The Safed Circle (1492-1575)

[@laurensbaan3596]

Can we all just appreciate the accuracy of this guy's maps?

[@Metroidkeeper]

The best maps my dude

[@bobmcbob9856]

They are quite detailed and in many of the cases where I actually know what the borders are supposed by historians to have looked like, accurate, I just keep seeing the inclusion of Bosnia in early medieval Croatia (directly in contradiction to Byzantine primary sources) and being a little irked. Although there may be Serbian national pride influencing that particular irritation, I think more of it is just me being a history nerd (that’s why I’m here) and as a result me raging against any inaccuracies, especially, I suppose, when the bar is set so high by the rest of his maps

[@BeatBall]

Just look at morocco and say that it's accurate, oof

[@patrickrowan6001]

He uses Omniatlas, he's talked about how useful they are a few times

[@bobmcbob9856]

@@wack8697 no, I’m a patriot and a history nerd, but nationalist is a bit too much to describe me, at least the way it’s used today as opposed to the way it was used in like 1848. It’s just the border is generally believed by historians, including or even primarily non Serbs, not to have been there. In the very early Middle Ages/dark ages (600s-1000s) Bosnia was kind of a fuzzy zone that neither state controlled while in the 1000s it was one of the principalities that made up Serbia and after that a separate Hungarian vassal state and then independent state. Croatia only ever held the very furthest northwestern bit of Bosnia prior to WWII. Now, me being a Bosnian Serb is undeniably part of the reason I care about it (it’s not like the biggest issue in my life, just a small annoyance when I see those maps), but being a historical pedant is just as big of a factor. Also, a Serbian nationalist would deny the existence of Croatia in the Middle Ages lmao.

[@matthewbrotman2907]

Fun fact: the Ottomans ruled Jerusalem for exactly 400 years, 1517 to 1917.

[@SamAronow]

*Officially* they did, but with a couple asterisks that I'm sure will become relevant in future videos.

[@abloodorange5233]

@@nicbahtin4774 He never declared independence from the ottomans so technically the Ottomans ruled for 400 years.

[@SamAronow]

And Daher Omar before him.

[@h.l.asolomonov7674]

They left the charkas to rule on the behalf of othmanly empire

[@Gorlok_the_destoryer]

Aronow: “Jewish law was never supposed to be set in stone.” Mozes: “Am I a joke to you?”

[@oswald7597]

As always, such a high quality video. It's amazing that this stuff is free to watch. Much respect :)

[@Artur_M.]

Something tells me, we are going to the Netherlands in the next episode.

[@janmelantu7490]

Gotta prepare for Gekoloniseerd

[@Pratchettgaiman]

“A place you’ve probably never heard of” [names a regular Birthright trip stop]

[@sylviusleonard5144]

It's useful for the gentile viewers :)

[@xberman]

Once I was told that in Portugal, as Jews gathered in the designated ports from where they were going to be expelled, they found themselves contained in an area that had some small towers. Suddenly priests stared pouring buckets of water from atop the towers and declared that Portugal's Jews had all been converted and thus didn't have to leave the kingdom anymore

[@WreckageHunter]

Exactly... and then proceeded to persecute legally the forcibly converted in the Portuguese Inquisition if they were found to be secretly practicing judaism. Coincidently, the safest place for Cristãos Novos to practice judaism in secrecy was in the colony of Brazil, where they were unreachable to the Inquisition most of the time. That's how some sephardic jewish practices found it's way into brazilian folk "superstition".

[@pedroledoux9779]

When Jews arrived in Portugal the maritime expansion was wenting on. It is estimated that 1 third of all the people Portugal sent to colonize Brazil in 16th and 17th centuries were Jews. Is estimated that today in Brazil there are 40 milions of descedants of those Jews.

[@pedroledoux9779]

@Mikhail Poda You correctly said that in 1500 Portuguese population 1 milion and 10% were Jews. However Jews were 10% of population their proportion was much higher than it among those who went to colonize Brazil. One of the reasons was that in colony they were more far away from inquisition. Every big city of Spanish America had a tribunal of inquisition, the same did not happened in Brazil.

