Digitally reviving Spain’s silenced Jewish memory

Again, the Orthodox rabbis take the butt of criticism! It is also true that there some Some Sephardic Jews, at least in the dim past that regard their lineages as something speciial, and regard the title Sepharadi Tahor aka a pure Sepharadi as something that was sacrosanct. Yes, Virginia iit was so in those days, and perhaps there a Sepharadim that hang on to those traditions so that even one Ashkenazi aplespoils the family tree.

I uderstand the need to preserve th rches of traditions, in this case, the sepharid history in Spain. My question is wh only Spain? All of us know that all the peninsula has traces of the same traditions. My familycame from Portugal, the secret jews. Oral tradition kept that knowledge alive. I know that some people dsregard that information as erroneous, forwathever reasons, but I would like to have some form of infomation to leave to my childen.

It is kind of amusing to watch the horror at Spain's expulsion of non-Christians coming from an Israel which is currently debating about expelling its non-Jews.

The remark about "fascism" can only be a reference to the Franco era. This allusion to government sponsored antisemitism during Franco's time is an often repeated slur on "El Caudillo's" heritage. The Franco administration saved untold numbers of Jews fleeing continental Europe over the Pyrenees. Spanish diplomats issued travel documents and Passports to many Jews in Nazi occupied territories. The Franco administration authorized the building of the first Jewish Community centers in Madrid and Barcelona since the expulsion of the Jews of Spain. Not even the Republic restored these rights. Franco himself wept in the presence of the Chacham Salomon Gaon, OBM, when discussing how the Sephardim, despite all they had suffered from the Expulsion and Inquisition, still remained loyal to their special Spanish culture throughout the hundreds of years of forced assimilation or exile. This was told to me by the Chacham himself so no rebuttals please.

Great article! Wonderful digital tour of Spain's Jewish roots. I took the digital tour of Barcelona----altogether wonderful stuff and a great educational resource.