Rabbi Levi bar Yaakov ibn Chaviv, a man of Jerusalem, authored responsa and wrote a commentary on Maimonides' laws. There was a great dispute between him and the sages of Safed and Rabbi Yaakov Bei Rav regarding the matter of ordination, for he did not agree to the ordination that Rabbi Yaakov Bei Rav performed in those generations [(see his responsa in Berachot Gedolah) (He supported ten elders: Rabbi Moshe Arukash, Rabbi Yisrael Koriel, Rabbi Chayyim Brukash, Rabbi Shmuel Chaka, Rabbi Yehoshua Shontzino, Rabbi Yosef Karo the Elder, Rabbi Shmuel Almoshnino (who authored a commentary on Rashi on the Torah), Sha'arei Kedusha 64a].

Rabbi Yaakov Bei Rav was the head of the exile in the Land of Israel and was exiled from Spain and from there to Egypt and from there to Safed [(he authored responsa and holy novellae and Ketuvot, and in Sefer Likkutei Shoshanim he brought quotations from Rabbi Yaakov Bei Rav)]. The dispute mentioned above was in the year 5298, and all their days there was dispute in many matters [(Sha'arei Kedusha)].

In his generation were HaRav Rabbi Moshe Kastro and Rabbi Moshe Alshkar bar Yitzchak [(who authored Sefer Be'on Yaakov, manuscript, brought in responsa HaKa section 127, and responses to Sefer Ha'Emunot by Rabbi Shem Tov, 5317, and responsa)] as explained in his responsa.

In that year, Vesuvius, the great mountain in Italy, erupted fire that consumed for two fortnights. In that year, figures like armed men with armor and scales were seen in the air of the sky, and a star was seen that had red lines like blood [(Tzedah LaDerech, Part 2)].