In Pera There
Are About 2000 Jewish Rabbinists, Disciples Of The Wise Men; Among Whom Are
Abtalion The Great, Rabbi Abdias, Aaron Cuspus, Joseph Starginus, And
Eliakim The Governor, Who Have The Chief Authority.
Besides these, there
are 500 Karaites[8], who are separated from the Rabbinists by a wall.
Among
the Jews there are some manufacturers of silken garments, and many very
rich merchants. No Jew is permitted to ride on horseback, except Solomon,
the Egyptian, who is physician to the Emperor, and through whose interest
the Jews are comforted and eased in their captivity, which is very
grievous; for they are much hated by the Grecians, who make no distinction
between the good and the evil among them, and insult and beat them in the
streets. They are worst used by the tanners, who pour out the filthy water
in which they have dressed their skins into the streets before their doors.
Yet, among the Jews there are some very rich men, as I have said before;
good and merciful men, who observe the commandments, and who patiently
endure the miseries of the captivity.
From Constantinople, Benjamin continued his journey to Tyre, Jerusalem, and
the Holy Land, and thence to Damascus, Balbeck, and Palmyra, which he calls
Tadmor, and in which, he says, there then were 2000 Jews. He next gives an
account of Bagdat, the court of the caliph, and the condition of the Jews
there. He afterwards gives an account of a country which he calls Thema,
where he places a whole nation of Jews, which some have deemed an entire
forgery[9]. He next proceeds to Botzra, Balsora or Bassora, on the Tigris,
and thence to Persia, of which he gives the following account.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 161 of 810
Words from 44561 to 44849
of 222093
