some ten thousand in number, with the influence and leadership in the hands of Sephardim, as the Jews from Spain were called. A strong rival to Jerusalem quickly grew up in the north Galilean town of Safed. The Jews of Spain had brought with them that mystical method of thought and Biblical interpretation known as Kabbālā, and in Safed Kabbalistic literature was studied and its professors acquired fame throughout the whole of Jewry. It may be noted that it was here, in 1563, that the first printing press was set up in Palestine, by the brothers Abraham and Isaac Ashkenazi.
With the addition of Palestine to the Turkish Empire by Selim I., in 1517, the Holy Land became more accessible to all the Jews of the East, and large numbers of other Sephardim, who had previously found a refuge in North Africa and Egypt, settled in Jerusalem. Throughout the subsequent half century the conditions remained good, with occasional changes for the worse consequent on the whims of individual governors.
The Kabbalistic movement at Safed was closely wrapped up with the idea of the speedy coming of Messiah and the redemption of the Jewish race. The latter half of the sixteenth century saw the development of 'Ascetic Kabbala' (Kabbālā ma'asith), the adaptation of ideas derived from the earlier 'Speculative Kabbala' (Kabbālā 'Īyyunith) to a rigorous life of penitential discipline: the more intense the asceticism, the sooner would come the Redeemer. The leader of this movement was Isaac Luria, and the publishing of his teachings by his pupil Hayyim Vital gave them a widespread influence throughout the entire Diaspora and created the atmosphere favourable to the False Messiahs who, from time to time, appeared during the following century, culminating in the sensational career of Shabbatai Zevi (Jerusalem, 1663 A.D.).
One other event, only, need be recorded as of paramount importance in the Jewish-life of Palestine. Consequent on earthquakes, famines and persecutions, the economic position of the Jews in the Holy Land had become pre-
