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T H E J E W S I NSPAINWith thanks to the many contributors to this feature in Spain, the UK,the USA and Canada and particular thanks to Michael Alpert andDominique Tomasov Blinder for the advice they provided.

PRE-ISLAMIC SPAIN1st and 2nd centuries CE Following thedestruction of the Temple and the defeat ofJewish rebellions, Jewish exiles reachRoman Spain. 586 The Visigothic king of Spain tries toforce Jews to adopt Christianity.

ISLAMIC SPAIN 8TH-13TH CENTURY

711 Muslims conquer Spain: the GoldenAge for Jews begins.915-970 Hasdai ibn Shaprut, a Jew,becomes Chief Minister of the Caliph ofCórdoba.993-1064 Shmuel ibn Nagrela, the Jewishpoet and military leader, becomes ChiefMinister of Granada.

Poets, grammarians, Bible commentatorsand philosophers include Dunash ibnLabrat, Menahem ibn Saruk, Shlomo ibnGabirol, Abraham ibn Ezra and RabbiMoshe ben Maimon (Maimonides or theRambam).

CHRIST IAN SPAIN13th century There is rapid Christianconquest of Islamic Spain and attempts tolimit the administrative role of Jews.1263 Rabbi Moshe ben Nahman(Nahmanides or the Ramban) defendsJudaism at Disputation of Barcelona.1348 The Black Death unleashes attackson Jews who are thought to be responsiblefor the epidemic.June 1391 Violent attacks on Jewishcommunities. Many Jews acceptChristianity.1413-1414 Disputation of Tortosa betweenJewish leaders and converts leads togeneral weakening of Jewish solidarity andmass conversion. However, many converts(New Christians) continue to practiseJudaism secretly.1449 Statute of Toledo marks thebeginning of ‘Purity of Blood’discrimination against Jewish converts toChristianity, reflecting suspicions that thelatter still live as Jews.1449-1474 Widespread rioting against NewChristians.1480 Isabel of Castile and Fernando ofAragon, joint monarchs, establish theInquisition to investigate religious conductof converts and their descendants..6 February 1481 In Seville, the first Autode Fe ceremony takes place in whichheretics confess and are reconciled to theChurch, or are burnt at the stake ifimpenitent .1481- Intense inquisitorial activity.31 March 1492 Edict of Expulsion of allunconverted Jews.Summer 1492 Tens of thousands of Jewsleave Spain for Portugal, North Africa,Italy and the Ottoman Empire. Many othersaccept Christian baptism.2nd August 1492 Columbus sets sail insearch of India with converts in his crew.1580-1640 Inquisition takes energetic stepsagainst secret Jews. 16th-17th centuries Spanish andPortuguese New Christians leave IberianPeninsula for Bayonne, Bordeaux andItaly, and establish communities inAmsterdam, Hamburg, the Caribbean,New York and London.

THE END OF THE INQUISITION

1768 Last Auto de Fe with Jews in Spain.1834 Spanish Inquisition is abolished.

JEWS RETURN TO SPAIN1834-5 Lionel de Rothschild is invited toMadrid to organise Spanish finances.1859-60 Spain reconnects with its exiledJews in Morocco. A Jewish communityestablished in Seville. 1865 Statutes of ‘Purity of Blood’abolished.1924 Spain allows Sephardim to acquireSpanish nationality. 1931 The Constitution of the SecondRepublic allows public practice ofJudaism.1936-75 The Franco regime impedes thepractice of Judaism but slowly comes totolerate it.From late1940s There is a wave ofimmigration of Moroccan Jews.1967 Law of Religious Liberty allows theopen practice of Judaism in Spain.1970s/ 80s Jewish immigrants arrive fromSouth America, mostly from Argentina,fleeing the oppressive regime and, later,economic hardship. 1992 King of Spain abrogates the Edict ofExpulsion. 2008 There are an estimated 35,000 Jewsliving in Spain, about 20,000 affiliated tocongregations.

Michael Alpert is Emeritus Professorof the Modern and Contemporary Historyof Spain, University of Westminster.

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T I M E L I N E MICHAEL ALPERT

Previous page: Sinagoga CórdobaA Hebrew inscription indicates 1350 as thedate of the synagogue’s construction. Theinterior features exquisite Mudéjar stuccotracery of plant motifs. The women’s gallerystill stands, and in the east wall is the arkwhere the sacred scrolls of the Pentateuchwere kept. With the expulsion of the Jews itbecame a hospital and in 1588 a Catholicchapel. Today it is a museum.

Right: Sinagoga del Tránsito in ToledoFounded around 1356 by Shmuel HaLeviAbulafia, member of a prominent Jewishfamily and treasurer and advisor to KingPedro I of Castile. It defied all the laws aboutsynagogues being smaller and lower thanchurches, and plain of decoration.

Featuring Nasrid-style polychromestucco-work and Hebrew inscriptions of thenames of God, it is one of the best survivingexamples of mudéjar architecture.

After the expulsion of the city’s Jews itwas converted into a church and is now aMuseum of Sephardi culture.

Photos: Courtesy Turespaña

Statue of philospher and poet Ibn Gabirol in MalagaBorn Málaga about 1021; died about 1058 in Valencia

It could have been a warm spring day,the kind full of promise. It was seasonalfor apricot trees to be in bloom, massingwhite flowers against a clear blue sky.Absorbing their lightness and perfume,one could almost have hoped thesituation would improve.

But then, perhaps the wind pickedup; flowers floated to the ground, dogschased their tails, wild children ran...thewind blew down from the direction ofthe palace, high on the cliff. Themessage it carried could not havesurprised, only stunned affected ears.“King Fernando and Queen Isabel, bythe Grace of God...to the prince LordJuan...and all good men,...and to theresidential quarter of the Jews,...and tobarons and women...Salutations andgrace.” The year was 1492.

The Edict of the Expulsion of Jewsgoes on. “Wicked Christians whoJudaized” (new Christians who followedany Jewish practices) were blamed formaintaining contact with Jews. It was feltthat contact made it easier to re-convertthem. Jews had therefore been isolatedinto separate neighbourhoods.

But the Inquisition judged this didn’tremedy the situation. Hence the Edict,which reads to its final solution. “Thosewho perturb the good and honest life ofcities and towns by contagion can injureothers...therefore we...resolve to order thesaid Jews and Jewesses of our kingdoms todepart and never to return...”

Jews who wished to convert werewelcome to stay, although there wereactually only about 50,000 Jews (Henry

Kamen, The Disinherited) who hadn’tconverted by 1492. But the Edict warns,‘conversos’ aren’t trustworthy. Actually,neither fleeing as Jews nor staying putas Christians were particularlyviable choices.

There had probably been a Jewishpresence on the Iberian Peninsula fromRoman times. In 711, Jews hadsupported and accompanied theconquering Moors to this westernfrontier. A synthesis of Jews fromdifferent traditions and Arabs had forgeda civilisation rich in scholarship, cultureand commerce known as the GoldenAge. Coexistence, or convivencia, was afact of life for the multi-ethniccommunity.

Key to the melding of peoples duringthis period was the Jewish capacity toseparate religion and culture. Religionwas private; the Jewish public face wasinternational. Jews functioned as thecourtier class between the Muslim andChristian communities. Multilingual, theyalso translated for local consumption theclassical philosophy that Arabs hadcarried west. Jewish thinkers alsobenefited. Ibn Gabirol wrote a Neo-Platonic work, Mekor Hayyim, TheSource of Life, that was read inmonasteries throughout the Middle Ages.Kabbalah, first put into written form inSpain, came to incorporate Neo-Platonicthinking as well.

As for Aristotelian thought,Maimonides, son of a Córdoban rabbi,wrote of faith and reason in his Guide tothe Perplexed. Published in Arabic,

translated into Hebrew and finally intoLatin, it greatly influenced Christian andJewish religious thinking. The philo-sophical and intellectual work done inSpain eventually supported theRenaissance in Italy.

