caminos de sefarad en 2006

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C M Y CM MY CY CMY K

THE NETWORK OF SPANISH JEWISH SITES

SepharadTHE ROUTES OF

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TEXTO DISEÑO FOTOGRAFÍAS PUBLICADO FOTOMECÁNICA IMPRESO

Carlos Aganzo Luis Gómez Archivo Fotográfico Turespaña Megacolor, S .A . Egraf , S .A . Turespaña

Cover: Jewish Quarter. Hervás - Synagogue. Toledo – Jewish Quarter. Cordova

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THE NETWORK OF SPANISH JEWISH SITES

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BE S A L Ú , the Jews of the Count’s Town

C A L A H O R R A , L a R i o j a ’s M a i n A l j a m a

E S T E L L A , and the Aljama of Elgacena

M O N F O R T E D E L E M O S , and the “Rabudos”

P L A S E N C I A , and the Jews of La Mota

T and the Jewish StreetsA R A Z O N A ,

A V I L A , the Jerusalem of Castile

a C o m m u n i t y o f Wi s e M e nBA R C E L O N A ,

C a Medieval FlavourÁ C E R E S ,

the Cradle of KnowledgeACORDOV

G IRONA, the Key to Sepharad

H E R V Á S , and the Legend of the Errant Jewess

J A E N , a n d t h e G o l d e n A g e o f S p a n i s h J e w s

and the Castrum IudeorumL E Ó N

and the “Omes Bonos”

P ALMA DE MALLORCA and the Legacy of the Majorcan Jews

T O L E D O , the Great Western Jewry

S E G O V I A a Town of Peaceful Coexistence

AT O R T O S and the Disputation of the Polemists

T U D E L A , t h e C i t y o f Tr a v e l l e r s

O V I E D O

A Prosperity Based on WineR I B A D AV I


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he Middle Ages in Spain were marked by the convulsions of secular war between theMuslims, who turned al-Andalus into their promised land and the splendid heart oftheir culture, and the Christian kingdoms, who never tired in their mission to recover,inch by inch, the territory they had lost due to the weakness and internal divisions ofthe Visigoths. In this world of warriors and religious confrontation, the Hebrewcommunity, who had arrived on the Iberian Peninsula at a much earlier date, not onlymanaged to survive, but acted as an important “hinge” between these eternal rivals,and greatly contributed to forging the melting pot that was to become the Spain of thethree cultures. In the towns and cities of Sepharad, Spanish Jews had both a presenceand their own place. They worked as craftsmen or tradesmen, and as financiers oradvisors to Christians and Muslims alike. But they also developed their own scienceand literature, their own religious studies and their own culture, based on ancienttraditions. And they stayed in Spain as long as they were able, until the CatholicMonarchs’ Edict of 1492 forced them to abandon the land of their forefathers. Manyleft on a new diaspora, but many others remained, obliged to convert to Christianityand becoming an essential part of the genetic map of the Spanish people.

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View of Girona’s old quarter Ribadavia. Orense Palma de Mallorca

JaénToledo at night


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The Network of Spanish Jewish Sites was created in 1995 and is currently made up of15 member cities (Avila, Barcelona, Caceres, Cordova, Girona, Hervas, Jaen, Leon, Oviedo,Palma de Mallorca, Ribadavia, Segovia, Toledo, Tortosa and Tudela) along with sixother associate members (Besalú, Calahorra, Estella-Lizarra, Monforte de Lemos,Plasencia and Tarazona). Its main purpose is to protect and highlight urban,architectural, historical and cultural Sephardic heritage, reclaiming it as an undeniablepart of Spanish cultural identity, and developing its potential as a tourist attraction.It is a fascinating historic and cultural itinerary, that helps people to learn about, andbetter understand, the deep-rooted origins of Spain: a land of Jews, Muslims andChristians.

Cáceres

León

Ribadavia

Ávila

Hervás

Oviedo

Córdoba

Jaén

Toledo

Palma

TortosaBarcelonaGirona

TudelaTudela

SegoviaSegovia

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Ávila Oviedo

Sol Gateway

Tortosa

CalahorraCalahorra

Plasencia

Tarazona

EstellaEstella BesalúBesalúMonforte de Lemos


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V I L A ,AAvila is a World Heritage Site, and has been

keen to include the Sephardic legacy in its standardtourist and cultural itineraries, such as the Routeof the Mystics, the Romanesque Church Route, its16th-century palaces, or its impressive medievalcity walls.

The earliest documentary evidence of theHebrew presence in Avila dates from 1144, whenAlfonso VII bestowed a tenth of the annual incomeof the Jews on the Cathedral. However, Jews werepresent in Avila when it was founded as a Christiancity in Roman times. According to legend, it was aJew who built the first Basilica to the martyredsaints, Vincent, Sabina and Cristeta, who weretortured and executed during the 4th centurypersecutions.

In his “Historia de las grandezas de la ciudadde Ávila”, (A History of the Great Events of the Cityof Avila), Father Ariz tells how, after the city wastaken from the Muslims by the Castilian king,Alfonso VI, the first Jewish contingent arrived inaround 1085, to join in the adventure of re-populating the city, under the auspices of the king’sson-in-law, Count Raymond of Bourgogne. Thus, thename of Rabbi Centén became part of the earliestchronicles of the re-foundation of Avila, after severalcenturies of neglect, during which it had beenconsidered a “no-man’s-land” and the frontierbetween Christian and Muslim kingdoms.

The Jews of Avila were craftsmen in manydifferent trades, but they were also wealthy clothmerchants. Amongst other things, this prosperityenabled the scholar Moshé de León, who lived inthe house of Yuçaf de Avila, the king’s tax collector,to finish his Sefer ha-Zohar or Book of Splendourin the 13th century. This book is the last of the greatJewish Cabbalistic mystic trilogy, along with theTalmud and the Bible. Avila was also where Nissimben Abraham, better known as the Prophet of Avila,wrote his book The Wonder of Wisdom, and whereTeresa of Avila and John of the Cross, who wereboth descended from conversos, or apostate Jewsfrom old Jewish families, reached the greatestheights of Christian mysticism.

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Decree of expulsion

Old Synagogue

Museum of Mysticism

Moshé de León Garden. Jewish quarter in Ávila


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THE JERUSALEM OF CASTILE

Having settled in different parts of the cityat various times throughout history, the SephardicJews of Avila had their main Jewish quarter in thesouth east of the walled city, in what is now theSanto Domingo neighbourhood, between the Adaja,Malaventura and Montenegro Gateways, and startingat the Mercado Chico, or Small Market, where theRoman forum once stood. The discovery of the oldJewish tanneries beside the river Adaja has revealedthe best tangible proof of their industrial activities,in a town where such evidence has mostly beenprovided by documents, including the originalDecree of Expulsion of 1492, which belongs to themunicipal archives.

The streets and alleyways of the Jewishquarter, the remains of the synagogue of Don Simuelin Calle Pocillo, or the Rabbi’s house which is howthe Belforad hostal, the impressive Santo Tomásmonastery that was once the Inquisit ionheadquarters, or the basilica of San Vicente, whichrecall the tale of the martyrs and the Jews – theseare all highlights of a Hebrew Route that ends withthe chronicle of the exodus of all those who left thecity through the Malaventura gateway. Next to thisgateway, in the garden that bears his name, thewords of Moshe de Leon are an eternal referencefor this spiritual city: “There are moments in whichthe souls in the garden rise up and reach the doorof heaven. Then the sky itself revolves thrice aroundthe garden, to the sound of a harmonious tune.”

