4. Effect of Crusader Control of Holy Land (Phase II) on Jewish Settlement
Wednesday, September 10th, 2008In the second phase the Crusaders gained a hold over certain towns and regions by means of treaties and agreements in which the Jews participated. The destruction of entire communities ceased as the Crusaders were more interested in possessing living cities than in occupying desolate wastes.
Jews, however, sought refuge in Ashkelon, Rafah and El Arish ahead of the advancing Crusaders. In more remote areas such as Galilee, the invasion was felt less. Everywhere the Jews were treated by the Crusaders as were other non-Christian communities, except that they were not allowed to live in Jerusalem.
Travel between the Holy Land and Europe became easier and the number of Jews immigrating from France, England and North Africa increased as did the number of Jewish pilgrims to Jerusalem; Yehuda Halevi in 1141, Maimonides in 1165 and Benjamin of Tudela, visiting between 1167 and 1169.
The renowned rabbi Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, 1135-1204) in the Preface to his Commentary on Tractate Rosh Hashana, written in 1165 notes:
On the 4th day of Cheshvan (October-November) we departed from Acre to go up to Jerusalem at grave risk. I entered the great and holy place (the synagogue on Temple Mount) and prayed there… and I departed from Jerusalem for Hebron to embrace the tombs of my forebears in the Cave and prayed there that day and gave thanksgiving to God for everything… And these two days I made an oath to celebrate for me and my descendants forever, may the Lord help me fulfil my pledges.
And just as I was privileged to pray in the Land in its desolation, may I and all Israel live to see its speedy restoration.[gma emphasis] (Tal, p. 101)
Benjamin of Tudela found Jews living near David’s Tower in Jerusalem, despite the Crusader ban. He noted the existence of Jewish communities in Acre, Tiberias, Caesarea, Jaffa, Ramla, Ashkelon and Hebron, as well as in the rural areas, mainly in Galilee:
I saw in Jerusalem a numerous population composed of Jacobites, Armenians, Greeks, Georgians, Franks, and in fact of all tongues. There’s a dyeing house rented yearly by the Jews, exclusively. Two hundred of those Jews dwell in one corner of the city, under the Tower of David. (cited in Tal, p.102)
Benamin left a record of the number of Jewish inhabitants in towns and villages across the country. The relatively small numbers reflect the outcome of the destruction of entire communities by the First Crusade, half a century earlier.
Although the Crusaders massacred many Jews during the 12th century, the Jewish community rebounded in the next two centuries as large numbers of rabbis and Jewish pilgrims immigrated to Jerusalem and the Galilee. Prominent rabbis established communities in Safed, Jerusalem, and elsewhere during the next 300 years.