^{page 179 note 1} Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela. Ed. Asher, . New York, 11, pp. 270–1.Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 2} Ozar Massaoth. New York, 1926, p.130.Google Scholar

^{page 179 note 3} A pilgrimage to Palestine by Rabbi Moshe Bassola of Ancona. Transcribed and published by Ben-Zevi, Isaac. Jerusalem, 1938. (Library of Palestinology, xi.) On the English title-page the year is wrongly given as 1542.Google Scholar

^{page 180 note 1} Jewish Travellers. London, 1930, pp.198–9.Google Scholar

^{page 180 note 2} Eisenstein, p.126.

^{page 181 note 1} “Campagna.” Here and elsewhere Italian words are used in Hebrew transcription.

^{page 181 note 2}

^{page 181 note 3} From Safed to Damascus is roughly 60 English miles.

^{page 181 note 4} A Hebrew transcription of an Arabic word I have not been able to identify.In an earlier passage (p. 38 of Ben-Zevi's edition) Rabbi Moses says : “There (on the bridge of Nahr-al-Kalb) they collect 10 dirhams from every Jew. They call this duty and it is collected on roads in many places in Palestine.” This would appear to be one of the many Mukus, or uncanonical taxes levied by Muslim authorities. It perhaps connected with the Arabic root kafara, to be an infidel.

^{page 181 note 5} “Damas est bien aussi grand comme Rouen ou Thoulouse” (AJfagart, p. 218).

^{page 181 note 6} Fossa.

^{page 181 note 7} Traffico.

^{page 181 note 8} This tallies with other accounts of the prosperity of Damascus at this period. For a detailed survey of Damascus agriculture and industry some years before the Ottoman conquest see Nuzhat al-Ānām fī Maḥasin ash-Shām, by 'al-Badrī, Abdallah b.Muhammad. Cairo, 1341.Google Scholar

^{page 181 note 9} Venetian ducats were in general circulation in Ottoman Asia at that date. (Ė. Combe. L'Egypte Ottomane. Cairo, 1933, p. 83.)Google Scholar

^{page 181 note 10} “Merceria.” E. reads Medicinia.

^{page 181 note 11} “Botteghe.”

^{page 181 note 12} “Credito.”

^{page 182 note 1} “Maggazini.”

^{page 182 note 2} This person is mentioned earlier by R. Moses as having built a house in Safed, p. 45. Mu'allim is a title frequently used with reference to Jews and Christians.

^{page 182 note 3} Kings ii, 5.

^{page 182 note 4} Presumably the Qaiṣariya.

^{page 182 note 5} “House of Rimmon” (Kings ii, 5, 18).

^{page 182 note 6} Apart from the curious community of Jawbar (v. infra), the Jews of Damascus do not receive very much attention from the western travellers. Thévenot (p. 434) notes that “quinze pas plus outre (la citadelle) est le lieu où l'on bat la monnoye dans lequel les Juifs travaillent”. Belon (p. 334) observes that “II y a grand nombre de Juifs en Damas, et sont enfermez à part, comme en Avigon”. Neither of these facts is mentioned by our traveller, though both are probably true. The existence of a separate Jewish quarter in Damascus at that date is obviously unquestionable. Belon also tells (p. 335) a curious story of a rebellious Pasha who oppressed the Jews, and whose defeat by the Turks is commemorated by a Jewish festival. This must be a reference to the episode of Ahmad Pasha in Cairo, mistakenly applied by Belon to Damascus. Affagart (p. 217) was provided by the Venetians with a Jewish guide Damascus-“ et jaczoyt ce qu'il fust juif, toutesfoiz il les nous monstra fidelement.”

^{page 182 note 7} Spanish Jews.

^{page 183 note 1} “Moreschi.” Sometimes Mozarabes, Jews of Arabic language and culture. For a long time there were grave conflicts between the Spanish and the native Jews (Rozanes. S. Yisrāēl bé Thōgarmā. I, Tel-Aviv, 1930, p. 182Google Scholar).

