Sultan Mehmed II was one of the most powerful men in the world during the 15th century. He was only 11 years old when he ascended the throne of the Ottoman Empire and 21 when he conquered Constantinople on May 29, 1453, bringing an end to the Byzantine Empire.
At that time, community life of the dhimmis, the non-Muslim religious minorities in the Ottoman Empire, was governed by what has become known as the millet system. Under this order, minorities enjoyed religious and cultural
freedom while being governed by their own religious and lay leaders, who had considerable administrative, fiscal and legal autonomy. (The millet was the separate legal court of the minority.) The Ottomans allowed the Jews wide latitude in the conduct of their internal affairs under the millet system.
Sultan Appoints Rabbi Moshe Capsali
Rav Moshe Capsali, a talmid chacham from an outstanding Romaniot (Greek) Jewish family from Candia (Crete), was appointed by the sultan as Chief Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire. He had studied in prominent yeshivos under Harav Yaakov Landau in Germany and the Mahari (Rav Yehudah) Mintz in Padua, Italy. Although his roots were Greek, Rav Capsali’s writings, actions and the way he conducted himself were very much influenced by his German Ashkenazic background. Before becoming Chief Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire, Rav Capsali served as a Dayan in the small Jewish community in Constantinople for eight years, while it was still under the Byzantine ruler Constantine XI.
Under Mehmed II, the Jewish community grew. The sultan granted the Jews equal rights with all his other dhimmi (non-Muslim) subjects. Wanting to populate his new empire, Mehmed II invited foreign Jews to settle in
Haskeui (today known as Haskoy), a port city outside of Constantinople where land was divided gratuitously among
the newcomers. The Jews settled on the eastern bank of the Golden Horn River and became very wealthy.
Because the Jews were successful in developing the industry and commerce of the country, the taxes they had
to pay the sultan were an important source of revenue for Mehmed II. Rav Capsali oversaw the collection of these
taxes and served as a civil judge, and also was in charge of appointing local Rabbanim. In his capacity as chief
legal officer of the Jews, Rav Capsali was granted a small police force to help him administer the affairs of the Jewish
community.
Rav Moshe Capsali’s great-nephew, the prominent kabbalist and historian Rav Eliyahu Capsali, in his Seder Eliyahu Zuta, describes the great honor Sultan Mehmed II bestowed on his great-uncle. The sultan assigned to Rav Moshe Capsali a seat that was next to his own in the royal government chamber and on the same level as that of the Mufti, the religious head of the Muslims, and above that of the Christian Patriarch.
Mark Alan Epstein in his The Ottoman Jewish Communities and Their Role in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries (Klaus Schwarz Verlag) writes that Sultan Mehmed II addressed Rav Moshe Capsali as Hoca (religious leader in Turkish) and presented him with robes of honor made of gold and silver (hilat in Turkish).
According to tradition, the sultan once disguised himself as a civilian in order to observe Rav Capsali render his
judicial decisions. The sultan was extremely pleased with Rav Moshe Capsali’s honesty and integrity, looked up to
the wise, gifted 31-year-old Jew and became very close with him. According to one source, the sultan was so close to Rav
Capsali that he once even participated in a Pesach Seder.
Rav Capsali lived simply and modestly despite his high position. He would fast and pray a great deal, and everyone
held him in great esteem.
RAV CAPSALI’S STANCE AGAINST THE KARAITES
AND IMMORAL BEHAVIOR
One problem that Rav Capsali had to deal with was that of the Karaite Jewish community known as the Kara’im (in
Hebrew), who were members of a sect that had come into being several centuries earlier. They rejected the Oral Law and
the Talmud and accepted only the Torah Shebichsav as their authority. Until today they don’t don tefillin or hang mezuzos
on their doorposts because they interpret the pesukim in Devarim (6:5-9) metaphorically: ”And these words, which I
command you this day, shall be upon your heart … And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for
forehead ornaments between your eyes,” believing only that one should take to heart remembering the Torah and always
treasure it. Karaites interpret the passuk “Lo sevaaru eish … b’yom haShabbos” literally, and sit in the dark on Shabbos.