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Los Dávila Palace

The Four Posts

Tomb of the Martyr Saints


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BA R C E L O N A :

As well as the Greater Synagogue, in CarrerSant Domènech del Call there stood another of theJewish community’s important buildings: thebutcher’s, where kosher meat was sold, duly purifiedfor family consumption. Documents of the time nameDavid of Bellcaire as the owner of the butcher’s shop,and state that the fishmonger’s stood in what is nowCarrer de la Fruita. In 1357, the Call water fountainwas built, in the middle of Carrer Sant Honorat, sothat Jews did not have to leave the Jewish quarterto fetch water. Carrer Banys Nouse, or New BathsStreet, is a reminder of the new baths. The BanysNous were founded in 1160 by the alfaqui AbrahamBonastruc, associated to Count Romaon Berenguer.The count donated some land just outside the Romanwalls, under the Castell Nou, where there was plentyof water, and Bonastruc had them built and equipped.According to the contract, the alfaqui would run thebusiness, and both men would each take a third ofthe profits. Inside was a room for the mikve. A stoneplaque in Carrer Marlet, which is a replica of the onein the Museum of City History, bears witness to thefoundation of a hospital, under the auspices ofSamuel ha-Sardí, in the 13th century. In the 15thcentury, another four synagogues are reported,besides the Greater Synagogue. They were all partof a tight-knit society in which Rabbis and scholars,such as mathematicians, alchemists, or geographers,all lived alongside master craftsmen of varioustrades , and royal treasurers or of f ic ials .

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To mention the famous Gothic Quarter isto talk of the old Jewry, or “Call” in Catalan, wherein the Middle Ages, four thousand people once lived.

Although the documents only bear witnessto the presence of a Jewish Quarter in Barcelonaas from the 11th century, various chronicles tell ofhow of a Judean was an important intermediarybetween the Bishop of Barcelona and EmperorCharles “the Bald”, three centuries before. Knownas the Call Major, the largest section of the Jewishquarter lay between the line of the Roman walls,between Arc de Sant Ramon del Call and BanysNous, Calle del Call, the line of buildings betweenCalle Sant Honoral and Calle del Sisbe, and SantSever. It is here that a restored former Hebrewbuilding now houses the Barcelona Call VisitorCentre. The Carrer Sant Domènech remains its axis,although little is left of the Call Menor, or SmallerJewry, which lay outside the city walls as from 1257,due to the urban expansion of the city in the 19thcentury.

Gothic district

Plaza del Rey


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Just like other Spanish communities, theJews of Barcelona went through different stages ofco-existence with other town settlers. While in the11th century, the famous Hebrew writer and traveller,Benjamin of Tudela wrote in his Book of Travels thatthere was a “holy community of wise and prudentmen and great princes”, at other times, particularlyfrom the 14th and 15th centuries onwards, BarcelonaJews saw their neighbourhood become a ghetto,where they were segregated, confined and, at times,attacked. This, for example, occurred in 1367, whensome of the leading representatives of the aljama,such as Nissim Girondí, Hasday Cresques or IsaacPerfet, were imprisoned in the Greater Synagogueitself, and forced to respond to accusationsconcerning a case of the profanation of the sacredhost by Jews in Girona.

Among the many topographical featuresrelating to Jews in Barcleona, one of the mostmemorable is the Monjuich, the Mons Judaicus orMountain of the Jews, where for centuries, theHebrew community buried its dead.

A community of wise men

Montjuïc Palace

Detail of the ceramic decorationon the Portaferrissa fountain

Town Council building

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CÁ C E R E S

Declared a World Heritage Site in 1986,Caceres has one of the most well-preserved andcharming old medieval town centres in Europe.The ancient Norbensis Caesarina was founded inthe year 34 BC by the Roman Proconsul, CaiusNorbanus Flaccus. The flourishing Hizn Qazris,which was an Almohad stronghold in the 12thcentury, that resisted attack by Christian kingdoms,had a Jewish quarter that should not be missedby tourists visiting this city full of ancient talesand history.

In the lower part of the walled town, spreadingupwards to meet the sheltering walls of the noblehouses of Las Cigüeñas and Las Veletas, thealjama, or Jewry, of Caceres was home to some 130families in the 13th century. They lived in modestdwellings that stood on narrow, sloping alleys. Itwas a popular neighbourhood, still filled withbright flowers and light even today, and it standson either side of the Calle Barrio de San Antionio.The Arco de Cristo, the only Roman arch stillstanding, which led from the aljama to the outsideof the town, or the Olivar de la Judería, or JewryOlive Grove next to the walls, still have a strongfeel of the past to them.

The hermitage of San Antonio today standson the site of the synagogue of the Old Jewry, whichwas demolished by the Lord of Torres Arias,Alfonso Golfín. He had bought it in 1470, thanks tothe Decree on the removal of Jews. Up until then,local Hebrews had had the right to prove theirinnocence by swearing on the Torah, here in thesynagogue. According to this privilege, “Shouldthey have no Torah, they shall use the Book of theTen Commandments”. As for the magnificentprivate baths that can be seen on the tour of Yusufal-Burch’s House and Museum, on the Cuesta delMarqués, nobody has yet been able to decidewhether they were Arab baths or a traditionalmikve, where Jewish ritual baths took place.

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Monumental city of Cáceres

Hermitage of San Antonio

Cáceres Museum, water deposit


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C A M E D I E VA L F L AV O U R

In the 15th century, the Jewish Quarter ofCaceres was one of the five highest taxcontributors in the Kingdom of Castile. In the lastquarter of the century, under the auspices of Isabelthe Catholic, the New Judería, or Jewish Quarter,began to be built outside the city walls, aroundthe Plaza Mayor. The Calle de la Cruz, which, alongwith today’s Calle de la Panera, was the heart ofthis new settlement, was known as the Calle de laJudería up until the 16th century. The elaboratePalace of La Isla stands on the site of thesynagogue of the new Judería, and it still containsdetails that are reminders of the spirit of the Jewsof Caceres.

The earliest documents on the Jewishcommunity in Caceres are dated 1229, in theCharter of Caceres, granted by Alfonso IX of Leon,but there is little doubt that there was a Hebrewpopulation throughout the several hundred yearsof Muslim rule. In fact, recent theories mentionthe possible existence of a Jewish community inCaceres back in Roman times, as part of acontingent that came to Extremadura after beingexpelled from Jerusalem by Emperor Titus in the2nd century. This is according to the Book ofTradition, by the 12th-century thinker andhistorian, Abraham Ibn Daud. Alongside theirtraditional professions as craftsmen andtradesmen, the way of life of the Jews of Caceresalso revolved round agriculture and livestock. Thealjama grew in size in the 14th century, with thearrival of Jews fleeing the persecutions of 1391,and for several years it was the last refuge ofAndalusian Sephardic Jews, prior to their definitiveexpulsion in 1492, and following their exile, nineyears earlier.

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Houses in Cáceres’ old Jewish quarter

Plaza Mayor

Plaza de Santa María


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AT H E C R A D L E O F K N O W L E D G E

C Ó R D O B

The administrative centre of RomanHispania Ulterior, the flourishing capital of al-Andalus and the powerful Umayyad dynasty,Corodoba today is a World Heritage Site ofoutstanding beauty, and rightly proud of being acity of the three cultures.

Although they had settled in Andalusialong before, Cordovan Jews saw their earliestperiod of splendour when, in 929, Caliph Abd ar-Rahman II came to power. This was mainly due tothe influence of his prime minister, a Jew namedHasday ben Saprut, the head of the AndalusianHebrew communities, and one of the great figuresof Andalusian culture at that time. The fall of theCaliphate and the proclamation of the Kingdomof Taifas a century later, (1031), meant anothergolden age for many Andalusian Jewishcommunities, when local monarchs encouragedcultural development. But in Cordova, it broughtabout a massive loss of influence, which was notrecovered until the Christian King Ferdinand IIIconquered the city in 1236, which was followed bya policy of tolerance by Alfonso X the Wise.

Until the Attack on the Jewish Quarter,in 1391, when both Jews and converts weredispersed all over the city, the limits of the Cordovaaljama were clearly defined: it ran from theAlmodóvar Gateway to the Mosque, which laterbecame the Cathedral. Separated from the rest ofthe town by its own wall, there were two entrancesto the Hebrew quarter: the Judería Gateway, nearthe Mosque, and the Malburguete Gateway, ofwhich there only remains documentary evidence.This did not prevent many Cordovan Jews fromliving in other parts of the city, alongside thehouses of Christians. Unlike other areas, theJewish Quarter still preserves its original layout,typical of Muslim town planning, with its maze ofnarrow, twisting streets, and its houses lookingmore inwards than outwards.

