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401 wiird that, like SdnedriK, has been incorporated into the Spanish languafre) arrived at by the Al jama of Valladolid in 14H'J. This re "Tecana" port is written jiartly in Hel)rew, and Jiartly in Spanish wiili Hebrew cliaracters, anil is preserved in the I5ibliothe(|ne Nationale al I'aris ("Fonds No. "iS.'i). From thisdoenmeni il is leurneil

of Valladolid. Hebrciix."

that, at Valladolid, electoral nieetinj;s were held by the (ijinmunity every ten years, anil thai tli<' jiarticular meelinir of which an acconnt is iriven in the

docnmenl look place

in th(^ latter j)art of lyyar (end The following; of .May) and lasted for ten days. were some of Ihe matters decided or discnssed; (1) The necessity of the Talmud 'I'oruh, or Hebrew school, and the raleof ta.xalion for Ihe mainlenance of the .same, which was decided upon as follows: five niaravedis for each of Ihe cattle killed, anil one for each sheep; five nianivedis for every flask of wine. Five niaravedis were also to be jiaid by a married couple on the day of their weddinji. and by a boy on the day of his "bar Mizwah." or conlirmation, certain la.v was also laid upon inhcrilanics. and In varions olher means of revenne were devised. connection with lliis i|nestion Ihe employment and ere discns.sed. SJilary of private or itineranl teachers w (•J) The eleclion of the jnd;;es and of Ihe rah ilr III C'litf (rabbi of the court), lo which much space is accorded in this tecana or rejiort. (8) The altitude of the individual .lew in his relations with Ihe stale. This was by far the most imporlani (|nestion discussed. Since permission lo decide civil and criminal cases iH'forc Jewish Jiidires had been irrantecl by the Spanish i;iivernment, and since " Ihe Christians. llioUL'li Ihey be well versed in law. know nothing of Jewish laws." no Jew might plead before a Christian juilfre, whelher reliirious or civil, except in cases where the ta.ves and imposts diu' to the ruler were in lilisalion, or where special i>ermission was obtained from the dayyan, or chief judire of the Aljama. Jew who arrested anolher Jew with the aid of a Christian was to be .•ippreliended by hi' dayyan for a second olTense of tile same nature, he was to be braniled on the forehead and expelled; while the third olTense was made punishable by death.

A

A

1

The

wiiril

".MJiniia"

Is

ileriveil



fn>m the Amble "Jiimii" which meant nrltflnally

((rather) plus the ilellnlle nrtlcle "iil."
 * riillkn"i'U'atl'in." "a.^isi'tublv."

thi' estiil>ll..ihiiii'nl nf S|iaiil»ll

"(rrimp." hut whieh. even ln'f(ire rule. va.s applleil l).v Ihe . it>s to

Ihflr «iwu rfilk'lnuslKKlteHaiHlthelark'er nii'sipies. and eMpe<'lally l4ithe .lewts)H'<)itiinuiiltl«-sln IheiiiliLstof them, anil to the .syna( as lo ilesli^nale also the ipiarters that .lews and .i'abs had madethelrown. Very often, forpur[>o.sesof iHstlnetlon, sueh phnuies as " Atjaliia de I'os.llidlos" (Al]aina of Ihe .lews) and Aljninadelos Monw" Aljainu of the MiKirs) were used. Hut Ihe rlreumsUinee that the . ilw of Spain had hy ihe term designated more espeiiallv Ihe .lewlsh I'oinnitinlty has left Its trace In the us<'of Ihe word In the Spanish hinmuiKe; for In Spanish llieniliiir "Allaimi." without any further speilMcallon. stands for "Sanedrln" or for ".Iiiderla" Llewry), or even for the Jewish place of worship. 111 the concrete as well as In the utistnict sense. In the " I'im'iii of AlexanTills use (K-cniN 111 a very earlv ilate. der," In the ".MIlatTosde Nui'stra Sefioni." ami In the "Duelo " of lem/alo de Menisi. all of thethlrleenlhcenliiry. deln VlDfen " Aljama" or " Alfaiim" Is emploveil to *lesl^uile the |Ms»ple of ancient Jenisalein and Ihe historian of the sLxtcenlh century. Mariana, uses " Aljama" for the syiiiiKcvue " Ihey deva.stuled their hotis*.s and their iiljainiis." Kniin "Aljama " an> derived the followlni;: 'II "Aljainndo," adjis'tlve and noun, the InhahltanI of an aljama: C') "AlJaiiila." Ihe Spanish vernacular used hy the .lews or Mv the .lews, and wlih Aniltlc jein-rs hy the MiNirs; Cli "Aljamladu" (adjirllve and iiouni. he who siH-iiks or kiiuws the Aljanila. I





Bliii.ioiiKAiMiv III

AUsch

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

401

Hull

AcUt

itf



Knindsi'o FiTiuimlesy i;r>n/ates. In IIMiirin. vll. I."*! it si ill III

Acililiini'l

Tiiliut lie I'lM-Hliin tic

I'lUt

Iliutraciuii CatullM. Nov. 21. IHtU.

