Although Saragossi was born in 15th-century Spain, it is possible that his family did not originate in the Spanish town of Zaragoza, as his name implies, but rather Saragossa (Syracuse) in Sicily.. Although he has been called "the Sefardi", which indicates Spanish extraction, this may only be a generic term for the exiles of 1492. He was banished with the rest of the Jewish community in 1492 and travelled through Sicily to Beirut and Sidon. He settled in Safed, where he became a rabbi.Joseph Saragossi Jewish Encyclopedia. There were about 300 Jews there who had originally come from the Berbers, Sephardim and Moriscos, but they had no natural leader.
