The messianic journey of Jonathan ha-Kohen of Lunel to the Land of Israel re-examined

Abstract

In 1210, thanks to increased contacts between Jewish communities in western Europe and in the eastern Mediterranean in the wake of the crusades, Jonathan ha-Kohen, head of the yeshivah of Lunel and leading Jewish Provençal sage of his time, set sail for Alexandria, from where he proceeded on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. A year later, a group of sages from northern France and England arrived in Marseille, en route to Palestine. A number of scholars have investigated the messianic aspects of this second wave of immigration, called the “‘ aliyah of the three hundred rabbis”. This article, however, seeks to examine the messianic aspects of the earlier journey, undertaken by Jonathan ha-Kohen and his followers, within their local Provençal context.

Keywords:

• Jews
• messianism
• pilgrimage
• Holy Land
• Crusades
• Provence
• yeshivah of Lunel
• Jonathan ha-Kohen
• Maimonides
• Mount of Olives

Notes

1. Ta-Shma, Rabbi Zerahya, 155–62.

2. Ben-Shalom, The Jews of Provence, 636–8. In using the term “messianic discourse”, I am following the observations of Idel, in his introduction to Aescoly, Jewish Messianic Movements, esp. 13–14.

3. Schwartz, Messianism, 83–9, 117–33.

4. This will be discussed at greater length below.

5. Ravitzky, “To the Utmost Human Capacity”, 73–114; Scholem, Explications, 157; Schwartz, Messianism, 153.

6. Maimonides, Igerot, vol. 2, 474–7.

7. Ibid., 489.

8. Ibid., 79–80.

9. Igeret mezuyefet ʻal shem ha-Rambam “al mashiaḥ be-Isfahan”, in Aescoly, Jewish Messianic Movements, 205–7.

10. Yuval, “Moses redivivus”.

11. The number 10 is based on the assertion in the account of Jonathan’s journey that the group prayed “twice in ten” on the Mount of Olives, on their second day in Jerusalem. It is possible, however, that they numbered less than 10, and the quorum was completed by local Jews or by members of the exilarch’s group. See below, ben Samson, “Igeret R. Samuel”, 78.

12. Ibn Verga, Shevet Yehudah, 147. On this chronicle, see Shatzmiller, “Provençal Chronography”, 43–61; Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 56–7.

13. So too Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 56–7.

14. Ibid., 54–5.

15. Asher ben Gershom, Igeret R. Asher b.R. Gershom le-rabane Tsarfat, 189.

16. Derashot shel Melekh ha-Mashiaḥ u-mi-Gog Magog, quoted in Yuval, Two Nations, 269. See Yuval, “Bein meshiḥiyut politit”, 85–7; Kanarfogel, “The ‘Aliyah’”, 191–215; Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 51–60; Kanarfogel, “Peering Through the Lattices”, 206, n. 37; Urbach, The Tosaphots, vol. 1, 279, n. 46*.

17. Yuval, Two Nations, 267–70; Grossman, “Saladin's Victory”, 362–82. See Kanarfogel, “Ashkenazic Messianic Calculations”, esp. 393–9; Idel, “Mongol Invasions and Astrology”, esp. 145–7.

18. Maimonides, Igeret Teman [original Arabic], in Shailat, Igerot, vol. 1, 105, 153. See Yuval, Two Nations, 271.

19. See Urbach, The Tosaphots, vol. 1, 263; Urbach, “The Participation”, 155.

20. Derashot shel Melekh ha-Mashiaḥ, 34.

21. Ibid.

22. See Berger, “Some Ironic Consequences of Maimonides”, 1–8; Funkenstein, Maimonides, esp. 64–71.

23. According to a Judeo-Arabic letter in the Genizah, word reached Egypt of a messianic prophecy in France, whereby redemption would begin in the year 1226 and the Messiah would come in 1233, in the context of events that would unfold at the end of the fifth millennium. Assaf, “New Documents”, 112–24; Aescoly, Jewish Messianic Movements, 210–12; Kanarfogel, “Ashkenazic Messianic Calculations”, 396, n. 44.

24. See Rashi on Deuteronomy 33:2.

25. I have emended the reading of letter in MS. Oxford 2874, 33a [see facsimile of the MS in Maimonides, Igerot, vol. 2, 498] from ḥnm to ḥns. See Isaiah 30:4: ‘For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.’

26. Following Jeremiah 46:19.

27. See Wertheimer and Wertheimer, Ginzei Yerushalaim: Kitvei yad ha-Genizah, 2:267, 269.

28. Igeret teshuvot le-R. Yehonatan ha-Kohen mi-Lunel ve-ḥaverav, in Maimonides, Igerot, ed. Shailat, vol. 2, 502.

29. See Himmelfarb, “The Messiah Son of Joseph”, vol. 2, 771–90. The midrashic sources in which the tradition of the death of the Messiah son of Joseph in battle appear were known to the rabbis of Narbonne, as were traditions that refer only to his victories in battle, with no mention of his death. See Mack, “From Qumran”, 92–3, and nn. 27–9.

