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…
The scene was that of a typical family gathering at an Amsterdam restaurant in April. Children squatted on their chairs to reach the table, cuddling up to their grandmother, dishes were passed and toasts were made; a pair of sisters talked about old times. Yet this was no typical family. The da Costas are descendants…
(JTA) — News that Spain is proposing to offer citizenship to the descendants of Jews expelled in the 15th and 16th centuries spread like wildfire in Israel. Within hours of the Spanish government’s announcement last month, the Israeli website Ynet published a list of family names supposedly eligible for citizenship that contained some obviously Ashkenazi…
Spanish Muslims urged their government to grant citizenship to descendants of Muslims who were expelled from Spain in addition to Jews. The demand was made this week in a statement by the Association for Historical Legacy of Al-Andalus, the Spanish news agency EFE reported on Feb. 17. “The Spanish state should grant the same rights…
Kurt Hoffman How do you sum up 500 years of Sephardic history in just a couple of illustrations? That’s the challenge I had to answer in the pages of the Forward and on the web at forward.com. Josh Nathan-Kazis’ story tells about his attempt to make good on the Spanish government’s offer to issue passports…
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…
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…
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