Subject: History of the Jews in Spain
Reply-to: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
From: JUICE Administration <juice@virtual.co.il>
To: diaspora@virtual.co.il
Subject: JUICE Diaspora 4
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World Zionist Organization
Student and Academics Department
Jewish University in CyberspacE
juice@wzo.org.il birnbaum@wzo.org.il
http://www.wzo.org.il
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Course: Actors on the World's Stage: Jewish Life in the Diaspora
Lecture: 4/12
Lecturer: Rabbi Zvi Berger
Shalom "Diaspora" students! Today we take a fascinating journey to
Spain, in order to examine the history of one of the Diaspora's most
colorful and intriguing communities, Sephardic (or Spanish) Jewry.
Before we begin, a quick word about the term "Sepharad". This term is
mentioned as a place name in the Tanakh, (the prophet Ovadiah spoke of
"the captivity of Jerusalem that is in Sepharad..."). This prophet had
prophesied the destruction of Edom, which the rabbis had long equated
with the Roman Empire. This particular verse was interpreted as
referring to the remotest region of the empire in the west, which was
the Iberian Peninsula, thus the equation of "Sepharad" with Spain. The
history of Sephardic Jewry, then, is the history of the Jews of Spain,
or more correctly, the history of the Jews of Spanish ancestry, since
the history of this community continued long after the expulsion of the
Jews from Spain. Indeed, it continues to this very day!
Our story begins back in Roman times. As we've already seen, Jews
settled all over the Greco-Roman Diaspora, and by the year 300 a sizable
Jewish community had established itself in Spain, big enough to lead the
local authorities to make special mention of them in contemporary
legislation. With the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the West,
various barbarian tribes assumed authority. In Spain the Visigoths
ruled, and for over a hundred years the Jews of Spain were allowed to
pursue their own affairs without threat of persecution. The Visigoths
were believers in the Arian variety of Christianity, (later condemned as
heretical by the Roman Catholic Church), and they were usually content
to "live and let live", allowing pagans and Jews to live and practice as
they pleased. This situation changed radically with the conversion of
King Reccared I to Catholicism in 589. Catholicism quickly became the
established religion in Spain, and Jews suffered greatly, culminating in
the actual forbidding of observance of Judaism within Visigothic
domains!
Given the gravity of this situation, it should come as no surprise that
the Jews welcomed the Muslim armies that reached Spain from North Africa
in the year 711! In fact, all over the Muslim Empire, Jewish
communities were rejuvenated. By the time of Abd-ar-Rahman, (756-788),
the Muslim state in Spain had become strong enough to break away from
the center of Islamic rule in Baghdad, and thus the Omayyad dynasty came
into being. During this period, Jewish life in Spain flourished, and
it is no exaggeration to refer to this time as the beginning of the
"Golden Age of Spain", (which lasted from approx. 750-1200).
It is worthwhile to remember that by the 8th Century Muslim armies had
spread the word and rule of Islam across three continents! By 711,
Muslims controlled not only the entire Arabian Peninsula and Western
Asia, but also all of North Africa and Spain. Pagan populations who
were now living in Muslim controlled areas faced a clear choice, either
accept the new monotheistic way of Muhammad or face death by the sword.
Needless to say, it appears that the vast majority had little problem
becoming good Muslims! In regard to Christians and Jews, however, the
Muslims had a more tolerant policy. Since Christians and Jews were
viewed as monotheistic peoples, (in possession of partial, if incomplete
truth in their holy scriptures...), they were given the right to live
according to their ancestral traditions under the protection of the
Muslim rulers, provided they pay a special poll tax and accept other
restrictions which underscored the superiority of Islam. Jews and
Christians were viewed as dhimmi, meaning "protected peoples". You may
be wondering why I'm stressing this point at this time. Well, it turns
out that in Muslim Spain, a number of Jews held particularly high
positions within the governmental and military authorities! One such
Jew was Hasdai Ibn Shaprut, who served in the court of the Omayad ruler
mentioned earlier, Abd ar-Rahman. Hasdai served in a number of
capacities, including as court physician, interpreter, and perhaps most
importantly, as a high ranking diplomat. To have a Jew serving on such
a high level in the Muslim court would seem to contradict the clear
dictates of dhimmi status, which spoke of Jews living under Muslim rule,
not of Jews joining the ruling class! An even more blatant example of
utter disregard of dhimmi restrictions is found in the figure of Samuel
ibn Nagrela, (also known as Shmuel Hanagid). This man was not only a
Jewish scholar of some repute, he rose up to a very high level within
the Spanish province of Granada. It reached the point where this Jews
actually led a Muslim army out to battle, and he also became the most
powerful man in the country, (lacking only the formal title of king).