Once the Karaites began to reinterpret the Torah in their own way they excluded themselves from the Jewish faith. At one time they had strong communities all over the Middle East. Under the welcoming attitude of the Ottoman sultan, the Karaite congregations in Constantinople, Adrianople and other cities began to grow, attracting Karaites from
Crimea and other parts of Russia. They were quite ignorant of Jewish law and turned to the Rabbanites (who practiced Rabbinical Judaism) to teach them. Some Rabbanites, who hoped to return them to the
Jewish faith, began to also teach them Mishnah and Gemara.
Rav Capsali was against teaching them Torah Sheb’al Peh because they did not believe in it. In a Rabbinic responsum
of Rav Eliezer Mizrachi #57, Rav Capsali classifies Karaites as non-Jews.
The Karaites were granted fiscal independence and dealt with the authorities through their own functionaries, but
the Rabbanite community was several times larger than the Karaite one.
Rav Moshe Capsali worked hard to raise the moral level of the Jews. Some Jews socialized with the Janissaries, the elite
infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan’s household troops and bodyguard. Because of his tough stance against
the immoral behavior of the Janissaries, they once made Rav Capsali a target of assassination. Fortunately, he evaded death.
RABBINIC CONTROVERSY CAUSES
GREAT AGITATION
Bayazid II, the son of Sultan Mehmed II, succeeded his father, who was poisoned at the age of 49 and
passed away in 1481. This sultan was at war with Egypt, which at that time ruled Eretz Yisrael. It was forbidden to send money from Turkey to any part of Egypt or its provinces, and therefore Rav Capsali could not officially help the emissaries (shelichim) from the Holy Land, who came to collect money for the poor of Jerusalem.
Because of Rabbi Capsali’s inability to officially help the shelichim, a terrible controversy took place, which is described at
length in Seder Eliyahu Zuta.
One shaliach who came to Constantinople was a German Jew by the name of Rav Moshe Esrim V’arba. Although Rav
Capsali welcomed this German Rav who was collecting for the indigent in Yerushalayim, Rav Capsali explained to him
that the sultan would object if the Rav were involved in the forwarding of money to Eretz Yisrael, which was under the
sovereignty of Egypt. Rav Esrim V’arba was furious that Rav Capsali was not willing to use his power to transfer money to
Jews in the Holy Land.
He gathered around him several other individuals who were jealous of the Chief Rabbi and disliked him. They wrote an accusatory letter, specifying four cases in which they claimed that Rav Capsali had paskened contrary to Halachah, and sent
it to the renowned posek of that period, Harav Yosef Colon ben Shlomo Trabotto (the Maharic) in Italy.
The four cases are discussed in Shu”t HaMaharic, #84, 85, 86 and 87. The first
one condemns Rav Capsali for ruling invalid a kiddushin perfomed by a man who betrothed a woman by giving her
a fig in the presence of two witnesses.
The second responsum reports that Rav Capsali permitted a childless widow of an apostate to marry without
perfoming chalitzah on the grounds that the apostate was no longer considered Jewish. The third charge against Rav
Capsali denigrated him for supervising the writing of a get and instructing the sofer to insert only the name “Eliyahu”
when it should have read, “Eliyahu is called Eli.” The fourth claim was that he permitted a wife to remarry without a get by
invalidating her first marriage on the grounds that one of the witnesses to the marriage had been a relative.
The Maharik accepted the accusations of these witnesses in good faith, not realizing that they “added or omitted what
seemed proper in their eyes.” He therefore sent instructions ordering Rav Capsali to resign from his post and ordering the
leaders of the Jewish communities in the Ottoman Empire to demand his resignation and put him in cherem.
Rav Colon wrote: “There was a man in the land of Uz, an enemy was his name … one who caused others to sin, a
stumbling block for many. I declare under penalty of the ban that he should not in any way be consulted. He is unworthy
and ignorant. He should not be addressed as Rav or Chaver.”
It took two years for Rav Capsali to learn of the stern measures ordered against him by Rav Colon. It seems that the representatives who were sent on the mission were overwhelmed by the respect and authority Rav Capsali
enjoyed and were reluctant to reveal their mission. Once the matter came to Rav Capsali’s attention, however,
he called in the leaders of the Jewish community and read to them the cherem of Rav Yosef Colon. They were shocked
that the greatest posek of that time had accepted the charges against Rav Capsali, and moved to defend him against the
accusations.