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Interior view of the Mosque

Alley in the Jewish quarter

Maimonides


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We cannot speak of Cordova withoutmentioning Mosea ben Maimon (1135-1138) knownthe world over as Maimonides (or Rambam, toJewish people). He was the leading figure in thecultural apogee of the Caliphate, and a forerunnerof the 12th-century European HumanistRenaissance, which was brought about by meansof communication amongst different cultures. Ap h y s i c i a n , e xe g e t e , p h i l o s o p h e r a n dmathematician, Maimonides wrote books in Arabicthat were immediately translated into Hebrew andLatin and, at the age of 30 he left Cordova on apilgrimage throughout Andalusia, North Africaand, finally, to Egypt where he died. Along withhis Muslim contemporary Averroes, and his Romanpredecessor, Seneca, he is the best representativeof the great city of universal culture that isCordova.

The synagogue of Cordova, in Calle Judíos,is the most treasured piece of architecture in theneighbourhood. Declared a National Monumentin 1885, it was built in the 15th century. Comprisinga courtyard, vestibule and a large prayer room, itis exquisitely decorated in the Mudejar style andwas built, as was the custom, by Muslim master-builders, or alarifes. The Hebrew inscriptions onthe balconies of the azara, the gallery wherewomen attended services, or the magnificent blindogee arch, delicately worked with arabesquemotifs, and which must have once held the bimah,or the pulpit for reading of the Torah, are somehighlights of the temple, which, according to aninscription, was the “provisional sanctuary andhome of the Testimony, finished by Isaq Moheb,son of Ephraim Waddawa”.

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Mosque

Cordova Synagogue

Synagogue on Calle Judíos

View at night


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G I R O N A

A stronghold on the way from Tarraco toGaul, founded by the Roman general PompeyMagnus in the 1st century AD, Girona in the MiddleAges was already considered the “Key to theKingdom” and, metaphorically, the gateway toSepharad for Hispanic Jews. With its treasure troveof wisdom over the centuries, today Girona has anenviable combination of respect for the past andvision of the future, making it one of the cities withthe best quality of life in Spain.

In the year 890, the arrival in the city ofthe first contingent of 25 Jewish families wasrecorded. They came from a small town in theneighbouring County of Besalú. They settled in theupper part of the town and devoted themselves tofarming fruit and vegetables and vineyards, underthe protection of the Counts themselves. Theygradually took part in the financial life of Gironaand, by the 12th century, Jews were fully integratedinto the city’s life, working in various sectors of itstrade and finance. Throughout the 13th centuryand during the first half of the 16th century, thecommunity reached its period of greatestsplendour, comprising 7% of the city’s populationwith the arrival of new families from France, andenjoying the full confidence of the reigningmonarchs. The Jew Astrug Ravaia was named bayle(governor) of Girona by Jaime I, and his son MosséRavaia was made General Bayle of Catalonia.

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View of El Onyar


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Besides the establishments essential toany Jewish quarter, such as the butcher’s, thefishmonger’s, and the bakery, the Girona call alsocontained a hospital, an orphanage and a charityinstitution. It also had at least three synagogues.The first stood between the Cathedral and theEpiscopal Palace, and was abandoned when thecommunity moved to a new location. The second,dating from the 13th century, is at 23, Calle de laForça, opposite today’s steps up to the Virgin ofLa Pera. The third stood in the Calle de SantLlorenç, and had baths, a school for women, anda hospital. Today, it is the Bonastruc ça PortaCentre, and houses the Catalonian Museum on theHistory of the Jews and the Nahmánides Instituteof Studies, named in honour of Mossé ben Nahman(Bonastruc ça Porta, in Catalan), who was aphilosopher, exegete, poet, physician, leadingCabbalist and one of the great figures ofCatalonian Medieval history. The museumcontains, along with many other pieces, a splendidcollection of tombstones from the nearby Hebrewcemetery of Montjuïc, dating from between the12th and 15th centuries. The Main HistoricalArchives hold a valuable series of fragmenteddocuments with Hebrew writing on them that werefound in the sleeve of some 14th and 15th-centurynotary’s books. The Municipal Archives containa treasure: a collection of ninety, 12th-14th-centuryHebrew documents, which are a valuabletestimony of the cultural life of the Jewishcommunity in Girona.

The increase in population as from the12th century meant that the area inhabited by theJewish community was moved to a lower part ofthe city, although many Jews continued to ownhouses in different parts of the city. Then camethe municipal order of 1448, which definitivelyturned the Jewish quarter into a ghetto. Before itwas declared a “forbidden area” to Jews, at theend of the 14th century, the Calle de la Força - theold Via Augusta that ran through the city fromnorth to south - had been the backbone of thealjama. Later, the centre of the Jewry moved toCall de Sant Llorenç, where a new synagoguyewas built, and where the Casa Colls stands - abuilding that used to be the home of Lleó Avinay,the last leader of Girona’s Jewish quarter.

Tombstones at the History of the Jews Museum

Calle de la Força

Quetubá in the History of the Jews Museum

Patio of the Bonastruc ça Porta Centre

Model of the Call de Girona.History of the Jews Museum

Sant Llorenç, Jewish quarter

T H E K E Y T O S E P H A R A D


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H E R V Á S

Lying in the north of the province of Caceres,in the Ambroz river valley, an area that wasoccupied in succession by Celts and Iberians,Pheonicians and Greeks, Hervás emerged towardsthe end of the 12th century with the advance of theCastilian king Alfonso VIII and the recovery of aregion devastated by the Almohads, whose earlypopulation were the Knights Templar. Very soon,in the 13th century, coinciding with the firstdocuments mentioning it by name, Hervás saw thearrival of the first contingent of Jews from variousdifferent aljamas in Andalusia and Castile. Theysoon built their own neighbourhood on the banksof the river, forming an unusual group of buildingsthat has been preserved until now, and which wasdeclared a Historical and Artistic Site in 1969.

With connections to the Jewish quarterin Béjar, the aljama in Hervas was devoted toagriculture and, in particular, vineyards, as wellas trades and crafts. Settling in the “LowerQuarter”, the town’s Jewish population would goup to the “Upper Quarter”, along the Cuestecilla,while the Christians from the upper part of thecity would go down to the Jewish quarter alongthe Calle de Abajo. The main building materialsfor the houses in the Jewish quarters were roughstone and adobe, making use of the nearbyriverbank, along with wood from local chestnuttrees. They were built on two storeys with an atticthat was used as storage for cereals or as a larder.

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Hervás, with the Jewish quarter in the background

Jewish quarter Calle de Hervás

General view


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H AND THE LEGEND OF THE ERRANT JEWESSThe synagogue was built using the same

popular materials, and its Talmudic school wasfamous throughout Extremadura. Tradition has itthat it stood in Calle de Rabilero, although it laterchanged location several times. Rabbi Samuel, thephysician and notary of the Duke of Béjar, was theowner of the synagogue and he managed it in anexemplary fashion until he was exiled to Portugalfollowing the edict of 1492. The Calle Judeo-Cristiana, Calle del Vado and Calle Cofrades makeup the Jewish corrala, or “yard”, at the centre ofthe Hervás aljama. In the last of these three streetsstood the Communal Assembly of the Hebrewswhich after the expulsion of the Jews became theheadquarters of the processional brotherhood ofconverts, or cofradía de conversos. Inside, all theelements necessary for making Kosher wine werefound.

Evoking its Jewish past is an intimate partof the essential spirit of Hervas. For several yearsnow, in the early summer, local inhabitants dressup as ancient Hebrews and celebrate, in memoryof this group of ancestors, by performing the playLos Conversos, or The Converts, by Solly Wolodarsky.Sweet soup, nuegados dessert, tishpitti cake, orveal stew with chestnuts are old Sephardic recipesthat are part of the town’s best local cuisine, andthat of the whole of Extremadura. Since 1971, inCalle de la Amistad Judeo-Cristiana, there has beena plaque that states: “The inhabitants of Herváshave named this street in memory of its Jewishpopulation. Its name is a symbol full of hope…”.The name means “Street of Judeo-ChristianFriendship”.

