(JTA) – In a bid to reconnect with its Jewish history, the city of Marchena in southern Spain organized an international reunion for foreigners named after it. The two-day gathering, that will begin Friday in the city of about 40,000 residents near Sevilla, was organized under the assumption that foreigners whose last names contains the…
(JTA) — A Portugal government committee has approved the creation of a Memorial Day for the Victims of the Inquisition. The inquisition was formally established in Portugal in 1536. The date of the memorial day will be held on or around March 31, the official end of the Inquisition in 1821. Reconectar, the movement to…
Myths and martyrs hold significant space in Jewish storytelling and Jewish belief, and there are no two texts that prove this quite like “The Diary of Anne Frank” and the “Memoirs of Luis de Carvajal, El Mozo.” Anne Frank was one of eight people captured by the Nazis in the Secret Annex, and Luis de…
While the Iberian Peninsula continues to experience a reckoning with, and resurgence of, its Jewish past, a quieter, but similar, reckoning is taking place on the island of Sicily, specifically, in the capital city of Palermo. A New York Times piece published earlier this week tells the story of the Jewish population of Palermo, which…
Jewish historian Anita Novinsky, 94, was nominated for the “Woman Science Pioneers” award by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development for her longtime academic and field research about the Inquisition. Recognized as Brazil’s most prominent specialist in Brazilian and Portuguese Marranos, or hidden Jews who practiced Judaism secretly at home and pretended…
(Haaretz) — On August 3, 1492, just three days after the deadline given to Spain’s large and vibrant Jewish community to convert to Christianity or leave the country for ever, three ships – the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria – set sail from the port in Palos de la Frontera West. They were heading for the…
The Jewish Community of Madrid said it would take legal steps against a celebrated writer who cited Israel’s Gaza operation in justifying past expulsions of Jews. Antonio Gala, an award-winning playwright and author, made the statement in an Op-Ed which was published by the Spanish daily El Mundo. “It’s not strange that they have been…
The Spanish government has approved a draft bill that proposes to grant citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews who were forced into exile 500 years ago. Spain’s Council of Ministers, the Spanish cabinet, on Friday approved the draft law, which proposes to dispense with the need to relinquish foreign nationalities as required for other new…
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