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Rabbi Joseph Karo יוסף קארו | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byMeir Kunstadt [nl], early 1900s | |
| Title | הַמְחַבֵּרHaMechaber מָרַןMaran |
| Personal life | |
| Born | Joseph ben Ephraim Karo 1488 (1488) |
| Died | March 24, 1575(1575-03-24) (aged 86–87) |
| Buried | Safed Old Jewish Cemetery |
| Signature |  |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Judaism |
Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, also spelledYosef Caro, orQaro (Hebrew:יוסף קארו; 1488 – March 24, 1575, 13Nisan 5335A.M.),[1][2] was a prominentSephardic Jewish rabbi renowned as the author of the last great codification ofJewish law, theBeit Yosef, and its popular analogue, theShulhan Arukh.[3] Karo is regarded as the preeminent halakhic authority of his time,[4] and is often referred to by the honorific titlesHaMechaber (Hebrew:הַמְחַבֵּר,lit. 'the author') andMaran (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic:מָרַן,lit. 'our master').[5]
Joseph Karo was born inToledo, Spain, in 1488.[5] In 1492, aged four, he wasexpelled from Spain with his family as a result of theAlhambra Decree and subsequently settled in theKingdom of Portugal.[6] Following his father's death, Karo's uncle Isaac, an author of biblical commentary, adopted him.[7] After theexpulsion of the Jews from Portugal in 1497, the Ottomans invited the Jews to settle withintheir empire. Karo went with his parents, after a brief move to Morocco, toNikopolis, then a city under Ottoman rule. In Nikopol, he received his first instruction from his father, who was himself an eminentTalmudist. He was married twice, firstly to Isaac Saba's daughter, and, then after her death, to the daughter of Hayyim Albalag, both of these men being well-known Talmudists.
Between 1520 and 1522 Karo settled atAdrianople. He later settled in the city ofSafed,Ottoman Galilee, where he arrived about 1535, havingen route spent several years atSalonica (1533) andIstanbul. By 1555, Joseph Karo was already a resident of the villageBiriyya near Safed, during which year he completed writing the first order of theShulhan Arukh,Orach Chayim.[8]
For a short while he lived in Nikopol, but decided to make his way to theLand of Israel so that he could immerse himself inits sanctity and complete his written works. Passing through Salonica, he met the greatkabbalistJoseph Taitazak. He continued his journey to the Holy Land via Egypt and eventually settled inSafed.
At Safed, he metJacob Berab and was soon appointed a member of his rabbinical court. Berab exerted great influence upon him, and Karo became an enthusiastic supporter of Berab's plans for the reinstitution ofsemikha "rabbinical ordination", which had been in abeyance for over 11 centuries. Karo was one of the first he ordained and after Berab's death, Karo tried to perpetuate the scheme by ordaining his pupilMoshe Alshich. He finally gave up his endeavors, convinced that he could not overcome the opposition to ordination. Karo also established ayeshiva where he taughtTorah to over 200 students.