The tale of the Maruxa, or the Errant Jewess,is another of the town’s oldest traditions. Quite anumber of locals, on their evening walks near theChiquita fountain, claim to have heard the grievoussobbing of the young Jewess who was in love witha handsome young Christian. She protected himwith her own body and died alongside him whenher father sent hired assassins to kill him. Buriedin a secret place beside the river Ambroz, far fromthe Hebrew cemetery, the Maruxa only appears towarn of some approaching misfortune…

Jewish quarter

Jewish quarter

Church of San Juan


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A É NJJaen’s strategic position on the upperGuadalquivir, standing at the entrance to Andalucíafrom the east coast and the Castilian plateau, hasmeant there has been a permanent culturalexchange between many different civilisations.This traditional spirit of tolerance explains theearly presence of Jews in this Andalusianprovincial capital. It was documented for the firsttime in the year 612, but probably dates from muchearlier. Since early times, the Hebrews of Jaenpresumably lived alongside Romans, Visigoths,(first the Arians, then the Christians), Muslims andthen again with Christians, until they were expelledin the 15th century.

The importance of Jaén’s Jewish quarteris highlighted by the presence there of Hasday ibnShaprut, counsellor to the Caliphs of Cordova,promoter of Hispano-Hebrew poetry, and a 10th-century forerunner of the so-called “Golden Ageof Spanish Jews”. His relationship to the Jewishkingdom of the Khazars, or his introduction ofeastern-style Rabbinical schools into al-Andalusgave him a well-deserved reputation as a universalman. In the 11th century, as part of the Ziri kingdomof Granada, Jaen retained its status as a city ofknowledge, and this same spirit of communicationamong different communities remained when theChristians arrived.

Iberian sculpture. Jaén Museum

The Cathedral seen from the Hill of Santa Catalina


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J A N D T H E G O L D E N A G E O F S PA N I S H J E W S

The persecutions of 1391, however, markedthe beginning of the end of a period of cooperationbetween the three great medieval cultures, andthe aljama became a neighbourhood of Jewishconverts, changing its name to the Santa Cruzquarter. The Jaen Jews’ love of their city -many ofthem became false conversos and continued theirHebrew rites in secret - along with their refusal toleave, led to the Court of the Holy Inquisition beingset up there in 1483 (it was the third of them, afterSeville and Cordova), which coincided with thedecree of expulsion of Andalusian Jews. For a longtime afterwards, many Jewish converts worked asadministrators in the delightful Renaissancecathedral, despite the fact that it was here that thevery spirit of the Statutes of Blood Cleansing wasforged, and that, in the square overlooked by thecathedral, numerous Autos de Fe took place.

The old Jewish quarter of Jaen stoodbetween the modern streets of San Andrés,Huérfanos, Los Caños-Arroyo de San Pedro andMartínez Molina, forming part of fortified walls ofthe old city. The neighbourhood is made up of atightly huddled group of houses, with a typicallyMoorish street layout, communicating with theoutside through just three entrances, one of themat the Baeza Gateway. The synagogue was builtonto the convent of Santa Clara, and the house ofIbn-Shaprut stood opposite the Cadí house, in theMagdalena square. Jaén’s impressive Arab bathsdate from the 11th century and are the largest stillstanding in Spain. They can be reached throughthe courtyard of the Villardompardo palace andwere used by the Jewish population on Fridays,the day before the Sabbath; near to the church ofSan Andrés there were other baths, known as theHammam ibn Ishaq (Baths of the Son of Isaac),which date from the same time. The structure ofthe church itself seems to indicate that, beforebecoming Christian, it was once a synagogue.

The Plaza de los Huérfanos square todaycontains a large menorah with an inscription inSpanish and Sephardic, that reads: “Las trasas deken anduvieron endjuntos nunca podrán seralbaldadas” (The footprints of those who walkedtogether can never be erased”).

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El Ángel Gateway and the Convent of Las Bernardas Roman Mosaic. Jaén Museum Los Vilches Palace

Castle of Santa Catalina

The Cathedral’s main facade

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LE Ó N

The capital of the old kingdom of Leon,which stands on the site of the Roman settlementfounded on the banks of the river Bernesga bythe Legio VII in 68AD, is one of the main stops onthe pilgrim’s Way of St. James, or Road to Santiago.It is a modern city, whose period of greatestsplendour was in the Middle Ages, when it wasdecisive in terms of consolidating the ChristianReconquest.

The first Jewish settlement in Leon wasin the Puente Castro neighbourhood, outside thecity walls, and also known as the CastrumIudeorum or Jewish Hill Fort. It stood on thesouthern slope of La Mota hill, which hadpreviously been occupied by an Astur “castro”or hill fort, and later by the Roman and Medievalfortresses. The first Hebrew families must havearrived in around the 10th century, and over thenext two centuries it became an influential aljamawith, at one point, a thousand inhabitants - almosta third of the city’s population. The Hebrews ofCastrum Iudeorum, protected by the Charter of1090 which gave them practically the same rightsas the Christians, owned their own land forfarming and winegrowing. But, above all, theywere the mainstay of Leon’s commercial activity.The Cathedral Museum, the Museum of Leon, andthe Synagogue of El Tránsito, in Toledo, allcontain valuable tombstones in their collectionsthat were uncovered during excavations at theCastro de los Judíos.

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Collegiate of San Isidoro, Pantheon of Kings

Contemporary Art Museum


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AND THE CASTRUM IUDEORUM

The defensive features of the quarterenabled the Jews of León to withstand for almostthree days the joint attack. in July 1196, of AlfonsoVIII of Castile and Pedro I of Aragón, who tookadvantage of their rivalry with Alfonso XI of Leonto inflict as much damage as possible on whatwas one of the strongest financial centres of theregion. Following the attack, the Jewish quarterwas ransacked and destroyed, and survivors hadto move to the Santa Ana neighbourhood outsidethe city walls. From the 13th century onwards, theNew Jewish Quarter lay between the squares ofPlaza Mayor, Santa Ana and Del Grano. Today, thebuildings, cellars and passageways that lie withinthis triangle are being restored. They were oncepart of the old Jewish settlement where Moshéde León was born, in 1240. His Book of Splendouris considered one of the leading HebrewCabbalistic texts. Although the old names of thestreets in the Jewish quarter, such as Cal de laSinagoga or Cal Silvana, were changed toMisericordia, or Puerta del Sol, the famous BarrioHúmedo (or “wet neighbourhood”, in referenceto its bars and taverns), which is one of the city’smain gastronomic attractions, has streets thatserve as a reminder of the trades of the Jewishcraftsmen of the Middle Ages: Zapaterías(Shoemaker’s), Platerías (Silversmith’s) orAzabachería (Black Jet Jeweller’s).

The Main Synagogue of the new aljamastood in Calle Misericordia, while the palace ofthe Marquises of Jabalquinto - which stands inthe middle of the Barrio Húmedo and has beenconverted for a variety of purposes - is a reminderof the Jewish converso origins of a family who,having embraced Christianity after the 15th-century persecutions, became famous in the 19thcentury for their support of the Carlist causeagainst the Royalists. Right next to the medievalwalls was the Prado de Los Judios, or Meadow ofthe Jews, the old Hebrew cemetery, wheregenerations of Leonese Jews were buried. Thecathedral itself , or Pulchra leonina, is amagnificent example of the Gothic style importedfrom France in the 13th and 14th centuries. Oneof the frescoes in its ambulatory, painted byNicolás Francés, still bears witness to the Jewswho lived here alongside Christians, and portraysthem wearing their 15th century clothing.

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Calle Ancha

León Cathedral. Stained-glass windows

Street cafes in Barrio Humedo

Old City Council

Cathedral


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AND THE “OMES BONOS”OV I E D O

King Alfonso II chose Oviedo as the capitalof the Kingdom of Asturias in the year 808 AD.The city, which stands on the site of an ancientmonastic settlement on the Oveto hill, hascontinued to grow ever since, until it has becomethe political and administrative centre of thePrincipality of Asturias, and one of the mostcharming cities in Spain. It is a city full of historicalfeatures that housed a Jewish quarter that waspart of its social and economic life for centuries.

