Authors: Jane S. Gerber
ISBN-13: 9780029115749, ISBN-10: 0029115744
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Date Published: January 1994
Edition: 1st Edition
The history of the Jews of Spain is a remarkable story that begins in the remote past and continues today. For more than a thousand years, Sepharad (the Hebrew word for Spain) was home to a large Jewish community noted for its richness and virtuosity. Summarily expelled in 1492 and forced into exile, their tragedy of expulsion marked the end of one critical phase of their history and the beginning of another. Indeed, in defiance of all logic and expectation, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain became an occasion for renewed creativity. Nor have five hundred years of wandering extinguished the identity of the Sephardic Jews, or diminished the proud memory of the dazzling civilization which they created on Spanish soil.This book is intended to serve as an introduction and scholarly guide to that history.
Preface | ||
Introduction: An Enigma of 1492 | ||
1 | Volatile Origins: The Early History of Jewish Life in Spain | 1 |
2 | The Birth of Sepharad: From the Muslim Conquest to the Caliphate of Cordoba | 27 |
3 | The Golden Era: The Emergence of Sephardic Civilization | 59 |
4 | The Reconquista: Jews and the New Realities of Christian Spain | 91 |
5 | Path to Expulsion: The Decline and Destruction of Spanish Jewry | 115 |
6 | Return to the Islamic World: The Sephardic Diaspora in Muslim Lands | 145 |
7 | The Westward Journey: Europe and the New World | 177 |
8 | Encounter with Modernity: Ottoman Decline and the Ascendance of the West | 213 |
9 | Revival and Return: Sephardic Jews in the Post-War Era | 253 |
Appendix 1: The Edict of Expulsion | 285 | |
Appendix 2: Immigration Tables | 291 | |
Appendix 3: Maps | 293 | |
Notes | 299 | |
A Note on Further Reading | 309 | |
Index | 319 |