MEMORY OF SEFARAD

Lionel Manuel

An exhibition is taking place in Toledo under the auspices of the State Society for External Culture showing original manuscripts, books, paintings and religious artefacts such as sifrei torah, megilot, hanukiyot, talesim and marriage certificates of the Jewish communities in Spain during medieval times

Among the original books are those by Maimonides, the Hillel codex and the polyglot bible in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek with commentary by Rabbi Moses Arragel, which contains 325 miniatures in brilliant colours of biblical scenes.

There are also two significant paintings, one from XV century being a ritual murder of a Christian child to obtain his blood for Pesach and the other dated 1656 of an auto de fe in the Plaza de Zocodover in Toledo.

During the weekend particularly there are long queues and the exhibition is made easier to understand by audio visual explanations of Jewish religious rites and of the communities in Xl -XlII centuries.

The first group of Jews arrived in the Iberian peninsula after the destruction of the second Temple in Jerusalem in the Roman and Visigoth periods. There is documentation of small groups in Barcelona, Tarragona, Elche, Granada and the Balearic Islands, and further north in Toledo and Merida. Under the Visigoth king Isebuto who ascended the throne in 612, persecution commenced to force the Jews to change their religion and customs.

Under these conditions, the Moslem invaders were received by the Jews as liberators. The Muslims considered Jews and Christians should be tolerated and guaranteed their personal safety. Therefore, in such cities as Granada, Tarragona, Jaen, Zaragosa, Seville, Almeria, Barcelona and Lucena, Jews reached high political positions. For example, Hasday-ben-Saprut held high office in the time of Abd-al-Rahman III (912-961) and afterwards Samuel Ha- Naguid became Governor of Granada.

The last years of the Caliphate of Cordoba and the Kaifa kings during the middle of XII century marked the time of the greatest splendour of the Jews of Andalucia.

In Zaragosa there was a nucleus of Jewish writers, poets and philosophers, the most important being Ibn-Gabirol, known as Avicebron. However, the situation changed radically under the Almoravides and Almohades. These rulers obliged the Jews to convert to Islam under pain of death. Maimonides (1135-1204) had no alternative but to convert, but later he left for Fez and then to Cairo where he embraced Judaism again.

Because of the Moslem persecution, many Jews left for Christian Spain, where the Kings welcomed them. In the Kingdom of Castille Jews numbered more than 200,000 by 1370. Important communities could be found in Burgos and Toledo in the Kingdom of Aragon, and Zaragosa, Huesca, leruel, Barcelona, Lerida, Gerona, Valencia and Castellon.

At this time Majorca had a dynamic community, trading with the Middle East

During this time the various Jewish communities were autonomous, having their own magistrates, judges and tax collectors, acting in the same way as the municipal councils in the Christian part of the cities.

In the epoch 1148-1348, the collective Jewish memory was known as the Golden Age, comparable to the period in Moslem Spain prior to the arrival of the Almohades.

Toledo was for the Jews of that time a focus of religious, philosophical and economic thinking. All that remains are just two synagogues, Santa Maria Ia Blanca and the Transito, both of which indicate the artistry and wealth in the XlI and XlII centuries.

Because of economic crises, the XIV century was a time of constant conflict which brought to the Jewish communities hatred and resentment by the mass of poor people. In 1391 some clerics gave inflammatory sermons which provoked the sacking of many synagogues and attacks on Jews. The violence extended from Castille, Aragon, Valencia, Gerona, Tortosa, Barcelona and Andalucia.

Under these circumstances many Jewish families opted to leave Spain for North Africa. Others converted under threat and this continued during the first years of the XV century. Understandably, in the regions where persecution and terror was greatest, the conversions were largest in, for example, Andalucia.

The Inquisition was created in November 1478 to investigate if converts had become true believing Christians or were practising the Jewish religion in secret.

The decree of expulsion was signed in Granada on the 31st. March 1492 and in the last moments many high ranking Jews chose to convert. Among them was Abraham Senior - head of the community.

The number of Jews who left Spain was probably around 50,000. Many settled in France, Portugal, North Africa, Italy and the Ottoman Empire.

In Bordeaux in the XVIII century the 150 families had their Synagogue, Rabbi and cemetery and until the end of the XIX century they retained Spanish as the vernacular language.

The large Sephardi synagogue in Amsterdam was built 1671-1675.

The North African settlement was mainly in Tangiers, Tetuan and Fez. During the African war (1860) the Spanish army was surprised to find that the communities had preserved the use of the Spanish language, habits and customs.

On the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948 many left for Israel, Madrid, Barcelona Geneva and USA - others left for Canada and Venezuela.

The Ottoman Empire received the Jews with open arms and in Salonika, Smyrna, Constantinople, Rhodes, Sarajevo and Sofia the Sephardim found a second home. Despite many difficulties including high taxation, they were able to practise the religion freely.

During a trip in 1890 Dr.Angel Pulido (1852-1932) discovered the Sephardi communities in the Ottoman Empire who had retained their old customs and language.

On his return to Spain he wrote press articles and books and gave lectures. His figures for Sephardim totalled 250,000 in the Ottoman Empire, 75,000 in Salonica, 50,000 in Constantinople, others in Palestine, Smyrna and Greece. In 1910, with the approval of President Canalejas he founded the Hispanic-Hebrew Alliance and in 1920 the Universal House of Sephardim. This was done to maintain contact with the Jews outside of Spain.

On 20th. December 1924 a decree was promulgated by the dictator Primo de Rivera which conceded Spanish nationality to Sephardim.

During WW2 various Spanish diplomats in Paris, Athens and Budapest saved many Jews from Nazi extermination by issuing passports and travel documents. The most important was Angel Sanz Briz, First Secretary in the Spanish Embassy in Budapest, who in the summer of 1944 saved thousands by this method. This was achieved despite the official position of Franco to support the Nazis.

Celebrated in Athens in 1998 the First Congress of Hispanics in South East Europe recorded that the Sephardi community of Bosnia maintained most closely their Spanish heritage.