<sod>In the early-Byzantine 6th century, there were 43 Jewish communities in Palestine.<eod>
<sod>Jewish communities continued to exist in Palestine in relatively small numbers: during the early Byzantine 6th century there were 43 communities; during the [[Islamic Golden Age|Islamic period]] and the intervening [[Crusades]] there were 50 (including [[Jerusalem]], [[Tiberias]], [[Ramla|Ramleh]], [[Ashkelon]], [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]], and [[Gaza City|Gaza]]); and during the early Ottoman 14th century there were 30 (including [[Haifa]], [[Nablus|Shechem]], [[Hebron]], Ramleh, [[Jaffa]], Gaza, Jerusalem, and [[Safed]]). The majority of the Jewish population during the High Middle Ages lived in [[Iberia]] (what is now Spain and Portugal) and in the region of Mesopotamia and Persia (what is now Iran and Iraq), the former known as the Sefardim and the latter known as the Mizrahim. A substantial population existed also in central Europe, the so-called Ashkenazim.<ref>{cite web | url=http://www.theholocaustexplained.org/ks3/anti-semitism/medieval-anti-judaism/who-and-where-were-medieval-jews/#.WA-NnbP4dvs | title=Who and where were the medieval Jews? | website=The Holocaust Explained | accessdate=25 Oct 2016}}</ref> Following the the [[Alhambra decree|expulsion]] of Sephardim from Iberia during the 15th century, a mass migration into Ottoman Empire swelled the size of many eastern communities including those in Palestine; the town of [[Safed]] reached 30,000 Jews by end of the 16th century. The 16th century saw many [[Ashkenazi]] [[Kabbalists]] drawn to the mystical aura and teachings of the Jewish holy city. Johnson notes that in the Arab-Muslim territories, which included most of Spain, all of North Africa, and the Near East south of Anatolia in the Middle Ages, the Jewish condition was easier as a rule, than it was in Europe.<ref>{{cite book |author=Paul Johnson |title=A history of the Jews |page=175}}</ref><eod>