Language:
English
Year of publication:
2019
Titel der Quelle:
Journal Asiatique
Angaben zur Quelle:
307,2 (2019) 217-225
Keywords:
Shmuel ben Shimshon,
;
Jonathan ben David,
;
Muslims History
;
Eretz Israel Early works to 1800 Description and travel
Abstract:
Samuel b. Samson was an otherwise unknown person who accompanied R. Jonathan of Lunel, during his immigration to the Holy Land (1209-10). Samuel b. Samson wrote a short description of his deeds in the Holy Land, posteriorly abbreviated by an anonymous editor whose interest was in pilgrimage to the Jewish patriarchs’ and sages’ tombs scattered throughout the Holy Land. R. Jonathan’s immigration preceded the better-known immigration of the '300 rabbis' from France and England which started about a year later. The Provencal immigration was provoked by messianic aspirations based on three factors: Saladin’s victories on the Crusaders, a tradition transmitted by Maimonides that the messianic period will start in 1210, and probably also the massacre of Béziers (1209). After his visit to Jerusalem, Samuel b. Samson joined a journey with the Exilarch, who visited the Jewish communities and holy shrines in the then Ayyubid-dominated part of the Holy Land. Samuel b. Samson’s description provides many details about Jewish rural communities and pilgrimage practices he witnessed. He also described the pilgrimage to the tomb of the prophet Abdias whose prophecy provided the textual basis to the tradition about the starting of the messianic period. Moreover, he provided the first literary evidence to the islamization of the Upper Galilee area.
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