Seville

Jewish Section of Seville

Life in Seville

Hi my name is Raphael Lopez, I am 15 years old and the oldest in my

family. Let me give you a tour of my history. We live in Seville, El Call,

some call it la Juderia (the Jewish Quarter). I enter the synagogue with

my friends. It is Friday evening, Shabbat. I’m always so impressed with

our synagogue. It is so spacious, with the high dome ceiling and the

balcony above for the women. The Teva (podium) is ornately made of

wood covered with gold. The four large columns going up to the ark,

are also made of wood with Hebrew letters in gold filigree. On the top

of the ark in Hebrew is written “Know before whom you stand.” It’s one

of the three largest synagogues in Seville, (Seville has 24 synagogues,

21 small and 3 large). We Jews, as also in Toledo, have been here since

the Destruction of the first Temple. Seville is called after Madrid “the

greatest most beautiful city in Spain!” Seville is a port city and you can

see the immense Guadalquivir river from here.

Some jobs that Jews have here are; wine making, shoe makers and lace

makers, but most Jews here are merchants. It is a very busy city, as all

of the merchandise from other countries and other places have to go

through Seville, because that is the King’s law.

My father is a spice merchant. He sells cinnamon. We store a lot of

cinnamon in our house, my clothes always smell of cinnamon; so my

friends in school call me “cinnamon.”

I have many friends; we all go to the large yeshiva (Jewish school) here.

There are about 7,000 Jewish families in Seville alone.

We have mikvahs, butchers and Jewish bakeries here. Most of the Jews

here speak Ladino. Ladino is Judeo –Spanish (a mix of Castilian Spanish

and Hebrew, using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet to write it).

After services I go home and I’m greeted by the intoxicating smells of

the Shabbat meal. The spicy smell of eggplant (made with garlic) and

the amazing aroma of laffa bread. The smell of spicy meatballs. The

giggling of my sisters and brothers in anticipation of the delicious meal

that we have been waiting for the whole week. And now we will be

singing the holy prayers to bless the Shabbat meal. I glance down at the

beautiful place settings on the table. The polished candlesticks with the

warm glow that fills the room. The silver Kiddush cup filled with the

wine that I helped my father make. I sat on my chair with the soft

special cushion that my mother had made special for the Shabbat and

holidays.

On Shabbat (Sabbath on Saturday) or Yom Tov (Jewish holidays)

afternoon everyone comes down by the Guadalquivir river to take a

walk and enjoy the breeze off the river. It is so beautiful here, the sun

glistens on the dark blue sapphire color river. And the breeze has a

cooling effect because it gets very hot here. Seville is sometimes called

“the Pearl of Andalusia.”

And then the dark times came. I them remember well.

I came back from Yeshiva one day to find my mother crying.

“Mamma, why are you crying?” I asked.

“Rafael, you know of the recent anti- Jewish laws that the King and

Queen have put into motion.

First the law letting a priest come into the synagogue at any time

during services to preach the Christian faith.

And now there is a new law the King and Queen have put into motion,

that all Jews must leave Spain or convert to Catholicism if they want

then they can stay, otherwise they must leave by July 31, 1492. Since it

is March that law doesn’t give much time for anyone to sell their

property or make any arrangements to leave, or find a new place to

go.” She said sadly.

“But this only gives a few months to pack up and find a place that will

take the Jews. Where will we go? What will we do? Aren’t there pirates

patrolling the coast? What if no one wants to buy Jewish property

because they will get it for a bargain when the Jews leave. What if the

pirates want to kidnap Jews and hold them for ransom? Or worse kill

the Jews and take their property?” I asked.

“Wait! Isn’t Don Abarbanel the financial advisor to the king, and Rabbi

Don Abraham Senior, the court rabbi, trying to negotiate with the King

and Queen? “I asked.

I watched my mother nod her head yes.

“Then maybe we won’t have to leave Spain after all.” I said.

Somehow after seeing how sad my mother was I had to comfort her.

But in the back of my mind I felt uneasy. The Jews had been expelled

many times before in many lands, somehow I knew this time it would

be different.

“Raphael, since you’re the oldest I just wanted you to know that your

mother and I have made the decision to stay here in Spain. I have

looked for buyers everywhere to buy our spice business but have found

none. Everyone is in the same predicament as we are. They also have

no buyers for their business. We feel since so many people are stuck

like we are, that the King and Queen will change their minds and let us

stay as Jews. We know at first we must convert, but later on we feel

that we will be able to act as Jews openly just like before. And this

whole mess will blow over like it did in other countries.

Besides your grandparents and mother, who is expecting a child, will

not be able to travel so easily. So we will go tomorrow to the priest as a

family and convert to make easy on us. Especially since mother is

expecting she will need help to deliver the baby from the midwife. But

of course we will still keep our Torah and mitzvahs (loosely translated

Jewish customs) in secret. “Said Papa.

I looked at Papa with disbelief. How could he even think for a moment

that I would convert to Catholicism?

