Meshullam da Volterra's Vow to Visit the Land of Israel

🗺️ A banker and gem trader, Meshullam made a vow during a time of trouble to visit Eretz Yisrael. He recorded his journey there and back to Italy in great detail; it survives in a single manuscript.

You’re reading Stories from Jewish History, a weekly newsletter exploring Jewish thinkers, events, and artifacts, from the famous to the obscure. We’ve already spend some time with a fifteenth-century Italian traveler to Eretz Yisrael last week, when I wrote about the journey of R. Eliyahu of Ferrara. Several others accounts of Italian Jews making aliyah survive from the fifteenth century, including that of R. Ovadia Bartenura. (I wrote about his aliyah, and the rich letters documenting it, here.) Today, we set sail, in fulfillment of a vow, with R. Meshullam da Volterra.

Photochrom print of Yaffo (Jaffa) by Photoglob Zürich, made between 1890 and 1900. From the Photochrom Prints Collection at the Library of Congress. Per the Library of Congress, “The richly colored images look like photographs but are actually ink-based photolithographs.” This is, of course, anachronistic but I thought it gives something of the flavor of the coastline he might have seen when he visited Yaffo.

I’m going to be taking a break for the next two weeks to work on an exciting project and also to take a family road trip. Apparently some members of this family enjoy modern history (the chutzpah) and need to see the Alamo and the French Quarter of New Orleans. I’ll be back in January with three very famous travelers to the Land of Israel: R. Yehuda ha-Levi, Ramban, and Shadal. I know, Shadal is well nigh on modern, but hey, not as modern as the Alamo.

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In this issue:

• Meshullam da Volterra and Conditions of Travel from Fifteenth-Century Italy

• Meshullam’s Route and Travels

• Meshullam da Volterra on the Land of Israel in the Mamluk Period

• Reads and Resources

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Meshullam ben Menachem da Volterra, known in Italian as Bonaventura di Manuele, would have been known to us by the scantest of records had not his travel account survived. Through it, as has been the case for several such travel accounts we’ve looked at, we come to know a great deal about the experiences of the traveler, as well as rich information about the late medieval Levant. In Meshullam’s case, a unique manuscript, Laurentian Library, Florence, Italy Ms. Plut. 44.11, survives to attest to his journey. It was written by a scribe named Yehuda di Blanis in the first half of the sixteenth century in Italy, known for his copying of materials relating to Eretz Yisrael, Kabbalah, philosophical disputations, and apocalypticism. The other materials bound as a miscellany along with Meshullam’s travel narrative are, indeed, related to just these topics; the pages of Meshullam’s account are annotated, even including diagrams. This adds a layer of meaning onto Meshullam’s journey: in the generations following, it garnered interest by someone craning forward towards the end of days, perhaps in a concrete, actionable way.

Meshullam da Volterra and Conditions of Travel from Fifteenth-Century Italy

R. Meshullam was the scion of a banking family operative in the area of Florence during the Italian Renaissance period. The family’s name, Volterra, comes from the town of that name, where the patriarch, Meshullam ben Yehonatan (Bonaventura di Genatano) of Bologna, for whom our R. Meshullam was evidently named, received permission to operate a loan-granting bank in 1408. Our Meshullam, too, dealt in moneylending as well as precious gems; as late as the end of the sixteenth century, a descendent also named Meshullam da Volterra was involved in the worldwide gem trade.

From a remark he makes in the section recording his arrival to the Sinai desert, it becomes clear that Meshullam was traveling to Jerusalem in fulfillment of a personal vow he had made: “May it be the will of the Almighty that He cause me to arrive in Jerusalem in peace so that I may fulfill the vow that I made, and then return me to my home alive, happy, and in peace.” This sort of personal vow, usually made at a time of serious illness or other grave condition, was not uncommon and would have been regarded seriously, as evident from Meshullam’s entreaty. It seems that Meshullam always intended to return to Italy, and we know that he made at least one subsequent trip, in 1487, to the east after his return home (journeying part of the way with R. Ovadia Bartenura). It may be that his trade intersected with his interest in seeing the Land of Israel, making his vow a not entirely impractical, if still arduous, one.