Although documents such as the Charterof Alfonso VII, of 1145, or, before that, the Letterof Donation of Didago Osoriz, in 1046 - in whichthere are several references to a conversa, orconverted Jewess - would seem show that therewas a Jewish presence in Oviedo sometime beforethe 11th century, there is actually no reliabledocumentary evidence of the community until thefollowing century. The 12th-century growth of theOviedo aljama increased in the 13th century,thanks to the climate of tolerance fostered by theunification of the Kingdoms of Castile and Leon,under Fernando II. It was also helped by the risein popularity of the Way of St. James, because oneof the compulsory stops on the Road to Santiagowas a pilgrimage to the Cathedral of San Salvadorin Oviedo. Also, new families arrived from the southof Sepharad, forced out by Almohad persecution.It is hardly surprising then that the Jew Mari Xabewas appointed Merino of Oviedo, an administrativeposition of great fiscal and legal responsibility.

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Plaza de Alfonso II “the Chaste”

Plaza del Fontán


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Things started to change for the Hebrewcommunity in the last quarter of the 13th century.If, until then, it had been common to find Jewishhouseholds all over the city, alongside theirChristian neighbours, the Orders of the Council ofOviedo of 1274 clearly set out what the location ofthe Jewry should be, stating that Jews “spread tolive in the town, which was harmful to the town inmany ways that we do not wish to declare”. Thelimits of the aljama were, from this time on, “fromthe Castillo Gateway to the Puerta Nueva deSocastiello, and from the Gateway outwards, if theyso desire”. This meant it was a narrow piece ofland with around 50 houses for no more than 500people. In the Plaza de Trascorrales, where thereis a monument to a Milkmaid, there were Jewishfishmongers and, close by, Jewish butchers. InPlaza Porlier the Royal Castle once stood, and thiswas one of the limits of the aljama, as can be seenfrom the tourist map shown here. As you can seeon the plaque at the other end of the Jewish quarter,in Plaza Juan XXIII, King Sancho IV decreed in1286 that “que los judíos non ayan alcaldesapartados como agora avíen”, (Jews no longerhave their own mayors as they once had) onceagain restricting their rights. In the 15th century,there came the confiscation of the synagogues inthe diocese of Oviedo, and Bishop Don Gutierre’sthreat of excommunication for all those who hadanything to do with the Jews. This was a directattack on the peaceful coexistence of citizens ofthe town who had different beliefs.

In the Campoamor theatre, where, today,the Prince of Asturias Award ceremony is heldevery year, presided by Crown Prince Philip, aplaque commemorates the Jewish cemetery thatonce stood on the same site, quoting the deed ofsale, “on behalf of and as heir to my father, DonYuça, physician, … a plot of land … close to theCampo de los omes bonos, [Field of Good Men] andknown as the Jewish orchard…”. This is one morereminder of those citizens of Oviedo who, indocuments that go back centuries, added to theirname and particulars, the words “Hombre buenoJudío”, or “Good Jewish Man”.

Cathedral

Palace of Santa María del Naranco

Calle Cimadevilla

Plaza de Juan XXIII


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PALMA DE MALLORCAOne of the many testimonies of the Jewish

presence in Palma is the Torre de l’Amor, or Towerof Love. It was built in 1365 by Mossé Faquim, inorder to spy on his next-door neighbour, the wifeof his rival, Magaluf Natjar, with whom he was inlove. By making a petition to the king, Natjarmanaged to have the tower shortened by 12 hands,in order to keep his privacy. There are also thesplendid Rimmonims of the Torah, which today arepart of to the Cathedral treasure, and which becamepart of the Christian liturgy after the 15th centuryconversions. In 1391, the local peasants attackedthe Jewry, a bloodthirsty event that resulted in theloss of over 300 lives, and which was the forerunnerof the 1435 conversions. This did not prevent manyJews secretly continuing to remain faithful to thetradition they had held for so many generations.Even in 1678, the Inquisition caught a group of 212xuetes, or false converts to Christianity who stillpracticed Jewish rites, in Palma de Mallorca.

The capital of the Balearic Islands, a secularm a r i t i m e c o l l e g e a n d a r e f e r e n c e f o rMediterranean culture over the centuries, Palmade Mallorca can pride itself on being one of theSpanish cities with the earliest Jewish settlements,dating from the 5th century, when Jews livedalongside Christians long before Moorish rule. Thexuetes, or chuetas, which was the name given toMajorcan Jews even today, were experts inastronomy, astrology, mathematics, medicine,philosophy and science, and contributed greatlyto the cultural prestige of Palma de Mallorca inthe Middle Ages. When the Christians re-conqueredPalma (1229-30), they found the Jewish quarterlay inside the Moorish fortified town, north of theAlmudaina castle, and the first transfer of theHebrew population took place, to the Call Menor,or Smaller Jewish Quarter. It stood at the top ofthe San Nicolás neighbourhood, along Calle SanBartolomé and Calle Argentería, but no originalbuildings remain.

A new quarter, the Call Mayor, was createdunder King Jaume II, who confirmed the privilegesgranted to the Jews by Jaume I the Conqueror, butin 1303 Hebrews were obliged to eat and sleepinside the Jewish quarter, although they could runtheir business outside of it. Many of the houses inthis quarter belonged to the Knights Templar, whoprotected the Jews until the order’s demise in 1313.Some of the more noteworthy buildings can beseen on Carrer del Sol, previously known as Carrerde Call dels Jueus, or Jewry Street, where therestands a house that once belonged to a rich Jew,and which has now been turned into the TourismCollege; or the Carrer Montesión, with a church ofthe same name that stands on the site of the oldsynagogue, the Carrer Montserrat, where the OldSynagogue or Jewish School once stood, the Plazade Sant Jeroni, near which is the so-called Sapienzaland, where the house of cartographers AbrahamCresques and his son Jafuda once stood; thePrince’s bulwark, built over the 14th-century Jewishcemetery; the Carrer de les Ecoles, or CarrerPelleteria, (Furrier’s Street), also known as NewSynagogue Street, which reminds us of theimportance of the furrier’s trade in the Hebrewcommunity, and where you can still see the crossesthat the New Christians placed on the façade oftheir houses to avoid trouble.

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AND THE LEGACY OFTHE MAJORCAN JEWS

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La Almudiana Palace

Palma de Mallorca at night

Maritime boulevard Rimmonim. Cathedral Treasury The painter Miró’s Sert studio Mallorca Cathedral Treasury


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AR I B A D A V I

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P R O S P E R I T Y

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Jewish quarter Castle of the Counts of Ribadavia Porta Nova Pre-Romanesque Church of San Xes

Valparaíso Vineyards in Ribadavia


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Y B A S E D O N W I N ERibadavia, strategically placed between

Orense and Vigo, and “the mother of high-caratwine” according to the 16th-century scholarMolina, is the capital of the Ribeiro district. Overthe centuries, its Jewish community - the largestand wealthiest in Galicia - had much to do withR i b e r i o w i n e - g row i n g a n d w i n e t r a d e .

The creation of the capital of the Kingdomof Galicia in 103 by Don García, and the immediateprosperity of Ribadavia meant that, in the 11thcentury, many Jewish families settled in the town,and the Jewish quarter in the heart of the medievaltown has now been declared a Cultural HeritageSite. The Jews of Ribadavia owned the vineyardsand were fully integrated into the society of thetime. The names of people such as Abraham deLeón, Judá Pérez or the physician Salomón, are apart of local history, and a reminder that amongthe town’s Jews there was a privy councillor to theKing and several administrators of the House ofthe Counts of Ribadavia. Others were traders,craftsmen, physicists or money-lenders. They allcontributed to Ribadavia’s wealth, based on theproduction and trade of Riberio wine, particularlyin the 15th and 16th centuries.

Calle de Merelles Caula, traditionallyknown as Calle de la Judería, or Jewry Street,soon became the heart of a large neighbourhoodbetween the Plaza Mayor and the Medieval walls,and which housed the synagogue. At some points,it was home to many families, right up until the17th century. Ribadavia ’s historic centre,including the Jewish quarter, has been declareda National Monument. Its street layout ismedieval, with long, narrow streets, and arcadesunderneath the overhanging balconies to protectthe lower floors from rain, and it is mainly builtof stone. The Jewish quarter ends at the Plazade la Magdalena, the old Plaza Vieja, the oldestsquare in the town, which is very close to thePorta Nova gate, the natural entrance to theJewry through the walls.

