The community next in importance in Turkey was that of Salonica (the ancient Thessalonica), which, though an unhealthy town, possessed attractions for the immigrants of Spain and Provence; for this once Greek settlement offered more leisure for peaceful occupation than the noisy capital of Turkey. Ten congregations at least were soon formed here, the most of Sephardic origin. Eventually they increased to thirty-six. Salonica, in fact, became a Jewish town, with more Jews than Gentiles. A Jewish poet, Samuel Usque, calls the town "a mother of Judaism, built on the deep foundation of the Lord, full of excellent plants and fruitful trees, such as are found nowhere else on earth. Their fruit is glorious, because it is watered by an abundance of benevolence. The greatest portion of the persecuted and banished sons from Europe and other parts of the earth have met therein, and been received with loving welcomes, as if it were our venerable mother, Jerusalem." Within a short period the Sephardic immigrants acquired complete supremacy over their co-religionists, even over the original community, so that the leading language of Salonica became Spanish, which German and Italian Jews had to learn, if they wished to maintain intercourse with the Spanish immigrants. The son of one of the last Jewish-Spanish ministers of finance, Judah Benveniste, had settled here. From his paternal inheritance he had saved enough to possess a noble library; he was the standard around which his heavily-tried brethren could rally. Representatives of Talmudic learning were naturally found among the sons of the Pyrenean Peninsula only, such as the Taytasaks, a family of scholars, and Jacob Ibn-Chabib, though even they were not men of the first eminence. Spanish immigrants, such as the physicians Perachyah Cohen, his son Daniel, Aaron Afia (Affius), and Moses Almosnino, also cultivated philosophy and astronomy to some extent. But the chief study was that of the Kabbala, in which the Spaniards, Joseph Taytasak, Samuel Franco, and others, distinguished themselves. Salonica in Turkey and Safet in Palestine in time became the chief seats of Kabbalistic extravagance. Of less importance was Adrianople, the former residence of the Turkish sultans, though there also, as at Nicopolis, communities in which the Sephardic element predominated were formed.
To the towns of Amasia, Broussa, Tria and Tokat in Asia Minor, the Spanish fugitives furnished inhabitants. Smyrna, which later on had a large Jewish population, was then of little importance. Greece, however, could show some large communities. Calabrese, Apulian, Spanish and Portuguese fugitives settled at Arta or Larta, by the side of the original inhabitants, Rumelians and Corfuites. They seem to have done well here, for we read that the Jewish youth were much given to gayety and dancing, thereby greatly offending the ultra-pious. Not unimportant communities existed at Patras, Negropont and Thebes. The Thebans were considered very learned in Talmudic lore. The rites of the community of Corfu were followed by the other Jews of Greece. There was an important community at Canea, on the island of Candia, belonging to Venice. At their head were two famous families, the Delmedigos, sons and relatives of the philosopher Elias del Medigo, and the Kapsalis, connections of the former chief rabbi of Turkey. Judah Delmedigo (the son of the teacher of Pico di Mirandola), and Elias ben Elkanah Kapsali, finished their studies under the same rabbi, Judah Menz, of Padua; nevertheless, they were not at one in their views. As both held the office of rabbi at Canea, there was constant friction between them. If the one declared anything to be permissible, the other exerted all his learning and ingenuity to prove the contrary; yet both were worthy men of high principle, and both were well versed in general literature.
Elias Kapsali (born about 1490, died about 1555) was a good historian. When the plague devastated Candia, and plunged the inhabitants into mourning, he composed (in 1523) a history of the Turkish dynasty in a very agreeable Hebrew style, in lucid and elevated language, free from pompous and barbarous diction. Kapsali merely aimed at relating the truth. Interwoven with the Turkish narrative was the history of the Jews, showing in gloomy colors the tragic fate of the Spanish exiles, as he had heard it from their own lips. Though in this composition he had the subsidiary intention of cheering the people during the continuance of the plague, his work may serve as a sample of a fine Hebrew historical style. It has, indeed, found imitators. Kapsali forsook the dry diction of the chroniclers, and as an historian was far superior to his predecessor, Abraham Zacuto. Considering that Kapsali was a rabbi by profession, and that in consultations and the giving of opinions he was bound to make use of a corrupt jargon, his work displays much versatility and talent.
