Language:
English
Year of publication:
1989
Titel der Quelle:
Binah; Studies in Jewish History, Thought and Culture
Angaben zur Quelle:
1 (1989) 83-98
Keywords:
Crypto-Jews
;
Jews History Expulsion, 1492
;
Sephardim History
;
Jews History Middle Ages, 500-1500
Abstract:
Describes attitudes expressed in rabbinic literature from 1492 through the 16th century in regard to the expulsion from Spain and the status of Conversos. The accounts are contradictory, due to each author's emphasis on a different aspect of Spanish Jewish life. The idealized accounts tell of the Jews' eminence, their wealth, and the tranquility they enjoyed, while others describe a constantly deteriorating Jewish community beginning with the persecutions of the late 14th century. States that there seems to have been an inner crisis of faith within Spanish Jewry; the forces exerted to make Jews convert to Christianity raised questions regarding divine justice. The faithful expressed rage at the converts, but many viewed the torture and forced conversion as a divine decree. The Jews were aware that the Christians' hatred of them was partly because they were an obstacle to the religious and political unification of the Iberian peninsula, and some even justified the expulsion policy. A belief arose that the expulsion and the Jews' sufferings heralded their redemption and restoration to the Holy Land.
Note:
Appeared previously in Hebrew in "Yitzhak F. Baer Jubilee Volume", 1960, and in "Zion" 26, 1961.
URL:
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