Spain 5

Thursday, July 7

This morning, we took an early morning train to Madrid.  After a get-a-little-acquainted-with-Madrid-bus-tour we had another lecture by Professor Eliezer Papo -- "Yishma'el and 'Esaw, the Jews of Spain and Tor ha-Zahav"

He said. . . . People say that the Inquisition punished Jews. Is that true? Not so much. The inquisition punished Jews who had become Christians. The Catholic Church had no jurisdiction over Jews.

Unlike Judaism, where someone typically becomes a Jew as an adult (Papo's statement, I'm not sure I agree), baptism makes a different path.

1391: After a mass pogrom across Spain, hundreds of thousands leave. This wasn't perpetrated by the government or the Church. Uneducated people were at the heart of these actions.

Approximately 1/3 of Jewish Spain was converted. Captured, brought to church, baptized.

This brings huge problems for the Jews, but also some problem for the Church. They weren't really looking for 200,000 educated new members who didn't really believe.  (Educated people -- again, according to Papo's view -- present an unfamiliar challenge to the Church, which is used to having people who are illiterate, not worldly and aren't likely to question Church doctrine.)

4 categories of the Jewish converts to Christianity across a spectrum:
1 We didn't want this. We'll be secret Jews.
2 In between. We'll follow Christianity in THIS world, Jewish in world to come.
3 In between toward:
4 I'll go along. Maybe this IS God's will

1392 Christian Spain passes for the first time Laws of the Purity of Blood

(Sidebar:) Why do Spaniards have such long names, and women don't take their husbands' names? To demonstrate their heritage. Paternal grandfather and Maternal grandfather.  So you really know the legitimate Catholic lineage of your partner or neighbor.

The Inquisition was established to determine whether the Jewish converts to Christianity were faithful.

(Sidebar): Joke: You baptized ME. I baptized the LAMB.

(Priest smells something suspicious at the home of a Jewish convert to Christianity -- on Good Friday.  "Why do I smell.. . Lamb?"  "Father, how could such a thing happen?  Of course, it's fish."  "It smells like lamb."  (Keep in mind that the lamb is likely to be for Pesach, considering the season.) "Father, you baptized ME.  I baptize the LAMB."

Inquisition...Saving your soul. They would torture to get "truthful" responses. Denunciation was also a path. Also a convenient way to get rid of creditors and other unwanted neighbors and relatives. People would give names under torture and those would do the same and so would those.

Jews fled in various directions.

Papo says that the key message is: We have never really studied the connection between forceful conversion of Jews and growth of secularism.

1492 Jews expelled from Spain, creating a disaster for World Jewry. Because it had been the heart and soul of Jewry.  4 responses:

1 The beginnings of a form of  political Zionism
2 Lurianic Kabbalah. Most popular and soothing answer for the masses. God is suffering? Makes ME feel a little better. This also works against Jewish involvement in the real world.
3 Messianic. Shabbetai Tzvi. Judaism is LEGO. You construct it however you like. Everyone dismissed him, but today all groups make their own LEGO.  (Again, this is Papo's point of view.  I'm not sure that I agree or find it illumative.)
4 Let us be. Let us live like you and contribute to your state. Conversos.

Papo says that the same thing happened in Islamic world.

Check out Atatürk Jew on YouTube or Google and you will find lots of stuff.

Shabbetai Tzvi becomes a Muslim (convert or die). But he still believes he is Messiah.

Conversos are at the root of all progressive Islam. (Again, a Papo claim that I think could draw a lot of argument.)

Later that day we had a lovely reception at Casa Sefarad, an institution that builds relations between Spain and Jews and the State of Israel.

Free to roam the city for dinner...

Spain 4

This morning, we headed for Girona (pronounced Dgee-RO-nah) -- the birthplace and major residence of Nachmanides -- Ramban -- a major figure in Jewish rabbinic history and a major figure in Jewish Spanish history.

Girona was a small city near what is today France. Population began to build in the middle of the 11th century on the Main Street (calle Mayor).  (In signs in Girona's Jewish museum, the neighborhood was referred to as "the Jewry" -- repeatedly.  A little peculiar in English; not sure if it has the same texture in Spanish or Castilian.  For some centuries, Jews and Christians lived in harmony -- but at the end of the medieval era a wall was built around the Jewish neighborhood, reducing its size somewhat, and Jews were prohibited from living beyond it.  