Italy at this period swarmed with fugitive Jews. Most of those driven from Spain, Portugal and Germany first touched Italian soil, either to settle there under the protection of some tolerant ruler, or to travel on to Greece, Turkey, or Palestine. Strangely enough, among the masters of Italy the popes were most friendly to the Jews: Alexander VI, Julius II, Leo X, and Clement VII, were pursuing interests, or devoting themselves to hobbies, which left them no time to think of torturing Jews. The popes and their cardinals considered the canonical laws only in so far as they needed them for the extension of their power or to fill their money-bags. Totally oblivious of the decree of the council of Basle, which enacted that Christians were not to consult Jewish physicians, the popes and cardinals themselves chose Jews as their physicians in ordinary. It appears that, owing to the secret warfare, the intrigues and the frequent use of poison, which, since Alexander VI, had been rife in the curia, where every one looked on his companion as an enemy, Jewish physicians were in favor, because there was no danger of their offering a pope or cardinal a poisoned cup instead of a salutary remedy. Alexander VI had a Jewish physician, Bonet de Lates, a native of Provence, who practiced astrology, prepared an astronomical circle, and sent the pope the Latin description thereof with a fulsome dedication. Bonet de Lates afterwards became the favorite physician in ordinary to Leo X, and influenced his conduct. Julius II had for his physician Simon Zarfati, who in other respects also enjoyed his masters confidence. Cardinals and other high princes of the church followed their examples, and generally intrusted their sacred bodies to Jewish doctors, who consequently were much sought after in Italy. Following the example of the popes, the northern Italian cities received fugitive Jews, even pseudo-Christians re-converted to Judaism, from Spain and Germany, and admitted them to all the privileges of free intercourse. Even the popes permitted Marranos to settle at Ancona, notwithstanding their having been baptized. The most important communities in Italy were formed, after the annihilation of the Jews of Naples, by an influx from other countries into Roman and Venetian territory; in the latter, Venice and the flourishing city of Padua, in the former, Rome and the port of Ancona, receiving most of them. Two opposite views with regard to Jews swayed the council of the egotistical Venetian republic. On the one hand, this commercial state did not wish to lose the advantages that Jewish connections might bring, though at the same time it was loath to foster them, for fear of offending the Levantine Jews, their co-religionists in Turkey; on the other hand, the Venetian merchants were full of trade envy against Jews. Hence the latter were caressed or oppressed as the one or the other party predominated in the Signoria. Venice was the first Italian city wherein Jews resided which set apart a special quarter as a Ghetto (March, 1516).
As a rule the immigrant Jews, Spaniards or Germans, obtained supremacy in Italy over native Jews, both in rabbinical learning and communal relations. The Abrabanels played an important part in Italy. The head of the family, Isaac Abrabanel, indeed, was too much bowed down by age and suffering to exercise much influence in any direction. He died before Jewish affairs had assumed a settled condition. His eldest son, Leon Medigo, likewise made no impression on his surroundings; he was too much of a philosophical dreamer and idealist, a poetic soul averse to dealing with the things of this world. Only the youngest of the three brothers, Samuel Abrabanel (born 1473, died about 1550) left his mark on his contemporaries. He was considered the most eminent Jew in Italy, and his community venerated him like a prince. He alone inherited his father's financial genius, and, after his return from the Talmudic college at Salonica, appears to have availed himself of it, and to have been employed in the department of finance by the viceroy of Naples, Don Pedro de Toledo. At Naples he acquired a considerable fortune, valued at more than 200,000 zechins. He employed his wealth to gratify the disposition hereditary in his family to practice noble beneficence. The Jewish poet, Samuel Usque, gives an enthusiastic description of his heart and mind: "Samuel Abrabanel deserves to be called Trismegistus (thrice great); he is great and wise in the Law, great in nobility, and great in riches. With his wealth he is always magnanimous, a help in the sorrows of his brethren. He joins innumerable orphans in wedlock, supports the needy, and redeems captives, so that he possesses all the great qualities which make the prophet."