How might we explain this phenomenon? It appears that Jews such as
Hasdai ibn Shaprut and Shmuel Hanagid answered an important need for the
Muslim rulers of the time. The Muslims appear to have been mighty
conquerors, but the desert roots of the Muslim Arabs had not prepared
them to fulfill all of the economic and political functions related to
public administration. It was necessary to enlist "local talent", and
here the Jews became the natural candidates. For Jews had economic
expertise and were used to taking initiative, they had maintained
economic and social contacts with other Jewish communities, and perhaps
most importantly, they weren't a threat to Muslim ruling authority as
the Christians were. Christians would naturally be suspected as
attempting to undermine the Muslim state with Christian Europe. And so
Muslims and Jews reached, as it were, a "marriage of convenience", and
Jewish courtiers often succeeded in utilizing their positions of high
influence in order to safeguard Jewish communal interests.
But the "Golden Age" of Jewish life in Spain manifested itself most
clearly in the cultural and intellectual spheres. We'll consider a
number of examples. Judah Halevi was a poet, philosopher, businessman,
and physician who lived in Spain from 1075-1140. He received a thorough
Hebrew or Jewish education, but he was equally proficient in Arabic
literary and philosophical works. His poetry was written in a beautiful
Hebrew style, and it included a variety of types of poems. Some poems
are profoundly religious in character, others focus on Halevi's love and
longings for Zion, the holy land of Eretz Yisrael, while others are
lighter, secular love poems. Here's an example of a "poem of Zion" It
is one of his most famous works, (but what can I do, it loses something
in the translation!).
My Heart is in the East
My heart is in the east, and I in the uttermost west-
How can I find savour in food? How shall it be wsweet to me?
How shall I render my vows and my bonds, while yet
Zion lieth beneath the fetter of Edom, and I in Arab chains?
A light thing would it seem to me t leave all the good
things of Spain-
Seeing how precious in mine eyes it is to behold the dust
of the desolate sanctuary.
Remember, these words were written by a man who lived well in Spain!
Despite this, he clearly shows what we today would call "Zionistic"
tendencies. He also was capable of expressing deeply religious feelings
in his poems, but I personally prefer his "lighter" material, including
this poem:
The First White Hair
I spied a white hair lurking in my beard,
And straightway plucked it thence. "Thou'rt brave," it
sneered,
"'Gainst a lone scout-quite brave. But wilt thou be
As plucky, when my troop comes, seeking me?"
If you saw what my beard looked like, you'd probably understand why I
like this poem! More important for our purposes, however, is what these
poems represent. They are examples which testify to a rich and vibrant
Jewish Hebraic culture, a culture which clearly includes secular
elements alongside the more traditional religious expressions. Medieval
Hebrew poetry in particular reached its zenith in Muslim Spain. This
should not be viewed as a purely internal, Jewish phenomenon. The
Arabic language is known for its beauty, (indeed, one of the traditional
Muslim proofs of the Divine origin of the Qur'an, the Islamic holy
scripture, is the sheer poetic beauty of its language), and classical
Arabic poetry was a well known and highly regarded form of artistic
expression. Spanish Jews, then, were simply taking after their Muslim
neighbors in this cultural pursuit.