[@denizalgazi]

Same went to Jamaica in the 1500s with an estimated 400,000 descendants there. Bob Marley being one of the most famous Jewmaicans and another descendant, Bond Girl Sylvana Henriques (On Her Majesty's Secret Service). The oldest congregation in the Western Hemisphere is in Kingston, UCI Jamaica at Sha'are Shalom Synagogue. Their descendants livestream their Friday Evening and Saturday Morning Shabbat services on their UCI Jamaica channl on YT which you can virtually attend.

[@denizalgazi]

@@lobsterbalelegesse9919 Interestingly, some of the Sefardi who in later years ended up in Scotland following The Expulsion had claimed to be Huguenots from France! You can read about this fascinating history in *When Scotland was Jewish by Elizabeth Caldwell Hirschman*.

[@denizalgazi]

Wonderful presentation! My family ended up in Turkey but our branch is English now. In a recent scheme, Spain and Portugal have since offered citizenship to the descendants of the Great Expulsion. The Ottomans understood and appreciated the importance our people were for trade. Sadly, under the Erdogan regime, most have since left Turkey.

[@kmmmsyr9883]

As a Turk it really gives me pain to see how antisemitism or radical Islamism in general increases in Turkey, thanks to Erdoğan and his late mentor Erbakan. Hope this changes when Erdoğan loses the next election, but I don't think it will tbh

[@Sheepybearry]

@@kmmmsyr9883 And even in Spain antisemitism is growing horribly.

[@1HuntingShark]

Sam always has a brilliant way of hyping up the upcoming episode. This was a fantastic and interesting deep dive as always

[@janmelantu7490]

Fridays with a Sam Aronow video are the best days of the week

[@mattbenz99]

I feel like most people outside of Israel would have only really heard of Safed because it is one of those mandatory stops on Birthright trips. That is when I first learned about it. It is a very beautiful place, but there isn't much there beyond that. If you are visiting Israel, it is worth visiting once, but not more than that.

[@shoshanawolfe7107]

It really depends what you’re doing. They have some awesome programs up there

[@Ido_morgenshtein]

Yeah but as an Israeli who visited Safed I can tell that it's a hidden gem

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

Come on everyone, get into a circle, get into a circle

[@patrickkelmer6290]

I will never forget my first trip to Zfat, 7 years ago this summer.

[@pedroledoux9779]

Maybe the invention of press touched Judaism also. Pres + Luria made Kaballah very widespread, Natan of Gaza and Shabatai Tzvi abused of it. Maybe it is the reason wich made Kaballah so closed.

[@shemuelthesabbatian1254]

sabbatai tzvi made it cool*

[@jamesbinns8528]

Good Lord... There is so much information , and history that I am ignorant of, I can't keep up! Thank you. That was great.

[@marcello7781]

I always wondered about what started the division between Ashkrnazim and Sephardim. Always great quality content!

[@EricRosenfield]

The way you do cliffhangers is amazing. "What if it was the only book you had?" wait what? How is that going to... I must know more!

[@TA3.6.9]

Outstanding! I was even compelled to take notes as I watched.

[@leshawnjefferson6150]

Wow! Always so interesting! I can not wait for the next episode. Wish there were more!

[@alterklausner3885]

The Shulchan Aruch isn't a second edition of the Beit Yosef, they are very different works. The Beit Yosef is a long form commentary on the Arba Turim and the Shulchan Aruch is the concise legal ruling

[@alterklausner3885]

Also the reason Moses Isserles wrote the mapah is because the Shulchan Aruch is based on sephardic legal rulings and largely ignores ashkenazic legal tradition (and yes, he also wrote it to mention ashkenazi minhag)

[@PathOfAvraham]

Yeah I found that section of the video very odd.

[@altyrrell3088]

This video explains so much. Thank you. I can't wait for the next one!

[@yakirmorris6601]

Absaloutly fantastic video keep it up.

