Haluka - Influence of Joseph Caro

Influence of Joseph Caro

Under the Ottomans in the sixteenth century the Jews of Palestine were settled mostly in Galilee, toward which there set a stream of exiles from Spain; and the halukkah contributions appear to have come in regularly without the intervention of meshullahim. About this time Joseph Caro of Safed established a precedent in Jewish charity-law, based on the verse, "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land," etc. (Deut. xv. 7). According to his interpretation, "thy gates" refers to the city of Jerusalem, and "thy land" to the Holy Land, which, therefore, have a prior claim upon Jewish charity; formerly it had been held that the passage referred to any residential city or adopted country. The reputation of Safed as the home of famous Talmudists and cabalists, including Caro and Isaac Luria, brought abundant support from abroad for scholars in Palestine.