One of the factors affecting travel from Italy in the fifteenth century was the attempt by various Italian municipalities to prevent Jews from leaving. Several of these were main departure points to the east from Italy at the time, but local rulers wished to keep potential Jewish tax revenues from leaving the vicinity, with the pope’s approval. Invoking an outdated and little-enforced rule allowing them to prevent gold and silver currency from export, Jewish travelers organizing to leave for Eretz Yisrael were prevented from doing so. However, some locales, notably Genoa, did not adopt this practice, and it may be the case that alternate routes provided an opportunity for Jews to travel.

Meshullam’s Route and Travels

R. Meshullam traveled to Eretz Yisrael in 1481, along with his servant, Raphael, whom he refers to as “my companion” (חבר). Because the beginning of his travel account is missing in the one extant manuscript we possess, we know little about the first leg of his journey, to the island of Rhodes, where our document picks up. However, a copyist’s note at the end of the account reveals that he set sail from Naples aboard a Genoese ship. The beginning of the extant account, known as Masa Meshullam mi-Volterra (The Voyage of Meshullam da Volterra), records an altercation at sea between the Genoese ship and a Venetian ship. R. Meshullam’s ship managed to get away and dock in the harbor of Rhodes, on 4 May 1481. Meshullam described the island in glowing terms: “The city is very beautiful and the knights are beautifully caparisoned.”

After departing Rhodes and sighting Turkey, Meshullam’s ship encountered a severe storm that made him fear for his life. However, the ship made it safely to Alexandria, where a Genoese crew was waiting to help it anchor and the passengers disembark. From Alexandria, Meshullam traveled overland through the city of Rosetta (“it is a fine city”) to the Nile, visiting a number of other towns dotting the riverbank, and then to the teeming city of Misr (Cairo). In each major city, and especially Cairo, he describes the local Jewish community.

On the 4th of July, 1481, R. Meshullam departed Cairo, bound at last for the Land of Israel. Meshullam details the cities he visited enroute to Gaza, of which he writes, “It is a fine and renowned place, and its fruits are very renowned and good. Bread and good wine is to be found there, but only Jews make wine.” From Gaza Meshullam traveled to Chevron (Hebron), where he visited Maarat ha-Machpela (the Cave of the Patriarchs). He describes it thus: “Hebron is like Gaza, but in a valley. It has no walls and is in a fat and rich valley.” From Chevron, Meshullam made his way to Jerusalem; after visiting there, he went first east to Ramle and Yaffo (Jaffa), then northward to Beirut and Damascus. He returned to Beirut to board a Venetian vessel and, after stops on various Greek and Turkish islands, including Cyprus, Rhodes again, Candia (Crete), and Corfu, returned to Italy via Venice.

Meshullam da Volterra on the Land of Israel in the Mamluk Period

R. Meshullam’s curiosity about the world around him is evident in his enthusiastic descriptions of even small places he visited along the way to Jerusalem and back, and it is notable that he gives much space in his account to areas other than the Land of Israel. He gives little more space to Jerusalem, where he arrived on a Wednesday, the 29th of July, 1481, than he does to, say, Misr. Perhaps his ability to explore Jerusalem was impeded by an illness that struck him there:

אנכי הייתי חולה בירושלים מיום שהגעתי לשם עד צאתי ללכת בדמשק, והגעתי לשערי מות, ולולי רחמי ה', כי יהודי אחד אשכנזי, נקרא ר’ יעקב די קולוניאנוי, כי הוא ואשתו וחמותו עשו לי כל הצריך למנהגינו, אף כי הייתי עומד בבית הנכבד הויצי נגיד כמצות המלך ע”כ נהגו בי כבוד במאד מאד, מ”ם לא הייתי יכול לראות בשוליהן כי משונים הם וזרים הם לאיש הבריא, כל שכן לחולה כמוני, אבל יעקב הנזכר ובני ביתו לא עזבוני ביום ובלילה, והן היו מבשלות בעדי ובעד רפאל חברי, כי גם הוא היה חולה, באופן, אחרי רוב הדיאטי ועזר ה' בכל כולם, נתחזקתי מאד. וגם יוסף הטורצימאנו הגיע לשערי מות ועזבתי אותו חולה. ואין לתמוה על החיצונים שילכו לשם שיפלו בחולי, אבל הוא לתמוה איך אינם מתים כלם לסיבת טורח הדרך ורוב החם אשר האדם סובל בדרך. וכשתגיע לירושלים, באים בכל יום, הן בקיץ הן בחורף, רוחות שונות מארבע פינות העולם, אשר כמותם לא ראיתי, ונכנסים' באיברי האדם וממיתים אותם.