The stage for this period was mostlyin southern, subtropical Andalusia,specifically within the triangle ofCórdoba, Seville and Granada.Economic prosperity was the Caliph’sgoal and Jews participated. They hadvines and produced fine wines; theymanufactured textiles, particularly silks,as well as being skilled at yarn dyeingand tanning leather. They madejewellery and weapons. They excelled asdoctors, mathematicians and scientificresearchers, while continuing asscholars, translators and court Jews.They were also international traders.Never before had Jews operated fromsuch a broad base.

It was through speaking Arabic thatJews reconsidered the merits of Hebrew,remembered its past literary use andbegan to write Hebrew poetry. “Send acarrier pigeon/Though she cannotspeak/With a tiny letter/Attached to herwings/Sweetened with saffron water...”(Nagrela).

Spain might have been far from thecentre of the world, but there were linesof communication. Jewish poets werecognizant of crusader chaos in the HolyLand. “My heart is in the East and I in the

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T h e G o l d e n A g eM A R I O N N I N A A M B E R c e l e b r a t e s a p e r i o dw h e n “ c o e x i s t e n c e w a s a f a c t o f l i f e ”

Statue of Maimonides in Córdoba Photo: Courtesy Turespaña

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U nlike the music of the Europeanmedieval Christian world, themusic of medieval Jews and

Muslims wasn’t written down. But, whilewe don’t know much about the musicitself, we do know a fair amount aboutthe role it played in medieval IberianJewish life. Jewish poetry and musicwere tied in many ways to the music ofMuslim Al-Andalus and, later, to themusic of the Iberian Christian world.

The 10th century Sephardi poetDunash ibn Labrat adapted Hebrewpoetry to Arabic poetry’s quantitativemetres and strophic forms with refrains.Besides major implications forcomposition, this meant that melodiescould easily be sung by groups ofpeople together and that they could beused interchangeably for poems of thesame metre. Often Hebrew poems weresung to the melodies of secular Arabicsongs, and later on songs in Romancelanguages. This practice of settingpoems to pre-existing tunes, known ascontrafactum, continues in Sephardiculture today.

Curiously, even as increasingimportance was being given to thecantor’s role and the beauty of his voice,some medieval Iberian Christiansdescribed synagogue singing as less thanaesthetically satisfying. Some labeled itloud and disorderly; a frequent term forJews and Conversos was lamentadores,referring to their use of the exclamation‘guay!’ (woe). We don’t know whether orto what extent these remarks may havereflected a perspective of denigrating orsatirizing Jews.

Outside the synagogue, Hebrew

came to be used for secular as well asreligious poetry. Learned poets oftenknown as the ‘rabbi courtiers’ producedboth secular, often quite earthy, poetry inHebrew and Arabic, as well as religiouspoetry: Sometimes an ageing poetrenounced secular genres and devotedhimself to religious compositions. Thework of the legendary poets of Sepharadsuch as Yehudah Halevy, Moshe ibn Ezra,and Shmuel ibn Nagrela (‘Ha-Nagid’),remains timeless today.

Jewish musicians and poets wereinvolved in non-Jewish settings as well.When the legendary ninth centurymusician Ziryab arrived in Al-Andalus,Jewish musicians were alreadyassociated with music at high levels,and their involvement continued in theChristian courts. There were Jewishtroubadours, and an unusual collectionof Judeo-Catalan wedding poems fromthe late 14th century offers quitepractical advice to the newly-weds,incorporating Hebrew Biblicalquotations into the Catalan verses.

Only three women poets are specificallyknown to us, though others may wellhave existed. The first, unnamed, isthought to have been the wife of thepoet Dunash ibn Labrat. Her onesurviving poem, in Hebrew, is unusualin that it speaks of both marriage andchildren.Toward the end of the medievalperiod, in the 15th century, Merecina ofGerona wrote religious poetry, inHebrew, but we know almost nothingelse about her. The AndalusianQasmuna, who wrote in Arabic, isthought to have lived in 12th-centuryGranada and to have been the daughterof vizier and poet Shmuel ibn Nagrela.Apparently, when her father heard herpoem about feeling like a garden readyfor harvest with no gardener at hand, hemarried her off without delay.

Several names of Jewish minstrels,juglares, have also come down to us,including some women’s names. Indeed,Jewish women’s knowledge of localmelodies is evident in rabbis’ criticismsof their singing lullabies with Christiantunes. In the life cycle, besides lullabies

J U D I T H C O H E N

M U S I C A Nutmost West,/How can I find savour infood? How shall it be sweet to me?/Howshall I render my vows and my bonds, whileyet/Zion lieth beneath the fetters of Edom,and I in Arab chains?...” (Yehuda Halevi, tr.Nina Salaman).

And the Crusades were just one of thestressors; the pendulum swings. Time wasrunning out for the Jews of Spain. “...like anEthiopian woman in raiment of gold/And ofblue inset with crystals./And the stars areconfused in the heart of the sea/Likestrangers driven out of their homes;...Andthe sea appeareth as a firmament–/They aretwo seas bound up together;/And betweenthem is my heart, a third sea,/Lifting upever anew my waves of praise.” (Halevi, tr.Nina Salaman).

In the 11th century came theFundamentalist Muslim Berber invasions,the sacking of Cordoba, followed in the12th century by the conquest of southernSpain. The uneducated, uncultured invadersabhorred liberality and viewed theAndalusian Arab Muslims as weak.Thousands of Jews were killed, takencaptive or forced to convert to Islam. Thedecimated Jewish community mostly flednorth to Toledo and other cities in ChristianSpain and southern France.

As the Christian Reconquista of Spainbegan, Jews served the courts, smoothingthe way for their new leaders. The rich stillflourished but in many towns, ghettos wereestablished and baptism increased. Innorthern Spain, Jewish culture never reachedthe glory that it had in the south. And around1400, many more Jews converted to escapeviolent antisemitic riots.

When the Expulsion came, it was inrecognition of growing Jewish power ratherthan the stated reason that Jews were re-converting conversos. Thus the Edict comesto a close. “...And we likewise give licenceand faculty to those said Jews and Jewessesthat they be able to export their goods andestates out of these our said kingdoms andlordships by sea or land as long as they donot export gold or silver or coined money orother things prohibited...exceptingmerchandise and things that are notprohibited...Given in our city of Granada,the XXXI day of the month of March, theyear of the birth of our lord Jesus Christ onethousand four hundred and ninety-twoyears. I, the King, I the Queen...”

Marion Nina Amber is a California-basedpainter, teacher and student of SpanishKabbalah under London-based Z’ev benShimon Halevi.

From Golden Haggadah, Catalonia early 14th century,showing Miriam the prophetess

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POET andGENERALMENASHE TAHAN

Shmuel Halevy ben-Yoseph ibn Nagrela,called HaNagid (The Governor), was oneof the most towering and colourfulpersonalities in Jewish history. He was agrand vizier, military commander, andgovernor of the Jewish community, adistinguished Talmudist, Biblical scholarand grammarian, a patron of the arts anda great poet.

He was born in Córdoba in 993but at the age of 20 he had to flee thecity when it was devastated andpillaged by rebellious Berbers. Lonelyand impoverished he reached Malagawhere he opened a spice shop and alsoworked as a scribe.

Legend has it that he used to writeletters for a female client who was theconcubine of a vizier (minister) at thecourt of Granada. When reading theletters the vizier was so impressed byShmuel’s literary style that hesummoned him to the city.

In Granada he first served as a taxcollector, then as vizier’s assistant, andlater as vizier to King Habus. In 1027he was also nominated Nagid, ie agovernor of the Jewish community ofGranada. Ten years later he wasappointed chief vizier of King Badis,and commander of the kingdom’s army.

