Spanish Jews

Tourists at the Casa Sefarad museum in Cordoba, Spain. (Julie Masis/ Times of Israel)

July 6, 2018, 11:05 pm

In Spain’s Jewish museums, almost nothing is actually from Spain

There’s a revival of interest in the history of pre-Inquisition Jewry, but it’s difficult to showcase a legacy that was deliberately destroyed by the 16th-century monarchy

By Julie Masis

The Inquisition Tribunal, a 19th century work by Spanish artist Francisco Goya. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons/CC BY)

June 23, 2018, 4:24 am

Israeli embassy in Spain brings up Inquisition to protest anti-Israel moves

Tweet links Pamplona’s motion calling for ‘military embargo’ on Jewish state to 15th century anti-Semitic tribunals

By JTA

Illustrative: Members of the restored Synagogue of Barcelona carry the holy Torah to their new home in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2006. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

March 9, 2018, 9:42 pm

Spain extends citizenship law for Sephardic Jews

Legislation that offers nationality to descendants of Jews forced to flee under the Inquisition to remain valid until October 2019

By AFP

Illustrative copy of Şalom newspaper from 1970, published in Ladino, on display at the Jewish Museum of Turkey in Istanbul. (Larry Luxner/Times of Israel)

February 21, 2018, 7:26 pm

Spain helps keep alive archaic language of Sephardic Jews

Ladino getting boost from Royal Academy to nurture 500-year-old tongue which UNESCO defines as ‘severely endangered’

By CRISTINA FUENTES-CANTILLANA

December 25, 2017, 2:13 am

‘Kosher’ and ‘hummus’ added to official Spanish language dictionary

Royal Spanish Academy will include words in latest update of its official vocabulary list

By JTA

Santiago Palomero Plaza, director of the Museo Sefardi, giving a massive online class in the Deciphering Secrets series. (Screenshot/Courtesy)

November 27, 2017, 4:55 pm

Old tensions come to life as medieval Spanish synagogue goes online

Via his ‘massive open online course,’ professor teaches pupils the world over about Spain’s early version of globalization

By Rich Tenorio

President Reuven Rivlin (lleft) and Spanish King Felipe VI in Madrid, November 6, 2017 (Haim Zach/GPO)

November 7, 2017, 11:58 am

Rivlin appears to reject Catalonia’s independence bid

‘Spain for us is one country,’ president tells King Felipe VI in Madrid, says he hopes current conflict will be resolved peacefully

By Raphael Ahren

President Reuven Rivlin meets with Madrid's Jewish community on November 5, 2017. (Haim Zach / GPO)

November 5, 2017, 10:26 pm

In Spain, Rivlin pledges Israeli support to Jews against anti-Semitism

President visits Madrid to celebrate 100 years of resurgent Jewish presence in the Iberian Peninsula

By TOI staff

Illustrative: Torah scroll Ink on gevil. Spain, 15th century (photo credit: Green Collection)

November 3, 2017, 9:53 pm

Torah scroll that women helped write to be unveiled in Madrid

Hailed as Spain’s first egalitarian Torah, scroll is also the first written from start to end in the country in 500 years

By JTA

President Shimon Peres kicks the ball to FC Barcelona's Argentinian striker Lionel Messi during a football clinic session in Broomfield stadium in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2013. (photo credit: AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

November 2, 2017, 8:36 am

Four Jewish things worth knowing about Catalonia

As the region’s future hangs in the balance, a look at the history and politics surrounding this once vital center of Jewish life

By Cnaan Liphshiz

The Spanish (L) and Catalan Senyera flags flutter over Catalonia's Generalitat Palace in Barcelona on October 28, 2017, a day after direct control was imposed on the region over a bid to break away from Spain. (AFP PHOTO / PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU)

October 31, 2017, 10:22 am

Israel will neither support nor oppose Catalonian independence

Breaking with US and EU, Jewish state wary of standing with Spain, which it sees as major funder of anti-Israel activities

By JTA

A young man uses a megaphone as other youths wrapped in Spanish flags listen to him during a demonstration calling for unity in Barcelona on October 28, 2017, a day after direct control was imposed on Catalonia over a bid to break away from Spain.(AFP/PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU)

October 29, 2017, 5:50 am

After ‘independence,’ Catalonia girds for pushback from unity backers

Barcelona on knife’s edge as protesters opposed to secession prepare to rally, amid looming fears of clash between Madrid government and pro-independence Catalans

By AFP

August 22, 2017, 12:58 pm

Victor Sorenssen

We Barcelona Jews are not doomed

A call to flee Spain for Israel inflates the terror threat and underplays the city’s rich Jewish life

Barcelona Jewish Community Spokesperson Victor Sorrenssen ( Screen Capture/ YouTube)

August 18, 2017, 11:13 pm

Barcelona Jews reject their rabbi’s predictions of doom after attack

We are a vibrant community and we will not leave our city, says spokesman after Chief Rabbi Meir Bar-Hen warns they have no future

By TOI staff and JTA

Barcelona chief Rabbi Meir Bar Hen. (Screen capture YouTube.com)

August 18, 2017, 4:46 pm

Following attack, Barcelona’s chief rabbi says his community is doomed

‘Europe is lost,’ says Rabbi Meir Bar-Hen. ‘I tell my congregants: Don’t think we’re here for good, and I encourage them to buy property in Israel’

By JTA