I was ill in Jerusalem from the day I arrived until I left to go to Damascus, and I was near to death’s door, but by the mercy of G-d an Ashkenazi called R. Jacob Kolvarani, he and his wife and his mother-in-law, gave me food after our custom, although I was staying at the house of the Vice Lord by command of the Lord of Misr… I could not eat and enjoy their dishes, for they are different to our people's and strange to a healthy man, much more so for a sick man like myself; but the said Jacob and his household did not leave me day and night, and they cooked for me and for my companion, Raphael; for he also was ill, but only through dieting and G-D’Souza help we got strong again. Also Joseph, the dragoman [interpreter/guide], was on the point of death, and we left him ill. It is not to be wondered at that foreigners who go there get ill; the wonder is that they do not all die. This is caused by the troublesome journey and the great heat one has to endure on the way. In Jerusalem there are draughts every day, summer and winter, different winds from the four corners of the earth such as I have never seen. They get into a man’s limbs and kill him.

Masa Meshullam mi-Volterra, trans. Adler, p. 195

Nevertheless, R. Meshullam offers a detailed account of Jerusalem. Like others we have journeyed with, he reports that he rent his garment upon seeing the ruins of Jerusalem. It has no walls “except a little one on one side,” and boasts a substantial Muslim population, as well as a fairly robust Jewish one (and, as he will later write, a small Christian one as well): “Although through our sins it [Jerusalem] is all in ruins, there are ten thousand Muslim householders and about two hundred and fifty Jewish householders.” R. Meshullam’s happily reports:

בנייני ירושלים הם יפים מאד, ואבנים גדולות יותר משאר המקומות שראיתי, והארץ ארץ זבת חלב, אע”פ שהיא על ההרים והיא חריבה ושממה. ויש הכל בזול, ופירותיה משובחים ויפים במאד מאד. ויש להם ד' מיני דבש: דבש ענבים, והוא קשה כסלע ומשובח מאד; דבש חרובין, והוא טוב מאד, והוא ריפריסקאטיבו*; דבש תמרים, דבש דבורים, וחטה ושעורה ורימון, וכל מיני פרי, בתכלית הטוב והיופי. ויש להם שמן זית טוב מאד, אבל הם אינם אוכלים אלא שמן שמשימין, בהיות כי הוא משובח מאד מאד.

The buildings of Jerusalem are very fine and the stones are larger than in the buildings of the other places I have seen. The land flows with milk and honey although it is hilly and ruined and desolate, and everything is cheap; its fruits are choice and very good. There is a carob honey which is called dipirasciativo, also date honey, and the honey of bees, and wheat and barley and pomegranates and all kinds of fruits good and fine; and they have good olive oil, but they only eat sesame oil, which is very fine.

Masa Meshullam mi-Volterra, ed. Yaari, p. 75; trans. Adler, p. 194

There is a tension here between Meshullam’s enthusiastic compliments and his report that the land is desolate, and its market prices low in comparison to elsewhere he’s traveled. He manages to get in a dig at what he sees as the slovenly personal habits of the locals: “The Muslims and also the Jews of this place are pigs at their eating. They all eat out of one vessel with their fingers, without a napkin.” Whether this indicates scarcity or abundance, or simply different behavior than that to which the Italian was accustomed, is not clear.