Over 18 years Nagrela servedvariously as field commander, ministerof defence or chief of staff. In hiscapacity as grand vizier, he helpedestablish Granada as one of the mostprosperous and powerful of theAndalusian mini-states. He continuedto serve the Jewish and Muslimcommunities until his death in 1056.

Despite his achievements, HaNagidhad numerous enemies within thekingdom impatiently calling for hisdownfall. There were also enemieselsewhere, like Ahmad ibn Abbas thevizier of the kingdom of Almeria. IbnAbbas aggressively demanded from

Granada’s rulers the dismissal of theJewish minister, stressing the sin ofgiving ‘that infidel’ a senior positionover Muslims.

In August 1038 ibn Abbasunexpectedly appeared in Granada atthe head of his powerful army,demanding the downfall of HaNagid.All efforts to dissuade him failed andGranada decided to repel his army. Itsforces set an ambush in the mountainsand the following day in a fierce battledefeated Almeria’s army, killed theking and captured and executed ibnAbbas. Granada, HaNagid and theJewish community were saved.

In gratitude to God, HaNagid wrotean epic poem (Eloha Oz) recording theevents and describing the horrific battleof Alfuente. The following is a shortfreely translated extract :

Like our biblical heroes, King Davidand Debora, HaNagid wrote a poemabout every battle and sent it from thefield to be read in the synagogue. Hewas unique among Sepharad’s poets inincluding war as a theme of his poetry.

A prolific writer, he composedsome 2,000 poems, which have beengathered in three major compilations:Ben Tehillim, Ben Mishle and BenKoheleth. His poetry, filled withelegance, wisdom and originality,influenced generations of Jewish bardsincluding modern Israeli poets, such asYehuda Amihai.

Fortunately most of HaNagid’spoems, which had been lost forcenturies, were found in 1924 in a crateof old manuscripts. The discoverycaused exhilaration throughout theJewish world. The national poet ChaimNahman Bialik wrote: “A kind of lightshines on the marvellous Prince, uponhim, his period and the poets of his day.The man is unrivalled in our history.”

Dr Menashe Tahan is a polymerscientist with a special interest inJewish history and the poetry ofSepharad.

Jewish harpist with chess players in Book of Gamescommissioned by King Alphonso X of Castile in 13th century

D P O E T R Y

The ground shook to its foundations and crumbled like the city of GomoraThe horses rushed to and fro Like vipers gushing from a denThe soaring lances resembled lightning Filling the air with glowThe arrows fell like rain The shields turned into sievesThe bows in their hands looked like serpentsEach spitting buzzing bees

tr: Menashe Tahan

and wedding songs, women were centralin singing for birth and death. Womensang and played hand drums during theirnight vigils with new mothers, on theseven nights before the circumcision;this custom was important enough tohave been continued by some Conversasand, as the Moroccan Sephardi hadas orfadas, into the 20th century.

Women were professional mourners,even sometimes employed by Christians.In 14th century Saragossa a chiefwoman mourner is described asaccompanying herself on a hand drumwhile other women lamented andclapped their hands, and in the 15thcentury Jewish women mourners intonedlaments, in public, on the death ofAlfonso V.

The importance of music in medievalIberian Jewish life and in the lives of theConversos continued in the diaspora,where Jewish musicians distinguishedthemselves, for example, at Ottomancourts. At the very moment of theExpulsion of 1492, a Spanish priestpenned the observation that “the rabbisencouraged the women and boys to singand to play frame drums to cheer peopleup, and so they left...”. And so indeedthey left – but today they continue tosing, and, centuries later, to bring theirmusic back to Sepharad.

Judith Cohen is a Toronto-based musicianand ethno-musicologist specialising inSephardic music and the role of women inmedieval Jewish music. Her CD Canciones de Sefarad features somemedieval settings. Madrid, Pneuma PN270.

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T H E ‘ N E W C H R I S T I A N S ’In Christian Spain, whose territoriesexpanded rapidly southward into MuslimAndalusia during the 13th century, theincreasingly powerful middle class andnobles challenged the Jews, whose rolehad been to serve monarchs by organisingfinances, collecting taxes and running theadministration. The Church, for its part,strove to convert the Jews. And so,despite the tendency of the monarchs toprotect them, the Jewish population ofChristian Spain was constantly underpressure to accept baptism.

In 1391, Jewish communities all overSpain were attacked and wrecked. Thenext 50 years saw the growth of a newand identifiable sector of the population:converted Jews and their descendants,known as ‘New Christians’. As thegenerations passed, many of theseintermarried with ‘Old Christian’ familiesbut a significant number continued topractise Judaism in the intimacy of theirfamilies while outwardly complying withtheir obligations as Christians.

By the mid 15th century, somesecond or third generation converts wereimportant in town administration, taxcollection and even in the Churchhierarchy but the hostility often directedagainst Jews was also suffered by theconverts, especially at times of distress.

The crisis came to a head in 1449 inToledo when it was laid down that nodescendant of Jews could be a memberof the cathedral clergy. This was thebeginning of what was to be known asthe ‘Purity of Blood’ (Limpieza deSangre) rule, by which one had to provepure Old Christian descent in order toachieve high posts.

Suspicion that New Christians werestill practising Judaism became thepretext for riot, which led to civil wars.Therefore, in 1480, the joint monarchs,Fernando of Aragon and Isabel ofCastile, set up an Inquisition, run by theChurch, but tightly controlled by theState. Its task was to investigate theheresy of Judaizing – baptisedChristians continuing Jewish practices.

The Inquisition was extremelyviolent in its early years, harshlypunishing those whom it judged to besecret Jews and who did not accept theopportunity to make a full confession.The Inquisition saw Judaizers as heretics

who were endangering their eternalsouls and its task as rescuing these soulsby whatever means possible.

While statistics are not available forthe early years of the Inquisition, in lateryears, probably about 10% of peoplecharged with secret Judaism wereburned at the stake. There were a fewJewish martyrs, who died proclaimingthat Judaism was ‘the faith in whichthey hoped to live and die’. Probablyseveral tens of thousands of secret Jewshad unpleasant dealings with theInquisition during its 354 years ofactivity.

A suspect would be arrested, oftenduring the night, separated at once fromspouse and family so that they could notcollude in their statements. Theirproperty was sold to pay for theirupkeep while in gaol. They wereimprisoned in solitary cells, though notill-treated. It was not in the interest ofthe Inquisition for them to fall ill or die,but to make a confession, implicateothers, and then appear at the publicAuto de Fe and admit their sin, plead forforgiveness and make due penitence.

W H AT W A S J U D A I Z I N GIn hundreds of pages of testimony at thetrials, where for months or even yearsprisoners were rigorously interrogated,we learn about the limited Jewishpractices of the New Christians as lateas seven or eight generations after theirancestors had converted.

Usually the prisoners denied that theywere anything but sincere Christians.Some of them were, but thought theycould be Jews at the same time. Othershad family traditions which told them that‘the Law of Moses’ had not been annulledby that of Jesus, as Catholic doctrine said.Revealing that they were “observers ofthe Law of Moses”, as the Inquisitioncalled them, (the Inquisition never usedthe word ‘Marranos’, meaning ‘pigs’paradoxically employed by Jewishhistorians) in secret meetings with otherNew Christian Judaizers and the practiceof seeking marriage partners amongpeople like themselves was seen by theInquisition as proof of Judaizing.

Over the centuries and with theexperience of thousands of confessions,carefully counterchecked, the Inquisitiongrew to learn exactly what secret Judaism

was. Although fewmale babies werecircumcised becauseof the risk ofdiscovery, Judaizerstried to keep Jewishlaw on sabbath andfestivals and in diet.Most importantly,they sought marriagepartners from other‘observant’ families.

