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Arta Artaxerxes

I.

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

with those of the neighboring towns. Thus it recounted that when some pirates robbed a certain Eliezer of Pola ("6lQD) and sold their booty to the Jews of En-Mavra, a notification from the rabbinical body of Arta was sufficient to cause the purchasers to restore the property to the owner in consideration of the expenses involved. Rabbinic studies declined here as in the Orient generally. By the seventeenth century the rabbis for example, Eliezer Menahem were Decadence obliged to seek their knowledge at the in Seven- colleges of Salonica, as probably also Raphael Cohen, teenth. R. Moses Jacob, Century. Abraham Tton (ptij?), and Shabbethai Russo, contemporaries of the chronicler David Conforte. This decadence was doubtless

nity not only put an end to such entertainments, but also forbade betrothed young men to visit their fiancees before marriage, as was the Internal ancient custom of the natives. This

latter is

Dis-

last measure caused dissensions in the community. The Jews originally from Apulia, numbering about thirty families, especially protested, under the leadership of the heads of the community, Shabbethai b. Caleb and Moses b. Shabbethai Clevi (Clevois?), Judah b. Jacob, and David b. Solomon Mioni, Herero b. Solomon Pichon, Mordecai b. Mazaltob Maca, Mattathias b. Leon, Mattathias b. Solomon Benjamin Haliczi (probably from Halicz in Qalicia), and Shab-

sensions.

bethai b. Abraham Fidelo. In order to avoid future scandal and to secure the sanctity of the home, it was decreed (about 1521) that betrothals should be entered into only in the presence of ten laymen and one rabbi. Moreover (before 1561), dice or any other games of chance were forbidden except on the semiholidays, Purim, and the fast preceding it. The Jewish population of Arta comprised at this period about 300 families, who were, however, not completely assimilated; for the Greek Jews had not yet yielded altogether to the Spanish. In addition to the occurrence mentioned above, the Jews had other causes for dissension among them, chiefly in regard to the apportioning of the taxes. In this latter case the difficulties were adjusted by the syndics. But disputes arose among the permanent residents of Arta, or between them and strangers who came to the city, like the Jews of Patras who had left their native town to escape some great danger. Arta itself, where they sought refuge, did not always afford protection. In one instance the governor of the city cast all the Jewish inhabitants into prison during the Feast of Tabernacles in order to extort from them the sum of 3,000 florins. The Jews on the highways were even less secure than in the cities: the casuists of this epoch record several assassinations of Jews; e.g., that of Moses Soussi. The principal occupation of the Jews being commerce, they traveled a good deal, either to Corfu or to Janina (45 miles from Arta), where they sold Venetian wares or fabrics, or to neighboring villages They also followed various and other places.

even women being engaged in dyeing silk. There were also Jewish physicians at Arta (Jacob Rofe, Moses Polastro), who at times charged the comparatively large sum of 50 ducats for treating a patient. The moral tone of the community, though marked on the whole by devotion and even an austere piety, was lowered in individual cases through lack of Thus, a certain Shemariah central administration. b. Abraham dared to maltreat the rabbi Benjamin b. Shemariah and even to say things prejudicial to the community. Another, Solomon by name, stigmatized as apostates the Maranos who, fleeing from Apulia, sought refuge at Arta. Finally, a certain Manoah Politzer (? iV'i'E)), with the assistance of two false witnesses, Abraham Turkia and Abraham Tobiel, appropriated (about 1529) the legacy of R. Abraham Sephardi mentioned on page 143. In contrast to this darker side is the solidarity which united not only the Jews living in Arta, but also the trades,

144

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due in part to the

political vicissitudes

which

suc-

cessively befell Arta, such as the invasions of the Venetians (1688), of the French (1797), of Tepedelenli Ali, pasha of Janina (1798), of the Greeks (1821), and lastly of the Turks (1821). Between 1854 when the town revolted against the Turks, who reconquered it after a few months and June, 1880, nothing of note occurred among the Jews of Arta. Then, at the instance of some public-spirited men, the Talmud Torah was reorganized so as to include both secular and religious instruction. This reform went into

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•

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Modern

year later (June, 1881), according to regulations written in three languages (Hebrew, Greek, and Italian), dated March 17, 1880, and signed by Julius (Shabbethai Ezra) Besso (president), Jacob Raphael Mioni (vice-president), Moses Daniel Yerushalmi (treasurer), Michel Shabbethai Besso (secretary), and the inspectors Elie Joseph Cane, Moses Solomon Battino, Moses Zaffo, and Abraham Shabbethai (printed by Nacamulli, Corfu). Mention is also made of two benefactors of the institutions, citizens of Corfu: (1) Abraham Tchaki, who contributed much toward the success of the work, and (2) especially Solomon Abraham, who, in addition to funds, gave a building of the value of 1,000 francs, which he owned at Arta. Nicole Zanetti is mentioned as professor of Greek. Some time after (1881), Arta was ceded by the Turks to the kingdoni of Greece, conformably to the Treaty of Berlin. effect a

Times,

A. D.

g.

ARTABAN

V.:

Last of the Parthian kings; died in the year 227. He was the son of Volageses V. whose throne he ascended about 216, after a struggle with his brother Volageses VI. For many years he successfully conducted a war against the Romans, defeating both Caracalla and his successor Mac-

He lost his life, however, in his conflicts with the Persians, 227. This last ruler of the house of the Arsacids was well inclined toward the Jews; Abba Arika, the head of the academy of Sura, received signal marks of his friendliness. Thus he once sent to him a number of valuable pearls as a gift, and received in return from Abba Arika a mezuzah (door-post inrinus.

with the remark that the word of God of a higher value than all the gems of earth

scription),

was