatory [taḥanun] prayer “And now, etc.,” the confession, the thirteen attributes, with many added supplications. But during the time of the great rabbi, the chaste elder, our honorable teacher, R. Ovadia [Bartenura], may his memory be for the world to come, the form of prayer was very close to the custom of those who were born and raised in the land of Israel, who perform the rites according to the words of Maimonides. They also rule on all halakhic matters of forbidden and permitted matters in accordance with the opinion of Maimonides.

But now that the Sephardic Jews have gathered, may the Rock and the Redeemer protect them, they have canceled out almost all of the other languages, and they do as they please. Now three of the cantors are Sephardim, and one is a native of the land of Israel; and each one recites as he pleases. One says, “They will give a crown to You” as added to the Kedushah section [in the Amidah], while another says, “we will sanctify,” or “we will venerate You.” There are also many changes to the Kedushah itself; one lengthens it, and another shortens it. There are changes concerning the reading of the Torah, too. At the time of our honored teacher and rabbi, R. Ovadia, may his memory be for a blessing, when they would take out two or three Torah scrolls, they would first bring out only one and even if only six men would read from it on days (such as the Shabbat of Rosh ḥodesh Tevet or Rosh ḥodesh Adar), they would return the Torah scroll to its place, and they would say the Kaddish over it, and then they would do the same for the second, and also for the third. But now, they take all of them out together, and when two scrolls are taken out, such as on a holiday, five men read, and they say the Kaddish, and then the concluder (maftir [final aliyah]) reads [from the second scroll]. And if they take out three Torah scrolls, six people read the weekly reading from the first scroll and then say Kaddish, and the maftir then reads from the third.

They are careful here with regard to the wine and cheese of gentiles, and with shatnez [intermixed wool and linen]. They never judge in actual courts, but they rather seat the judge, and if he is wise, he rules upon them according to the words of Maimonides. But for the most part, he does not open a book; rather, he rules in accordance with logic, or persuades the parties to come to a settlement, and nobody asks him: “on the basis of what law did you judge my case?” They do not deviate from his instructions, and if occasionally there is one bearing gall and wormwood (Deuteronomy 29:17), who solicits a proper judicial proceeding, the entire people of Israel immediately unites against the “corruptor.” They bribe the ruler of the land in order to have him beat the perpetrator with sticks, as is the custom of the land. Afterwards, they excommunicate him until he recants and appeases the community with a payoff.

In these lands, they do not mention the Lord at all, except in important instances; even commoners are careful in this regard. There is no laughter and no levity in these lands, but all are pure in their business dealings, whether they are involved in commerce or in their various professions. In these lands, none of the professions succeed aside from silversmiths, goldsmiths, weavers, leather workers, and cobblers; these see signs of blessing, for they give back to the villages and the towns. And the Muslims are charitable, and they give them free bread and honey and fruits according to their needs, and they do not shortchange them. There are many from Jerusalem who go out to the villages and do not return to their homes except on the pilgrimage holidays, Hanukkah, and Purim. There are also many stores here that sell oil and soap and various kinds of food, but less than one in one thousand will succeed. [ . . . ]

Concerning the matter of the ruined Temple: it is like a large courtyard, like a small village, and there are some destroyed buildings there. There are many trees there, and many new people have certainly come to visit, which our ancestors would have never imagined. It has twelve gates, and at each gate they light candles. At one gate is a women’s section that is twelve steps above the Temple Mount; and the section of the common folk of Israel was fifteen steps higher than the women’s section. At the eastern wall is another gate, which is called the “Mercy Gate.” It is said that many times the Muslims sought to breach it but did not succeed, and they sought to completely close it up with stones but did not succeed. Below, they built an edifice on the ground in order to block it, but they built it halfway up. It is closed with an iron gate [i.e., with doors] and nobody can enter through it, as it is forbidden. Regardless, the Muslims do not let anyone come close to it. It is said that at the time that the Ottoman ruler was here, the Jews entered through it with him, and all of them died. May the Lord lengthen your days, amen! Behold, I shall make it known to you that there is a great love among all, whether Sephardi or native, and there is no screaming in our streets.