March 25 1488 – 13 Nisan 5248
Author of a famous commentary on the Mishna, Rabbi Ovadiah Bartenura arrived in Jerusalem from Italy. He soon became leader of the small, poverty-stricken community, easing their burden by raising funds for the city’s few Jews from the relatively wealthy Italian Jews he’d left behind. As a result, the tiny group of Jews hanging on after the travails of the Crusades briefly banished Jews from Jerusalem began to develop and grow. Bartenura’s efforts meant that when, just six years later, Spain’s Jews were expelled under Ferdinand and Isabella, those of them who sought shelter in Jerusalem were received with open arms.
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