REFUGEES FROMTHE INQUIS IT IONOne of theconditions forrelease of a prisonerwho had confessed,appeared as apenitent at the greatceremonial Auto deFe, suffered publichumiliation and imprisonment, was notto approach a port or a frontier. Thesuspicion was that the Judaizers mighttry to emigrate to somewhere wherethey could practise their religion infreedom. This indeed is the origin ofcommunities of Spanish and PortugueseJews in Amsterdam, and London, andthose of the West Indies and New York.

MAKING A JUDGMENTIt’s not easy to judge the Inquisition. Othercountries have had restrictions on thepractice of religions other than the officialone, but only under the Inquisition wereordinary people treated harshly for theabsolutely private practice of their religion.

The worst aspects were not so muchburning at the stake – for capitalpunishment was frequent enougheverywhere – or torture – for judicialtorture was widespread and employedwith fewer safeguards than by theInquisition. Rather they were thepsychological torture of arrest, solitaryimprisonment and the destruction of theinner strength and even the personalityof the victim. The use of confessions ofspouses, siblings and children broke upfamilies and imposed a culture in whicheven silent dissidence was forbidden.

Michael Alpert is author of Secret Judaism andthe Spanish Inquisition, Fiveleaves, 2008, pb,260pp £14.99

INQUIS IT ION M I C H A E L A L P E R T

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C O N V E R S O SO N T R I A L

BLANCA RAMIREZ

At Blanca Ramirez’s 1523 trial in Toledo Blanca’s maid, Ana

Diaz, reported how the converso Ramirez family used to dress

up on Friday nights before going to the synagogue, where they

washed their hands at the door and lit candles. They contributed

money for the Jewish poor. The Ramirez family kept as kosher

a kitchen as possible, instructing their maids to “remove the fat

and the vein from the leg of lamb, and to soak it three times in

salt water.” When Blanca baked she always threw a few bits of

dough into the fire, telling her maid that “the smoke that rose from

those pieces ascended to heaven…” On the day before Yom

Kippur, Blanca washed herself in the mikvah with the Jewish

women and then gathered with her family for a meal of olives

and unleavened bread, followed by meat. On Sukkot, the converso

women put on their finest clothes and went to visit the booths of

the Jews. A servant named Mana, who worked for Blanca’s mother-

in-law, contributed an extraordinarily detailed recipe for

Sabbath stew (See A Taste of Spain page 55).

From A Dr i zz le o f Honey, p .155

DAVID M GITLITZ and LINDA KAY DAVIDSON, a husband and wife team, both professors atthe University of Rhode Island, have each written several books on Spanish culture. In twodecades of reading Inquisition testimonies they found 90 references to Jewish cooking andthey used these to create a wonderful cookery book, A Drizzle of Honey. On our Food page(p 55) we give one of the recipes which are all based on ingredients specified by witnesses.Each recipe is preceded by a story on the lines of those above. This book is a treasuretrove for those whose interests encompass cooking and history. See page 54 for more aboutthe cooking practices of medieval Spain in general and its Jewish inhabitants in particular.

A DRIZZLE OF HONEY, DAVID GITLITZ AND LINDA DAVIDSON, St Martin’s Griff in, 1999, pb,332pp, £11.17 Extracts above and on page 54/55 copyright ©1999 by the authors andreprinted by permission of St Martin’s Press, LLC

ISABEL NÚÑEZIn 1621, 129 years after the expulsion of the Jews, 38-year-old Isabel Núñez, the widow of Francisco Paulo, was arrestedafter having been denounced as a Judaizer in Ciudad Rodrigoby one of her deceased husband’s bastard teenage sons. Theboy accused Isabel of a host of Sabbath observances: cleaningher home thoroughly on Friday, sweeping the floor from theoutside in, putting clean sheets on her bed, and lightingSabbath candles with the words “Lord Adonay, bring meluck; Lord Adonay, free me from my enemies ...” He saidshe and his father called the holy images “idols”, and whenthey were reading religious books and came to the nameJesus, they ripped out the page and threw it away. In churchthey avoided pronouncing the name Jesus by substituting thename Cristobal Sanchez and she made fun of the Eucharistand spit it out after the priest had given it to her. He reportedthat Isabel and her family were well aware of the risks ofemploying old-Christian servants, because they threatenedthem that if they ever spoke of anything they had witnessedin the house, Isabel would sew their mouths shut. The boy said that Isabel was committed to Jewishcooking and that she koshered her meat by salting andsoaking it. The boy added that she could not stand the taste,sight or even the smell of salt pork. On Passover she bakedher own matzah and they broke their Yom Kippur fast withthe Sabbath recipe of fish and chickpea broth. In repeated testimony, sometimes under torture, Isabeldenied all charges, protesting that she could not be a crypto-Jew because she frequently ate pork. Her lawyer called 54character witnesses in her behalf, despite the fact that manyof these were conversos and therefore automaticallysuspect. Even though their chief witness had been veryspecific about Isabel’’s Judaizing customs, the inquisitorsdecided that they did not have enough evidence to convicther. So, after two and a half years of incarceration, she wasset free.

From A Dr i zz le o f Honey , p. 91

MARIA AND MARTIN GARDA

After their conversion Maria and Martin Garda continued

to live in the same house in the old aljama of Almazan in

which they had lived when they were Jews. In the early

1500s Maria’s neighbours were critical of how she

flaunted the Lenten dietary proscriptions against meat, for

they reported that even though Maria was not ill, several

times she had eaten fowl, or eggs, and once had eaten some

pastries mixed with beef broth. One of the family maids,

however, tried to excuse her mistress by saying that Maria

ate meat during Lent because she was pregnant. She also

said that Maria used to clean her shoes with the lumps of

fat which she scraped from the joints of meat she was

preparing. Another family servant, herself a convert, but

from Islam, remarked how Martin was fussy about his food.

He would not eat anything made with salt pork and

demanded that his meat be stewed in his own special pot.

Maria and Martin evidently preserved a number of other

Jewish customs. Their maid, Catalina, reported that every

night before going to bed her master did something

extremely odd: he washed his face and hands. Sometimes he

would try to justify himself to Catalina: “It’s good for a person

to wash his hands and face so that he will be clean before

saying his prayers”. She also complained that she never saw

him making the sign of the cross when he got up, or when

he went to bed, or when he blessed the table.

From A Dr i zz le o f Honey , p. 134

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George Sand’s Winter in Mallorcadescribes the time she spent on theisland with her lover, Frederic Chopin.It has references, all unflattering, toMallorcan Jews. She commentsdisparagingly on their dress, remarks ontheir ostentatiousness, faults them formanipulative bargaining to buy thevaluable possessions of theimpoverished aristocracy. Thereferences are puzzling. Were there Jewsin Mallorca in the middle of the 19thcentury? Kenneth Moore’s Those of theStreet (1976) answers the question. Sandwas referring to descendants ofMallorcan Jews, commonly known asthe Xuetas (pig eaters).

We visited Palma, the capital ofMallorca, in the 1990s. On our first day inthe city we noticed in the window of awomen’s clothing store a pair of stoneslabs with Hebrew lettering – the TenCommandments. Inside a woman wasreading the Daily Bulletin, the newspaperwhich serves Mallorca’s sizablecommunity of British transplants. “I’mJewish,” she told us when we asked aboutthe slabs. She went on to relate how sheis part of the Mallorcan Jewishcommunity begun in the 1940s byAshkenazi refugees who found sanctuaryon the island. The burgeoning post-warresort economy spurred its growth, andtoday it is a growing international groupwith its own synagogue and cemetery.

“But,” she added, “ask any nativeMallorcan where the Jewish section ofPalma is and they will direct you to theold section of town. Go to the Calle dePlateria (Street of Silver Shops) and see ifyou can meet a Xueta. Everyone stillthinks of them as Jews.”

