Remembering Sepharad: Jewish Culture in Medieval Spain

Text by Isidor G. Bango

In recent years, history, overly concerned to satisfy the interests of today's society, has attempted to reinterpret the concept of Sepharad. This endeavor has given rise to the idea that Sepharad does not denote Spain, but rather Al-Andalus or Castile taken in their broadest sense. The problem is that a number of historians, instead of objectively analyzing the facts, have elaborated their own versions of history that are biased by nationalistic sentiment - whether pro- or anti-Spanish. Some would have us believe that Spain has always been a single nation; these scholars even deny that it was made up of various kingdoms during the late Middle Ages. Others, obsessed by that same plurality that emerged at the end of the first millennium, ignore the fact that Roman Hispania became Europe's first nation after the fall of the roman Empire, and that this left an indelible imprint on the inhabitants of the peninsula. The various states that sprang up after the Muslim invasion were undoubtedly shaped by the laws and geopolitics of the peninsula, but the feeling of being linked by a common past and of belonging to Spain lived on in all of them.

Sepharad should be regarded as the Hebrew word for Spain. The concept of Spain/Hispania varied, depending on the period (…).

Remembering Sepharad sets out to paint a picture of the Spain in which the Jews lived from the perspective of their own experiences, though on many occasions we have had to include Christian or Muslim references. The dramatic expulsion and the equally dire activities of the Inquisition erased many aspects of Hispano-Jewish heritage. This has obviously weakened the memory of Jewish culture in Spain, but we should not be deceived: the Jews became so well integrated into Spanish life that Jewish history and Spanish history are practically inextricable. In this respect, it is only fair to point out that many apparent gaps in the history of the Spanish Jews are not what they seem ; rather, in these instances it is impossible to differentiate between Jewish and Spanish heritage.

Not only did Jewish culture suffer the same vicissitudes as Spanish culture during the fifteen hundred years of Jewish presence in Spain; it became fully integrated. Only one aspect of Jewish tradition, religion, would remain unchanged - at least, so it seemed. Even in this respect the Sephardic Jews developed certain characteristics of their own that set then apart from other Jewish communities in exile.

This book undertakes to place on record both the light and the shadows, knowledge of which could be conducive to greater understanding and tolerance of the attitudes of each party. Obviously, when we look back at the past, we must interpret it in accordance with the norms of the time. No society - not even the hypocritical society in which we live today - can stand up to the moral judgment of coming centuries.

From the Introduction