The Jews who lived within the walls of the little hilltop town of Castelo de Vide were engaged in the traditional activities of commerce, crafts, and sometimes medicine. The population grew after 1492 with the arrival of Jews from Spain. The former Judaria is fairly easy to identify around the market square (Praço de Comércio). Between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries the characteristic ...
Plus d'infosContenus associés au mot-clé “jewish life”
Tomar
Although there was an organized community in Tomar at the turn of the fourteenth century, indicated by the inscription on the tombstone of Rabbi Joseph of Tomar, who died in Faro in 1315, it was not until 1430 that the Jews of Tomar had the means to undertake the construction of the synagogue. A building that still stands today. It was completed in 1460. After the expulsion of 1496 the ...
Plus d'infosBelmonte
The little community of Belmonte of between 100 and 300 souls was “discovered” in 1920 by the engineer Samuel Schwarz. Its existence was revealed to the world by Frédéric Brenner’s short film The Last Marranos in 1990. The Jews of Belmonte are one of the last groups bearing witness to the precarious life of Jews hunted by an all-powerful Inquisition and Church. They lived ...
Plus d'infosPorto
The name of the synagogue in Porto, Kadoorie, evokes the international reach of the Portuguese-Jewish community. Kadoorie is the name of a Portuguese-Jewish family that took English nationality and settled in Shanghai. Its members generously subsidized the construction of this fine monument with the help of the Portuguese communities in Lisbon, London, and Amsterdam in 1936. The synagogue has ...
Plus d'infosHervás
Although the Judería is Hervás was small, a local proverb that “in Hervás there are many Jews” made the quarter famous. It stood close to the Ambroz River near the town’s exit. The Calle Rabilero and Calle de la Sinagoga are the most picturesque, with a fine fountain dedicated to Jewish-Christian friendship and two-story brick and chestnut-wood houses with many flowers. ...
Plus d'infosTrujillo
The community of Trujillo is first mentioned in 1290. Just before the expulsion it had 150 members. All of them went to Portugal. Not long ago, construction in the back of a pharmacy brought to light the site of an old synagogue. An inscription from Psalms (118-20) reads: “This door is the door of the Lord: the Just will enter through here”. The adjoining house has two vaulted ...
Plus d'infosCáceres
Cáceres had a fairly sizable Jewish presence after the Christian reconquest. In 1479, 100 married Jews were listed in a community with some 650 members. They lived in two juderías: the “old” one was on the site of today’s Casa de las Veletas, and the “new” one was around Plaza Mayor, where the Jews had most of their shops. is probably an old synagogue that was ...
Plus d'infosEstremadura
It is likely the history of Spain’s Jews began in Estremadura. Vestiges from the third century bear witness to them and, according to the twelfth-century chronicler Abraham ibn Daud, the Jews that Titus deported from Jerusalem settled in this old Roman province. However, as elsewhere, there are few traces left to indicate this long presence.
Plus d'infosSeville
Seville’s Santa Cruz quarter, protected by the Alcazar, was formerly the city’s famous judería. The maze of streets and their evocative names give a good idea of what it was like in 1492. Be sure to stroll around the Calle de la Judería, Callejón del Agua, Calle des Levis, and the Calle de Santa María, which may have been the main street. The name of the Calle de la Susona ...
Plus d'infosCórdoba
Homeland of Maimonides, Cordoba was under the Arab Caliphate of Abderahman III the greatest Andalusian juderia. Under the Muslim rule, the Jewish community lived in harmony with the conquerors who, to save their armies, entrust to the Jews the administration of Seville and Cordoba. The history of the Jewish community of Cordoba follows that of the Arab occupation and Almohad and Almoravid ...
Plus d'infosLucena
Famed in the eleventh century for the influence of Talmudists such as Isaac ibn Gayata, Isaac Alfasi, and Joseph ibn Migas, who founded the so-called “Lucena School”, Lucena preserves few material signs of its Jewish past. While the site of the Judería is reasonably well established, that of the synagogues is uncertain. However, two popular customs recall the Jewish heritage: the ...
Plus d'infosGranada
Granada’s splendor was at its apogee in the eleventh century, when Samuel ha-Nagid and his son Joseph were in charge of the kingdom. The large Jewish population exceeded 5000 and reached 20000 by the eve of expulsion. Sadly, the Judería was destroyed by order of the Catholic monarchs. In Granada’s center (Calle Pavanderas), the modern statues of Yehuda ibn Tibbon and the Talmudist ...
Plus d'infosAndalusia
It is possible to date the presence of Jews in Andalusia to the Council of Elvira (303-09), when references were made to the need to separate Jews and Christians.
Plus d'infosPalma de Mallorca
The call is clearly defined by a small square and the Carrer de la Call. It is one of Spain’s most important for the quality and richness of its houses, even if urban development work has done away with the smaller streets and blind alleys. The location of its four gates is known, but not that of its many synagogues. is traditionally the preserve of the chuetas, a community of silver ...
Plus d'infosThe Balearic Islands
There have been Jews in the Balearic Islands since the Roman occupation. After Jaume I won the islands from the Arabs, many Jews arrived from Catalonia but also the south of France and North Africa to settle the new land. After 1343, when Pedro IV of Aragón seized the islands, the Balearic Jews began to enjoy a real golden age. The leading families traded throughout the Mediterranean and with ...
Plus d'infosTeruel
Teruel became important as the supply center for Catalan-Aragónese troops sent out to conquer Valencia. The Jews here became specialized in weaving wool. The Lonja, or produce exchange, was open to both Jewish and Muslim traders. The local museum (Museo Provincial) has an interesting Hanukkah lamp made in the local green ceramic. Discovered in 1977 during an excavation in the old Jewish ...