Later we asked our guide Bernardo toshow us the Calle de Plateria and told himwe’d like to meet some Xuetas.

He seemed nonplussed. “Xuetas? Idon’t know what that means.” But hedrove us to the Gothic section and downthe Calle de Plateria – a narrow by-waylined with small jewellery stores.

After a while Bernardo warmed up abit and confessed that he did know aXueta, a young woman who works for

Mallorcan television. He said he wouldcall her and arrange a meeting.

We stopped for lunch. Bernardo hadseveral glasses of wine. Then he turnedconfidential. “You know, my wife’s sisteris married to a Xueta,” he said. “And atthe wedding, my father-in-law said hewould rather be at the cemetery than thechurch.” Then Bernardo fell silent. Themeeting with the television personalitynever came off.

That night, we walked down to theCalle de Plateria where storekeepers werestanding in the doorways of their smalljewellery shops. We stopped at one andasked the pleasant-looking man in front ofit if this was the Jewish section of town.“We are not Jewish,” he said. “The peoplein this neighbourhood are descended fromJews, but we are Catholic. There is ourchurch, St Eulalia,” he said, pointing to alarge edifice at the corner of the street.“We have a Jewish history, and I supposeit is interesting, but it is from long ago.”

He invited us into his shop andintroduced himself, Joan Bonnin, andhis son, a young man in his early 20s,

also Joan Bonnin. We began talkingabout the profusion of jewellery shopson the street, and the son said, “Theseshops have always been owned by theJewish families.”

Here lies the paradox of Mallorca, itsoxymoron: Jews who are not Jews;Catholic Jews. These are people whofollow no Jewish rituals, observe noMosaic law, yet are still perceived as Jews– even by themselves.

Bonnin, it turns out, is one of 15surnames that specifically identify thedescendants of Mallorca’s Jews who didnot convert until late in the 17th century.The Inquisition ran out of steam hereearly in the 16th century, and its Jewswere able to make their accommodationswith the larger culture while secretlycontinuing to practise their faith with thetacit knowledge and consent of the restof the population.

The fact that Mallorca was an island,isolated and cut off from the Iberianmainland, enabled its Jews to avoidconversion for 200 years after theExpulsion Edict until an Italian-Jewishtrader carelessly alluded to their presence.Then the Inquisition finally came toMallorca with a vengeance, breaking thewill of the last holdout, forcing all toabandon their faith.

But the irony was that although theJews sincerely converted at this point, theOld Christians did not allow them toassimilate into the larger society. And sothey remained a sub-culture, cut off fromsocial interaction and inter-marriage withthe rest, sustained by generations of intra-marriage and powerful ties of kinship.

“When they call us Jews, it’s notmeant as a compliment,” the youngerBonnin says. “But we are proud of ouraccomplishments. Our children do well inschool. We are successful in business. Andwe take care of one another. They call usJews, yes. But also People of the Streetbecause so many of us live on this streetwith the jewellery shops.”

“How about Xuetas?” we ask.“That too,” he says with some

embarrassment. “It means bacon-eaters,and it comes from the time of conversionwhen our forefathers used to eat bacon inthe doorways of their shops to prove theyhad really converted.”

These are the Jews George Sandrefers to and the ones Ann Maria Matutuespeaks of in her novel of the Spanish CivilWar years, School of the Sun. In the1940s, Nazi sympathizers included theXuetas in their antisemitic proclamations.And to this day, the church St Eulalia is

Catho l ic and JewishM Y R N A K A T Z F R O M M E R A N D H A R V E Y F R O M M E Rv i s i t e d M a l l o r c a i n t h e 1 9 9 0 s a n d d i s c o v e r e d ac o m m u n i t y w i t h a n u n b r o k e n l i n k t o S p a i n ’ sJ e w i s h p a s t

Calle de Plateria (Carre de l’Argentaria) Photo: Nicky Black

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still derisively called the ‘Synagogue ofthe Xuetas’.

But things began to changedramatically after the Second World Warwhen massive tourism shattered theprovincialism that had sustained the statusquo. Visitors from the Spanish peninsulasaw no difference between the Xuetasand other Mallorcans. The commonexpression became that all Mallorcans areJews. To which the Mallorcans began toreply, “Maybe we are”.

Under these changed circumstancesthe Xueta phenomenon becameMallorca’s shameful little secret, best keptwithin the family. The situation is rifewith irony. All over Spain, people arecurious to discover whether they haveJewish roots. In Mallorca, there is nodoubt. The descendants of Jews knowexactly who they are but there is very

little movement to re-assert Jewishidentity.

Joan Bonnin Senior told us theXueta community is very interested inIsrael. They follow all the news; theywere enthusiastic after the 1967victories. But he will go no further. “Asfar as our becoming Jewish again, it isfrom too long ago. The possibility nolonger interests us”.

Joan Bonnin Junior, however, isfascinated by his Jewish heritage. “I don’tknow much about it except for the storiesin the Bible. But I want to learn. I payattention to the news from Israel. I readabout the Holocaust. I have seenSchindler’s List.”

Then he adds: “My heart is Jewish.My blood is Jewish. But my religionis Catholic.”

A few years ago, this young man

married a non-Xueta. Only in this post-war generation has that begun to happen.“I am typical of my generation,” Bonninjunior said. “Many of us are inter-marrying. It doesn’t matter any more.Also, we are moving out of this oldneighborhood to the new sectionsof Mallorca.”

“It is a good thing,” he adds. “I amglad the old divisions are disappearing.But I do want to hold on to what I am andwhere I came from. I’d like my baby sonto know something of my history.”

It is clear that their eventful story isabout to end. No longer apart, they standon the cusp of history, about to move outinto the larger population – and oblivion.

Drs Myrna Katz Frommer and HarveyFrommer are US-based historiansand writers.

There is that old joke – if one Jew does something there is a majorfeature in the Jewish Chronicle, two Jews and antisemites showan interest, three Jews and a range of competing books come outon the subject.

That is not the case with Jews in the Spanish Civil War,volunteers for the anti-Franco Republican side. There havebeen thousands of books in English on the Civil War, whichran from 1936-1939, yet barely a mention of the Jewishpresence. And there were a lot more than three Jews… of the45,000 or so volunteers from 55 countries who fought in theInternational Brigade at least 7,000 and probably 10,000 wereJewish. Of the 2,000 volunteers from the UK at least 200 wereJewish. Of these, between 40 and 50 were killed.

Exact numbers, however, are difficult as names alone donot always reveal the ethnicity of the person. And manytravelled to Spain illegally, or under false names.

What we do know is that the first and last casualties fromthe Brigade were Jewish, and that from Poland about half ofthe Brigadiers were Jews – including the Yiddish-speakingBotwin Company, from Romania virtually all, and fromPalestine came some 300-500 members of the PalestineCommunist Party. They joined members of Hapoel who were

already in Spain for the Worker’s Olympiad. Jewish numberswere particularly high in the American Abraham LincolnBrigade and in the medical services, with Yiddish being thelingua franca among surgeons and nurses.

Who were these internationalist Jews? Here are few examples.London Jews Sam Masters and Nat Cohen, cycling in France,headed across the border to volunteer for the Republic, evenbefore the International Brigade was formed. Lionel Jacobs’father was a founder member of the British Communist Party,whose brother Juli Jacobs was founder of the Jewish People’sCouncil. Lionel had fought the fascists on the streets ofLondon, and saw the Spanish War as a continuation of that

JEWS IN THE SPANISHCIV IL WARROSS BRADSHAW

From left to right: Sid Avner, Nat Cohen ( leader of the group), Ramona (wholater married Cohen), Tom Wintringham, Georgio Tioli , Jack Barry and DavidMarshall. Photo courtesy of The International Brigade Memorial Trust

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fight. A tailor, Jacobs was captured and in prisonmade clothes from rags for other inmates. After thewar he became a leading trade unionist inNottingham. Just before his death, in theNottingham Jewish old people’s home, he remarked“I would do the same again. You have to do whatyour conscience dictates.” His last word to me was“Salud!”, the Republican greeting, given with theclenched fist salute.

