In Spain, in 1488, was born a certain Joseph Caro. Whilst he was quite a child his parents left Spain, and taking Joseph with them, wandered about from place to place, till they finally settled in Nikopolis in Turkey. The boy was taught Bible and Talmud by his father, and showed from the first great industry and some talent. Presently he went to Adrianople, where he wrote his first work, which was a commentary on the [a]‏אַרְבַּע טוּרים‎]. Subsequently he wrote the [a]‏שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּךְ‎] (A table prepared), which was an amplification of his first work, and, like it, hadits inspiration in the Code of Laws formulated by a long dead and gone Rabbi Jacob, the son of Rabbenu Asher. The [a]‏שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּךְ‎] has become the standard authority for Jewish ritual and ceremonial Law. It is divided into four parts:

1. [a]‏אֹרַח חַיִּים‎] (Path of life). On Prayer, Sabbaths, festivals, and fasts.

2. [a]‏יוֹרֶה דֵּעָה‎] (Teaching knowledge). Dietary and other domestic laws.

3. [a]‏אֶבֶן הָעֶזֶר‎] (Stone of help). Marriage laws.

4. [a]‏חשֶׁן מִשְׁפָט‎] (Breastplate of judgment). Civil laws.

Notes were added to the [a]‏שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּךְ‎] of Rabbi Joseph Caro by a Polish Talmudical authority, named Rabbi Moses Isserles. He was an author himself, and his decisions had great weight with his Polish and German co-religionists, but were not accepted by the Portuguese Jews. Joseph Caro, before his death in 1575, had an attack from the Kabbala fever which was so prevalent in those days. Under its influence he emigrated to Palestine, and joined the sect of Kabbalists. He was elected Rabbi of Saphed, and in possession of that dignity he died.

A contemporary of Caro’s, who lived in Saphed, was the author of the beautiful Friday night song, [a]‏לְכָה דוֹדִי‎]: ‘Come, my beloved, to meet the Bride, the approaching Sabbath we will receive.’ His name was Solomon Alkabez.

Azariah de Rossi, born at Mantua in 1511, was one of the great Jewish-Italian scholars of the sixteenth century. He was learned in all branches of literature and science. His wide knowledge and his critical powers are apparent in his work [a]‏טְאוֹר עִינים‎](Light of the Eyes), a collection of critical essays on various topics of Jewish archæology and history. He freely and fearlessly compared statements in Talmud and Midrash with those found in other works, Jewish and un-Jewish. Among other subjects De Rossi discussed the Jewish chronology, and did not hesitate to declare it faulty. Among his Jewish contemporaries he did not find many admirers, but his works long after his death (1578) received at last that place in Hebrew literature which they richly deserve.

David Gans, who was born in Westphalia in 1541, and died in Prague in 1613, was a great scholar and writer. He began his studies at Cracow, in a Rabbinical seminary, but after a while he gave up the learning of the Talmud, and devoted himself to the study of astronomy and history and geography. He wrote, in Hebrew, a chronological History, [a]‏עֶמַח דָּוִד‎], in two parts, consisting of Jewish history and general history. His chief works besides were [a]‏מָנֵן דָּוִד‎] (Shield of David), an arithmetic guide; [a]‏מִנְדַּל דָּוִד‎] (Tower of David), a geometrical work; and [a]‏נֶחְמָד וְנָעִים‎] (Pleasant and Desirable), an astronomical volume. In the introduction to the last, Gans gives a short account of astronomy up to his own time, including a sketch of the astronomer Copernicus, with whom he was personally acquainted.

David Oppenheim, Rabbi of Prague (born 1664, died 1736), is famous as the owner of a valuable Hebrew library. The history of the books which he collected is, perhaps, more interesting than a summary of the contents of them might be. The nucleus of the collection was made by a certainSamuel Oppenheim, who, an agent at the court of Vienna, asked and received, as a reward for some financial transaction, a number of valuable Hebrew books, which Prince Eugene had looted during the Turkish war. These were left by will to Rabbi David Oppenheim, who largely added to the collection. He made out a list of missing and desirable volumes, and sent it in all directions, with orders to buy for him. In this way he raised his number of printed books to 7,000, and of MSS. to 1,000. Being afraid that the censor in Prague might mutilate or confiscate some of the books, Rabbi Oppenheim kept his beloved library at Hanover, in the house of his father-in-law, Lipman Cohen. After Rabbi David Oppenheim’s death, his son, Herschel Isaac Oppenheim, Rabbi at Hildesheim, got the collection. After his death (1770) it was sent to Hamburg, and pledged to a senator there for 50,000 marks. It subsequently came into the hands of a certain Isaac Cohen in Hamburg,and was valued by Moses Mendelssohn as worth 50,000 thalers.[57] After some negotiations with Jewish merchants and German princes, the library was bought by the Bodleian Library at Oxford, in 1829, for 9,000 thalers, and there it is at the present time.