But all this Jewish past, with five centuriesof peaceful co-existence, is not just another aspectof the town’s history; it is, today, one of its maintourist attractions. The Galician Sephardic Museum,which belongs to the Town Council, and the Centrefor Medieval Studies actively organize the Festa dela Istoria, or History Festival, in which the wholetown of Ribadavia takes part. The Centre forSephardic Studies regularly organizes concerts,conferences and cultural activities related to theJews, and it actively participates in the organizationof the Festa de la Istoria, which has been declareda National Tourist event. The Festival, which takesplace every year on the last week-end in August,when Ribadavia becomes a Medieval town onceagain, includes events such as the ritual celebrationof a Jewish wedding or the performance of the play“Malsín”, of 1606, which proved that the town’sJews continued their traditions in secret, incollusion with the local inhabitants, more than acentury after the Catholic Monarchs expelled them.The Tourist Office in the Plaza Mayor houses theGalician Sephardic Musuem.

A Tafona de Herminia, a traditional bakery,makes confectionary with poppy seeds, andcardamoms, mostachudos made of walnuts, clovesand cinnamon, according to original Hebrewrecipes; some ingredients are even importeddirectly from Israel. These tiny delicacies are areminder of flavours from a time when Jews werean essential part of Ribadavia’s everyday life.

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Plaza García Boente

Porta da Vila


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S E G O V I A

The character of Segovia has been markedsince the 1st century AD by its Roman aqueduct. AWorld Heritage Site, Segovia’s history embracesthe legacy of both the Romans and the Visigoths,as well as that of the cultural melting-pot of theMiddle Ages, and for centuries it was a haven forthe peaceful coexistence of Jews, Moors andChristians.

The repopulation of Segovia in the 11thcentury, which put an end to its long period as ano-man’s-land between the Muslim and Christiankingdoms, was also when the first Jewish settlersarrived. Over the next few centuries, they joined inthe monumental task of turning the city into oneof the wealthiest in Castile and Spain. With justover fifty families, the aljama of Segovia was oneof the wealthiest in Castile, and its Jewishinhabitants were physicists, craftsmen in a widerange of trades, surgeons and tradesmen. Some ofthem, such as Abraham Seneor, becameadministrators of the royal income, and a greatmany conversions took place under the auspicesof the Catholic Monarchs.

There is no documentary evidence ofpersecution or violence towards Jews in Segovia.However, although many of them had previouslylived in different parts of the city, Catherine ofLancaster’s Pragmatic Decree of 1412 obligedSegovian Jews to remain within the Jewish quarter.Then in 1481, the Catholic Monarchs decreed thatthe Jewry should be closed off by seven gatewayswith brickwork arches.

A TOWN

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San Andrés Gateway. Segovia City Wall

Segovia aqueduct


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OF PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE

The Jewish quarter of Segovia is a largearea on the south side of the city, between thechurches of Corpus Christi and San Andrés,alongside the city walls. The church of CorpusChristi stands on the site of the old GreaterSynagogue, and despite the fire of 1899 whichreduced the building to its present structure, it stillretains five of the original six or seven Moorisharches on the two arcades that divide the aisles.The 52 smaller arches on the upper floor, and theMudejar-style decoration on the coffered ceiling ofthe church give some idea of the size of the formerJewish temple. The Ibañez synagogue, also knownas the New Greater Synagogue, stood in the Plazade San Geroteo. It was bought by the City Council in1492, and then in 1507 by one Bartolomé Ibáñez,

The “Jewish Butcher’s”, in the Almuzaraarea, was mentioned in a document dated 1287that was the first to accredit the existence ofHebrews in the city. There were at least two of theseshops, one near the Casa del Sol and the other bythe San Andrés Gateway. The streets of JuderíaVieja and Judería Nueva are reminders of theformer inhabitants of this district of stone, brickand wooden houses, often decorated with Segovia’sfamous scratchwork façades, with a few noblehouses with coats of arms over the doorway andarcaded courtyards. After the expulsion, thesebecame the homes of rich conversos, who werereluctant to leave the home of their ancestors whenthis was no longer the Jewish Quarter, and asknown as the Barrio Nuevo, or New Quarter.

and remained in his family until the early 20thcentury, when it was sold to the Daughters of Jesusnuns. It is a single-nave building, and all thatremains of the original is part of an ox-eye window.Besides these two, according to documents, therewas also an Old Synagogue, in what is now thePlaza de la Merced, with, next to it, one of Segovia’stwo Talmudic schools; and the Campo synagogue,which stood next to the San Andrés Gateway andwhich had an adjoining hospital.

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Alcazar

Old Main Synagogue

Entrance street to the old city


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T O L E D O , THE GRE

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View of Toledo


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REAT WESTERN JEWRY

There is documentary evidence of thepresence of Jews in Toledo since Roman times, inthe 4th century, but their arrival much earlier islinked to the legendary foundation of the city. Thiswas the Toletum of the Carpetans and Romans; thecivitas regia capital of the Spanish VisigothKingdom; the Muslim Toleitola that was such anexample of peaceful coexistence between the threecultures; the Toledo of Alfonso X the Wise and theSchool of Translators; the city of El Greco and theleading Episcopal Cathedral of Spain. But thisCastilian city was also the great Jewry of the West,a spiritual centre that, for centuries, was areference for all the Jews of Europe.

The Cambrón Gateway, built on the remainsof an earlier Visigoth gateway, was the mainentrance to the Jewry, which stretched as far asthe Cathedral, and at one time had more than 10synagogues and a population of three to fourthousand people. During the first week ofSeptember every year, Jews are the focus ofattention in Toledo, when a major convention isheld here on Jewish culture. Their presence canstill be felt, in what was for centuries theirhometown, and highlights inlcude the remains ofthe old baths, or mikve, inside the El Greco houseand museum, or the Casa del Judio, or Jew’s House,at number 4, Calle de San Juan de Dios. But aboveall, it can be felt in the two great synagogues thatstill stand in the town.

Designed as a city within a city, the medinatal yahud, the Jewish fortified town, stood, accordingto various historical accounts, to the south-westof the city, and the inhabitants would go right downto the river Tagus to drink. It was a complexnetwork of walls, alleys and passageways with itsown fortified remparts and many gateways leadingto other neighbourhoods in the town. Inside, thereflourished poets and philosophers, Rabbis andscientists, geographers, translators and otherswho were role-models and examples to otherEuropean Jewish communities. In the 13th century,the work of Yehuda ben Moisés Cohen, an authorof the Alfonsine Tables, and Isaac ben Sayid, alongwith that of other Jews and a large number ofChristian and Muslim scholars, was decisive to therecovery of fundamental Greek works by the ToledoSchool of Translators, and they were divulgedthroughout Europe from the city of Toledo, duringone of the city’s greatest periods of culturalsplendour.

The synagogue of El Tránsito, which housesthe Sephardic Museum, is undoubtedly the primeexample of the art of the Muslim master-builderswho worked for the Jews. It comprises a largeprayer room, an azara, or women’s gallery, therooms of the old Rabbinic school (now themuseum), and the remains of the ritual baths,with their water tanks. A highlight is themagnificent plasterwork and the ceiling, which isone of the finest examples of medieval carpentryin Toledo. On the west wall, where the hekal waskept (the Ark containing the Torah Scrolls), youcan see a text praising Pedro I, “a man of war anda brave warrior”, whose diplomat and financialadvisor, Samuel ha Leví Abulafia, was the patronof the temple’s construction in the 14th century.

The synagogue of Santa María la Blanca,which opens on to the Calle de los Reyes Católicosthrough a simple garden, is a symbol of the goodrelationship between King Alfonso XIII and theJewish community. It has five aisles, separated bypillars holding up a magnificent arcade of horse-shoe arches, and is reminiscent of a Muslimmosque. According to legend, the synagogue ofSanta María la Blanca was built with earth broughtfrom Jerusalem.