1—20

Alimnn

IlitUliti dc K. KIta.



IIA

See

IjVl

AL?ABI?, SOLOMON BEN MOSES HALEVI A ealiulisl and litniLriciil poei Ikhh in Sa;

who nourished in the tirst half of Ihe sixleenth ceiilury and who was a contemporary of Josejiii fed.

Caro, the author of the "Sliulhan 'Arnk." and teailier and brol her in-law of Jloses Cordoveio. one- of Ihe foremost representatives of Jewish mysticism. Like Caro and Cordovero. he belonffcd to the frroii]) of cabalisis who had taken up their aliode at Safed, in L'pjier Galilee, and made tliat city the Mecca of Ihe mystics. Alkabi/. who was a disciple of Jose|)h Taytatzaqk. mij;raleil thither from Turkey, where he had lived at Salonica and Adrianople. The date of Accortling to Aripol. al the his ilealh is unknown. lime .lslieicli nourished he wiissi.xty years old (com".Shem ha-(iedolim," ed. Henjacob. i. pare Azulai. I4); in l.'ilil, the year in which his commentary on the Hook of lUitli a|)peared. he was still livinir. and even Elijah ili Vidas. the pupil of Cordovero. w hose " Hesliit llokinah " (The Bc.irinninjr of Wisdom) was finished in l.")7."). in qiiotinir a prayer composed by Alkabiz. mentions him as yet alive (sec Xejii (Jliirondi,"Toledot Oedole Yisrael." p. 820). He. Iliere The exfore, must have attained to a rijic old age. ceptional esteem in which Alkabiz was licld. bolli

by

his contemporaries

and by

his

immediate

jiosler-

attested by the lejrend woven around the circumstances of his death. The same account which ])opular fancy invented for the ]ioet Ibn Ciabirol is also allotled to Alkabiz. It is as follows: An Arab, ity. is

who remarked

his wisdom and slrikiiiL' iiersonalily. was moved by envy to murder him. He buried his victim bcnealh a ti ir-trec. which strai.i.'htway bepm to blossom in advanceof the season, and llius allracled The the atlcnlion of Ihe townsfolk and their ]irince

hittersummoned theas,sassin. and linally succeeded in wringing from him a confession of his crime whereupon the culprit was hanged on Ihe self-same tiL' lice (compare Landshulh, "'Ammuile ha-'Abodah." p. lilO). This is only one of the many legends with which mystic imaginalion adorned the memory of Alkabiz. Anothei. tellingof an ecstatic vision wjiich Alkabiz and Caro had .si'cn one Penleco.st night while vet in Turkey, may have been the cabalistic cmbel:

causes for Ihe migration of the to Palestine (see Is:iiah Hurwilz."Shcne Luhoi ha Berit," cd. Amslerdam. p. ISIIk). Alkabiz's popularity rests mainly on his liliirgio poem for the Sabbath eve service, which, under the

lisliinent of the direct

two masters

of "I.kkaii Doni " (Come. >Iy Helovcd). has become more famous than its author. Not only was

name

mystic love-song tothcSabballi readily ad mil ted into bolh lln' Spanish and the <!ermaii riliials. but 1{. Isaac Luria. the leaderof the conlemporary cabalisis. is said to have preferred it to all the polity of Ibn It has also been appniialed l>ia and Ibn (iabirol. ill modern days by Ihe jioet Herder.who iranslati d il inlo (ierman. and by Heinrich Heine, w ho. hough he erroneously allrilmled il in his " Homancero" lo Jiiilali ha Levi, also rendered it into (erman (" Werke." iii. "JIU. Hamburg. 1SS4K while Mrs. Alice l.ncas has includi'd a goinl English version in "The Jewish this

I

Year," i>p. III? ft «•'/.. London, 1S1»«, This poem, however, is but one of a large number written by .Mkabiz and embodied in sevenil rituals. Among his liiruir works, his cabalistic cominenThe larics on sevend Biblical books reipiire nolice. llrst of the series, a "Cominentjiry on Ihe Book of I.V.Ml, w hen he sent it lo hit) F.slher." was writlen in Il was father in law as a Piirim gift for his bride. not published till ^>>*'>. wjien il appeared ill Venice, hoinilics. accompanied by IhcHebifw text and several