Additionally, Rav Capsali wrote a reply to Rav Colon, categorically denying the charges made against him. This
controversy caused a great deal of agitation in Jewish communities around the world, and several leading Rabbanim
took part in it, some siding with one, some with the other. The many supporters of Rav Capsali included Harav Aaron
HaLevi, author of Zekan Aharon, and Harav Yaakov Margulies. The Mahari Minz of Padua reprimanded Rav Colon, stating,
“Against whom have you lifted up your mouth, against a holy one in Israel.”
Rav Colon finally realized that he had wronged Rav Capsali, and was very upset and grieved about it. While sick
on his deathbed in 1480, Rav Colon sent his son Rav Peretz to Constantinople to personally ask mechilah of Rav Capsali. Rav Capsali welcomed Rav Peretz Colon warmly and was deeply moved by the gesture. He bestowed many favors on Rav Colon’s son and befriended him.
AID TO REFUGEES FROM SPAIN
Toward the end of Rav Moshe Capsali’s life, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella signed the
Edict of Expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. Although Rav Capsali was already advanced in age, he devoted
himself to helping the victims. He traveled to various Jewishcommunities in the Ottoman Empire to collect funds for
pidyon shevuyim, to redeem the Jewish refugees from Spain who had been captured by pirates. Rav Capsali also imposed
a special tax on the Jewish communities in Sultan Bayazid’s empire for the purpose of helping the Jewish refugees from
Spain.
Because of Rav Capsali’s close connection to him, Emperor Bayazid admitted thousands of Jewish refugees from the
horrors of the Inquisition in Spain and from persecution they suffered in many other Christian countries. Thousands of
wealthy so-called Marranos, who had been persecuted in Italy and Portugal, sought refuge in Constantinople, where they
were able to practice their religion once more.
Sultan Bayezid II ordered the governors in his provinces “not to deny Jews the right of entry or create difficulties, but
welcome them cordially….”
Rav Capsali received a firman (a royal decree) from Sultan Bayazid II whereby the penalty of death was proclaimed
against anyone who dared to mistreat the Sephardic immigrants or injure them in the slightest. Over the course of
three centuries, Constantinople, Izmir and Salonika became prosperous centers of Sephardic Judaism.
The sultan not only permitted the Jews to build homes, synagogues and batei medrash, he also encouraged them
to practice their religion freely. In the court circles of Constantinople, the king of Spain was considered a fool for
having enriched the enemy with productive citizens at the expense of his own kingdom.
Harav Moshe Capsali died at the age of 75, three years after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. Another Romaniot
Jew, Harav Eliyahu Mizrachi, known as the Re’em and the mechaber of Sefer Hamizrachi, a super-commentary on Rashi,
succeeded him as Chief Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire and served for thirty years until his passing in 1526.
THE KARAITES
The Karaites, also known as the Bnei Mikra, are a Jewish sect dating back more than 1,200 years, who did not believe in or
adhere to Torah Sheb’al Peh, the Oral Law. Since they constituted a large percentageof the Jewish community at their inception,
Harav Saadiah Gaon was concerned that they represented a grave threat to Torahtrue Judaism, and he devoted a considerable
number of written polemics to this challenge.
Although most of them have not survived, we know about these works because they are mentioned in manuscripts found in the Cairo Genizah.
In one polemic entitled The Book Collecting the Proofs for the Lamps, which was written in Judeo-Arabic, Harav Saadiah Gaon
proves that it is permissible to light Shabbos candles. The Karaites believe it is forbidden to have any fire burning during the entire Shabbos based on the passuk (Shemos 35:3) “Lo sevaaru eish b’chol moshvoseichem b’yom haShabbos.” Most of the Karaites today do not use electricity on Shabbos, nor do they light Shabbos candles.
There is one Karaite synagogue in Jerusalem and about 40,000 Karaite Jews in Israel living in a number of cities including
Ramle, Ashdod and Be’er Sheva. The largest Karaite community in the United States is located in a suburb of San Francisco, and Karaites also live in Istanbul and in parts of Poland. Since there are probably fewer than 45,000 Karaites worldwide today, their threat to true Judaism has waned.
It is interesting to note that the first President of Yeshiva University, Rabbi Bernard Revel, z”l, called by Harav Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor, zt”l, “the Prenner Iluy,” wrote his Ph.D. dissertation for Dropsie College on the “halakhah” practiced by the Karaites. He refutes previous scholars who claimed that the Karaites were a continuation of the Zadokites (the Tzedokim or Sadducees), who did not accept the authority of the Rabbanim.
Inyan, August 26, 2015 Ellul 11 5775