AYemenite Jewish traveler,Zechariah Dhahiri, visited Rabbi Karo'syeshiva in Safedc. 1567 and noted,
I went one Sabbath to his seat of learning, to see his honourable and glorious magnanimity. I sat down by the entrance, alongside the doorpost of the gate, while my cogitations from foolishness were sorely gripped by fear. Now, that wise man the elder sat upon a chair, and with his mouth he did amplify the subject matter. By an utterance he would draw man away from his burthen caused by the vicissitudes of time, in drawing him nigh unto the faithful God. He would then clothe him, as it were, in sumptuous apparel fit for those who are free, by his recital of the verse: 'The Law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul'. He then deliberated on a certain matter by explicating its plain and esoteric sense. Before him were seated about two-hundred very admirable and distinguished pupils, sitting upon benches. When he had finished his words of wisdom, he gestured to a certain disciple opposite him to speak. … Now, when that wise man (i.e., Rabbi Joseph Karo) heard the words of that disciple, he was astonished by his eloquence of speech who had given plausible arguments about the soul, and he then raised him up and exalted him above all the pupils that were with him. … I stayed there awhile, until the wise man (i.e., Rabbi Joseph Karo) had gestured to his pupils to stand up, and then gave order to each one to learn aMishna. So they went their way, the pupils who were there gathered and the wise man (i.e., Rabbi Joseph Karo).[9]
When Jacob Berab died, Karo was regarded as his successor, and together withMoses ben Joseph di Trani, heheaded the bet din of Safed. By this time, thebeth din of Safed had become the central bet din in all ofOld Yishuv (southernOttoman Syria) and of theJewish diaspora as well. Thus, there was not a single matter of national or global importance that did not come to the attention and ruling of the Safed bet din. Its rulings were accepted as final and conclusive, and sages from every corner of the diaspora sought Karo's halachic decisions and clarifications. Karo was also visited in Safed by the great Egyptian scholars of his day,David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra andYaakov de Castro. He came to be regarded as the leader of the entire generation.
In a dramatic testimonial,Solomon Alkabetz testified that in Salonica, Karo had become one of the rare individuals who merited to be instructed by amaggid—a private preacher who revealed to him manykabbalistic teachings. The maggid exhorted Karo to sanctify and purify himself, and he revealed events that would take place in the future. In the "Gates of Holiness" (שערי קדושה),Hayyim ben Joseph Vital explains that visitation by a maggid is a form ofdivine inspiration. The teachings of the maggid are recorded in his published work titledMaggid Mesharim "Teacher of Righteousness".Chaim Yosef David Azulai notes that only about one-fiftieth of the manuscript was published. However, in numerous places in theMaggid Meisharim it states, "I am the Mishna that speaks in your mouth," indicating that theOral Torah itself (of which theMishna is the fundamental part) spoke within him.
The Maggid promised him that he would have the merit of settling in the Land of Israel, and this promise was fulfilled. Another promise, that he would merit to die amartyr's death likeSolomon Molcho had merited, did not transpire.[10]
His reputation during the last thirty years of his life was greater than that of almost any other rabbi sinceMaimonides. The Italian JewAzariah dei Rossi, though his views differed widely from Karo's, collected money among the wealthy Italian Jews to have a work of Karo's printed andMoses Isserles compelled the recognition of one of Karo's decisions atKraków. However, he had questions on the ruling. When some members of the community ofCarpentras in theKingdom of France believed themselves to have been unjustly treated by the majority in a matter relating to taxes, they appealed to Karo, whose letter was sufficient to restore to them their rights[11] In the east, Karo's authority was, if possible, even greater. His name heads the decree ofherem (censure) directed against Daud,Joseph Nasi's agent, and it was Karo who commissionedElisha Gallico to draw up a decree to be distributed among all Jews ordering that Azariah dei Rossi's "Light of the Eyes" (Me'or 'Enayim) be burned. Since Karo died before it was ready for him to sign, the decree was not promulgated, and the rabbis of Mantua contented themselves with forbidding the reading of the work by Jews under twenty-five years of age. Several funeral orations delivered on that occasion and some elegies from Karo's passing have been preserved.
Karo's literary works are among the masterpieces ofrabbinic literature. He published during his lifetime:
After his death, there appeared:
TheMaggid Mesharim (1646, "Preacher of Righteousness") is a mystical diary in which Karo, over fifty years, recorded the nocturnal visits of an angelic being, his heavenly mentor, the personifiedMishna. His visitor spurred him to acts of righteousness and even asceticism, exhorted him to study Kabbala, and reproved him for moral laxities.
He is buried inOld Cemetery of Safed.
Other notable rabbis also buried in Old Cemetery of Safed:
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Abrahams, Israel (1911). "Qaro, Joseph ben Ephraim". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 706....his second work, the Shulḥan 'Arukh ("Table Prepared"). Finished in 1555, this code was published in four parts in 1565.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Qaro, Joseph ben Ephraim".Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.