Another figure who stands out during this period is Rambam, (Rabbi Moshe
ben Maimon, or Moses Maimonides). Here was a man who truly excelled in
three areas simultaneously! He was perhaps the most highly respected
physician of his time, serving for a time as the royal court physician
in Egypt, and he also wrote an important work on the history of
medicine. His Jewish learning was even more impressive. He wrote a
very lucid Arabic commentary on the Mishnah, and then spent about ten
years immersed in Talmud study, in order to organize the vast Talmudic
legal material into a clearly organized and logical framework. The
result was the law code known as the Mishneh Torah, (Repetition of the
Torah), written in a clear and precise style, in easily understood
Hebrew. This work had profound importance for the legal code, though it
must be remembered that it was a workwhich inspired controversy. Some
learned Jews feared that Rambam's Halakhic masterpiece was so easy to
use that it could esily lead Jews to abandon Talmud study in favor of
the more simple approach of simply looking up the pertinent issue in the
Mishneh Torah! Indeed, Rambam himself claimed that it was no longer
necessary to study the Talmud in order to understand Halakhic issues,
(though he never advocated actualy giving up on Talmud study). It
appears that he was particularly concerned that the Talmud seemed to
many to be antiquated, and that the great effort needed to engage in
serious Talmud study could perhaps be more profitably utilized in other
intellectual pursuits. He was well aware of the appeal of classical
Greek philosophical literature, (which had been lost in most of
Christian Europe, but had been preserved in the Byzantine Empire as well
as in the Muslim domains, where the works had been translated into
Arabic and widely read). Many learned Jews in Spain were reading the
works of Aristotle and other Greek philosophers, and often these
classical works caused Jews to doubt the truth of their own traditions.
And so Rambam decided that a synthesis between these two worlds was
necessary, and he of course, was the natural candidate to achieve it!
The result: The Guide for the Perplexed, (completed in 1190), is
probably the most influential work in Jewish philosophy ever written.
His goal was to provide a completely rational basis for traditional
Jewish faith; to reconcile Divine revelation with scientific and
philosophical truth. Let's look at a brief excerpt together:
"I shall open this chapter with a simile: A prince is in his castle;
his subjects are partly dwelling in the city and partly without. Of
those in the city, some have turned their backs toward's the prince
house and face another way. Others are making for the house of the
prince and are directed towards it, seeking to obtain entry to it to
have audience with the prince; but to this moment they have not yet
seenthe walls of the palace. Some of those who are going towards it
have reached the palace and are wandering around it in search of the
gate. A few have entered the gate and are passing through the
forecourt. Others again have got so far as to enter the inner courtyard
of the palace and thus are in the same locality as the
prince...Penetrating as far as the inside of the palace does not yet
mean that they see the prince or speak to him....after entering the
palace further efforts are required: then only does one reach the
presence of the prince and see him from afar or nearby, hears him speak,
or is allowed to address him.
I shall now explain this simile to you which I have invented: those who
are outside the city are all those human beings who possess no religious
belief whatever...These are like animals devoid of reason; in my view
they are not to be classed as human beings...Those who are in the city
but turn their back's to the prince's palace are men of thought and
speculation who have arrived at false opinions...These are much worse
off than the first group...Those who are making for the palace and aim
at entering it, but have never seen the palace yet, are the great mass
of those who obey the Law [of Torah], or in other words the `men without
learning who occupy themselves with religious duties'. Those who have
arrived at the palace and are walking around it are those possessed of
religious learning, who accept the right opinions as traditional beliefs
and study the detailed ordinances of the works demanded in the service
of God, but have never attempted to speculate on the principles of their
faith or inquired in any way into the justification of any item of
faith...Those who have embarked on speculation concerning the principles
of religion have entered the forecourts...Those finally, who have
succeeded in obtaining demonstrative proof of everything that can be
demonstratively proved, and have reached certainty with regard to all
those metaphysical matters on which certainty can be reached...those, I
say, have penetrated to the presence of the prince in the inner parts of
the palace."
The "prince" of course, refers to God. Note that the highest goal for
Rambam is rational speculation. Rational speculation, or philosophy,
does not negate religious truth here, rather it is the most exalted
means available for achieving the highest level of religious truth!