Cathedral

Synagogue of Santa María La Blanca

Street in Toledo

Synagogue of Transito

Cambrón Gateway


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A valuable stone plaque inscribed in threelanguages - Hebrew, Greek and Latin - bearswitness to the presence of the Jews in Tortosa inthe 6th century, at the latest, under Visigoth rule,although quite possibly there were members ofthe Jewish community there in Roman times. Atradesman, poet and philologist, and the authorof a grammar book commissioned by theAndalusian Hasday ibn Shaprut, Menahem benSaruk was a Jew of great renown in MuslimTurtuxa, as was the physician, Ibrahim ben Iacob.Following the Christian conquest of the city in 1148,Count Ramón Berenguer IV handed over the Arabshipyards to the Jews, and they became what wasknown as the Old Jewry, which went from CalleJaume Tió Noé to the Barranco del Célio, soon afterthe first sixty houses were built. Thanks to themany medieval documents still kept in Tortosa, ithas been possible to locate the sites of thesynagogue, the bakery and the butcher’s, none ofwhich remain.

The capital of the Baix Ebre region, thistwo-thousand year-old city was founded as aRoman colony in the 1st century BC. It looks outonto the Mediterranean thanks to its river, whichgave its name to the Iberian Peninsula: the Ebro.An important Visigoth settlement and the capitalof its own Taifa Kingdom under the Muslims,Tortosa had a significant Jewish population forcenturies, who had a great deal to do with thetown’s prosperity in the Middle Ages.

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Night-time view from the river, castle in the background

Tortosa Cathedral View of the cloister next to the Cathedral


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AT O R T O S

AND THE DISPUTATION OF THE POLEMISTSIn the early 13th century, the New Jewry

was formed, between Calle Mayor de Remolins andthe old medieval walls. The outside was reachedthrough the Hierro Gateway, which was also knownas the Jews Gateway. It is the only one that remainsfrom the old Jewry, and it led to the Hebrewcemetery. Both the Old and the New Jewry havemaintained their charm, with their maze-like streetlayout and many topographical features that serveto remind us of the longstanding presence of theJews in Tortosa. In the 14th century, there werequite a number of eminent inhabitants of the call,such as the brothers Isaac and Jafudá Marçili orAbraham Mair, who were bankers that financed anumber of the King’s enterprises.

The Tortosa Jewish quarter is well signpostedand by following the signs, visitors can find thesite of the synagogue, the early Talmudic school,the pottery, where Jewish hands carried on theMuslim tradition, or the bakery, where unleavenedbread was baked for the Hebrew community.

The anti-Jewish revolts of 1391 were notas violent in Tortosa as elsewhere in Sepharad.Even so, to ensure their safety, the local authoritiesdecided to confine the Hebrew community to theCastle of La Suda (now a Parador hotel), whichstood on the city acropolis. The TortosaDisputation, however, was famous throughoutSpain and Europe. It was organized by PopeBenedict XIII, but initiated by his physician, aconverso called Jerónimo de Santa Fe. Tortosacathedral was the backdrop for almost sixty publicmeetings, which lasted until 1414, and were chairedby the Pope. They were attended by the wisest ofJewish scholars, who debated the issue of thecoming of the Messiah, which was the main pointof controversy between Jews and Christians. Theoutcome was that all those Jews who took part inthe polemic, except two, converted. It was aforetaste of what was to come with the Papal Bullof 1415, which seriously restricted the freedom ofJews.

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View of Tortosa Tourist “Parador” Hotel


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T U D E L A ,

In 1170, King Sancho the Wise fostered thecreation of a Jewish quarter in the upper side ofthe city, protected by the Castle walls, and thisbecame the New Jewish quarter, which existedalongside the Old Quarter for some time. There isevidence of at least two synagogues, the Greaterand Smaller, plus a third one in the weaver’sneighbourhood. The Major synagogue, which hasbeen beautifully restored, contains a large prayerroom and a gallery (azará) for women at the end;the ceiling and the geometrical design on the wallsdate from the 13th century, while the delightfulpainted wooden structures are 15th-century.

A strategic enclave in the Kingdom ofNavarre, overlooking the river Ebro and at an equaldistance from Zaragoza, Logroño, Pamplona andSoria, Tudela was founded by the Muslims in the8th century, around the fortress built by Yusuf, alieutenant of Emir Al Hakan I, in order to toconsolidate the Northern frontier of al-Andalus.The Jewish presence there dates from this period,when the first town grew up around the alcazaba.

Under Moorish rule, the Tudela Jewishquarter was a major commercial and culturalnucleus, and its Talmudic schools were as famousas its Islamic ones. When the city was handed overto the Christians in 1119, Alfonso the Battlerrecognized the Jewish community in the Charterof Nájera, along with its rights and property, andset the limits of the aljama to be what we knowtoday as the Judería Vieja, or Old Jewry, on thesouth of side of the wall. This initial settlement,very close to the river, contains houses with a 1.5to 2m-high stone wall-base, to protect them fromfloods, and with three or four storeys made ofbrickwork.

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General view of Tudela

Calle Pontarrón Plaza de los Fueros


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THE CITY OF TRAVELLERS

In Christian times, the aljama of Tudelawas governed by a collegiate of twenty members,who were responsible for applying the Taccanot,which were decrees written between 1297 and 1305.Trade and crafts were the main occupations forTudelan Jews, although some of them ownedvineyards and others became important advisorsof the aristocracy and the King. Three of them, atleast, became known well beyond the local region.Yehuda ha-Leví (1070-1141) is considered “theprince of Andalusian Hebrew poets” and is one ofthe key figures of the diaspora. “My heart is in theEast, while I live in the extreme West”, wrote theauthor Kuzari, one of the fundamental books onthe conscience of the wandering people; he diedon his way to Jerusalem, in Alexandria, aged almostseventy. Abraham ibn Ezrá (1069-1164) was anitinerant scholar who lived in Cordova, Seville andLucena. In 1140 he decided to travel through Europeand North Africa. After Maimonides, he is thegreatest writer in Sepharad. Born after the citywas conquered by the Christians, Benjamin deTudela (1130-1175), was also a tireless travellerand scholar and a great polyglot. He left Tudelain 1160, and travelled to Rome, Constantinople,Jerusalem, Bagdad and Cairo, then returned toParis. His Book of Travels is, even today, a key workin order to understand what Europe and the MiddleEast were like in the 12th century.

Despite the existence of the Manta, or “theMantle”, a canvas containing the names of allTudela’s conversos that hung in the Cathedral until1783, the truth is that Navarre held out against theCatholic Monarchs’ decree of expulsion for sixwhole years, and Tudela was famous at the timefor protecting the murderers of the Inquisitor ofZaragoza.

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Plaza de los Fueros

View of Tudela


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BE S A L Ú , T h e J e w s o f t h e C o u n t ’ s To w n

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Besalú, in the Garrotxa district, is a magnificent Catalan town declared an Artistic-Historical Site, and was populatedby Iberians and Celts from the 1st century B.C. onwards. Its Latin name, Bisuldunum, dates from the Roman fortress betweenthe rivers Fluvia and Capellades. The town, which was capital of an independent county between the years 902 and 1111, probablyreceived its first Jewish inhabitants in the 9th century, although the first historical dating associates the Hebrew communitywith Jaume I the Conqueror, through a document from 1229. Joined to the Gerona aljama until the year 1342, when it becameindependent, the Besalú jewry stood out thanks to the work of its doctors and, throughout its existence, it had a good relationshipwith jewries on the other side of the Pyrenees. The Des Catllars, Carcassonas or Belshom Ceravitas are some of the familiesthat remained in the town until the end, after the killings of 1391, of which there was no evidence here.

Some streets, such as Carrer Rocafort, conserve the old 13th-century jewry’s layout virtually intact, although the mostimportant monument is the baths or mikve, a Romanesque building from the 12th century, discovered by accident in 1964,unique in Spain and numbering among the finest of its characteristics in Europe; thirty-six steps lead into the largerectangular hall, built in stone, with the pool where Jews were purified by totally immersing their bodies in the “nayim”water. Near the mikve stood the synagogue, located in the modern-day Pla dels Jueus, built in the year 1264 following aprivilege granted by the Conqueror.