Some of the Jewish volunteers played down theirJewishness. Not so Brigadier Maurice Levine, a cutterin the clothing trade, one of eleven children fromCheetham Hill in Manchester. In his autobiography,Cheetham Hill to Cordoba, he described hisattendance at the Kovno shtiebl in Manchester, beingactive in the Jewish Lads Brigade, and being sackedfrom a job for punching out an antisemite.

Nor did American Abe Osheroff play down hisJewishness. He began his political activism in the GreatDepression, once being caught and beaten by the policewho called him a “dirty, communist Jew bastard”.Osheroff remarked later “all of which was true, exceptfor the bastard part”. Like most of the volunteersOsheroff continued his active life on the left after theSpanish War, volunteering to fight in WW2, workingfor civil rights in Mississippi in the 1960s (where hiscar was blown up), working in Nicaragua in the 1980s,and, from 2003 against the war in Iraq.

Some volunteers were very much aware of the historyof Jews in Spain. Moris Kornblum certainly knew thatConverso stone masons carved stars of David oncathedrals they were working on: “As a kind ofresistance. To say that they had been there, that theyhad lived in Spain. That this is Jewish history.”Osheroff, again: “I came to Spain to fight for acountry that in 1492 barbecued my people.” He feltthat “history would be a very different beast if theSpanish Jews hadn’t been expelled in the first place.”

Others go further back into Jewish history.Wilfred (Mendy) Mendelson, writing to his father onJune 22, 1938: “Today Jews are returning welcomedby the entire Spanish people to fight the modernInquisition, and in many cases the directdescendants of the ancient persecution… Yes, Pop, Iam sure we are fighting in the best Maccabeantradition.” Mendy was killed one month later.

Jews were active worldwide in Aid to Spaincampaigns. Henry Suss, who died only recently,described how 60-70% of Manchester Jewishhouseholds gave every weekend for two years. Hisfather, a minor official in a local shul, gave 10% of hismeagre pension during that period. Suss was anotheractivist in the tailoring unions. There are photos of himstill demonstrating, against the war in Iraq, in hiswheelchair. The London Arbeiter Ring/Workmen’sCircle sent a two ton truck to Spain and sent 1,000s ofcigarettes to the Jewish Botwin Company. JacobEpstein was one of many Jewish artists who donatedwork for art sales for Spain; the anarchist EmmaGoldman organised a tour of Spanish artists.

Meanwhile Sidney Silverman took legal action toprevent shipments of nitrates from Britain to thefascist forces. Other Jewish figures involved includedthe Hungarian war photographer Robert Capa.

Time after time Jewish activists remarked how they sawSpain as the front line against fascism. After all, Hitlerand Mussolini both supported Franco with weapons andtroops. The Francoist General de Llano, in a radiobroadcast in October 1936, said: “Our war is not a SpanishCivil War, it is a war of Western civilisation against theJews of the entire world.” The fascist press referred to“Jews, Freemasons and Marxists” who must be wiped out,and in Tangier the Phalangists (supporters of Franco) putup notices encouraging Muslims to “declare war againstJews and communism.”

The Zionist movement was less forthcoming.Though Hashomer raised a little money for POUM(George Orwell’s group) and Histadrut madesupportive noises, Ha’aretz, on 24th December 1937,denounced American Jews for fighting in Spain ratherthan coming to Palestine to work. The late TeddyKolleck, never famed as a left-winger, on the otherhand said more “The question is not why they went,but rather why we didn’t go as well…”

It would be a mistake to eulogise all the Jewswho went to Spain. Some Russian Jews played anasty role in the suppression of POUM and theanarchists. Many of them, and other RussianBrigade members were killed by Stalin’s purges.These included Yaakov Shmushkevitch, whoorganised the Republic’s air force; MarcelRosenberg, the Russian ambassador, and ManfredStern, commander of the International Brigade onthe Madrid front. Stern was accused of Zionism andJewish nationalism, and died in Siberia.

The Republic of course was defeated. Thousands ofCatalans and Republicans fled across the border toFrance. Many later joined the French resistance.Others were interned and died in concentrationcamps. Republicans were also deployed as slavelabourers on Jersey, building underground facilities.Meanwhile, Franco’s Blue Division fought on theside of the Nazis on the Russian front.

Though there is plenty evidence of antisemitismon Franco’s side, thousands of Sephardim were able toclaim Spanish passports and escape the Nazis.

Could something similar happen again? Post-war, Jewish ex-servicemen formed the 43 Group tofight British fascists, but, disregarding the nature ofthe opposition, the nearest equivalent to Spain hasbeen the volunteer support for Israel’s wars in 1948and 1967. But the crucial difference is that in Spainthe Jewish volunteers were fighting for a countrywith which they had no direct connection, thoughthe link was clear enough and was expressed equallyclearly on the banner of the Botwin Company, inPolish, Yiddish and English – “For your freedom,and ours”.

Ross Bradshaw runs Five Leaves Publicationswww.fiveleaves.co.uk

Abe Osheroff

Manfred Stern

A longer/version of thisarticle first appeared inManna: the forum forProgressive Judaism.

The activities of Barcelona’s JewishHeritage Commission have generated adebate in the Catalan press.

In May 2007, an ancient Jewishcemetery was discovered in Tárrega, a smalltown west of Barcelona. The authoritiesdecided to excavate the site and had plannedto send the human remains for tests at thelaboratories at the University of Barcelona.

The Jewish Heritage Commissionapproached the authorities and explainedthe Jewish tradition that made thisunacceptable. They succeeded inpersuading the authorities to rebury the

exhumed bodies in the Jewish cemetery ofBarcelona.

This resulted in a manifesto from threearchaelogical associations deploring thatrespect for a religious tradition had impededscientific research.

When this appeared in the press,letters from the public unanimouslysupported the Jewish community’s position.Dominique repeated to me the comment of aworkman on the site: “I may only be a tractordriver but I am far from being simple and Iread a lot about Jewish culture. By seeingthe way you handled these dead yesterday, I

was able to understand how you surviveduntil today, regardless what you weresubject to during all history.”

Said Dominique: “Unfortunatelyexhumation continued at Tárrega and westill are pressing for the remaining bodies tobe reburied. There is still a lot to do. Wehave to work through Zakhor to create thelegal framework to prevent excavations ofJewish cemeteries, anywhere in Spain.”

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“I want to give a Jewish voice to theexplanation of the Jewish past – and toconnect it with the Jewish present. Manyin Spain cannot see any connection. Weare considered a species separate fromour history. The authorities are not keento talk to us. They say: “It is our history,

not yours. It has nothing to do withreligion”. This is partly because many ofus are Ashkenazi and they don’tunderstand that Judaism is much morethan religion.”

Dominique Tomasov Blinder,grandchild of Belarussian and UkranianJews who emigrated to Argentina, wasborn in New York and brought up inBuenos Aires. An architect byprofession, she has lived in Barcelonafor 17 years. She joined a group offamilies that were founding the city’sLiberal congregation ATID and in thelast nine years she has become apassionate advocate of the preservationof Jewish heritage – but from a Jewishpoint of view.

Dominique told me that a campaignshe had mounted with Israeli architectDavid Stoleru had born fruit. A medievalJewish cemetery in the town was to havehad a public toilet built over it. “It is

hidden from view but there are bones stillthere.” There were petitions and muchpressure from the newly created HeritageCommission of the Jewish Communitiesof Catalonia, representing the threecommunities in Barcelona: Orthodox,Liberal and Chabad. Finally theCatalonian government agreed that thesite should have the status of a landmark.