There are two synagogues documented in the 13th and 15th centuries, augmented by a mikveh as well as a school and hospital.

The Girona museum had a fairly large amount of Jewish sacred objects -- but most of them were from elsewhere, certainly of interest to non-Jewish visitors who would like to learn about Jewish life and culture, but not as much to Jews who are seeking to get a feeling for what life was like in Girona and what its artifacts were like.  

One that stood out -- a commemorative "gravestone" from the Girona synagogue, 14th century, found in 1888 in a house on a nearby street.  The white-ish letters on stone in clear legible Hebrew say, "Beit Yaakov (House of Jacob), come, let's walk toward the light of God.  Trust in God for all time, oh people, pour open your heart befor Him, for God is our refuge. Selah"

The stone seems clearly to be a DEDICATORY stone for the synagogue.  As far as relics from Jewish burial places, there are remnants of a number of gravestones from the local Jewish cemetery (located some distance away and long ago forgotten and/or repurposed, given the fact that the small to modest size Jewish community has been gone for over 500 years).  And one finds fragments of old gravestones involved in building materials in a few places, as well as at least one ancient mezuzah indentation in a current-day doorway.

The museum exhibit is quite extensive in terms of accounts of the Inquisition and the various ways in which Jews were humiliated in this process.

Back in Barcelona that afternoon, we had a lecture from Professor Eliezer Papo and a memorable concert that evening of the Soul of Sefarad.  I have now posted photos from the concert in a separate Blogpost -- Soul of Sefarad Concert!

Professor Papo's talk was "How and When the Crown of Torah Moved to Spain."  Alas, through technical error, my notes on that talk have disappeared. . . I would welcome someone commenting a more thorough account of his talk -- or e-mailing it to me at CantorJC@aol.com and I will re-post -- but he might go along with the simple summary "The question of where Jewish life is centered is determined by whether a place imports or exports rabbis."  Papo traced how it came to be that Spain became a place where there were yeshivot and where Jewish culture was exported elsewhere.

Soul of Sefarad Concert

Photos of the performers from the wonderful concert on Wednesday July 6th at Palau De La Musica Concert Hall in Barcelona.

Featuring Alberto Mizrahi, Galit Dadoun-Cohen, Alisa Pomerantz-Boro, Nate Lam, Sara Geller, Jen Cohen, Elias Rosemberg, Luis Cattan, Alan Mason,  Ben Tisser, Marcelo Gindlin and Marcus Feldman.

Spain Photos Day 2

Sights...Jewish and Gaudi-ish---in Barcelona

Spain 2-3

Today we were led by Susana...our local Barcelona guide

First the Old City. Later the more modern part of the city.

Our hotel is near some of the remnants of the medieval walls. City founded by the Romans 2000 years ago.

The Columbus Statue 1888 given by the French. 1st World's Fair. Most of this area built for 1992 Olympics.

Since 1978 Spain is "a Catholic country welcome to all."  In other words, Catholicism is the OFFICIAL religion, but all religions are tolerated and accepted -- which of course is a marked change from the past.

There are 2 ancient Jewish districts.  The main one ("Call") had 4 or 5 synagogues.
Smaller district was founded by French Jews fleeing their Inquisition in the 1300s.  (Barcelona was capital of kingdom of Aragon, 10th to 12th centuries.). In 1391, Jews from this region which is today France (Provence?) fled here and created their own smaller neighborhood.  Jews living here spoke Catalan and Hebrew (not French.  Not Spanish.)

1391...to 1918 No Jews in Barcelona (resettling people after World War I is what brings a few back.  Jews have money and the capability to help rebuild the country after the WWI calamity. . . So they are considered welcome at that point.)

1716 Unification of Spain.

Synagogue may date to 3rd century

Visit to the Ancient Synagogue (in the larger Jewish Quarter).  Our host was Carmen
Discovery of this place came in the late 1970s.
In medieval times this was an important street. In 1996 this was a warehouse for electronica....Dating to 2nd 3rd century, Roman times.

Later, we visited the location of the (in)famous 1263 Disputation between Ramban  (Nachmanides) and the apostate Paulus was arranged by James I.  Publishing his arguments afterward was Ramban's downfall. Freedom of Speech? Yes. Freedom to publish? No.

