É. Apor (ed.): David Kaufmann Memorial Volume: Papers Presented at the David Kaufmann Memorial Conference, November 29, 1999, Budapest.

DAVID, Abraham: Historical Sources in the Kaufmann Collection: The Case of the Expulsion from the Papal States (1569)

ABRAHAM DAVID The problems created by the arrival of exiles from the Papal States are reflected in a letter from an anonymous Jewish community to other communites in the Romagna region.

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4 This letter expressed concern that unless they received substantial aid, the expellees would have to remain with them and would be unable "to go east by sea," thereby endangering both the socio-economic status of the local Jews and their own position as well. I quote: "Lest they do harm by coming to us and becoming a burden on us, for they may be ruined suddenly, heaven forbid, and inherit Gehinnom twice. They will be in dread of fierce anger, heaven forbid." Accordingly, the communal officials requested financial aid from the addressees to assist the refugees in proceeding to the East. In another letter (MS Kaufmann A 494), which lacks any identifying details, the writers protest strongly the refusal of another community to allow the exiles to remain in their region even temporarily: PDI .MU©

1? ATOUN lira PIPX pa

1 to rray

1? A

1©:« NAMPA íaip

1 p mma LTONAI •tonna ói© tor to© mro toy pnaai px vpn ippn mnxn mix -aiy npwn

1? .rrarto im nnx .xn

1 a©xi ,na© xtto We were horrified to see that from among you arose individuals who stood at the right hand of the poor of our exiled brethren to denounce them. In order to prevent wayfarers from staying in their land they wrote evil writs and made iniquitous laws so that none of the exiles could come there, and those who came were liable to death.

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5 A different kind of social tension is reflected in two halakhic decisions concerning the same case, a disagreement between the Jewish community of Ferrara and exiles from Bologna who had settled in this city. The question was whether the Ferrara Jewish community could force rich exiles from Bologna to contribute to the communal purse for the poor. The exiles argued that they had no obligation to participate in this philanthropic activity. Since the aid to the poor from Bologna was not arranged through the community, they did not feel obligated to assist the poor of Ferrara. One decision, issued by Abraham Menahem Porto ha-Kohen, who was the rabbi of the community of Cremona, was published recently.

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6 Another, a much more detailed one, written by Moses Provenzalo in Mantua in 1573, is preserved in MS Kaufmann A 582. Incidentally we find also eight letters preserved in the Kaufmann Collection which reflect Pope Pius V's decrees against the Jews of the Papal States prior to the 2

4 DAVID, New Documents - Tarbiz. 379-381. 2

5 Has been published by BOKSENBOIM, Iggerot Yehudei Italia. 284. 2

6 See: DAVID, New Documents - Italia. 27-28. 36