Spain: At Home in Sefarad

By Julie Deluty
Jewish Theological Seminary
Originally posted Kislev 5768

For the past two years, around every major Jewish holiday, I anticipate checking my mail to find a letter in Spanish with greetings from abroad. One such card said: "Feliz Rosh Hashana. Os recordamos siempre con cariños y simpatía. Volveréis algún día por aquí?" "Happy Rosh Hashana. We remember you always with care and affection. Will you return here some day?"  Reading these words from my señor and señora, the memories of summer 2005 as a student in Spain, are reawakened and I find myself back in modern Sefarad. Through NYU's undergraduate program, I had the chance to explore this rich European capital and travel throughout the country. However, I also became a simultaneous member and observer of Madrid's Jewish community. My experience was largely shaped by the personal connection I made living with a Jewish couple originally from Tangier, Morocco, who have called Madrid their home for almost 50 years. On the one hand, many of the Sephardic customs that I observed were very new to me and I looked forward to dinner conversations in Spanish and Hebrew. On the other hand, a certain mutual love of Jewish history and tradition transcended any geographic and linguistic boundaries, and I came to feel at home in Sefarad.

During the first week in Madrid, my señor insisted on taking a walk to the center of the community on Calle Balmes. He wanted me to see the rejuvenation of Jewish life in the 21^st century, a symbol of triumph over Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand’s edict of expulsion. Congregación Beth Yaacov, an orthodox institution, has served as Madrid’s main place of worship throughout the 20^th century. My señor eagerly told me about the many years he had been the hazzan at Beth Yaacov and the joy he found in singing. We walked around the neighborhood as he pointed out several restaurants and a large Jewish school. I attended services on Balmes during the summer and while the melodies were wonderful, the atmosphere conveyed a certain austere feeling. Shortly before going to Spain, I learned of a Masorti synagogue that had been created in the 1990s with both a Spanish and South American constituency. My desire to explore another community was fulfilled when I contacted one of the members and then visited Congregación Bet El for Shabbat. This spirited, more intimate and egalitarian setting in a foreign country really took me by surprise and I was welcomed there. I remember my child-like excitement when one member gave his d’var torah in Spanish and I understood it and did not feel like an outsider.

The Jewish heritage of Spain also came alive that summer in the trips I took to other cities, particularly to the region of Andalucía in the south. The history of the "Golden Age" is preserved in Córdoba, Granada and Sevilla where literature, architecture, mathematics and philosophy flourished. Once home to Nachmanides, Ibn Ezra and Ibn Gabirol, these cities produced unique scholarship in an atmosphere of relative harmony among Muslims, Christians and Jews. The modern streets document this vibrant past and record the world of the 9^th-12^th centuries. A short paseo in Córdoba will take you down Calle de la Judería Vieja (Street of the Old Jewish Quarter) to Plazuela de Maimonides, where a monument celebrates the renowned theologian and doctor born there in 1135. Nearby, a stone façade remembers Averroes, noted medieval Muslim philosopher. As the narrow streets wind about, you see beautiful courtyards and patios tucked away from the hot sun. They eventually give way to Córdoba’s Mezquita, the 8^th century mosque later turned into a cathedral. Any student will be left in awe of the Spanish-Moorish architecture and the layers of history embedded in the structure. And just outside lies Patio de las Naranjas, Courtyard of the Orange Trees, one final touch to this adventure.

Julie Deluty is currently a graduate student at the Jewish Theological Seminary where she is studying for an M.A. in the department of Bible and Ancient Semitic Languages. She is an alumna of NYU with a double major in Jewish History and Romance Languages.

[Posted 7/2/08]