To increase his happiness heaven had given him a companion in life, the complement of his high virtues, whose name, Benvenida Abrabanela, was uttered by her contemporaries with devout veneration. Tender-hearted, deeply religious, wise and courageous, she was a pattern of refinement and high breeding, qualities more highly esteemed in Italy than in any other European country. Don Pedro, the powerful Spanish viceroy of Naples, allowed his second daughter, Leonora, to be on intimate terms with Benvenida, that she might learn by her example. When this daughter afterwards became Duchess of Tuscany, she kept up her acquaintance with the Jewish lady, and called her by the honored name of mother. This noble pair, Samuel Abrabanel and Benvenida, in whom tenderness and worldly wisdom, warm attachment to Judaism and social intercourse with non-Jewish circles were combined, were at once the pride and the sheet-anchor of the Italian Jews, and of all who came under their beneficent influence. Samuel Abrabanel, though not so well versed in the Talmud as his poetic worshiper represents him to have been, was a friend and promoter of Jewish knowledge. To fill the office of rabbi at Naples, he sent for David Ibn-Yachya and his young, courageous wife, who had fled from Portugal (1518); and, as the congregation was too small to pay his salary, Abrabanel paid it himself. In his house the learned Yachya lectured on the Talmud, and probably also on Hebrew grammar. He thus formed a center for Jewish science in southern Italy. Christian men of science also resorted to Abrabanel's house.
The chief seat of Talmudic or rabbinical studies was at that time at Padua, where presided not Italians but immigrant Germans. Judah Menz, of Mayence, even at his great age of more than a hundred years, exercised attractive power over studious disciples from Italy, Germany, and Turkey, as though from his lips they would learn the wisdom of a time about to pass away. To be a pupil of Menz, was considered a great honor and distinction. After he died, his son, Abraham Menz, undertook the direction of the college (1504–1526); but his authority was not undisputed. The native Jews have in no direction left names of note. The chronicles mention some famous Jewish-Italian physicians, who also distinguished themselves in other branches, such as Abraham de Balmes (1521), of Lecce, physician and friend of Cardinal Grimani. De Balmes possessed philosophical knowledge, and wrote a work on the Hebrew language, which was published with a Latin translation by a Christian. Other Jewish physicians of the same age were Judah, or Laudadeus de Blanis, at Perugia, a worshiper of the Kabbala, and Obadyah, or Servadeus de Sforno (Sfurno, born about 1470, died 1550), a physician of Rome and Bologna, who, besides medicine, studied biblical and philosophical subjects, and dedicated some of his Hebrew writings with a Latin translation to King Henry II, of France. But, as far as we are now able to judge of these highly praised compositions, they are mediocre, and the authors, even in their own times, enjoyed but local reputation. It is certain that De Balmes and Sforno are far beneath Jacob Mantin, who, driven from Tortosa to Italy, there distinguished himself as a physician and philosopher, leaving a famous name behind him. Mantin (born about 1490, died about 1549) was a great linguist; beside his native language and Hebrew, he understood Latin, Italian and Arabic. He was a deeply learned physician and philosopher, and translated medical and metaphysical works from Hebrew or Arabic into Latin. He was held in high esteem as physician by a pope and the ambassador of Charles V at Venice. But his learning was marred by his iniquitous character; envy and ambition led him to commit wicked deeds, to accuse and persecute innocent persons, even his own co-religionists.
