JÁTIVA (Xátiva)

JÁTIVA (Xátiva ), city in Valencia, E. Spain. Its community was probably second in size in the kingdom after that of the city of Valencia itself. After Játiva was captured from the Moors by James i in 1244, the quarter where Jews had lived under Muslim rule was restored to them, and the king's interpreter, Baḥye Alfaquim, received estates in the city and its vicinity. In the 13^th century there were about 200 Jews living in Játiva. In 1268 James i forbade the practice of stoning the Jews on Good Friday. In 1274, a new charter exempted the community from taxes for five years in order to encourage Jewish settlement in the city. The community was governed by a council of seven members who had criminal jurisdiction. In 1283 the town council prohibited the Jews from wearing bright clothes and jewelry. A center for study of the Hebrew and Arabic languages was established in Játiva by the Dominican Order in 1291: a Jew named Yom Tov, who taught here, was exempted from taxes. In 1363 Pedro iv imposed a tax of 10,000 sólidos on the community as their contribution toward the war against Castile. John i forbade the municipal officials to prevent the Jews from setting up workshops and they were authorized to do so in any section of the town. R. Ḥayyim b. Bibas, a disciple of *Asher b. Jehiel and correspondent of *Isaac b. Sheshet (cf. resp. no. 297), was rabbi in Játiva. During the persecutions of 1391, some Jews in Játiva died as martyrs, whilst others became converted to Christianity. The Jewish settlement was renewed during the 15^th century and was the only community that existed in the Kingdom of Valencia after 1391 that continued until the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. In 1482, the kabbalist Joseph *Alcastiel was living in Játiva. Other scholars who resided there were Jacob Elihahu, Amram Efrati, and Yehoshua Satabi. The paper mill at Játiva, the oldest in Christian Europe, is believed to have been a Jewish enterprise. The pioneer Spanish Hebrew printer, Solomon Zalmati (one of whose relatives was involved with the Inquisition), was a native of Játiva.

In 1941 a Hebrew inscription was discovered in the hermitage of las Santas which suggests that it was the site of the synagogue. The Jewish quarter was not far from there, in the Santas street and adjacent small streets.

bibliography:

Baer, Spain, index; Baer, Urkunden, index; Cantera-Millás, Inscripciones, 361; Piles Ros, in: Sefarad, 20 (1960), 365, 367–9; C. Roth, Jews in the Renaissance (1959), 174f. add. bibliography: A. Ventura Conejero, in: Xátiva, fira d'agost, (1979), 29–36.

[Haim Beinart]