Gaon Books
Sample Reading
By Fire Possessed
Doña Gracia Nasi
Sandra K. Toro
For more than six months after the pope’s death, Gracia fretted and argued and cajoled her fellow Jews, trying to talk sense to them about the necessity for speaking with one voice, and for becoming “political” in their relations with the outside world, especially with the Vatican. Reyna and Joseph tried to console her. She had to face the fact that the boycott was a limited success, and that she had done all she could possibly do to make it a success.
Early in 1560 she received a letter from Benvenida Abrabanel, written in the spidery, unsteady scrawl of an old and infirm woman.
My dearest friend Gracia,
That man, you know who I mean, died in the nick of time, before they could take my home away from me. We said many prayers of thanksgiving. I have the satisfaction of knowing I outlived him, though I fear not for much longer.
The new pope seems less harsh, time will tell.
Your efforts with the boycott are famous here, and much applauded. You are a true heroine of our people. May God bless you and keep you always.
Benvenida Abrabanel
Ferrara, December 10, 1559
It was the last communication Gracia would receive from Benvenida. A few weeks later she received word of her passing. One more reason to mourn!
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Joseph found reason to jolt Gracia out of her depression a few days later with a proposal from Sultan Suleiman himself. “Would you like to lease the city of Tiberias and the seven surrounding villages in the Holy Land as a permanent home land for your people?” he had asked Joseph at lunch that afternoon.
“That was always Francisco’s dream that we would move our family back to the Holy Land. It would be our greatest dream come true!”
“It would be an enormous undertaking, something you could really sink your teeth into, Mother,” Reyna enthused, knowing her mother needed a new cause to throw her energies into.
“We would begin by rebuilding the ancient city of Tiberias. I understand there’s not much there now,” Joseph continued.
“We wouldn’t want to do it if the lease does not give the land to Our People permanently,” Gracia added, reasonably. “Couldn’t we just buy the land from the Ottoman Empire?
“He’s not going to agree to that. He wants to lease it to us at a very reasonable price, one thousand ducats a year. Then, when we have created some successful industries there, he will tax us accordingly. That’s always been his modus operandi, acquire the territory, then tax the people, but let them have their own local government and customs. He suggested that we could create a refuge for persecuted Jews. Our People would have complete religious and economic freedom.”
“Who lives there now?”
“Nomadic Arabs have made a temporary home there, but Suleiman is willing to place them elsewhere so this land and all the industry would be for Jews.”
Gracia, always quick to make a decision, instructed Joseph: “Tell the sultan we’d like to enter into negotiations with him immediately. This is an opportunity we cannot pass up. His sons and grandsons must sign the lease also. And when I die, the lease must revert to you, Joseph. We must reclaim the Holy Land as a Homeland for the Jews, a sacred place where we will always be safe.”
In less than a year the final contract was drawn up according to Gracia’s terms. It was signed by the present Sultan Suleiman, the future Sultan Selim, and his son Murad.
Joseph sent his brother Samuel with letters of introduction to the local rulers. He sent a team of architects and engineers to draw up plans for the reconstruction of the city.
Meanwhile, Gracia requested and received audiences with the congregations of all the synagogues in Constantinople. She thrilled them with her vision for a homeland for the Jews, describing in great detail the plans she and Joseph had for the city. “We will build a grand synagogue and hospital and schools. We will build small homes on plots of land large enough so every family can have their own garden.
“Joseph has already ordered mulberry trees to be planted for silk worms so that we might begin producing fine silks in a new textile factory
“We will start a flock of the finest Merino sheep to be raised for their wool. Our people have always prospered in the textile industry, and this time they will be working for themselves.
“You must write to your friends and relatives back in the Papal States and tell them of this opportunity. We need skilled craftsmen and women, merchants, scholars, doctors and lawyers. Joseph and I will provide their transportation in our ships and we will have fine new homes waiting for them.”
Joseph’s team returned with news: Tiberias was currently occupied by Portuguese fishermen and Arabs who worked the farms for absent Jewish landlords. There were lush fields of date palms and orange groves and Jewish beekeepers. There were also Hot Springs, which had become a famous tourist attraction, attracting nearly two thousand visitors annually. This could be a source of significant income for the Nasi-Mendes family if the baths were rebuilt more in tune with the Turkish baths of Constantinople.
Of primary importance, the men reported, is the rebuilding of the city walls for security.
Upon hearing the report of the team, Gracia began drawing up floor plans for a palace near the lakeshore that she would occupy, “my final home.” She also asked Rabbi Joseph ibn Leb to draw up plans for a yeshiva, and to plan on becoming the director of that yeshiva himself.
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