Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
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1492
o Columbus discovers America
o Spanish Inquisition
o End of re-conquest (Muslims leave Iberia)
Starts in 711 when they conquer Spain
o Spain doesnt really exist until 1492
Reinvented as a Catholic nation
Jewish and muslim elements of the culture is erased and hidden
Visgoths Germanic tribe moves South before 711
711 arab invasion through 1492
o more tolerant of the Jews that Visgoths
1391 make Jews convert
Marranos and conversos marranos convert but still practice Judaism. Conversos just convert
Some conversos went to Amsterdam and reconverted
o Netherlands much more tolerant
o Some then came to Americas such as in Brazil
Council of Elvira 4th century CE
First evidence of coexistence between muslims and jews
Intermarriage of Jews and Christians not allowed
Wexler
o Ethnogenesis where an ethnic group comes from
o Argues that Palestinian and Iberian Jews arent the same people
Alcalay says that Palestinian Jews didnt go to Iberia
o People came from North Africa, Yemen, and Iraq to Iberia
o Berber mainly an oral language
o Nomadic tribes and spoken in Algeria and Morocco
o Use of Hebrew in Iberia
Justifies his point that theyre not from Palestine
Doesnt happen until later
o Sephardim today are much more than Spanish
Space vs Place
o Place = somewhere emotionally and personally significant; a place of authenticity
o Space = less feelings, more just like the physical area
Ruth Knafo Setton
o Helps highlights differences between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews
Ex: homes, food, etc
Much more cultural differences
o Alhambra a palace. UNESCO site. Built during heigh of Muslim empire
o 1790: Berber village -> Jews killed because they wouldnt convert. Her ancestor saves his wife and kid
by sneaking them out
o Sends out a novel and rejected because its not about the real jews aka Ashkenazi
o Juderias Jewish quarter in Iberian peninsula
Like Quartiers Juifs, same thing in France
o Mellah Jewish quarter in N Africa
Shows that jews already have their own place where they are forced to live
o People who refused to convert were burned to death
Fire is like hell, all the evidence is ash (nothing), fire is a purge so the people become cleansed.
9/2
Blood Libel
o The Jewess of Toledo
King Alfonso 8th loved a Jewish woman and his ministers decided everything wrong with the
kingdom was her fault so they killed her
o The Holy Child of La Guardia 1491
Kid kinapped and then killed in same manner as Jesus by Jews as a sacrifice
Mother of child was blind, but when she looked at her child being crucified she regained her
sight
1000 Nights/Arabian nights
o Collection of stories that are all connected
o Aladdin is one of them
o Started in India to Persia then to Iberian peninsula
o Stories are told by a woman who has wronged a Sultan and every night she tells these stories until he
falls asleep. Since he has to know the end, he doesnt end up killing her.
Wexler
o Sephardic jews come from N Africa and many of them were converts
Diaz-Mas
o Diff between Spanish jews and Sephardim. The first are people who live in Spain and are Jewish but
they arent automatically Sephardim. The second must be directly related to those who did.
o Those living in Iberia before 1492 and left are the Sephardim
o Writing a general history of Sephardic Jews
o Inquisition was really established to pick out Christians who were practicing Christianity wrong aka like
paganism
Convivencia or Co-existence
o 711 to 1492 lots of change
o Nostalgic back then in Iberia they coexisted
Not necessarily true
o They did intermarry and culture was shared, but there was lots of conflict too
Reconquest
o Take back land Iberia
o 790: Moorish spain
Nothing peaceful and stable about this
Tolerance, but not always
Muslims faught each other
o 900: Christian kingdoms taking over
o By 1492 end of reconquest Catholic Kingdom
Not a coincidence that same year as finding America
Expulsion Edict 1492
o Signed by Ferdinand and Isabel
Heads of Kingdoms that then became Spain
o All Jews had to convert or leave
o Wants to expel the crypto-Jews (marranos)
o People only allowed to take what they can carry Kings wanted their wealth
o Being tolerant means accepting contradictions, and the Catholic Kings couldnt accept that
711 is Syrian Umayyad rule till 756 then Spanish Umayyad rule til 950s
1479-1516: Kingdom of Castille and Aragon
o Then becomes Kingdom of Spain under Habsburg rule
Toledo School of Translators 12th to 13th century
o Muslim texts such as Qurans being produced
o Mainly texts in Arabic
o 1001 nights stories are brought to Europe through the translators
o Astrology (or astronomy??) in arabic to other languages
9/4
Sarajevo Haggadah
o Created while all 3 religions lived in relative harmony
o Family who commissioned it probably had themselves into the images
Woman at table with dark skin
Wexler mentions her maybe shes a jew from N Africa?