Let's jump ahead of our story a bit here in order to compare this
excerpt with a selection from the Zohar, the classic work of Kabbalah,
(the most important movement of Jewish mysticism). According to Jewish
tradition, the Zohar was composed by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in the
Roman period in Eretz Yisrael, but scholars believe the work was
actually written and/or edited by a Spanish Jew of the late 13th
Century, Moshe de Leon (who claims to have simply compiled the work by
bringing the words of Rabbi Shimon). Listen to the words of the Zohar
concerning the essence of religious truth, and compare them to the
rationally oriented approach of Rambam:
"Woe to the human being who says that Torah presents mere stories and
ordinary words...this story of Torah is the garment of Torah. Whoever
thinks that the garment is the real Torah and not something else-may his
spirit deflate!...But the essence of the garment is the body; the
essence of the body is the soul. So it is with Torah. She has a body:
the commandments of Torah...This body is clothed in garments: the
stories of this world. Fools of the world look only at that garment,
the story of Torah; they know nothing more...Those who know more do not
look at the garment, but rather at the body behind that garment. The
wise ones, servants of the King on high, those who stood at Mount Sinai,
look only at the soul, root of all, real Torah..."
The "root of all", referred to hear, is again God. But this
description, despite its striking similarity to the simile described by
Rambam, does not speak of philosophical investigation or rational
speculation. Rather, it speaks of looking at the "root of all", (no
easy task), something which is to be experienced through direct,
mystical encounter. Here we see excerpts from two works which exhibit a
certain similarity of content and style, yet their conclusions differ
in this fundamental respect. These two works were to have a deep
influence on the development of Judaism, the Guide providing a basis for
further investigations in Jewish philosophy, and the Zohar serving as
the basis for the development of Kabbalah and the Hasidic movement. And
both of these works are products of the Jewish community of Spain!
But enough of our intellectual wanderings...let's return to the
historical developments! The Zohar was composed long after the "Golden
Age" had ended. Even in Rambam's lifetime, religious intolerance reared
its ugly head, and persecution by a fanatical Islamic sect led Rambam to
leave Spain for Egypt. By the 12th Century, the Reconquista, (the
Christian reconquest of Spain), was well on its way, and the process
continued until the late 15 th Century, when it reched its culmination
under the strong rule of Ferdinand and Isabella. At first, Christian
rulers in Spain were generally tolerant of the Jews, but by the year
1391,zealous Roman Catholic churchmen, led by Ferrand Martinez, forcibly
converted tens of thousands of Jews. Other Jews converted on their own
volition, in order to safeguard their social position. They viewed this
step to be necessary because Jews had been confined to special
neighborhoods called "Juderias", and had been subject to other social
and occupational restrictions. The result of the conversions was the
creation of the group formally called the "New Christians", or as they
were popularly known, the Marranos, (or "swine"), who were suspected by
the church of living on the outside as Christians, while secretly
continuing to live as Jews. Many, (though not all) of these "New
Christians" were in fact secret Jews, and this was the situation which
the Church could not bear. This led to the creation of the Spanish
Inquisition in 1451. The Inquisition was a papal court, whose purpose
was to uproot heresy within the church. New Christians suspected of
heresy, that is, of being secret Jews, were subject to horrible tortures
and often burned at the stake. But even the Inquisition proved
incapable of rooting out the heresy completely, and under Ferdinand and
Isabella, the decision was made to forcibly expel the Jews from the
Spanish dominions. The expulsion took place in 1492. And so, the same
year that the New World of America was discovered, a very ancient Jewish
community reached its end.
Sephardic Jews, of course, continued to exist and maintain their
uniquely Sephardic Jewish identity in many other countries. Most of
these jews ended up settling in the various countries of the Ottoman
Empire. Some of them came to Israel, where a special community of
Kabbalists established themselves in 16th Century Tzfat. Here, under
the leadership of such great leaders as Rabbi Joseph Karo, Moshe
Cordovero, and Isaac Luria, Kabbalah entered its next great phase of
development, (the Lurianic Kabbalah), which was particularly concerned
with the coming of the Messiah and the effort to literally bring the
Messiah to earth)! Other Sephardic Jews ended up establishing
communities in European countries, such as the Netherlands and England,
while others made their way to the Americas.
Well, I think it's about time to wrap things up. Again, we've covered a
lot of material here, and you may have questions or desire amplification
on certain subjects. Nu, it's time to get online and send in your
questions and/or comments! I'll be happy to hear from you.
May you all be inscribed for a happy, healthy, prosperous, and peaceful
year!
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