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Nathan (Jonathan) ha-Kohen Sholal ben Ḥayyim(1437–1502) was one of the last incumbents of the office of nagid (pl. negidim) in Egypt. Born in Tlemcen into a family of Talmud scholars, Sholal emigrated to Italy and from there to Palestine, settling in Jerusalem before 1471. Heavy taxation and oppression by the high-handed community elders led many Jews to leave Jerusalem. One of them was Nathan Sholal, who went to Egypt sometime around or after 1481. Around 1484 he was appointed nagid of the Jewish community in Egypt, recognized as such by…

Obadiah ben Abraham Yare da Bertinoro (ca. 1450–before 1516) was an Italian rabbi and commentator on the Mishna. The name Yare is an acrostic of the Hebrew y ehi reṣuy ’ eḥav (Let him be the favored of his brethren, Deut. 33:24). Little is known of his family, which derived from the town of Bertinoro in northern Italy. At some time he apparently lived in Città di Castello, where he was a banker. His best-known teacher was Joseph Colon, the greatest halakhic figure in Italy in the second half of the fifteenth century.Much more is known about Obadiah after he left Città di Castello, as three letters …

Aliya (Heb.  ʿ aliya - lit. "ascent") is the  term for immigration to Palestine from the Diaspora, whether prompted by religious, national, political, or messianic urges. In some instances immigrants (Heb. ʿolim, sing. ʿoleh) settled in the Holy Land because of oppression or expulsions elsewhere. Conflicts between ʿolim and the indigenous Jewish population sometimes occurred, especially if the new arrivals sought to import their former way of life and impose it upon the local Jews and even to take control of communal institutions.1. The First Islamic Period (638–1099)From the acco…

Benjamin ben Jonah of Tudela was one of the most famous Jewish travelers. There is no biographical information about him except that he hailed from Tudela (Navarra) in northern Spain. His journey to the Middle East probably took place between 1165 and 1173, but may have begun as early as 1159. The itinerary included northern Spain, Provence, Italy, Greece, the Balkans, Turkey, Syria, the Holy Land, Babylonia, and Persia. From there he sailed via the Persian Gulf and around the Arabian Peninsula to Egypt, and thence to Italy via …

Isaac ha-Kohen Sholal (d. 1524) was the last Egyptian nagid. Although of Spanish ancestry, his direct forebears lived in Tlemcen from the early fifteenth century and perhaps even earlier. Sholal himself resided in Egypt in the latter half of the fifteenth century, where he engaged in the grain trade and other pursuits. In 1502, he inherited the office of nagid from his uncle/brother-in-law Jonathan (Nathan) Sholal, and he served in this capacity until the Ottoman conquest in 1517, which saw the termination of the nagidate.Various sources indicate that Sholal, during his tenure…

An Italian Jewish sage descended from a French family, Moses Basola (1480–1560) lived in several different cities in central and northern Italy. From the age of nine he resided in Soncino, where his father, Mordechai Basola, was employed as a proofreader by the Joshua Soncino press. At an unknown date, Basola moved to Pesaro, where he was employed as a teacher and tutor in the household of the eminent banker Moses Nissim of Foligno; he also spent time as a teacher in Fano. In 1535 or shortly thereafter, Basola received rabbinical ordination from Azriel Diena in Sabionetta. He then moved to Anco…

Meshullam  ben Menahem (Emanuele) da Volterra (Buonaventura) was born sometime before 1443 and died after 1507. A scion of a wealthy Tuscan Jewish family, he lived in Volterra and appears to have conducted a moneylending business there and in Florence for some twenty years. In 1461, he operated a pawnshop in the town of Arezzo in partnership with his father, his brother Lazzaro, and Buonaventura son of Abramo of Siena. In addition to moneylending, Meshullam was a merchant dealing in precious stones, wine, oil, grain, wool, and cloth. He traveled extensively in connectio…