JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

items, calculated to please the authorities, were printed in
Polish only. The paper was divided into five sections: official
announcements and general news from Poland; foreign news
and descriptions of Jewish life in other countries (including
descriptions of Jewish agricultural settlement in Kherson
province); commercial news; miscellaneous items including
biographies of famous Jews such as Josephus, Maimonides,
Moses Mendelssohn, and Rothschild; announcements. Official
announcements were published without comment or
criticism. Discussion of actual problems facing Jewry seems
to have been deliberately avoided. Eisenbaum had no assistants
and virtually produced the paper by himself. It was apparently
difficult to find suitable candidates since the few Jewish
writers who could write in Polish seem to have preferred
non-Jewish platforms. The paper appeared for less than a year,
from Dec. 3, 1823, to Sept. 29, 1824: altogether there were only
44 issues, with the circulation never exceeding 150. The paper
had to close down when the grant it had received from
the government was exhausted. It failed to gain increased circulation
because the typical advocates of the Enlightenment
were not particularly interested in Jewish problems, while the
Jewish masses found the quasi-Yiddish incomprehensible. The
extreme assimilationist views of the paper and its negative attitude
toward Jewish religious traditions made it objectionable
to the majority of the Jewish population of Warsaw.
Bibliography: J. Shatzky, Geshikhte fun Yidn in Varshe, 1
(1947), 290–1; S. Łastik, Z dziejó ośwęnia żydowskiego (1961), 176–8.
Add. Bibliography: M. Fuks, Prasa zydowska w Warszawie,
1823–1939 (1979) 21–40, index; P. Glikson, Preliminary Inventory of
the Jewish Daily and Periodical Press Published in the Polish Language,
1823–1982 (1983); J. Fraenkel, “Prasa Zydowska w Warszawie XiX
w.Dostrzegacz Nadwislanski,” in: BżIH, 1/89 (1974), 19–45
[Moshe Landau]
BERAB (Beirav), JACOB (c. 1474–1546), halakhic authority
and leader of the Jewish communities of Palestine, Egypt,
and Syria during the first half of the 16th century. Berab was
born in Maqueda near Toledo, Spain, and went to Morocco
after the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492. According
to his own statement, he was only 18 years old when he was
appointed rabbi of Fez. A few years later Berab left Fez and
traveled to Egypt, Palestine (Jerusalem, Safed), and Syria
(Aleppo, Damascus) in connection with business concerns,
which proved very successful. During these sojourns Berab
also taught Torah, gathering wide circles of pupils, who respected
him greatly. He considered himself superior to the
majority of scholars in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, and tried
to impose his authority on questions of halakhah that were
brought before him, or that he undertook on his own initiative.
Although Berab had close associations with many of his
contemporaries, his domineering tendency brought him into
conflict with scholars who would not submit to him.
Berab was swept along with the messianic current of the
early 16th century, which resulted in large measure from intensive
study of the Kabbalah. Berab himself gave some impetus
berab, jacob
to messianic anticipation by trying to revive the institution
of *semikhah (“rabbinical ordination”). According to Maimonides
(Yad, Sanhedrin 1:3), the establishment of a “great bet
din” will take place before the coming of the messiah. Since
an institution competent to give semikhah had not existed for
several hundred years, Maimonides provided instructions for
its establishment. He authorized the rabbis of Ereẓ Israel to
nominate one among them who would be the first samukh
(ordained rabbi). In turn, that rabbi would have the authority
to ordain others, who could then form a Sanhedrin (Yad,
Sanhedrin 4:11). The Spanish expulsion and the ingathering
of many Jews in Ereẓ Israel was interpreted as a sign that redemption
was imminent.
Berab, while still in Egypt, conceived the idea of renewing
semikhah. As the Palestinian settlement became stronger
and the number of scholars increased, Safed became the seat
of the messianic impetus. In 1538 Berab, who had been living
in Safed periodically from at least 1524, succeeded in winning
over the scholars there, including R. Joseph *Caro and
R. Moses of *Trani, to his point of view. The scholars of Safed
decided to renew the semikhah and they designated Berab as
the first samukh. Immediately after this decision was taken, a
messenger was sent to R. *Levi b. Ḥabib in Jerusalem, asking
him to give his consent to the renewal of the semikhah and
to accept the ordination of Berab. Not only did Levi b. Ḥabib,
with whom Berab had had various disputes, refuse to accept
the semikhah of Berab, he also opposed the decision of the rabbis
of Safed on halakhic grounds. He also insisted that Maimonides’
statement concerning the reestablishment of semikhah
did not represent a decision but only an opinion, and that
Maimonides had retracted it later (Yad, Sanhedrin 4:2). The
protests of Levi b. Ḥabib delayed Berab’s project. Discussions
on the question of semikhah among the rabbis of both towns
had been in progress for three months when Berab was forced
by the Turks to leave Palestine. Apparently, he had become
embroiled in a private affair, as a result of which his enemies
denounced him to the Turkish authorities in Safed.
According to halakhah, semikhah could not be given
outside Palestine. Berab feared that he might not be able to
return and that all his plans would come to an end. Before
he left, therefore, he gave semikhah to four rabbis of Safed,
among whom were Joseph Caro and Moses of Trani. Levi b.
Ḥabib, considering this to be a disregard of his protests, then
publicly opposed the semikhah. From Damascus Berab conducted
the discussion of the question in a vigorous manner,
even by personal attacks on his adversary. Levi b. Ḥabib replied
in kind and he was supported by an important ally – R.
*David b. Solomon ibn Abi Zimra, who lived in Egypt. Thus,
the project of establishing the “great bet din” came to an end;
even the validity of the semikhot already given was in doubt.
Nevertheless, those who had been ordained by Berab ordained
other scholars after his death.
Berab wrote a commentary to all those parts of Maimonides’
work not dealt with in the Maggid Mishneh commentary
by *Vidal Yom Tov of Tolosa. However, only a small
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 397