[@orygungeeksolitude1380]

Ha, I used to live on Cordovero street in south Tel Aviv back around 2002/2003. What a place.

[@horseshit1503]

You have a really strong community your views are consistent so that means the people are watching more plus the new people coming

[@formulaone07]

1:57 I assume some who fled Spanish controlled Sicily and Naples ended up going to North Africa.

[@corticallarvae]

morenos were persecuted endlessly. Those that converted and practiced . The cloaked imamate of the nizari ismaili. Just thought 400 years in hiding would be a great parallel.

[@pedroledoux9779]

Next chapter is Natan of gaza and Shabatai Tzvi?

[@CeoLogJM]

Spinoza?

[@navetal]

I think he was born around a century after the end of this video (at least the ending according to the title) so there'll probably be at least one video before he'll be mentioned

[@matthewbrotman2907]

@@CeoLogJM Dutch Sephardim in general, I would think

[@Normal_user_coniven]

3:00 Actually, the Golden gate closed by Sultan Salah-dien (Saladin), to prevent crusades from entering to Alaqsa mosque the way they did in the first crusade, and muslims prefered to keep it closed, because it is still not safe. While Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent rebuild the other sides of the walls and gates, like Damascus gate of Bayt-Almaqdes (Jerusalem).

[@RedCubUK]

The Safed Circle - The period of history in which the Jews would build the mysterious Water Temple

[@trevor1667]

And I thought I liked circles before!

[@anarchopupgirl]

2k hours in EU4 means I notice IMMEDIATELY when people use its music in vids, lmao

[@GJ1998ARG]

This is the content I needed

[@omernachmani3953]

The 10 sfirot are not Luria idea at all. The term 10 sfirot used in "Sefer Yetzira", and the order of the tree also is earlier than Luria (you can see Kordoviro in Pardes Rimonim)

[@omernachmani3953]

Garden of Eden as a not-literal place on Earth is not Luria idea also. You can see Maimonides for exemple

[@coolguy4989]

@@omernachmani3953 but it is luria in the kaballistic sense, maimonides was very explicitly anti mistisycism, so while the ideas might intersect at some point or another, they aren't from the same house of thought

[@edwardleal2976]

2:55 Suleiman 1: "Before I begin ruling the empire, I'm going to need a new hat.: Hat maker: "Ok, what are your interests..what do you really like?" Suleiman 1: "Well, I really like garlic." Hat maker: "I'll be right back!"

[@lewiakk5844]

I see you also watch Dr Abramson

[@bobthebuilder12323]

If only it were possible to like more than once

[@jonyprepperisrael60]

So technicly Bayazid II was a massiah

[@isserles]

Hot take on the emergence of modern day Orthodoxy. The shulhan arukh definitely changed halakha to become more unified, but modern day Orthodoxy comes from the Ashkenazi reaction to the enlightenment and Jewish emancipation in Europe. I have never seen anyone argue otherwise. Yosef Karo intended to standardize halakha with the shulhan arukh. The Beit Yosef contained the research, while the shulhan arukh is the conclusion. The main issues that it's opponents had was that people could read the shulhan arukh without doing the proper research, and that Yosef Caro pretty left almost all of the Asknenazi scholarship from his research. The strongest opponent was Solomon Luria who thought the shulhan arukh should never be studied, while more moderate Rabbis like Moses Isserles were willing to accept Ashkenazi footnotes to the shulhan arukh which kind of made the book 'kosher' for Ashkenazi audiences. I don't know why Sam has been basically ignoring Ashkenazi talmudic scholarship. It was mostly preserved in collections rather than individually authored books. But as someone who studies medieval commentaries on the Talmud from both Sefaradi and Ashkenazi, I think very disrespectful to leave them out of the picture seeing as they probably produced more Talmudic scholarship than the Sefaradim.