Plus d'infosAragón
In the Middle Ages the powerful kingdom of Aragón comprised not only Aragón itself but Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands. It was home to numerous Jewish communities, especially after the union with Catalonia in 1150. They had links with the Muslims, who lived here around 1500.
Plus d'infosTortosa
Tortosa was home to one of the peninsula’s oldest communities, as attested by a seventh-century headstone discovered in the nineteenth century and now on display in the cathedral cloister. Its incription is in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek and features two Stars of David and a candelabra. The community thrived under Arab rule, its illustrious sons including the grammarian Menahem ben Saruq ...
Plus d'infosValls
Standing on the trading route between Lérida and Tarragona, Valls had a thriving little community that was, however, annihilated in the pogroms of 1391. One can nonetheless visit the call, which has kept almost entirely intact its original structure and some of the old names of its streets (Carrer dels Jueus and Carrer du Call). At number 18A on the Carrer dels Jueus the patio could well have ...
Plus d'infosBarcelona
The call major, which was active between the twelfth century and the riots of 1391, is Spain’s best-preserved Jewish quarter and the easiest to visit. It comprises a small zone between the Palau de la Generalitat and the calles Banys Nous, Sant Domenec del Call, Sant Honorat, Arc de Sant Ramon del Call, Sant Sever, la Fruita, Marlet, and del Call. The synagogue was at 7 Calle de Sant ...
Plus d'infosBesalú
The presence of Jews in Besalú is attested in a document from 1229 in which Jaume I the Conqueror reserves to them the function of moneylender. In 1342 the community, hitherto linked to the one in Barcelona, became independent. In those days it numbered 200, a quarter of the total population, and lived side by side with the Christians. We have no information about 1391 and its pogroms. Not ...
Plus d'infosGerona
Gerona was the second most important community in Catalonia, both for its size (1000 men and women in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, but only 100 or so in the fifteenth) and for the quality of its scholars. gerona was the home of Nahmanides, Johan ben Abraham Gerondi, Azriel of Gerona, Bonastruc da Porta, and Isaac the Blind. Jewish Gerona has been famous since 1980, when the discovery ...
Plus d'infosCastelló d’Empúries
In the fourteenth century, and up to 1492, there was a large community in Castelló d’Empúries living around the Plaza Llana, in the calles de la Judería, del San Padre, and Peixetiries Velles. There are two known cemetery sites. A tombstone found in one of them can be seen in the local museum (Museo Parroquial), while seven others have been reused in various constructions.
Plus d'infosCatalonia
The Jews settled in Catalonia in Roman times and communities began to take shape in Barcelona and Gerona in the tenth century. By the twelfth century, there were five major Jewish centers: Barcelona, Gerona, Lerida, Tortosa, and Perpignan (French Catalonia). The Jews are mentioned in Catalonia’s first legal code, Els Usatges de la Cort de Barcelona. They distinguished themselves in ...
Plus d'infosTudela
Spain > Northern Spain (Galicia, Basque Country, and Navarre)
In the fifteenth century some 15% of Tudela’s population were Jews. There were two quarters, one around the Zaragaza gate, the other within the castle walls, but nothing remains of these sizable communities. Visitors can, however, go to the Ribotas landing stage at the confluence of the Ebro and Merchando, where Benjamin de Tudela set off on his long journey. Benjamin de Tudela In the ...
Plus d'infosVitoria
Spain > Northern Spain (Galicia, Basque Country, and Navarre)
The town of Vitoria had 300 Jews in 1290 and 900 on the eve of the expulsion -the equivalent of 6 or 7% of the total population. Their main activities were tax collecting and medicine. In 1492 they took refuge in Bayonne across the French border, where, even today, the Jews think of themselves as the descendants of those in Vitoria. The most surprising vestige of the Jewish presence is the ...
Plus d'infosRibadavia
Spain > Northern Spain (Galicia, Basque Country, and Navarre)
Probably the most interesting judería in Galicia, Ribadavia has kept its old Jewish quarter despite later urban developments. Although it is known Jews were her as far back as the tenth century, few documents about the life of their community remain. The old synagogue is the building with crests on its facade in the Calle Merelles, which runs between the Plaza Mayor and Plaza de la Madalena. ...
Plus d'infosNorthern Spain (Galicia, Basque Country, and Navarre)
The historical province of Navarre, straddling the Spanish-French border, was violently disputed by the Castilians and counts of Champagne. It was also where Jews from Arab Spain came together with those of Castile and France to take advantage of the famous pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela and thus contribute to its commercial prosperity. The important center of Nájera gave its name ...
Plus d'infosAguilar de Campó
The earliest mention of Jewish shopkeepers in Aguilar de Campó, situated along the trading route toward the port of Cantabria, is from 1188. A Hebrew inscription can still be seen under the town’s coat of arms on the old door of the Reinosa. It tells that on 1 June 1380 work on building the door began, paid for by Don Caq (Isaac) ben Malak and his wife Bellida. The text is in Hebrew and ...
Plus d'infosPuente Castro (León)
A small jewish community lived in Puente Castro until the twelfth century. It disappeared during the wars between Castile and León. The cemetery has yielded more than a dozen magnificent tombstones. Three of them have been on permanent loan at Toledo’s Sephardic Museum since 1969, and a fourth can be seen at the diocesan museum in León. A fifth one, at the Archaeological Museum of León ...
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