THE PRIMACY OF THE DIASPORA

the mitzvah of resettling in the Land of Israel and only once mentioned the“land” in connection with tzedakah(No. 1041).

The most popular major code, which continues to play a role in contemporary Jewish life, Joseph Caro ’s Shulhan Arukh, with Moses Isserles ’ Mapah, did not deal with the Temple or the Land of Israel. Caro and Isserles sought to create a practical work for the daily life of contemporary Jews .

The Sephardic community of the Mediterranean basin as well as the Ashkenazic community of Central and Eastern Europe followed this pattern illustrated by the responsa literature as well as by biblical and Talmudic commentaries of the late Middle Ages. The responsa of this period occasionally dealt with an individual who is resettled in Israel or with the minhagim of the Land of Israel, but the orientation was essentially toward the Diaspora.*

This three-volume work contains all the relevant material; as one­third of it is from the last two centuries, we can see the limited inquiries made in the preceding thousand years.

We should also remember that when the Jewish community of Spain was forced into exile in 1492, although many settled in Turkey, Italy , and other parts of the Mediterranean, very few returned to the Land of Israel. The economic conditions there were not appealing; religious fervor, however, could have overcome that objection.

Jewish mysticism often stressed Messianism and therefore the Land of Israel. The mystics who settled in Safed attracted followers and brought about a small immigration to Israel ; some mystics considered living in the Land the only way to attain a

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