[@davidcohenboffa1666]

I think that in the last videos he is focusing on the Sephardic Jewish Communities. Later he may explore more the communities in France Germany and Poland throughout the Middle Ages and Modern Era (like he said on the video). But one thing is very important, until 1492 Sephardic Judaism was the center of all Judaism. Rambam, Ramban,Baal Haturim were widely accepted AND the Ashkenazi community only became bigger later in Poland. Of course there was Rashi and Tosfot and many relevant Rabbis in France and Germany, but they still were not the center of Judaism.

[@danielswindell125]

This video series is incredible.

[@jred7]

I love how you always and your videos so dramatically!😂

[@maaminmaaminov4268]

Fantastic content! Must have taken you a long time editing and putting all of this info together... Keep up the great work! 🌟 Love the channel and will WhatsApp it to all mishpacha!

[@Yitzhak480]

the background is amazing! is it rabbi Yitzhak Abuab's synagogue?

[@nathanmanrose4520]

Can you eventually do a video on the different branches of Chassidism?

[@JamieHaDov]

Which John Green video did he throw shade…i mean reference?

[@SamAronow]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKjPo6l3q8iCaJo What he said wasn't technically wrong in the context of Sephardic migration to Poland in the *17th* century, but it's way overemphasized.

[@mlovecraftr]

I am closer to understand the differences between Sephardi and Ashkenazim Judaism. I understood that they were two different ethnic groups of Jewish people but I didn't understand why they had separate synagogues.

[@SamAronow]

We don’t consider ourselves to be two different ethnic groups. It’s actually quite annoying when outsiders characterize us that way.

[@mlovecraftr]

@@SamAronow I am sorry. I guess that I should inform myself more on the subject.

[@noahtylerpritchett2682]

@@SamAronow I would agree. Subdivision is probably more appropriate and should be seen in a cultural lens and geographical lens. Not a ethnic or even religious one.

[@rckflmg94]

@@SamAronow "outsiders"??? easy there Sam. we're all part of the same species and here to learn.

[@jimlim9472]

Will Spinoza come in the next episode?

[@hsl537]

Do the people that practice kablah know a hole creative team on japan took elements of this pratice and embeded it on a work of fiction in the form of an anime? Because they talk with a lot of confidence about it.

[@Benamon9]

I heard they wrote a thesis about it...

[@leiderdawg]

14:32 "It broke Judaism!" - we need to put this on a bookmark

[@jedimmj11]

I lost it, that was too funny

[@marcrivas5796]

How exactly did it "break" Judaism?

[@JurisNaturalism1776]

Great video. If you have to be 40 to study Kabbalah, as stated in your previous video on Kaballah in the Middle Ages, how did Isaac Luria start studying Kabbalah at age 22, and continued and even started many new forms of Kabbalah, all in his 20s and 30s and never even lived to be 40, dying at 38?

[@SamAronow]

The rule wasn’t made until the 18th century.

[@Yitzhak480]

@@SamAronow THAT'S THE ANSWER! i was asking that for years

[@PathOfAvraham]

@12:50 The Mishneh Torah was the major codification of Jewish law even during the first publishing's of the Shulkhan Arukh. There's a famous letter by Yoseph Karo stating how the majority of the communities of Africa, The middle East and Sephardic settlements all held to the authority of the M"T. I don't think the Tur ever penetrated these communities.

[@Solon1581]

Join us next time for Spinoza's misfortunes!

[@richardhallaj1907]

he lived only 18 months in Safed.

[@davidcohen8718]

I have spent one and half year in safed in the 1970th during my army years good memories

[@Greg41982]

Is the background music new? I don't remember that the first time I watched this.

[@tesilab994]

You attribute the Shulchan Aruch entirely to R' Yosef Karo, and while that might be in a sense technically correct, it only has the widespread acceptance it does because of the work standardly includes the glosses of the ashkenazi Rabbi, the "ReMA", R' Moshe Isserles. He provided different rulings for ashkenazim in many cases, so this work was now widely accepted by the vast majority of Jews. And while it may be the most definitive and authoritative work, there are still subsequent works who provide significant color and incorporate later opinions, namely the Mishna Brura for ashkenazim and the Kaf HaChaim for sephardim.