In those days there lived in Italy a man, who, though not distinguished by any brilliant achievement, was superior to nearly all his co-religionists by a qualification better and rarer than literary ability. He was gifted with common sense and a fine understanding, which led him not to judge of things by appearances, or from a limited point of view. Abraham Farissol (born 1451, died about 1525), a native of Avignon, for reasons unknown, perhaps from want, had emigrated to Ferrara. He supported himself by copying books, and also, it would appear, by officiating as chorister at the synagogue. Though he was in needy circumstances, and confined within narrow surroundings, his perception was acute, his horizon wide, and his judgment matured. Like most of his learned contemporaries in Italy, he commented on the Bible, and his independence of thought in the midst of the dense credulity of his time constitutes his claim upon pre-eminence. He said of himself, "As regards miracles, I belong to those of little faith." Farissol was the first Jewish author who, instead of studying the starry firmament, astronomy and astrology (to which Jewish authors of the Middle Ages were but too much inclined), turned his attention to investigate the configuration and phenomena of our globe. He was influenced to undertake these studies by the marvelous discoveries of the southern coasts of Africa and India by the Portuguese, and of America by the Spaniards. Penetrating mediæval mist and the deceptive illusions of fancy, Farissol saw things as they actually are, and deeming it necessary to point them out, he scoffed at ignorant men who, in their pseudo-learned conceit, considered geography of no account. He had to show conclusively that the Book of books, the holy record of the Torah, attached importance to geographical data, in doing which he indicated a new point of view for the comprehension of the Bible: it was not to be explained by allegories and metaphysical or Kabbalistic reveries, but by actual facts and the plain meaning of the words.
Farissol had access to the court of the duke of Ferrara, Hercules d'Este I, one of the best princes of Italy, who vied with the Medici in the promotion of science. The duke took delight in his conversation, and often invited him to discuss religious questions with learned monks. It seemed as if frequent religious disputations and intellectual encounters were to be renewed on Italian soil. Farissol displayed philosophical calm, besides caution, and forbearance for the sensibilities of his opponents, when touching upon their weak points. At the request of the duke of Ferrara, Farissol wrote down in Hebrew the substance of his discourses with the monks, and reproduced it in Italian, to give his opponents an opportunity for refutation. But his polemical and apologetic work is of much less value than his geographical writings, which he completed in his old age, with one foot in the grave. They display Farissol's clear mind, common sense and extensive learning.
The Italian Jews had at least the right of free discussion with Christians. But as soon as they crossed the Alps into Germany they breathed raw air, politically as well as atmospherically. Few Sephardic fugitives visited this inhospitable land. The German population was as hostile to Jews as the Spanish. True, the Germans had no occasion to envy Jews on account of the position and influence of Jewish magnates at royal courts, but they grudged them even their miserable existence in the Jews' lanes in which they were penned up. They had been banished from some German districts, from Cologne, Mayence and Augsburg, and not a Jew was to be found in all Suabia. From other parts they were expelled at about the same time as from Spain. Emperor Frederick III to his last hour protected those outlawed by all the world. He even had a Jewish physician, a rarity in Germany, the learned Jacob ben Yechiel Loans, whom he greatly favored, and made a knight. Frederick is said on his death-bed to have strongly recommended the Jews to his son, enjoining on him to protect them, and not to listen to calumnious accusations, whose falsity he had fathomed. It appears that Jacob Loans also enjoyed the favor of Emperor Maximilian, whose lot it was to rule over Germany in very troublous times. He transferred this favor to Loans' relatives, for he appointed a certain Joseph ben Gershon Loans, of Rosheim, in Alsace, as official representative of all German Jews at the diet. This Joseph (Josselman, Joselin) was distinguished neither by his rabbinical knowledge, nor his position, nor riches; yet, to a certain extent, he was the official representative of German Judaism. His most striking qualities were untiring activity, when it was necessary to defend his unfortunate co-religionists, his love of truth, and fervent clinging to his faith and people. Born 1480, died 1555, for half a century he vigorously protected his co-religionists in Germany, and became security for them when the ruling powers insisted on special bail. The Jews, therefore, praised and blessed him as their "Great Defender."