432 pages
3 photographs, 1 chronology
June 2015
978-0-8276-1239-6
$27.95 Add to CartJune 2015
978-0-8276-1241-9
$27.95 Add to CartThe dramatic one-thousand-year history of Jews in Spain comes to life in Exiles in Sepharad. Jeffrey Gorsky vividly relates this colorful period of Jewish history, from the era when Jewish culture was at its height in Muslim Spain to the horrors of the Inquisition and the Expulsion.
Twenty percent of Jews today are descended from Sephardic Jews, who created significant works in religion, literature, science, and philosophy. They flourished under both Muslim and Christian rule, enjoying prosperity and power unsurpassed in Europe. Their cultural contributions include important poets; the great Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides; and Moses de Leon, author of the Zohar, the core text of the Kabbalah.
But these Jews also endured considerable hardship. Fundamentalist Islamic tribes drove them from Muslim to Christian Spain. In 1391 thousands were killed and more than a third were forced to convert by anti-Jewish rioters. A century later the Spanish Inquisition began, accusing thousands of these converts of heresy. By the end of the fifteenth century Jews had been expelled from Spain and forcibly converted in Portugal and Navarre. After almost a millennium of harmonious existence, what had been the most populous and prosperous Jewish community in Europe ceased to exist on the Iberian Peninsula.
“A personal and accessible narrative that tells a remarkable story yet is grounded in solid scholarship.”—Rabbi Daniel Bouskila, Sephardic Educational Center
“With a broad scope that will appeal to a wide readership, this work will be useful as a comprehensive resource on the history of the Spanish Jews.”—Gregory B. Kaplan, author of Marginal Voices: Studies in Converso Literature of Medieval and Golden Age Spain
“A lucid, readable summary . . . that brings the key personalities to life and explores the intricate relationship between religious hatred, politics, and economics.”—Rabbi Hayyim Angel, National Scholar at the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals and professor of Bible at Yeshiva University
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Chronology
Introduction: The Jewish Millennium in Spain
Part 1. La Convivencia
1. A Marriage of Convenience
2. The Visigoth Persecution of the Jews
3. Muslim Rule
4. Jews of Muslim Spain
5. Judah Halevi and The Kuzari
6. A Golden Age of Poetry
7. The End of the Caliphate
8. Maimonides
9. Christian Rule
10. Jews in Castile and Aragon
11. Book of Splendorand Kabbalah Mysticism
Part 2. The End of Tolerance
12. Toward 1391
13. Seeds of Destruction
14. The Conversion of the Jews
15. The Church Campaign against the Jews, Postconversion
Part 3. The Age of the Converts
16. New Christians
17. Converts and Castile
18. Anti- and Pro-Converso Writings
Part 4. The Spanish Inquisition
19. The Catholic Monarchy
20. Origins of the Inquisition
21. The Inquisition
22. Arrest, Trial, and Punishment
23. Inquisition Expansion
Part 5. The Last Iberian Jews
24. Spain and Expulsion
25. The Last Jews of Iberia
Part 6. After Expulsion
26. Purity of Blood
27. Jewish Blood, Black Blood
28. Conversos and the Beginnings of the Modern Novel
29. Coming to America
Conclusion: The Millennium in Spain, and After
Notes
Bibliography
Index