Dominique and David created theZakhor Study Centre for the Protectionand Transmission of Jewish Heritageearlier this year, with an office in theheart of the the old Jewish quarter. It alsohas funding from the RothschildFoundation Europe to research the limitsof the cemetery by study of localarchives, and plans to publish a book onJewish funerary customs. “‘We have toexplain that it is not acceptable for thoselaid to rest in a Jewish cemetery to bedisturbed or removed, or for their bonesto be unceremoniously dug up.” Now sheand David Stoleru are advising on whatform the memorial should take.

“Isn’t it strange,” I asked Dominique,“that it is Ashkenazi Jews that are at theforefront of such a campaign?”

“The Jews who came here beforethe 70s were mainly Orthodox fromTurkey, Greece and North Africa. Theykept a low profile, mostly determined bythe local political context. Also,

monuments are not a first priority whenyou are shaping up a community. WithSouth American immigration camealong Liberal Judaism which haddeveloped in those countries. We arekeen to confront the outside world froma standpoint of Jewish identity.”

It was not until she came toBarcelona and got involved incommunity life that Dominiquereconnected with her Jewish roots. Nowshe conducts tours of Jewish Barcelonaand maintains the website:www.jewishspain.info which hasinformation on all of Jewish Spain forresidents and visitors.

W h o s e h e r i t a g e ?Jewish heri tage is now a major industry in Spain. Cit ies havecooperated to form a network of Jewish quarters – Caminos deSefarad – conservat ion is taking place and many fest ivals andlectures are held, often without any Jewish part ic ipat ion andsometimes with doubtful authent ic i ty. JANET LEVIN talks toBarcelona’s DOMINIQUE TOMASOV BLINDER , who isdetermined that the Jewish voice should be heard.

They say “It is our history, not yours”

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Tárrega Jewish cemetery

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L ook for evidence of Valencia’swealthy and influential Jewish pastand you will be disappointed. There

is nothing in the city museum to suggestthat the Jews lived here for 14 centuries.Not a street, square or synagogue. Nada.This is a city so busy building the future,it seems to ride roughshod over the past.

Several Jewish scholars lived anddied in Valencia. Shlomo ibn Gabirolpassed his final years near Valencia.Gabirol wrote 20 books and composedover 300 poems, one of the most famousof which is Adon Olam. In medieval

times, the Jewish population was perhaps8% of a total of 50,000. The Jews andMuslims were close; according to AlbaToscano, our tour guide, there wereconversions in both directions. WhenJames I of Aragon ended 400 years ofMoorish rule by making his entry into thecity on 9 October 1238, the Jews went outto meet him with their rabbis anddelegates at their head, and presented himwith a scroll of the Law in homage.

As a reward for important servicesrendered in the conquest of the fortifiedcity, he presented to some of the Jewshouses belonging to the Moors, as well asland in the city and its precincts. Amongthose rewarded by the king was Abrahamibn Vives, probably the father of thewealthy Joseph ibn Vives who in 1271held a lease of the salt-works of Valencia,and who was probably the ancestor ofJuan Luis Vives. (see box). Presents werealso received by the gold-workers,merchants, and money-changers. Jamesoffered the Jews tax inducements and freeland to settle in all the ports and cities ofreconquered Christian Spain.

King James I invited 60-oddfamilies from Barcelona to come tobuild up the economic potential ofValencia. To sweeten the offer he gavethe Jews one of the nicest parts of townand the franchise over salt. During thereigns of his son and grandson, James IIand James III, most trades and manyprofessions were closed off to the Jews.Some worked as import-exportmerchants. Others were embroiderersand cobblers or acted as agents oraccountants for religious orders such asthe Hospitaliers and Templars, militarymonks, who had established businessesin the Middle East during the Crusades.

In 1969-70 about one third of theJewish cemetery was dug up to make wayfor underground parking. Stones, bonesand all layers of history unearthed,whether Arab, Christian or Jewish, wereunceremoniously dumped in Valencia’sport as a foundation for the Great Wharf.

In 1994-5 a careful archeologicalstudy was made of a section of thecemetery found when yet anotherunderground park was constructed. Oneromantic curiosity was a young couplefound as they had been buried, in atrapezoidal grave. The girl lay atop theboy, her arms draped over his, her legscrossed between his, her head resting onhis shoulder. Who were this Romeo andJuliet? We shall never know but this timethe remains of approximately 200 graveswere eventually reburied in the modernJewish cemetery in Barcelona.

Assigned a spacious residentialquarter by King James, the ValencianJews aroused envy through theirwealth and luxurious lifestyle. In 1370people complained loudly that the Jewshad built houses outside the Juderia,although the Jews protested that theyhad the consent of the king. At this timethere was a concerted effort throughoutEurope to convert all Muslims and Jewsliving under Christian rule in an effortto push back the double Islamic threaton the Holy Roman Empire comingfrom both Northern Africa and Turkey.This precipitated the pogroms of thesummer of 1391.

An angry mob, screaming for theJews to be baptised, attacked the Jewishquarter of Valencia. On the black day of 9July 1391, the mob massacred 260individuals. The majority of those stillstanding were baptised in the cathedral.

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PHILOSOPHERAND EDUCATORValencia does com-memorate one Jew, who,ironically, spent most ofhis life outside Spain.

A renownedphilosopher, Juan LuisVives, grandson of Jewswho had converted toChristianity, was born in

1492 – the fateful year of the expulsion of theJews by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel. In1880 the university erected a bronze statue ofVives. In his writings, Vives recalls the alleys andsquares of his home town, the market, the inns,the school, the university. His aunt, who hadconverted but continued to practise Judaism,cheated her pursuers by dying a few years earlier.Her remains were disinterred and tossed into thefires of the Inquisition.

Even to a converted Christian family, therewas always the threat of danger and Vives himselffled from country to country to escape theInquisition, finally settling in Bruges. He presenteda treatise on the education of women to QueenCatherine of Aragon, with a view on how sheshould bring up her daughter Mary Tudor.

Phot

o: Ly

n Ju

lius

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his evening, Alba Toscano is ‘happy as jam-filled doughnuts and plum pudding’ to showus around Valencia. Alba did not say she was‘happy as churros con chocolate or turrón conpiñones’ – for Alba is no ordinary Valencianbut a Canadian who came to Valencia 19 yearsago as a post-doctorate fellow in agricultureand as she puts it “…forgot to go home”.

Neither is Alba, her hair primlypinned up, attired in tartan stockings andbreeches, your average city guide but theHarry Potter-loving president of LaJavurá, Valencia’s 11-year oldConservative (Masorti) synagogue in atown that can’t boast of more than 400permanent Jewish residents most ofwhom are not, nor want to be, affiliatedto a Jewish organisation. Nevertheless,Alba gives tours of Jewish Valencia,along with organising Hebrew classes,introductory courses to Judaism,cooking and chazanut.

From five her community has grownto 47. La Javurá (Hebrew for ‘the groupof friends’) germinated in the city’sBotanic Gardens on Tu B’Shvat, 1997.That day the founding members of LaJavurá paused before each fruit tree to eatthe fruit thereof. They planted a mapletree. They read poems and stories from ananthology for Tu B’Shvat. They drankfour types of wine. Alba ended up underthe table.

By settling in Valencia, Alba was, ina sense, returning to her own roots. HerCanadian mother was French Sephardiprobably descended from Jews expelledfrom Barcelona. Her father was Italian.When Alba first arrived in Valencia, shejoined the only synagogue in town, theOrthodox Sephardi Synagogue, whose 35-strong congregation comes mainly fromMorocco. However, Alba was searchingfor a more modern structure that wouldallow her to play an active part so she

founded a congregation herself.La Javurá has members from Canada,

Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Venuezuela,Mexico, Italy and France. Most haveSpanish spouses. La Javurá has no school,no synagogue building, no rabbi, but withmodern technology, rabbis and chazanscan participate in the La Javurá activitiesand vice-versa. Alba takes chazanutclasses with the chazan of Belsize SquareSynagogue in London via Skype.

