Holocaust In The Sephardic World Study Guide

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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.

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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

o Algebra and basic science and mathematics comes from Arabic

o Many greek and roman texts lost after fall of Roman Empire but in Arabic they survive
Madinat Al-Zahra (palace)
o The Versailles of cordoba (1 hour out of cordoba)
o Roman influence (columns)
o Think of morocco and spain when looking at it
Mudejar is the name
o Many architects were Jewish
o Destroyed in 1009
o Built by Abd Al Rahman
Basilca de San Vicente in time of Visgoths
o Mosque of Cordoba in 786-1236
o Great Cathedral of Cordoba (now) after reconquest
o Those are contradictions that Menocal talks about. Its named the Great Cathedral but its not only that
Santa Maria la Blanca, Toledo
o Former Mosque Synagogue Chruch after expulsion
Alhambra (in Granada)
o Style is very similar to the others
o Under Charles V (grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella), a disciple of Michelangelo created a neoclassical
palace at the main entrance. Page 272 of menocal.
o Mix of different styles as new parts are built and added over time
o Washington Irvings tales of the Alhambra 1832
Spent time there and then wrote a story
Former synagogue in Segovia, now hosts the Convento del Corpus Cristi
A miracle in Segovia 1410
o A group of jews stole sacred host of Catholic Church and wanted to pour blood on it. Apparently it lit up
and flew away back to the Church.
o Story that circulates at the end of convivencia.
The plague one legend was that the Jews had poisoned the wells
The 4th Lateran Coucnil (1215)
o Clothes from it Jews forced to wear certain clothes
Like jewish star in WWII
o People of different religions in Spain all looked the same, so how would you identify them? Clothes
Sabbetai Zvi (1629-1676)
o Thought he was the Messiah. He was forced to convert to Islam. Lots of followers converted too.
Beginning and decadence.
Alliance Israelite Universelle (1860) started in French
o Starts schools and teaches in French. Sephardim now speak French. Competition between France, Italy,
and Spain. In N Africa and Ottoman Empire.
Sol Hotcheul Suleika martyr. Forced to publicly state that she converted to Islam and she didnt.

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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

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Caballero movie (1899-1988) jews of the Spanish homeland (1920s)

o First half of film
Remains in spain of Judaism are archeological in nature
Maimonides born in Cordoba
Some jewish communities do still exist
Architecture and buildings the past
2 or 3 families we see the present
Academics, politicians, and researchers not much left
o Second half of film
Schools with little kids (boys and girls)
Butchers and Doctors
Quarter just for Jews
Lots more people and activity
o Difference between the two halves
More people in 2nd half
Class represents itself first with destitute areas and then with more upper-class people (doctors,
lawyers, politicians, and bankers)
o Caballero wants to bring them all back under the ideology of Spanishness
Shows himself to point out that hes the collector of all this info
Our motto must be Spaniards, return to where you once lived
At this point Spain has lost its empire and is looking towards Jews of the Balkans for
colonial interests
Shows rich people to show that Jews in the Balkans are like us
Caballero becomes an open fascist in the 30s
o How to reconcile this with supporting Sephardic communities
o Socialism part of fascism would help Jews in poverty
o Sephardim have a connection to Spain and they have a good economic culture
o Sephardim are more Spanish than Jews
They speak the Spanish language
Not really since Ladino is complicated

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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

o Cant tell everyone apart

o She wants to help but says its their own fault for this.
o Textbook description of orientalism
Colonial enterprise is justified by saying East is a place where people cane rule themselves
o Shes trying but still stereotyping
o What she sees vs what she wants to see
9/16: Rodrigue and Benbassa readings
Nation
o Turkey and Greece become nations
Language defined sense of identity and unity
10 commandments of Turkification
Change names Turkify them
Non-hebrew prayers in Turkish
Send kids to Turkish schools
Become involved in affairs of the state
Stop having Jewish communities be separate from the national community
Participate in public life
Know your rights citizenship
Citizenship
o Obligations filled towards the state
o Be loyal to the state
o Aware of it when you step outside
o Being a citizen of neutral country means you can be repatriated back
Ex: spain and Italy during world war ii
Blood Libel in 19th and early 20th century reponds to different changes. Emerges again in Nazi propaganda
Bulgaria
o Sofia is main Jewish center
5 hours from Salonika
o Main synagogue has muslim influences
Cremieux Decree
o Adolphe Cremieux secured full citizenship for the Jews in French-ruled Algeria. It allowed for native
Jews to become French citizens. It excluded Muslim Arabs and Berbers and they remained second-class
citizens. This set the scene for deteriorating relations between Jews and Muslims.
o In 1940, the German-sponsored French Vichy government abolished the decree when it took control of
Algeria, but the provisions were reinstated after the war.