Facts about Jews in Spain, World Jewish Congress

– Jews arrived in Madrid during the Roman period and expanded during the Visigoth and Muslim eras. (5th-8th centuries). – Under Muslim rule, Jews (and Christians) had the status of dhimmi, protected nonMuslim class. Though they didn’t have full rights, they thrived and produced what is often called the “Jewish Golden Age of Spain”. This time produced notable scholars, physicians, philosophers, and scholars. – In 1479 the marriage of Isabella de Castilla to Fernando de Aragon started the period of Reconquista in Spain which ultimately led to the demise of the Jews in Spain. – By July of 1492 the Jews of Spain were either expelled or forced to convert to Catholicism. – Some Jews publicly converted to Catholicism but still privately practiced Judaism. They were called Marranos or Conversos. -In 1868 brought in a new monarchy that allowed for other faiths to again reside in Spain. This introduced a small number of Jews back to Spain, mostly in Madrid and Barcelona. -Spanish neutrality in WWII helped 25,000 Jews to use Spain as a getaway, especially Jews from Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania. Most of the Jews who found refuge through Spain left because they didn’t get residency visas, only transit visas. – In 1964 the Federation of the Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE) affiliated with the World Jewish Congress and still links most of the Jews of Spain together today. – In 1992 King Juan Carlos officially repealed the expulsion order of 1492, and in 2015 the Spanish Parliament voted to offer citizenship to descendants of Sephardi Jews. – In 2024 it was estimated that there are 12,900 Jews in Spain. The largest Jewish centers are in Madrid, Barcelona, and Malaga. – The makeup of Jews in Spain consists of those who mostly came from Morocco, the Balkans and Latin America, especially Argentina and Venezuela. – Today there are Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Jews who make up the Spanish Jewish population and they are both Ashkenazi and Sephardi.

• Have you visited or lived in Spain?
• Have you met anyone with familial ties to Marrano Jews?
• What contributions of the Jews of Spain do you think are the most lasting?

Who were the great thinkers of Spain

Spain: Personalities, Movers and Shakers. J2 Adventures

– Hasdai Ibn Shaprut (915-970), Cordoba. Scholar, physician, diplomat who translated medical books. – Nahmanides (1194-1270) Girona. Scholar, rabbi, philosopher, kabbalist, Biblical commentator. – Moses De Leon (1250-1305) Many believe he was the author of the Zohar. – Solomon Ibn Gabirol (1021-1070) Saragossa and Granada. A Hebrew poet who also studied Talmud, astronomy, geometry, philosophy. He wrote Mekor Chayim, a book on philosophy. – Abraham Senoer (1412-1493) An influencer who was a banker, tax farmer, and rabbi. He had a close relationship with Queen Isabella who tried to persuade the rulers not to expel the Jews. He stayed in Spain and converted to Catholicism. – Yehuda Halevi (1075-1141) Cordoba. One of the greatest Hebrew poets. – Maimonides (1135-1204) One of the true GOATS in Judaism. He was a rabbi, physician, philosopher, and scholar who was born in Spain and moved to North Africa because of antisemitism. – Shmuel Ha-Nagid.or Shmuel Ha-Levi. (993-1056). Malaga and Granada. One of the most famous figures of Moslem Spain. He was a linguist, scholar, poet, diplomat. He became secretary and advisor to the reigning King of Spain.

• How many of these notables have you heard about?
• What do you imagine it was like to be a Jew in Spain during the Golden Age?

Spanish Poetry

The Hour, by Shmuel Ha-Nagid. Translated by Leon J Weinberger.

She said: “Be happy that God has helped you reach The age of fifty in this world,” not knowing That to me there is no difference between my life’s Past and that of Noah about whom I heard. For me there is only the hour in which I am present in this world: It stays for a moment and then like a cloud moves on.

• What do you think Shmuel Ha-Nagid meant to be present in this world?
• What does the age of 50 represent today?

My Heart is in the East. Yehuda Halevi, translated by Nina Salaman.

My heart is in the east, and I am in the uttermost west– How can I find savor in food? How shall it be sweet to me? How shall I render my vows and my bonds, while yet Zion lieth beneath the fetter of Edom, and I in Arab chains? A light thing would it seem to me to leave all the good things of Spain — Seeing how precious in mine eyes to behold the dust of the desolate sanctuary.

• This phrase, my heart is in the east… is well known today. What do you think it meant then?
• Do you feel as though your heart is in a place different from your physical geography?
• How does this relate to the struggles that Jews are facing today with regard to Israel and antisemitism and life in America?

Sumptuary restrictions were police laws that Jews enacted upon themselves to subdue extravagance, to avoid the envy of those in power and around them, and to keep people from living beyond their means. The very necessity of these rules at this time helped demonstrate the position that Jews had in Spain before they were expelled.

The Jew in the Medieval World, Jacob Rader Marcus. P. 194

Valladolid, Spain, May 2, 1432 No son of Israel of the age of fifteen or more shall wear any cloak of gold-thread, olive colored material or silk, or any cloak trimmed with gold or olive-colored material or silk, nor a cloak with rich trimmings nor with trimmings of olive-colored or gold cloth. This prohibition does not include the clothes worn at a time of festivity or at the reception of a lord or a lady, nor at balls or similar social occasions. Because of the diversity of custom among the communities in regard to the wearing apparel, we find it impracticable to make a general ordinance which shall provide for all the details that ought to be included, and we therefore ordain that each community shall make such ordinances on the subject so long as this Ordinance endures, as will keep before their minds that we are in Dispersion because of our sins, and if they desire to establish more rigorous rules that this they have the power to do so. [The motivation for simplicity in dress here is religious sobriety, nor fear of envy.]

• What stands out to you from these rules?
• Why do you think Jews felt the need to issue these orders? What does it teach you
  about life in Spain before the expulsion?