[@LaurynasSedvydis]

Ok, Although it does not fit the narrative, but in 1495 Jews were also expelled from Lithuania (and it followed the same trend from Iberia, and most probably was a related trend) but they were allowed to return in 1503.

[@jonyprepperisrael60]

I still dont understand who are the little brown dot under Tlemcen and Tunis at 1:46 ?

[@omegapc9520]

assuming either a mistake or maybe some sort of organized amazigh tribe

[@SamAronow]

Some oasis-based Amazigh tribe; I don't actually remember who specifically.

[@ErikaFischer-i4d]

Great kabalist in Tzfat. So great history. Thanks

[@PathOfAvraham]

@17:54 KAIFANG???

[@hirumbiffidum9145]

On much less detailed level this has been described by Reform Rabbi David Falcon in the co-authored book "Judaism for Dummies" that Jewish people have gotten along with the theocratic Muslim community better than with Christians, until the past hundred or so years.

[@antonivsfortis]

Descendant of the conversos ✌️

[@Yitzhak480]

generaly i say: "great video as always" but that video wasn't great IT WAS AMAZING!!!. can't wait for the next one. but i got to ask, why didn't you mention the Cesef Mishne?

[@corticallarvae]

i've studied luria and im a western hermeticist. Brill is releasing the missing zohars perspective on the book of esther.

[@2IDSGT]

Been there, pretty. Some say it’s the “city on a hill” Jesus referred to (but Galilee has lots of those). Were I wealthy, I’d wanna retire there (not entirely sure why).

[@benjaminklass5118]

Wonder if Salonika will pitch up in any subsequent episode?

[@rockynanach]

Nice to be listening to this in צפת

[@seynimcduck]

It is said, in my family, that we are the long descendants of Rabbi Chaim Vital.

[@tesilab994]

You say R’ Moshe Cordovero’s work “Tomer Devora” isn’t well remembered today? It’s probably difficult to find an orthodox community where it isn’t being studied. Also a couple aspects of the “untranslatable pun” Pardes Rimonim, an Orchard of Pomegranates, a couple of notes. PaRDeS (Orchard) is an acronym for the four levels of of Torah interpretation Pshat - "basic" (correct, not necessarily literal) meaning of the words Remez - "hint" alusions Drush - "inquire" This is exigetical analysis of the text, in accordance with traditional rules of interpretation (this is the bread and butter of the Talmud) though this seems to also include Remez, so some say D is for Din (the extractable laws) Sod - "secret" mystical meaning which is probably above almost everyone's pay grade The "Pomegranates" might be because of the association of the fruit of many delicious seeds to the commandments of the Torah.

[@hannesproductions4302]

15:04 are you calling out the man who made the definitive series on world/us/european history

[@TheJoshgol]

Tomer Devora is still widely known and printed.

[@theklorg305]

Amazing stuff :). Do you by any chance have another spot where this stuff is? If its OK with you, I'd like to download these and put them on Dailymotion or something, noting you're the original creator of course.

[@SamAronow]

No, that would be piracy, and Vivendi would be held liable if they didn't take it down. KZbin is already the world's largest platform, it's free, and it generates ad revenue for me at no cost to the viewer.

[@theklorg305]

@@SamAronow OK, but youtube has taken down videos somewhat at random before, do you have some back up?

[@SamAronow]

Of course. But unless there’s a copyright issue, it’s the user who takes down videos, not KZbin itself.

[@theklorg305]

@@SamAronow OK.

[@agplay2290]

What would you need to be qualified to study kabbalah?

[@yehudikon-jupspa4939]

(1)Moshe Cordovero parents were from Cordova,Spain and that's where Cordovero from Cordovas came from. And by the way, is the real name is Israel, not 'palestine'

[@partylite8]

Great work, can you clarify where the Jews came from prior to Portugal and were theta people of Swarthy completion??? We’re they King David’s lineage?

[@rckflmg94]

Thankfully, science emerged and kept esoteric belief systems like Kabbalah on the fringes of mainstream society. How Islam and Christianity remain relevant is still a mystery.

