Between crushing poverty, oppressive Turkish rulers, and a large influx of Spanish exiles, life in Jerusalem of the 16th century was bleak. Rabbi Yisrael of Perguia, an Italian Jew of Ashkenazic origin, writes his impressions of the Sephardic Jews, their dedication to prayer, and their unique customs, and gives us a taste of why messianic hopes reached a fever pitch in those troubled times.