Jacob Berab (), also spelled Berav or Bei-Rav, known as Mahari Beirav (1474 – April 3, 1546), was an influential rabbi and talmudist best known for his attempt to reintroduce classical semikhah (ordination) and the Sanhedrin.
Biography
Berab was born at Maqueda near Toledo, Castilian Spain in 1474. He later became a pupil of Isaac Aboab. After the expulsion of Jews from Spain, he fled to Fez in Wattasid-ruled Morocco. The Fez Jewish community, consisting of 5000 families, chose him for their rabbi, though he was but a youth of eighteen. Several years later (1527) Berab, now fairly well-to-do, resided in Damascus; in 1533 he became rabbi at Cairo;
According to others, the purpose of Berab's plan was a resolution of certain halachic difficulties. In particular, there was a problem of Marranos returning to the Jewish faith, and in order to free them from divine punishment some rabbis of the Land of Israel considered applying to them the punishment of makkot, which can only be assigned by Sanhedrin. Jacob Berab writes about this problem in his Responsa.
Maimonides taught that if the sages in the Land of Israel would agree to ordain one of themselves, they could do so, and that the man of their choice could then ordain others. Although Maimonides' opinion had been opposed by Nahmanides and others, the scholars at Safed had confidence in Berab, and had no doubt that, from a rabbinical standpoint, no objection to his plan could be raised.
Ordination of 1538
In 1538, twenty-five rabbis met in assembly at Safed and ordained Berab, giving him the right to ordain any number of others, who would then form a Sanhedrin. In a discourse in the synagogue at Safed, Berab defended the legality of his ordination from a Talmudic standpoint, and showed the nature of the rights conferred upon him. On hearing of this event most of the other Jewish scholars expressed their agreement, and the few who discountenanced the innovation lacked the courage to oppose Berab and his following.
Berab then ordained a few other rabbis, including the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Levi ibn Habib, rabbi Joseph Caro, Moses ben Joseph di Trani, and Yosef Sagis. Joseph Caro later ordained rabbi Moshe Alshich, and Alshich ordained Hayyim ben Joseph Vital around 1590.
Dispute with ibn Habib
To obtain the good-will of the Jews of Jerusalem, the first use that Berab made of his new dignity was to ordain the chief rabbi at Jerusalem, Levi ibn Habib. Since the latter had for many years been a personal opponent of Berab, and the two had had many disputes in regard to rabbinical decisions and approbations, Berab's ordination of ibn Habib shows that he placed general above personal interests. Moreover, the terms in which Berab officially announced ibn Habib's ordination were kindly ones. Berab, therefore, expected no opposition from that quarter; but he was mistaken. Ibn Habib's personal animus was not appeased, but rather stimulated, by his ordination. He considered it an insult to his dignity and to the dignity of Jerusalem that so important a change should be effected without consultation of the Jerusalem scholars. He did not content himself with an oral protest, but sent a communication to the scholars of Safed, in which he set forth the illegality of their proceeding and declared that the innovation involved a risk to rabbinical Judaism, since the Sanhedrin might use its sovereign authority to tamper with the calendar.
Although Levi ibn Habib's tone was moderate, every one could read between the lines that he opposed the man Berab as well as his work. An illustration of this is afforded by the remarks made by ibn Habib when he maintained at length that the scholars of Safed were not qualified to ordain, since they were not unprejudiced in the matter, and when he hinted that Berab was not worthy to transmit ordination. Berab was surprised by the peril in which his undertaking was now placed; and, embittered by ibn Habib's personal attacks, he could not adhere to a merely objective refutation, but indulged in personalities. In answer to ibn Habib's observation, that a sacred ordination must not proceed from learning alone, but from holiness also, Berab replied: "I never changed my name: in the midst of want and despair I went in God's way";
- In an inheritance dispute, Berab ruled that only the children born to one conversos Jewish wife were entitled to inherit. The daughters of his Flemish concubine, who had remained Christian and did not convert to Judaism, were deemed of gentile status and thus were not eligible for inheritance.