R. Meshullam describes a number of encounters with local Mamluks, and gives a detailed account of the Temple Mount:

ובית המקדש תובב"א' עדיין הוא מוקף חומה, ולצד מזרח שערי רחמים, והם טבועים בארץ כמו ב' אמות, והמותר למעלה מהקרקע, והם מסוגרים. ובשולי הפתחים הנזכרים יש קברים מהישמעאלים, וניכר מאד בניין שלמה המלך ע"ה* מבניין הישמעאלים. והאבנים הגדולים אשר בכתלים, דבר גדול להאמין כי כח אדם ישימם במקום כמו שהם. וסביב למקדש יש וולטיי¹ עם עמודים, היינו מבפנים על רצפה גדולה אשר היא תוך בית המקדש. ומקיף הבית המקדש, לפי דעתי, כמו חצי מיל. ולצד מערב תוך הרצפה יש מקום גבוה כמו שלש אצבעות, ואומרים כי היא אבן שתייה. ולשם כפה גדולה ומוזהבת בתכלית היופי, מרובעת, כמו עשרים או אולי כמו שלשים אמה הריבוע האחד, והיא גבוהה הרבה, וכסו אותה הישמעאלים עופרת, ואומרים כי הוא בית קדש קדשים בלי ספק. ובשולי הבית קדש הקדשים יש מקום גבוה ב' אמות וחצי, ארבע פינותיו כלם של אבנים, לעלות אל המקום ההוא. ושם באר מים חיים, ועליו ואצלו בנויה הכפה. והישמעאלים אינם נכנסים בו אם לא יעשו טבילה ה' פעמים, וכן אינם ניגשים אל אשה משלשה ימים קודם. ולשם שמשים ישמעאלים שעומדים בטהרה לרוב, ובתוכה מדליקין שבעה נירוח. ודעו, רבותי, כי זה כמה שאין ספק בו: בכל שנה ושנה כשהיהודים הולכים לבית הכנסת ההוא ליל ט' באב, כל הנרות שכעזרה הם נכבים מאליהם ואינן יכולים להדליקם עד יעבור כל היום ההוא, ונסו הישמעאלים אל פעמים להדליקם ולא יכולו. והישמעאלים יודעים מתי הוא ט' באב, שהם עושים כמעט כיהודים בעבור זה. וזהו ברור ומפורסם לכל, בלי שום ספק.

The Temple, may it be restored speedily in our days, is still surrounded by a wall. On the east side are the Gates of Mercy made of brass and embedded in the ground. The gates are closed and on the sides of the gate are Muslim graves. Opposite this is the site of the Temple of King Solomon and a Muslim building upon it. The huge stones in this building are a wonderous matter, and it is difficult to believe how the strength of man could have moved them to their present position. Near the sanctuary is a great vaulted building with pillars surrounding the large pavement which covers the Temple area. The circumference of the Temple seems about half a mile. On the west side of the pavement there is a place about three fingers high which is said to be the Even Shetiya [Foundation Stone], and there is a great cupola beautifully gilded about twenty or perhaps thirty cubits squares high, and the Ishmaelites have covered it with lead, and they say that this is doubtless the Holy of Holies. On the border of the Holy of Holies there is a place about two and a half cubits high, and at its four corners there are stones to get up to it. Here there is a well of running water and near it the cupola is built. The Moslems only go inside after bathing five times, and they do not approach a woman three days previously. Many Moslem servants in a state of purification are there. They light seven lamps inside. I know, my friends, that there can be no doubt about this, because every year when the Jews go to the Synagogue on the eve of the 9th all the lamps in the Temple Court go out of their own accord, and cannot be kindled again, and the Moslems know when it is the 9th of Av, which they observe somewhat like the Jews because of this. This is clear and known to everyone without any doubt.

Masa Meshullam mi-Volterra, ed. Yaari, p. 72; trans. Adler, p. 189-190

While some of these descriptions, such as those of the Gates of Mercy (שער הרחמים), are familiar to us from earlier, Crusader-era travelers’ accounts, the description of the mosque on the Temple Mount is new. The multifaith and generally multicultural Middle East portrayed in R. Meshullam’s account has taken different form in the Mamluk period, even as it boasted a multiplicity of peoples in earlier periods.

Reads and Resources

• Avraham Yaari made an edition of Masa Meshullam mi-Volterra based directly from the surviving manuscript, which is available here. A partial, but substantial, English translation is available in E. N. Adler’s Jewish Travellers in the Middle Ages. (As I’ve said before, Adler is dated and has its problems, but this section is reliable.)

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1. Italian, volte, “vault".”