Jewish Travellers

First published in 1930. The wandering Jew is a very real character in the great drama of history. He has travelled as nomad and settler, as fugitive and conqueror, as exile and colonist and as merchant and scholar. Of necessity bilingual and therefore the master of many languages, the Jew was the ideal commercial traveller and interpreter. Based on the volume of 24 Hebrew texts of Jewish travellers by J D Eisenstein, this volume begins with the ninth century. After the sixteenth century geographical discoveries had made the whole world familiar to most people. Consequently, the wandering Jew becomes less the diplomatist or scientist but still remains a link between the scattered members of the Diaspora. The volume ends in the middle of the eighteenth century and taken as a whole provides a survey of Jewish travel during the Middle Ages. For this translation, some of the texts have been abridged, whilst retaining many of the original notes.

Elkan Nathan Adler

1. Introduction 2. Eginhard of Franconia, AD 801 3. Ibn Khordadhbeh, c. 817 4. Eldad the Danite, c. AD 880 5. The Epistle of R Chidsai Ibn Shaprut to the King of the Khozars and the King's Reply, c. 960 6. Judah Halevi, 1085-1140 7. Benjamin of Tudela, 1165-73 8. Rabbi Petachia of Ratisbon, 1170-87 9. Rabbi Jacob ben R Nathaniel ha Cohen. Twelfth Century 10. The Cairo Geniza. Thirteenth Century 11. Itinerary of Rabbi Samuel Ben Samson in 1210 12. Judah-al-Harizi, c. 1216 13. Rabbi Jacob, the Messenger of Rabbi Jechiel of Paris, 1238-44 14. Isaac ben Joseph ibn Chelo. The Roads from Jerusalem, 1334 15. Elijah of Ferrara, 1434 16. Rabbi Meshullam ben R Menahem of Volterra, 1481. Obadiah da Bertinoro, 1487-90. David Reubeni, 1523-27. Jemsel the Karaite, 1641. David Azulai, 1755