A Mother’s Plea: Saving Isaac from Exile and Apostasy

In the year 1285, 760 years ago, the synagogue attendant of the small town of Daroca in the Saragossa region of Spain was awakened by strange sounds. The noise came from the direction of the synagogue. It was the sound of a craftsman working, with hammer and saw. Who could be working in the middle of the night in the synagogue? The attendant rubbed his eyes and headed over to the synagogue, which was close to his home. Peeking through the window, he couldn't believe his eyes: Isaac ben Avraham was sawing the doors of the Holy Ark... Through the opening he created, he was reaching in, trying to grab the valuables placed atop the Torah scrolls!

Isaac ben Avraham was known to cause trouble. He had never engaged in honest work and certainly never studied Torah. He roamed the streets buying alcohol, committing theft and fraud, yet despite it all, he was Jewish. No one could have predicted this – that a Jew would saw open the Holy Ark to steal money from the Torah scrolls?! The attendant quickly gathered some community members, and they detained Isaac ben Avraham in a room designated for prisoners in the Jewish community building.

The following day, the Daroca rabbinical court convened and decided on Isaac ben Avraham's expulsion from the community. In those days, Jews couldn’t live independently in the city; they had to reside on the Jewish street, requiring community approval. The court wrote a detailed excommunication decree forbidding any Jew, under penalty of excommunication, from offering him shelter or renting him a room. He, his wife, and children were banished from the community for five years, after which his case would be reviewed. The judges added to the decree: "Also, they will be ostracized for an entire year, and the community will fully excommunicate them in the synagogue with curses and condemnations, using shofars, and with two community members wrapped in tallitot. If they refuse this and enter Daroca during the stated time, their heads will be shaved in the Jewish street, they will be whipped according to rabbinical discretion, their coats will be removed, and if they die during this time, neither a memorial prayer nor Kaddish will be said for them."

This was a severe punishment. It was also decreed that no one may interfere with this punishment, nor involve the authorities, as the punishment would remain in force. Anyone attempting to annul it would be fined one hundred gold coins.

Indeed, it was a sad story with a dire end. But, it turns out, this wasn't the end.

Isaac ben Avraham's mother came before the rabbinical court, trying to change his fate, for she had learned that her son was considering converting to Christianity. Despite the grave prohibition against getting involved, the judges listened to her and decided the situation required consulting the leading rabbi of the generation. They sent a letter to Rabbi Yom Tov Ashvili, known as the Ritva, who was the rabbi of the major nearby city of Saragossa. As documented in Ritva's responsa: "Now his mother has come to the court and pleaded, asking you to find a way to prevent my son Isaac from straying into apostasy, as you expelled him from this town for his escape attempt regarding his arrest. He is willing to accept any fines and penalties you impose, provided he can return to the Daroca community. Have mercy on him for your honor and for his father's honor, for his father performs all the burials out of true kindness, and I assist in delivering Jewish daughters and am always ready to honor all women. Now do this for the honor of Hashem, not for me, so he won’t be tempted by idolatry (i.e., convert to Christianity), and since my son is now ashamed and wants to fully repent, do not turn him away but bring him under the shelter of your grace."

So, the Daroca judges asked the Ritva if it was permissible to change and annul the excommunication to prevent a Jew from apostasy.

The Ritva deliberated and concluded: "I see that if you deem that Isaac may indeed abandon his faith because of this decree, and that by annulling it he will return to goodness and accept appropriate penitential punishment, you may lift the decree imposed upon him so that he repents and does not turn to an evil path. For all sinners who repent are to be accepted, as the verse states, 'Return, wayward children,' and thus there is a great mitzvah to save a Jewish soul. Therefore, the excommunication can be annulled for the sake of a mitzvah."

Thus, Isaac ben Avraham was spared the harsh punishment. What happened to him afterward remains unknown, but we can hope he found his way back to good.