In 1621, the famed talmudist and mystic Isaiah Horowitz left his native Prague, where he had served as rabbi to what was then the world’s largest Jewish community, to settle in Jerusalem. Two of his letters home remain extant and provide a rare window into contemporary Jewish life in the land of Israel. Ora recounts some of Horowitz’s experiences:
He traveled to Israel via Syria. The two main Jewish communities in Israel in those days were in Safed and Jerusalem. Both communities sent emissaries to convince [Horowitz] to accept a position as their leader. The emissaries from Safed made it first and met [him] in Damascus, where he told them that he intended to stay in Safed anyway for a few days and that they could talk further there.
The Jerusalemite emissary met the rabbi on his way out of Damascus. The people of Jerusalem were generous in their offer as they were concerned that Safed would bait the rabbi before they even got there. And so they offered [him the position of] head of both the rabbinical court . . . and the yeshiva in the Holy City. They were willing to pay him any salary he wished.
But [Horowitz] didn’t need convincing: he was simply overjoyed that he could realize his dream and live in Jerusalem. He even refused to accept a salary, because he knew that the Jerusalem community was sunk in debt, and instead he asked for a furnished apartment and for the community to cover his tax bill. An apartment, because “there is not much room in Jerusalem, because the Ashkenazi community in Jerusalem is twice as large as that of Safed, and it’s growing daily.”
Read more on Muqata: http://muqata.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-rabbi-who-got-us-to-sing.html