[@Vic92084]

Nobody's gonna talk about Gerudo Valley on French horns?

[@morrishakim1118]

Such an interesting video

[@emkultra2349]

great video

[@Joe-pc3hs]

This kinda does away with the narrative that Jews werent in the land from 70AD to 1948.

[@Namuchat]

Hi Sam, could you please name the source where you take the colourful map(s) of Europe? Thank you very much in advance?

[@Vanalovan]

How dare you contradict the infotainment god, John Green

[@willc4k]

I wonder what the Pardes Rimonim untranslatable pun might be.

[@SamAronow]

"Pardes" means both "orchard" and is an acronym for the four methods of interpreting the Torah.

[@reactionaryjudaism]

The description here of the relationship of the שולחן ערוך to the בית יוסף here is very odd. A much simpler and more accurate description is that the שולחן ערוך is the condensed version of the בית יוסף. The description of the רמ"א is also not good. His annotations contain many minhagim, but most of them are just different opinions. Usually The opinion he endorses is in discussed in the בית יוסף.

[@weetbix4497]

This made me think of osrs pvp

[@TonyfromTO]

Shalom

[@Uusaal]

Yay!

[@grad3647]

There have been betrayals in Turkey, even Turk betrayed to other turks but Sephardic never betrayed the us alwayd fight with us always live with our heart Allah Sefarad milletini korusun

[@dcguy3]

WAIT, THE TATTOO THING IS A MYTH? I can get a tattoo then?

[@chananbarnaby1140]

please do yemeni jews history

[@taltal8362]

Hamapa, the map in Hebrew.

[@Yitzhak480]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/naecYZyPfa-ejpo If the Shulhan Aruch was only published in 1665, how the Rama can have written the Mapa on it?, he lived in the same time as Yosef Karo and died in age 32. also why didn't you mention the entire thing with the Magid? (I know you don't have time to mention all this tiny extra details, but i'm still interested if it was just that or you had more reasons)

[@davidcohenboffa1666]

The story is the Rama was writing his Codification of Jewish Law at the same time as Maran (Rav Yosef Karo). But Maran finished a bit earlier and published the Shulchan Aruch. Now, if Rama would have published the Mapa nonetheless, there would be a great split between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews (in terms of Law). But Rama decided not to publish his work, instead set additions of different conclusions and traditions on tge Shulchan Aruch itself. Every Shulchan Aruch today has his additions intertwined with the writtings of Maran.

[@Yitzhak480]

@@davidcohenboffa1666 Yes i know the story, so the books were connected by students of both of them? or did he gave up his own work and just wrote on the Shulchan?

[@davidcohenboffa1666]

@@Yitzhak480 He basically wrote inside the Shulchan Aruch. But this was widely accepted. If you take a Shulchan Aruch today both writings are there as full part of the text. Even though Rama wrote his part as a complemantation, citing laws and traditions that differed between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Communities (at the time).

[@bastadimasta]

1:53 you forgot about the Migration Period completely

[@ezras4216]

If you are Jewish, and you are talking on the land of Israel - why are you calling it in the Roman humiliating name - palestine ?! You can not mention all these great Rabbis with that name (which only helps our enemies), and not helping the holly meaning of the things you mentioned here!

[@PhilipusArabus]

GOD gave it this name, it is written in the bible. Besides it is not a Roman name, rather Persian, it was named after the Arab deity Baal, hence Pali-Stan

[@mahsahad]

Because that was the name of the land, and Isaac luria was a Palestinian Jew

[@tuliptulip7565]

You should call them Rabbi. Out of respect. But great videos. I live in Tzfat

[@Therealhamidreza]

Is this an international thing? I thought It's used in Iran only 😂

[@TheLoyalOfficer]

LOL - shower thoughts!

[@h.l.asolomonov7674]

הנושאים שלך מעולים

[@papazataklaattiranimam]

Ottomans 😍😍😍

[@michellecerioni4903]

love u. ok but you are an awesoem