I don’t know how we did it but we did. We sadly converted to

Catholicism. Some of my friend’s families did the same. And yes most of

my friends packed up their belongings to leave Spain forever.

I remember sadly going to say good bye to them. There was a crowd of

non-Jews who surrounded them shouting at them to “get out you dirty

filthy Jews!’’ as they threw rocks at them.

“Manuel, are you really leaving forever?” I asked.

“Raphael, you know I must go with my family. But if you want I can take

you with us.” He said.

“I would love to go, but since I’m the oldest Papa relies on me to help

out, since Mamma will give birth soon. Can you please try to stay in

touch with me? Papa does feel that this will blow over soon and we’ll

be able to be Jewish openly again. I will keep an eye on your house in

case you want to come back.” I said half-heartedly.

“Raphael, what if it doesn’t blow over? You must try to be safe. Our

family is heading to Amsterdam; my father has connections there.

Aaron’s family is heading to Morocco as they have connections there. A

few of our other friends are heading for Turkey. So you see, if you need

you can have a safe place elsewhere. “Said Manuel.

We looked at each other for a while and then I gave Manuel a long hug.

I somehow hoped that we would meet up again later but I wasn’t so

sure of it.

Ten years later.

Much has happened in the last ten years.

Needless to say it didn’t blow over. Many rules and laws were enacted

against the Jews, who were now called “New Christians or Conversos.

Just because we were all converted as New Christians/Catholics didn’t

mean that the anti-Jewish hatred stopped. It did not. No matter how

much we all tried to integrate into Christian society we were always

asked “are you of pure blood?” (meaning are you are Christian for

several generations.

A few days after our “conversion” to Catholicism a priest came to our

door with a guard, who had a sword, and he collected all of our Jewish

items. Gone were my great-great grandmother’s silver candle sticks.

Gone was my father’s tefillin that had been in the family for

generations . They confiscated all of our holy books and scrolls. They

took our tallisim (prayer shawls) our kippot (head covering for a man)

our mezuzahs and anything that looked Jewish. My mother cried when

she was forced to give up her great grandmother’s silver candle sticks,

which had been in our family for generations.

How could they be so cruel?

I remember the first Shabbos we were “New Christians,” no laffa bread,

no wine, no smells of spicy meatballs, just regular weekday food. We

were all forced to go to the old synagogue, now turned into a church.

No more Hebrew inscription on the walls, no more Torah scrolls (which

had been taken out and with everyone’s books and burned). There

were crosses and statues all over. My once beautiful synagogue was

now reduced to a shadow of its former glory. And yet as “New

Christians “we were expected to “pray “several times a day in our

former synagogue. This was madness. I was in shock! It was like a slap

in our face. I felt cold inside. I knew I had lost an immense amount.

And then I decided to keep our traditions in secret like so many others,

after witnessing my father hiding in the wine cellar to pray to God.

My father taught me the ancient Hebrew prayers, many I did not know.

Of course I knew the shma and the blessings upon waking up.

And I one Friday had gone down to our cellar to get wine, (everyone

has a wine cellar here, Jew and non-Jew) and I saw my mother lighting

Shabbos candles. She was using candle sticks made out of metal from a

wagon wheel that my father had melted down and shaped them.

I knew then that we had to keep strong and firm in our belief of God

and Jewish customs.

I found several other “New Christian “families. We formed a secret

synagogue and began in hiding, doing secret Jewish rituals. We would

take turns guarding the secret synagogues entrance while others

prayed. My parents began secretly teaching the children at age 12 or 13

because at this age they could keep a secret and not tell the authorities

we were doing Jewish rituals.

I got married. But because we were secret Jews, I had to first get

married in the church and then late at night we had the Jewish

ceremony in the secret synagogue.

Everything seemed to be going well until one morning we had a knock

on our door. It was the priest.

“Mr. Lopez, said the priest. We have been told that you’re doing Jewish

rituals. So now according to the laws I will be placing an agent of the

inquisition in your kitchen to make sure that you and your family aren’t

eating according to the Jewish laws of kosher.”

I was flabbergasted.

“Father, I said. Why Would I be following the Jewish laws? I’m a good

Catholic and I always go to mass. Who would question me?”

“It doesn’t matter who would question you and we’re not allowed to

tell you. So this Inquisition agent will stay here until further notice.” He

replied.

I knew now that I had to get my family and the whole group of secret

Jews out of Spain and fast! I also knew that they would be following

me.

I made a plan to warn the others. My son, Miguel had a friend from a

trustworthy family, so his friend would warn the others after it got dark

tonight.

And now I had to go buy some pork for the uninvited Inquisitor guest.

After many days of planning and looking boring to the Inquisition,

Thank God, the Inquisitor left. Now to put my plan in action.

Being that I was a spice merchant like my father I had some ties to

Amsterdam. I was arranging before the Inquisition was on my tail, to go

to Amsterdam. So I continued the preparations making it look like a

business trip. But this time I secured passage for all of my family,

parents, some cousins, all of my siblings married and non-married, and

friends. I got passage for them on several different boats leaving at

several different ports and different days so not to arouse any

suspicion.