A city with 2000 years’ history, lying at the fork in the rivers Ebro and Cidacos, Calagurris was an importantRoman settlement that gave the empire such writers as Marcus Fabius Quintilian or Aurelius Prudentius.

The first document to mention the presence of Jews in Calahorra dates from the end of the 11th century, and it isprecisely through abundant documentation that we know that this Riojan aljama, where the poet and theologianAbraham ibn Ezra spent the last years of his life, enjoyed significant agricultural, commercial and artisanal activitythroughout the Middle Ages, and had a large number of doctors, landlords and tax collectors.

The old jewry’s location corresponds to what is now known as Rasillo de San Francisco, in the old Roman town’sacropolis, under the protection of the castle. In the 15th century, it was the finest jewry in La Rioja, with a populationof about 600 people and its own walled enclosure inside the city. The synagogue stood on the site now occupied bythe Hermitage of San Sebastián. The diocesan museum of the cathedral conserves one of the city’s treasures: theTorah discovered in 1929 as a cover of two books of Town council records from the 15th century; written on aparchment of goat skin, it stands out for the care taken with the writing and for the quality of the ink.

After the expulsion, the surnames Calahorra or Calahora bear witness to the presence of old Calahorra Jews inKrakow (Poland), during the 16th and 17th centuries.

C A L A H O R R A , L a R i o j a ’s m a i n a l j a m a

A S S O C I A T E

Roman bridge

Jewish baths

Monument to Quintilian

View of Calahorra


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Founded in the year 1090 by King Sancho Ramírez, on the old Vascon town of Lizarra, Estella was a fundamentallocation on the Camino de Santiago, whose age of glory is recalled by its magnificent Romanesque remains from the 11thand 12th centuries. The donation document of Olgacena, from 1135, registering the handing over of this site, which belongedto the Jews, to the Church of El Santo Sepulcro, represents the first testimony of Jewish presence in Estella, and also recallsthe name of an aljama which, just a few years later, in 1144, also “handed over” the site of its synagogue for the constructionof the Church of Santa María de Jus del Castillo. In the second half of the 12th century, however, a large number of Jewssettled in Estella, forming an influential jewry that enjoyed the trust of the crown, to the extent that it was entrusted toguard the frontier of the Kingdom, and which possible had the only synagogue known that was exclusively for women.

The jewry, comprised in the neighborhood of Elgacena, was first located below the castle and, in the 12th century, wasmoved inside the town walls. Apart from traditional Hebrew trades, such as crafts, commerce, medicine, agriculture orfinancial activities, Estella’s Jewish tanners were renowned in their day. The historian and scholar of the Talmud Menahemben-Zéraj, in his book Zedah-Laderek, describes the bloody events of March, 1328, when the Jews of Estella, aided by manyother Hebrews who had taken refuge in this jewry, faced off against their Christian attackers, who had to retreat and recruitpeasants from neighbouring villages before, all together, they were able to plunder the neighborhood.

Arranged around the hill of San Vicente, where there used to be a hillfort of the Lemavos (“those of the flat andfertile valley”) and where the Castle of Los Condes now stands, Monforte de Lemos is a town with a solid historicalbasis integrated in the heart of the wine-producing districts of La Sacra Ribeira; “monte fort” (fortress hill) whichenjoyed considerable privileges from the kings of Galicia in the Middle Ages. In this setting of aristocratic protection,both royal and from the counts, a Jewish community flourished in Monforte, at least from the first dating registered,in the 10th century, and it was an important part of the town’s life until the end of the 15th century.

Also distributed around different parts of the old quarter, Monforte’s Hebrews had their traditional jewry around CalleAbelardo Baanante, known locally as A Calesa. At one point, they were so numerous that the townsfolk of Monfortethemselves were nicknamed contemptuously as “Jews” or “Rabudos” (Tailed Ones).

The tombstone found in the Jewish cemetery belonging to Juan Gaibor and his son, “xudeos mayores” (principal Jews)of the town, bears witness to the presence of a family of Jews, first, and later of converts, of considerable importanceand influence in Monforte. After the conversion, the town was famous for registering the highest number of processesagainst secret worshippers of the Jewish faith in the 16th to 18th centuries. Legends like the “Cristo de los Azotes”,which was apparently secretly whipped by a Jew in the synagogue, or the story of the “Cristo de la Colada”, which aJewish woman regularly dipped in a tub of hot water to distort its shape, are part of the town’s most intimate stories.

S T E L L A , a n d t h e a l j a m a o f E l g a c e n aE

O N F O R T E D E L E M O S , a n d t h e R a b u d o sM

E D J E W R I E S

Church of El Santo Sepulcro

View of Estella

View of the town

Roman bridge


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A key location on the Silver Route, on the banks of the River Jerte, Plasencia was founded “ut placeat Deo el hominibus” (toplease God and men) in the year 1180, by the Castilian King Alfonso VIII. A walled town, a place of study that at one point hadthree universities, from the very beginning of its medieval history, Plasencia included the presence of a significant communityof Jews, whose contribution to the town’s splendour in the 14th and 15th centuries was considerable.

Of the four jewries in the diocese (Plasencia, Béjar, Medellin and Trujillo), the one in Plasencia was definitely the most economicallyprosperous. If the Jews prevailed over the Christians in bids for disbursements from the Zúñiga family in the 15th century, weknow that many of them were landowners, and others leased vineyards to the Town Council in different parts of the municipaldistrict. Although many of them lived in houses scattered around the town, the jewry was located in the neighbourhood of LaMota, which was turned into a ghetto between 1412 and 1419, by means of a fence and a gate closed at night.

When the counts of Plasencia confiscated the old synagogue in 1477, in order to extend their palace and the Convent of SanVicente Ferrer (today a State “Parador” Hotel), the ghetto moved to around a new synagogue, built in Calle Trujillo, in themodern-day Plaza de Ansano, a site currently occupied by the Palace of the Carvajal family. Facing the Church of San Nicolás,whose atrium was the scenario for the “mixed litigations” between Christians and Jews, was the Jewish brotherhood, which inits period of maximum splendour numbered two hundred families in Plasencia.

With two thousand years of history, Tarazona’s heraldic arms bear the legendary motto of its foundation: “Tubal Caínme aedificavit. Hércules me raedificavit” (Túbal and Cain built me. Hercules rebuilt me). Roman “Turiaso” was already hometo an early contingent of Jews, who remained in the town with the Visigoths and the Muslims, and later with the Christians.In the 12th century, Moshé de Portella was Bailiff of the aljama and the town, controlling taxes and the frontier, and in the14th century the jewry was plundered and destroyed by the Castillians during the “War of the Two Pedros”, with reconstructionwork starting from 1370 onwards. The Turia jewry’s period of maximum glory, comprising around four hundred people, didnot suffer the bloody events of 1391 with the same intensity as other aljamas; after the Inquisition (1484) and the order ofexpulsion (1492) half the community left for Navarre and the other half converted to Christianity.

Known as “La Rúa”, after the expulsion, the old jewry was located next to La Zuda (the old Muslim citadel, now the Episcopalpalace), around Calle Judería, in the neighborhood of El Cinto, whose Mudejar layout has survived to the present day. ThePorticiella (in the Rúa Baja) or the gateways of Plaza Nueva (now Plaza España) and Plaze de la Zuda (Rúa Alta) markedout this aljama which, around 1450, was enlarged with the new jewry, extending it to Plaza de Santa María. Partially conserved,the main synagogue, on Rúa Alta, was reconstructed in 1371 after the war; a smaller synagogue and the mikve or ritual Jewishbaths are also documented. The Chapterhouse archives conserve a significant collection of Hebrew codexes.

P L A S E N C I A a n d t h e J e w s o f L a M o t a

T A R A Z O N A a n d t h e J e w i s h S t r e e t s

A S S O C I A T E D J E W R I E S

Town walls

Inside the “Parador” Hotel

Street in Tarazona

Tarazona Town Council


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E-mail addresses for the offices of the Network of Jewish Sites in Spain

Telephone numbers for the offices of the Network of Jewish Sites in Spain

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