Massive arrival of the expelled from Spain, welcomed by Bajazet II

The exiles from Spain arrived in great numbers at Salonika, received by Sultan Bajazet II.

The sultan had made known that he was opening his ports to those whom the Catholic Monarchs were driving out, and it is reported that he marveled that a king could be called wise who impoverished his own kingdom to enrich another's. Salonika became the largest Jewish city in the world, where the Castilian of the exiles was spoken, and remained so until the destruction of its community in the twentieth century.

The newcomers organized themselves there into congregations bearing the names of their cities of origin — Castile, Aragon, Catalonia, Majorca, Lisbon, Évora — and each long preserved its own liturgy and customs.