30. Heinemann, “The Messiah of Ephraim”, 1–15.

31. Question 19 of 24, in Maimonides, Teshuvot ha-Rambam, par. 300. See Mirsky, “Mavo ʻal toldot R. Yehonatan”, 21–2.

32. On the place of southern France in the Crusades, see Riley-Smith, The First Crusaders, esp. 32, 44–6; Jordan, “Supplying Aigues-Mortes”; Bronstein, The Hospitallers; Carraz, “Les templiers de Provence”; Tyerman, God's War, esp. 58–91.

33. Ben-Shalom, Medieval Jews, 19–22.

34. See Bird, “Reform or Crusade”; Parker, “Papa et Pecunia”.

35. Grossman, “Saladin's Victory”; Ben-Shalom, Medieval Jews, 22–6.

36. Ibn Ishaq, Sefer musrei ha-filosofim; Schirmann, The History of Hebrew Poetry, 146–53; Al-Harizi, Tahkemoni, Gate 50, 553.

37. Al-Harizi, Tahkemoni, Gate 16 (28), 264; Prawer, History of the Jews, 66–9; Ben-Shalom, Medieval Jews, 22.

38. Grossman, “Saladin's Victory”, esp. 362–6.

39. The Itinerary of Benjamin, 3; Reyerson, “Medieval Silks in Montpellier”, esp. 120–2.

40. Tyerman, God's War, 715.

41. Sibon, Les Juifs de Marseille, 97–122.

42. Cuffel, “Call and Response”, 61–102.

43. Fontaine, Otot ha-shamayim, 2–4.

44. Jacobs, Reorienting the East, 22–5.

45. See Prawer, History of the Jews, 77; Jacobs, Reorienting the East, 26.

46. The title “nasi” was also associated with the Jewish leaders of Narbonne. See Cohen, “The Nasi of Narbonne”, 45–76.

47. Reiner, “Overt Falsehood”, esp. 176; Reiner, “Traditions of Holy Places”, esp. 14; Prawer, History of the Jews, esp. 184–221; Prawer, History of the Latin Kingdom, vol. 1, 395; Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 39–41, who notes on p. 40, n. 42, that it is difficult to date the editor's reworking of the material, and this copy, in manuscript, should not be dated later than the mid-fourteenth century. Although this group of nesi’im was sociologically and politically very different from the family group of the nasi in Narbonne, their respective mythological foundation stories were connected to one another. See Ben-Shalom, The Jews of Provence, 29–47.

48. Thus, for example, at the ceremony conducted at the burial cave of Hillel and Shammai in Meron, the exilarch ordered a search for the source of the water, and seemed just as surprised as the Provençal group at the wondrous phenomenon. See “Igeret R. Samuel”, 81; Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 295–305.

49. Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 283–5.

50. ‘Igeret el ʻadat Lunel’, in Maimonides, Igerot, ed. Shailat, vol. 2, 558–9.

51. ben Samson, “Igeret R. Samuel”, 78.

52. Benjamin of Tudela, The Itinerary of Benjamin, 23. See Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 162–70; Prawer, History of the Jews, 215–21.

53. See below, 13–17.

54. See Pedaya, Name and Sanctuary, 38–42.

55. This is how Meir ha-Levi Abulafia (Ramah) addressed him, in a letter: Meir ha-Levi Abulafia, “Igeret R. Meʼir ha-Levi le-ḥakhmei Lunel”, in Kitāb al-rasāʼil, 16. The same form is also used in the Provençal chronicle. Maimonides, “Igeret el ʻadat Lunel”, in Igerot, ed. Shailat, vol. 2, 557, calls him “the great rabbi, Rabbi Jonathan ha-Kohen, guardian of Zion, elect among the kohanim”.

56. ben Samson, “Igeret R. Samuel”, 78: “All that is there is the foundation, and the place where the ark was [the stone on which the Shekhinah rested] is still there.” “And we ascended the mountain on the Sabbath and recited the afternoon prayer there, at the site […] And it [the Mount of Olives] is one of the ten stations at which the Shekhinah stopped when it departed from its place.” See below, p. 16.

57. Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 180; Ben-Eliyahu, “On That Day”, 29–42, esp. 42; Frenkel, “Politics and Power”, esp. 139.

58. Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 191.

59. ben Samson, “Igeret R. Samuel”, 78.

60. On the identification of this place with the Franciscan Dominus Flevit Church, opposite the Dome of the Rock, see Ben-Eliyahu, “The Ramp of the Red Heifer”, 183, n. 1. The end of the passage, “and [we] went up to the Mount”, implies that they needed to go up further in order to reach the place of the Shekhinah’s ascension.

61. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot parah adumah 3,1–2,522.