(When I upload photos, look for the Barcelona foundation stone and remains of Roman Temple)

Tomorrow we'll visit Girona, Nachmanides' home town and greatest center of influence.

STEPHEN BERK Lecture #2:

1492 was good for Spanish Catholics.
End of Muslim influence (Ferdinand & Isabella come into Granada on January 1), expulsion of Jews, Columbus' journey.

All 3 were outcome of long-standing processes. In 711, the Arabs left their peninsula. Why? Jihad has traditionally meant spread of the faith by war.  Was it to spread the faith, to conquer?  Or because of something lacking at home?  Not entirely clear.  Not until Charles Martel defeats them in France in 732, do they stop. By this time, they controlled 97% of Spain.

Much better to be a Jew under Islam than under the Church.

To Muslims, we are dhimmis. Protected, but inferior.  We made God like human, describing human emotions. Islam doesn't tolerate this. We would explain that nonetheless, God speaks to us only through Torah.

Some Jews rose very high in the somewhat sometimes permissive Muslim empire.

It was a relatively good time for some Jews, but the reconquest of Spain will be the opposite. Disunity against the Arabs/Moors against the unifying and rising church.

Muslims are also expelled in the rerise of Christianity.

Matthew 27: Core text of Christian anti-Semitism. Pilate: What should I do with him? Crucify him. "May his blood be on the blood of our descendants".

When you hold a people in contempt for a period of time, the mythology develops and then inheres or adheres.

The ideas of ritual murder and host desecration begin in England and make their way here.

As long as Christian Spain needed the Jews, they were fairly well off. But when no longer crucial, it became a catastrophe for the Jews.

There is an intense fear in the Church that the Jews will subvert Christianity.

Ultimately, some Jews including Rabbis decide it's better to convert. Like us (Jews), the Church holds that conversion is full and permanent. A Rabbi could become a Bishop, a Cardinal, and did.

Crisis of Faith in Islam: Their biggest contribution to the world was science and (the rediscovery and learning of) Greek culture and learning. This leads toward rationalism, loss of faith.

In western Europe during the Crusades, most Jews will die. But in Spain, a 3rd of the Jewish population converted.

The older Christians resent the New Christians. Are they REALLY Catholics? Conversos, Marranos . How do you find out? Inquire. Leads to an inquiring. INQUISITION.

Dangerous Concept: Spain Can't Be Great Without Religious Unity.

Torquemada may have forced the hand of Ferdinand & Isabella: Don't sell out Our Lord for silver and gold.  We'll never know what was or wasn't said.

Columbus: They KNEW the earth was round. But Columbus thinks he can find a shortcut. But he's not in China. He's in the Caribbean. Then the Spaniards bring God, Gold and Glory. And smallpox.

If you kill off the indigenous population and you need workers, you're then going to need slaves. This is the source of the slave trade.

1/5 of all the gold and silver come to Spain.
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After combing the neighborhood for our lunch, we continued with the afternoon tour, visiting two of Gaudi's great triumphs --the Park Guell and the basilica Sagrada Familia.

The story of these remarkable places will be told mostly and most effectively through the photographs. Look for them soon!

Gaudi worked on the Park from 1900 to 1924.

Antoni Gaudi --1852-1926
1898-1904 was a period of building of much of Barcelona's most famous architecture.

Sagrada Familia is the most important monument of the city...a minor basilica, but....a major (that's an understatement) building. . . an "expiatory" church. They bought a block in the city and started building in 1882. Gaudi replaced original architect in 1883. After finishing La Basera in 1912, he worked until his death in 1926. Private project paid with private funds, so no interference from Church or government.

Still being built today, and there are still 10 years of work left in it. 8 of 12 towers have been built. (Well, there will be 18. . . "chai" as noted by our guide. . .so I don't know if it's 8 of 12 or 14 of 18 or what.  Anyway. . . ) 70% of the construction is done. In 10 years, 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death, should be finished.

We saw the east façade first...nativity: Hope, Charity Faith l to r

To my taste, this was the most endearing side.  The eventual entrance is very modernist and not as welcoming.  The west facade has the last parts of Jesus' life -- and again, in a much more modernist (kind of Star Wars-y style).  But this isn't my religion. . . And I don't get a vote!

That's it for today.  Tomorrow. . . Off to the home of Nachmanides (Ramban).

Jack

Spain Day 1 Photos

Here are photos of the presentations described in my Day 1 Post