Aristides Sousa Mendes is a national hero today in Portugal for bravely saving Jews fleeing the Nazis. It wasn’t always that way. When Aristides Sousa Mendes was a child, his name forced his family to leave Portugal for Africa. Today, his name is famous, and his grandfather and namesake, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, is a…
One of my daughters recently suggested that I investigate whether I’m eligible for British citizenship. It’s not a far-fetched notion. My mother was born in England, and so were her mother, and her mother, and her mother, and probably her mother. There’s a cemetery in Leeds where many of these women are buried; my mother…
A reporter excercises his right of return
The city of Granada in southern Spain has announced the opening of a museum dedicated to the culture of Sephardic Jews who used to live there before the Inquisition. The museum, which is called “The Palace of the Forgotten,” is housed inside the Santa Ines palace located in Albaicin — a neighborhood in the city’s…
A Spanish hotel built on the remains of a 15th century synagogue opened a new synagogue on its seventh floor. The opening last week at the Parador de Lorca hotel, a four-star establishment, was the result of negotiations between management and the Sefarad Beitenu Jewish association, which will run the shul, according to a report…
A Spanish aristocrat offered an official apology to the Jewish community of Gibraltar for the expulsion of Jews in the 15th century. The duke of Medina Sidonia, D. Alonso Gonzalez de Gregorio y Alvarez de Toledo, read the apology to members of the Gibraltar Jewish Community on Monday at the Instituto Cervantes, the Gibraltar Chronicle…
The City of Toledo, Spain, has opened an advanced studies of Spanish Jewry course for 50 tour guides. The program, which is the city’s first initiative of its kind, began on Oct. 14 and will offer two weekly classes until February, Silvia González Plaza of the Toldeo Municipal Tourist Office told JTA. Titled “The Toledo…
Representatives of Spain’s Jewish communities asked Catholic Church officials to return a former synagogue in Toledo during an interfaith conference in Madrid. Isaac Querub, the president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain, or FCJE, made the request Sunday during the 22nd meeting of the Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee, a body set up by the…
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