Plants threaten to overrun LaJavurá’s focal point, Alba’s kitchen. Inthe window of a bedroom of herapartment, which has been converted intothe synagogue with a sefer torah, aronhakodesh and ner tamid, there areflowering pomegranate bushes in threehuge flower pots in the window. Whetherthere is a minyan or not, KabbalatShabbat is celebrated in the convertedbedroom synagogue and sometimes, onspecial occasions, at other La Javuráhomes. Transient businessmen andtourists pop in, usually unannounced.

Every year, wrapped in her tallit andwearing a kippah, in a lounge at a localhotel, Alba conducts the Yom Kippurservice in Spanish, a language she nowspeaks like a native. The high holidayservices have drawn as many as 50 peoplefrom all over the world.

They’re showing a documentary onSpanish TV tonight. It’s about the Jews,who as conversos dominated cultural andintellectual life in Spain. It’s about theirmodern communities and it’s about theBnei Anusim – or ‘Coerced Ones’. Spainhas witnessed a resurgence of interest inJudaism. The descendants of conversoJews are looking for their Jewish roots. Afew are converting back to Judaism, fromwhich they feel their ancestors were socruelly cut off.

“Not another one,” scoffs Alba

Toscano. “They show thesedocumentaries every six months!” It hasbeen said that the history of the Jews isthe history of all Spain, and Spain’shistory is the history of the Jews. Asmany as 50% of Spaniards living inCatalonia, the province to the north ofValencia, may have Jewish ancestry.

But Alba gives the Bnei Anusim shortshrift. “It’s sort of trendy to say you haveJewish roots. Those who remained inSpain after the Inquisition chose toconvert to Catholicism. Fifteengenerations have passed,” she explains.“They might just as well identify with theChristians in their ancestry as with theJews! People should want to be Jewishbecause of what they feel inside.”

This Tu B’Shvat, La Javurá membersmet in the Botanic Gardens for the 12thyear running. They tasted the sevenspecies of fruit. They danced and sang andread poetry. The maple tree, ‘strong, andloved by those who planted it’, had growna little stronger – like Jewish life in Spain.

Lyn Julius is a journalist.

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No o rd ina ry Va lenc ian ALBA TOSCANO

The New Christians came back to theirformer synagogue now converted into achurch, the Fraternity of SaintChristopher. Those few who were notconverted eventually moved to Sagunto,a town 12 miles north of Valencia whichbecame the new centre of Jewish life inthe Valencia area.

The writing, however, was on thewall. Over the next 100 years, there was

a constant exodus out of Spain and acentury later on 31 March 1492, Isabeland Ferdinand gave the remaining Jewsin Spain the choice of converting oremigrating.

The inexorable march ofcommercialism, modernity and cityplanning eventually took its toll. Thechurch for the New Christians becamethe Monastery of San Cristobal and

slowly fell into ruin. The well, the onlysurviving remnant of the synagogue, wastransported to the other side of the RiverTuria to the new monastery of SanCristobal around 1910 where the monksof a dying order to this day celebrate the9 July as the happy day of the foundingof the Church of San Cristobal inValencia.

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SYNAGOGUESThe only cities with synagoguessurviving from the Golden Age areToledo (Santa Maria La Blanca,now a church – pictured above–and El Tránsito, now a museum)and Cordoba. Neither of thesecities have current Jewishcommunities.

The ‘Major’ synagogue inBarcelona, consisting of twounderground rooms (picturebelow), was discovered only in1995 and has been restored by theCall Association which includesboth Jewish and local government

representation. Its foundationsdate back to the Romanoccupation.+34 93 31707 90www.calldebarcelona.org/

There are five active synagoguesin Madrid. The first purpose-builtsynagogue since the 15th centurywas the Beth Yaacov, constructedin 1968 by Moroccan Jews fromthe Spanish-speaking comunity inthe north of Morocco. Communitiesin Madrid and other cities havebeen swelled since the 1970s byimmigrants from South America,most recently from Venezuela,some of Moroccan or otherSephardi origin, others Askenazi.Beth Yaacov now offers anAshkenazi rite service for the highholidays and is popular withvisitors.+34 91 5913131

There are also activecongregations, in some casesseveral, in Alicante, Mallorca,Oviedo, Barcelona, Malaga,Seville, Catalonia, Marbella,Ceuta Melilla, Torremolinos,La Coruna, Murcia and Valencia A good link to full details is:www.kosherdelight.com/SpainSynagogues.htm

MUSEUMSCordobaThe Casa de Sefarad in theJewish Quarter, just opposite the

synagogue partly dates fromthe14th century and the carefulrestoration has been a sensitiveattempt to portray Sephardi historyand traditions. It contains itemsfrom local pre-expulsion Jewishhomes and an exhibition on theSepharadi tradition, includingmusic and a library. The interiorcourtyard is used for concerts.+34 95 7421404www.casadesefarad.es

GironaMuseo de Historia de los Judíos near the site of the 15th centurysynagogue. La calle de la Força 8.

ToledoA Sephardi Museum is housed inthe El Tránsito synagogue. www.museosefardi.net (Spanishonly)

TOURSThe Network of Jewish Quarters(Red de Juderias), a cooperativeof 14 city authorities, is

encouraging the provision ofguided tours, lectures, exhibitionsand concerts, though these usuallydo not have Jewish participation.www.redjuderias.org

Members of the Jewish communityoffer the following tours:

Barcelona: Dominique TomasovBlinder info@urbancultours.comMadrid and Toledo: +34 60 7716642 jewishspain@puertademadrid.comSeville: Moisés Hassánjewishsevilla@gmail.comValencia: Alba Toscano +34 963802129 lajavura@ya.com

CULTUREThere is an active Jewish culturallife in Madrid and in Barcelonawhere there is an InternationalFilm Festival each year. There arecourses, lectures and concerts.A good guide to cultural eventsand other aspects of Jewish life inSpain is on www.jewishspain.info

J E W S I N S P A I N

JEWISH RENAISSANCE JULY 200824

Maurice Boland is a well-known figure on Spain’sCosta del Sol. He runsSpain’s main English-language radio station andraises an enormous amountof money for charity – apart

from being vice-president of Marbella’s Jewish community.Maurice was born in Dublin to a medical family and

“forgot to tell them” when he decided to leave school at 15 andrun away to Germany with a beat group. He went on to run asuccessful discotheque and a life-style that had him appearingfrequently in Dublin’s gossip columns. It was boredom, hesays, that led him, with his family, to Marbella in the 1980s –to set up a club, followed by a radio show and a celebritymagazine – and then to launch REM.fm

Maurice speaks proudly of the Marbella Beth El synagogue,

built in 1979 by the O’hayon family whohad come from Gibraltar a few yearsearlier. The current rabbi, Meïr O’hayon,is a member of this family. Synagoguepresident is Raphi Cohen, born inMorocco and brought up in Paris. Manyhave a similar background in this francophone community,though half of the 380-strong community are now Ashkenazi.Services are swelled by part-time residents, mainly Brits, who havemade some impact on the way things are done, including an extraAshkenazi style service on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. “I flythe flag for Ashkenazi practices though having been here for 20years I am almost Sephardi,” says Maurice.

Maurice is confident that the community, now very vibrant(“all our charity events are sold out”), will grow in size. “We arelooking to the future”, he says. “We have plans to build a school,a home for elderly people and a Jewish cemetery in Marbella.”

O n t h e C o s t a d e l S o l

F O R V I S I T O R S

A communal seder in Barcelona. As with most congregations, visitors are welcometo join the community