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JEWS OF SOUTHERN SPAIN:

Southern Spain was home to many Jews during the 10th-12th centuries. There was relative tolerance and integration during this period of Muslim-rule. Jews were classified as dhimmis, or “protected people” which granted them religious freedom and the ability to live within their own legal and social systems while still having to pay a special tax and accept a subordinate social status. They held many influential positions including physicians, bureaucrats and merchants. It was a period of cultural renaissance with noted figures such as Maimonides, Judah Halevi and Solomon ibn Gabirol who synthesized Jewish theology with Greek and Islamic philosophy. Jews also served as translators of classical and scientific knowledge from the Islamic world to Christian Europe. 

Conditions for Jews worsened with the subsequent invasion of fundamentalist Arab dynasties.  The Almohads imposed forced conversions and civil restrictions prompting Jews to to flee to the more tolerant Muslim lands to the south or to Christian territories to the north. 

As the Christian Reconquista advanced, Jewish communities in Christian Spain initially found opportunities, but faced increasing persecution fueled by anti-Jewish sentiment and the Spanish Inquisition. The history of the Jews of Andalusia ultimately ended with the Alhambra Decree of 1492, in which the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella ordered all Jews to either convert to Christianity or be expelled from Spain. This event led to a mass diaspora, with 40,000-200,000 Sephardic Jews finding refuge in the Ottoman Empire and North Africa.

Spain revoked this degree in 1968 but it wasn’t until 2015 that a path to citizenship was offered for descendants of Spanish Jews. 

Today there are several sites of Jewish heritage throughout many regions of Spain.  There are former Jewish neighborhoods with narrow, winding, cobblestone streets.  Some have churches that used to be mosques or synagogues or both.  And there are a few synagogues that have been preserved.  

SEVILLE:

On my visit to Seville, I stayed in the Santa Cruz barrio which is the Jewish Quarter.  Throughout the quarter one can see gold tiles which say “Sefardo”.  And, I was told, the space between the hebrew letters reads “Zakar” or “remember.” 

I learned that many Jews during the Inquisition pretended to convert by doing such things as hanging “sausage” to dry outside their homes (the “sausage” was actually a vegetarian mix and not pork).  Or they would hide their shabbat items in case a neighbor visited. 

While no synagogues remain, our guide, who was very apologetic about her country’s historic treatment of the Jews, shared with us this map of the Cemeterio Judío. 

When a plaza and parking lot were built on top of this site, much archeological work was done to establish the cemetery boundaries and history. 

TOLEDO:

Toledo is home to two historic synagogues.  I visited El Trasito, a former synagogue built by Samuel ha-Levi, a treasurer to King Peter of Castile in the 14th C. It has an imposing sanctuary and courtyard with sculpture and burial monuments brought over for preservation from another synagogue which became a church.

SEGOVIA:

The main synagogue of Segovia was built in 1373 but was repurposed into the Corpus Christi Church in 1410:

Throughout my tour of Spain, which included a dozen or so other towns, I noticed several Stars of David on secular and nonsecular buildings.  A small hint of the Jewish presence through the ages.