^{page 183 note 2} At this period colonies of Italian Jews were formed in many places in Syria and Egypt.

^{page 183 note 3} Ben-Zevi identifies this with the synagogue called 'Anbīya, in Hawsh al-Bāshā.

^{page 183 note 4} Kings ii, 7.

^{page 183 note 5} A celebrated Rabbi of the first century A.D. A pupil of Zakkai., R. Yōḥānān b.Google Scholar

^{page 183 note 6} The village of Jawbar is about a mile north-east of Damascus. There is still a synagogue there which is held in peculiar reverence by the Damascene Jews, although it is considered dangerous to visit it owing to the fanaticism of the Muslim inhabitants. A synagogue of Gōbār is mentioned in the Talmud (Běrākhoth, III) and is identified by Sambari (Neubauer I, 152-3) with that under consideration. Sambari corroborates our traveller's remarks regarding the Synagogue and its founders and gives a list of Jewish scholars and notables, who were natives of Jawbar. On other Jewish sources see Zunz in Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela. Ed. Y, Asher. N., II, p. 118.Google Scholar It is interesting to compare our traveller's account with those of two French visitors, whose remarks are here reproduced in full. Thévenot, p. 437. II faut encor aller à un village appellé Iobar, distant de la ville de demy lieuё & qui n'est habité que de Iuifs, il-y-a une Synagogue, au bout de laquelle se voit une grotte à costé droit de quatre pas en quarré, pour y entrer il faut descendre par un trou sept degrez taillez sur le roc, on dit que c'est le lieu où se cacha le Prophète Helie, fuyant le poursuite de la Reyne Iesabel, on y voit encor le trou par où les corbeaux luy porterent des vivres durant quarante jours. II y a dans cette grotte trois petites armoires servans à mettre trois lampes entretenues. D'Arvieux, II, 461-2. Le villagé appellé Jubar est à une demie lieue de Damas, il n'est habité que par des Juifs sans mélange d'aucune autre Nation. IIs y font voir une Grotte où ils disent que le Prophete Elie se cacha, lorsqu'il fuyoit la persecution de Jezebel. L'entrée de cette Grotte est un trou médiocre, par lequel on descend sept marches talliés dans le roc, qui conduisent dans une Grotte d'environ quatre ou dix pieds en quarré. II y a trois petits enforcemens comme des armoires ouvertes, ou les Juifs entretiennent trois lampes allumées. II y a un autre trou, par où les corbeaux lui apportéerent à manger pendant quarante jours qu'il y demeura. Les Juifs ont leur synagogue auprés de cette Grotte. IIs ont eu assez d'esprit pour persuader aux Turcs superstitieux qu'ils mourroient s'ils entreprenoient de s'établir dans ce Village, et par ce mensonge ils ont privé leur Grotte de l'honneur qu'ils n'auroient pas manqué de lui rendre. Seetzen, U. J. (Reisen, Berlin, 1854, i, p. 314), writing in 1806, says that Jawbar was originally inhabited by Jews, who subsequently converted to Islam. Both Yāqūṭ (Wüist., ii, p. 139) and the Maraṣid al-lṭṭilā' (i, p. 269) speak of Jawbar, and the former gives a list of Muslim scholars and traditionists born there.Neither, it is to be noted, makes any mention of Jews. A Muslim author, writing at about the same time as our traveller, mentions the existence of a mosque in Jawbar (Sauvaire J. A., 1895, vol. vi, p. 473Google Scholar). It would thus seem to be untrue that Jawbar was inhabited exclusively by Jews.

^{page 184 note 1} “Naippo,” Italianized form of Arabic Nā'ib. Our traveller expresses the general satisfaction with the new broom of Ottoman administration.

^{page 184 note 2} . E. reads —the boat from Constantinople.

^{page 184 note 3} (?).

^{page 184 note 4} “Galera.”

^{page 184 note 5} = Arabic Mukāri, one who leads animals (not Makkār as Ben-Zevi says). Our traveller, it will be noticed, does not distinguish in sound between and and renders Arabic by Hebrew .