Karo, Yosef

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KARO, YOSEF

KARO, YOSEF (1488–1575), Talmudic scholar, codifier of rabbinic law, and qabbalist. Yosef Karo (or Caro) grew up and lived in the century following the expulsion of the Jews from the Iberian Peninsula (first from Spain in 1492 by the Catholic rulers Ferdinand and Isabella, then from Portugal in 1497). It was a period of turmoil, major demographic shifts, messianic longings, and mystical revival. Karo was the scion of a family of illustrious scholars. Whether he was born in Toledo or whether his family had already left Spain for Turkey (either directly or via Portugal) before the expulsion is uncertain. His father and first teacher, Efrayim, died when Yosef was still very young, and his place was taken by Yosef's uncle, Yitsḥaq Karo, to whom he frequently and respectfully refers in his writings as "my uncle and master."

We do not know exactly at which schools Yosef Karo studied, but most of the first half of his life was spent in the Balkan provinces of the Ottoman empire (Salonika, but mainly Adrianople and Nikopol). The influx of Iberian Jewish (Sefardic) refugees had turned Ottoman Turkey into one of the most important centers of sixteenth-century Jewry, and Jewish communities and academies of learning were flourishing. In Salonika Karo also met Yosef Taytazak, one of the leading Talmudic scholars and qabbalistic charismatics of his generation, as well as the young ex-Marrano enthusiast and visionary Shelomoh Molkho. The latter's death at the stake in 1532, after his ill-fated mission to the pope, left a deep impression on Karo and no doubt inspired his unfulfilled desire to die a martyr's death. (In fact he died in Safad at the ripe age of eighty-seven.)

In addition to the academies of rabbinic learning, circles of qabbalistic and mystical pietists also flourished in the various Jewish centers of the Ottoman empire, especially in the Balkans, and Karo and his friend and disciple Shelomoh Alkabets were among their most prominent figures. These circles undoubtedly were the seedbed of the great mystical, and subsequently messianic, revival that took place in Safad in Galilee and from there swept over world Jewry. Because of the deaths of his wives, Karo married at least three times and had several children, of whom three survived him.

The dates of Karo's biography and literary activity have to be pieced together from incidental references in his writings. By 1522 he was settled in Nikopol and already enjoyed a reputation as one of the foremost rabbinic scholars. In that year he began work on his monumental commentary on the code of the great Talmudist Yaʿaqov ben Asher (1270–1343). He finished this work, the Beit Yosef, twenty years later in Safad. Whereas the classic and most complete code, that of Moses Maimonides (Mosheh ben Maimon, 1135/8–1204), simply and clearly set forth the law without argument or discussion, Yaʿaqov ben Asher's Arbaʿah ṭurim (Four Rows, i.e., four main parts) also reviewed the opinions of earlier authorities. Such review may have been the reason why Karo chose this code as the basis of his commentary, which is, in fact, a complete digest of the whole relevant halakhic literature. Yaʿaqov ben Asher's code, however, unlike that of Maimonides, omits all subjects not applicable in exile and after the destruction of the Temple (e.g., laws concerning the Temple, its priesthood, ritual, and sacrificial cult; legislation concerning kingship, the Sanhedrin, the Jubilee year, and so on). On the basis of his Beit Yosef, Karo subsequently produced the Shulḥan ʿarukh (Set Table, or Short Book, as he himself called it). This précis and synopsis soon established itself as the standard code of Jewish law and practice, especially after Mosheh Isserles of Cracow (d. 1572) had added glosses incorporating the sometimes divergent customs of Ashkenazic Jewry. Since then Karo's code has served as the revered or, alternatively, reviled symbol of orthodox rabbinic Judaism. Karo also wrote a commentary, Kesef mishneh, on the code of Maimonides, supplementing the earlier commentary Maggid mishneh by the fourteenth-century Spanish scholar Vidal of Tolosa.

Many responsa of Karo are also extant. Although of less historical influence than the aforementioned works, they throw much light on the social history of the period, in addition to illustrating Karo's standing as a leading Talmudic authority.

In Safad an attempt was also made—probably inspired by the messianic temper of the age—by one of the foremost Talmudic authorities, Yaʿaqov Berab, to renew full rabbinical ordination, which had lapsed in the first centuries of the common era. Karo was one of the four scholars ordained by Berab, but the initiative proved abortive, mainly because of the opposition of the scholars in Jerusalem.

It was probably mystical and messianic ideology that prompted many qabbalists and devout scholars to move from the Diaspora to the Holy Land. Around 1536 Karo, too, realized his long-standing intention and settled in Safad in upper Galilee, which soon became a center of intense mystical and devotional life. The leading qabbalists of the time had converged there, among them Mosheh Cordovero (who belonged to Karo's intimate circle) and Isaac Luria. Karo, like most rabbis of his generation, was also a qabbalistic scholar but, in addition, led a somewhat unusual (though by no means unique) charismatic life. According to various reports, Karo was visited every night by a heavenly mentor who, in the form of what psychology would describe as "automatic speech," revealed to him qabbalistic mysteries, exhortations to ascetic practice, and other matters related to his personal life and to his Talmudic studies. Afterward Karo wrote down the communications received from his celestial maggid ("speaker"), who identified himself (or perhaps herself) as the heavenly archetype of the Mishnah. Among Karo's writings there is, therefore, a "mystical diary," printed later in edited form under the title Maggid mesharim. Unconvincing attempts have been made to deny the authenticity of the diary, probably because scholarly rationalism, especially in the nineteenth century, could not come to terms with the idea that the great Talmudist, legal scholar, and codifier Yosef Karo was also an ascetic qabbalist and mystical enthusiast, subject to paranormal experiences. While as a qabbalist Karo was less outstanding than many of his Safad contemporaries, the existence of the Maggid mesharim, in the shadow, as it were, of the Beit Yosef and the Shulḥan ʿarukh, is indicative of the complexities of rabbinic Judaism and of the role that Qabbalah played in it, especially in the sixteenth century.

Bibliography

Twersky, Isadore. "The Shulḥan ʿAruk : Enduring Code of Jewish Law." In The Jewish Expression, edited by Judah Goldin, pp. 322–343. New York, 1970.