62. Ibid., 4.

63. See Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 192. Reiner notes (189–90) that this is the first time that the place of the burning of the red heifer is mentioned in the accounts of medieval Jewish travellers. It is possible that Jonathan ha-Kohen himself re-established the ritual at that place or was among the first to do so and, by virtue of his standing, heightened the importance of the site for subsequent pilgrims.

64. Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkoht parah adumah 5,1,523.

65. Ibid., 2,7,522.

66. ben Samson, “Igeret R. Samuel”, 78: “And we went from there to the Waters of Siloam.”

67. Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 192.

68. ben Samson, “Igeret R. Samuel”, 78: “And on the Sabbath we prayed at the time of the afternoon prayer there, at the place where the uncircumcised heathen sought to build [a place of] idolatry.” On the ritual of Jewish prayer on the Mount of Olives, which began to develop at that time, reflecting a change in the status of the site, to which the virtues of the Temple itself were ascribed, see Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 192–8.

69. Prayer in general is mentioned only three more times throughout the itinerary.

70. Abraham ben Nathan ha-Yarhi, Sefer ha-manhig, Hilkhot Shabbat, par. 186.

71. Elazar of Worms, Perushei sidur ha-tefilah la-Rokeaḥ, par. 104, p. 586.

72. Joseph ben David, Sefer Abudarham, Sabbath afternoon prayer, 180.

73. Zedekiah ben R. Abraham ha-Rofe, Sefer shibolei ha-leket, Inyan Shabbat, 126.

74. The actual encounter between the two is not described in the extant version. See ben Samson, “Igeret R. Samuel”, Igerot, 79.

75. Hebrews 5:6: Tu es sacerdos in aeternum, secundum ordinem Melchisedech.

76. See Epistle to the Hebrews, especially chapters 5–8. Moses ha-Darshan's homily is preserved in Raymond Martin's Pugio fidei; see Mack, The Mystery, esp. 63–6, 72–92.

77. Ta-Shma, Rabbi Zeraḥya, 155. Four laments at the death of Jonathan ha-Kohen, written by an unknown author, were found among the documents of the Cairo Genizah. If these laments indeed refer to the same person, they suggest that Jonathan ha-Kohen of Lunel was also revered in the east. In the manner of such elegies, they include praise for the deceased (a kohen), who is referred to as “high priest” and “anointed priest”. See Assaf, “Kinot”, esp. 164–6.

78. See Ta-Shma, “Shitotav shel Rabi Yehudah Almadari”.

79. See Ta-Shma, “ʻAliyatam shel ḥakhme Provintsyah”.

80. See Yahalom, Judah Halevi, 123–81; Baer, “Ha-Matsav ha-politi”, esp. 267–8; Friedman, Ḥalfon, 215–26, 284–308.

81. Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 48–9, 80–2.

82. See Festinger et al., When Prophecy Fails; Baumgarten, “Four Stages”.

83. See Urbach, The Tosaphots, vol. 1, 334, who cites Marx, “Maʼamar ʻal shenat ha-geʼulah”, 197.

84. See Irshai, “Dating the Eschaton”.

85. See Baumgarten, “Four Stages”, 60–1.

86. This is intimated, in the second half of the thirteenth century, in one of the responsa written by Meir ben Barukh (Maharam) of Rothenburg – see Kanarfogel, “The ‘Aliyah’”, 206–7, and n. 50; Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 106–7. According to documents found in the Genizah, the immigration from France included a relatively small number of rabbis, accompanied by a large number of women, children, family members and students. One of the documents cites a ratio of “seven rabbis” to an entourage of 100, temporarily residing in Cairo en route to the Land of Israel, and in need of material support from the local Jewish community. See Cuffel, “Call and Response”, 71–2.

87. Blumenkranz, “Les synagogues”.

88. Ben-Shalom, The Jews of Provence, 643; Jacobs, Reorienting the East, 150–3.

89. Ibn Kaspi, Tam ha-kesseph, Treatise 8, 41–5. See Pines, ‘Histabrut. Kitve Rabenu Moshe ben Naḥman, vol. 2, 515; Idel, “On the Land of Israel”, 205; Kriegel, “The Reckonings of Nahmanides”, esp. 25–6.

90. See Noy, Mavo, 39–51.

91. Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 295–305.

92. ben Samson, “Igeret R. Samuel”, 78.

93. Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 179–82; Limor, “Christian Tradition”, 23–4, 81–93.

94. Ben-Eliyahu, “On That Day”, 29–42, esp. 38.

95. Kühnel, “The Date”, 334. The Church of the Ascension has also been a part of the Muslim pilgrimage routes to Jerusalem. see: Frenkel, “The Muslim Pilgrimage”, esp. 240.

96. Reiner, “Pilgrims”, 190–1. See also Limor, “Christian Tradition”, esp. 52–4.

97. See Ben-Shalom, The Jews of Provence, 657–67.

98. See Lasker, “The Impact”; Ben-Shalom, Medieval Jews, 19–26; Berger, “From Crusades to Blood Libels”.