o Survived through WWII and 1992 Bosnian War because of Muslim librarians
Damascus Affair (1840): massacre of Jews. International attention.
o First link between Jews in West and East
Sephardic Jews not only ones moving to Ottoman Empire
o Jews had dhimmi status 2nd class citizens but still had certain rights
In North Africa, Jews were the only other group
o Here, dhimmi almost means Jewish
Spanish Inquisition
o Really an instrument of finding
People practicing Catholicism wrong
o Key issue: Jews not targeted but finally expelled
Really targeting Catholics
o Not really a time period. More of a tribunal or trial.
o Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition 1478-1834
o Origins: Albigensian or Cathar heresy France
Believed in a more direct relationship with God. Gender equality.
o Inquisition, Toulouse, 1229 Started
Kamen
o In 19th century Spain is in a bad place compared to its European nature
Liberals say its because of the Inquisition
o Francisco de Goya 18th Century
Liberal painter that blames Inquistition for problems in Spain in 18th century
Images of people in weird hats and robes dehumanizes
Tomas de Torquemada (1420-1498)
o Descendent of conversos
Conversos and malsines conversos became very violent and betray other people just a myth
Idea of citizenship and emancipation in Ashkenazi Jew world want to share with Sephardim
Sephardic jews bring printing press can recreate books
9/9
9/11
Ladino
o Fusion of different languages
o Most languages have specific standard grammar
Not in Ladino
o Spanish language influences Ladino more in Spain than in Turkey
o Ladino originally refers to Hebrew script used for Spanish language
Calque language religious texts
o Ladino used in Exile
o Word ladino comes from Latin
o Ladino in West stops using Hebrew alphabet and instead uses Latin one
o French then becomes lingua franca with alliance schools
o Ladino is a nostalgic language for those who leave
o French like elegant dress, Turkish is a borrowed one, and Judeo-Spanish is a worn dressing gown in
which youre most comfortable
o Ladino becomes a way to identify Jewish communities during the Holocaust
People stopped using it (consciously)
Holocaust really hurt ladino. Creation of Israel makes Hebrew the language.
Granada
o Last muslim area
o Alhambra is here
Rhodes island
o Really close to turkey but a part of Greece
Livorno
o Open Mediterranean city
o Jews were responsible for commerce
o Spoke Italian not ladino
Cordoba, Toledo, Istanbul, Salonika, Sarajevo, Jerusalem, Amsterdam
Edirne, Izmir, Sophia
Jewish Quarters
o Easy to live near a synagogue
o Emerge organixally
o With rise in anti-semitism, Jews forced to live in certain parts
Theyll be protected there from mob violence
Printing press reading
o Dont be afraid, use it to recreate and copy older Jewish texts
o Yeah theyre being used to be able to spread more liberal ideas but put money into religious ones
Blood Libel in Rhodes
o English consul pushes torture
In Damascus its French French monk too
English and Austrians trying to get rid of Jews, who are competitors
o Ottomans are not responsible totally the Christians
o How could you need Christian blood for matzah if the Talmud was written before Christians even were
a thing
o No food or water in Jewish Quarter not safe to leave Quarter
White Slave Trade
o Human trafficking
o Woman from Russia
o Oriental stereotypes
They dont see this as dishonorable or amoral, since its just in their nature
o Alliance schools are not good
o She thinks these people are behind and like children. Morally corrupt
o They still wear old style clothing but want to wear European clothes