After 1391 the Jews in Spain were a particularly impoverished element of the population, who in great portion occupied themselves as itinerant peddlers, shopkeepers, and in a few restricted crafts. The Jewish upper stratum at this time appears to have…
Category: Jews of Spain
BEFORE THE DELUGE: THE JEWS OF SPAIN (PART II)
Chasdai ibn Schaprut (905-970), leader of the community in Cordoba, was the physician and prime minister of the Caliph Abdurrachman III. Ibn Schaprut presented a shining new way of combining Jewish teaching with secular knowledge. He forged relations with the…
The Jews of Spain (Part I)
It happened thus in the last days of July 1492. Great masses of people forced themselves slowly forth to the sea, to Barcelona, to Seville, to Malaga. The Catholic clergyman Palaccio reports what he saw: “They laid down to rest…