Isaac Chelo (also Hilo, Hilu or Khelo), in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

יצחק חילו, was a

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

of the 14th century. His place of residence is unclear. Carmoly wrote "Laresa du royaume d'Aragon", which Scholem interpreted as an erroneous spelling of

Lerida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...

. However, Shapira took it to mean

Larissa Larissa (; el, Λάρισα, , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 144,651 according to the 2011 census. It is also capital of the Larissa regiona ...

in Thessaly. Chelo is famous for an itinerary of the Holy Land first published in 1847. However, the document is now commonly considered a 19th-century forgery.

Chelo's Itinerary

In 1847, the controversial French scholar Carmoly published an account ''Les chemins de Jérusalem'' (The Roads from Jerusalem), purporting to be Chelo's description of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and seven roads leading from it, written in 1334. An English translation was published by

Adler Adler may refer to: Places *Adler, Alabama, an unincorporated community in Perry County *Adler Planetarium, Chicago, Illinois, USA *Adler Township, Nelson County, North Dakota, USA *Adler University, formerly Adler School of Professional Psycholo ...

in 1930. Carmoly wrote that the original Hebrew manuscript was in his own library, but when his library was catalogued after his death no such manuscript was found.

Scholem Scholem, derived from the Hebrew word shalom, meaning "peace", is a surname, and may refer to: *Gershom Scholem (1897–1982), also known as Gerhard Scholem, a German-born Israeli Jewish philosopher and historian, the brother of Werner Scholem. * W ...

examined the library in 1925 and found nine lines of an 18th-century copy of the Itinerary. He charged that the Itinerary had a number of anachronisms, contradictions, and quotations from Kabbalistic works postdating Chelo.Shapira (2006), citing On this basis, Scholem judged the Itinerary to be a forgery, written or greatly expanded by Carmoly himself. This assessment has been accepted by Mikhal Ish-Shalom, Dan Shapira, Joshua Prawer and Yoel Elitsur. Prawer also alleged that there was no Jewish community in

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...

at the time the Itinerary claimed to describe one. Prawer wrote that "This itinerary is unfortunately still being quoted by unwary scholars, even though the forgery was proved almost 50 years ago."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chelo, Isaac Holy Land travellers 14th-century Sephardi Jews Explorers of Asia Jewish explorers Medieval Jewish travel writers Pilgrimage accounts People from Larissa Spanish explorers Sephardi rabbis 14th-century writers 19th-century hoaxes Literary forgeries 1847 books