Jews lived in Spain for a very, very long time, possibly from as early as Biblical times. The first recorded evidence of Jewish life in Spain dates from the Roman period where Jews were a tolerated minority. Jewish life took a turn for the worse in the 6th century when the Visigoths, a radical Christian sect, conquered much of Spain. Active persecution and forced conversions led to the phenomenon of many Jews outwardly converting while secretly attempting to practice as Jews, something we are much more familiar with from the period of the Inquisition.
In 711 the Muslims crossed over from North Africa and rapidly conquered Spain; the Jews welcomed them with open arms, and for good reason. Throughout the medieval period and into the modern, it was, with rare exceptions, much better for the Jews to be living under Islamic rule as opposed to Christian. As people of the book,Jews along with Christians, were a protected minority.
Yet minority rights of the medieval period should not be confused with minority rights granted by western democracies. Jews had the status of dhimmi, an official second lower class with unequal rights. Nonetheless, the tolerance afforded the Jews - and with the restrictions against Jews often observed in the breach - allowed for a flourishing of Jewish life.
This, in great contrast to the [Ashkenazic] Jews living in Christian lands, of France and Germany. The surrounding culture, mired in the dark ages, had little to offer to the Jewish people.
Historians estimate that throughout much of the medieval period upwards of 90% of European Jewry lived in Spain, a concentration of Jews unequaled in Jewish history. The Jewish people not only took an active part in the cultural, intellectual and political lives of their host country, they were greatly influenced and enriched by the cultural milieu in which they lived.
It was Spain that produced the greatest of Jewish philosophers. To the medieval greats, people like Bachyai Ibn Pekudah, Gersonides, Chasdai Crescas, and Maimonides saw the study of Jewish philosophy as central to Judaism, perhaps even more important than the study of Jewish law. Only through such study could one gain a proper understanding of the Torah and G-d. And one could only understand Jewish philosophy if one was well grounded in general philosophy. So much so that philosophical truths were the standard by which Judaism had to be understood[1].
This too was in marked contrast the Ashkenazic Jewry - and much of the “Orthodox” world of today - where the study of philosophy was not only ignored it was often actively opposed. They saw great danger in its study, fearing it would lead Jews astray. Not only did they feel the risks outweighed the reward, they saw little reward in the study of philosophy. These fears were not unfounded and led the Rashba - the great 14th century Spanish Talmudist – to forbid the study of philosophy before the age of 25, thereby allowing one to acquire the necessary knowledge in Talmudic texts so that one could be properly prepared for its study.
It was the potential danger of philosophy that led to the writing of what I consider the far and away best introduction to Judaism ever written. Seeing how his son was attracted to study of philosophy and fearing it would lead him astray, a 13th century anonymous author, living in Barcelona, wrote a book to demonstrate the beauty and philosophical rationale of Judaism. The Sefer Hachinuch gives a brief description and summary of each of the 613 mitzvot, explaining their philosophical underpinning and moral message. It is written in clear, easy to understand Hebrew and a book I feel must be on the curriculum of every Jewish high school[2].
But it was not only philosophy – Jewish and general – that learned Jews engaged in. They studied the sciences, literature, formulated the rules of Hebrew grammar, rose to high positions in commerce, politics and more. Spain produced some of our greatest poets - who in addition to being revered in Jewish tradition were amongst the greatest of Spanish poets. These great religious poets, among them, Salomón ibn Gabirol, Moses ibn Ezra, Yehudah Halevi, Abraham ibn Ezra, Dunash ben Labrat (the author of dror yikra) despite, or possibly because of, their religious devotion engaged in “secular” even romantic poetry borrowing many of the motifs that were common in Arabic poetry[3].
In 1148 Jewish life took a marked turn for the worse as radical fundamentalist Muslims, the Almohads, invaded and conquered the Southern parts of Spain. Their motto was conversion or death, leading many Jews to flee, primarily to Morocco or to the northern parts of Spain, then under more benevolent Christian rulers. Most prominent amongst these exiles was the Rambam, born in Córdoba in 1138, who fled with his family to Fez.
Many scholars are of the view that the Rambam’s family themselves outwardly converted to Islam before managing to escape. Shocking as it may sound to many, this would be very much in keeping with the view of the Rambam himself. In his Iggeret HaShmad, letter of apostasy written in response to those who had converted to Islam under threat of death, the Rambam argued that they had acted properly. Islam is a monotheistic religion and hence one may convert to it in order to save one’s life. And once one may convert one is obligated to convert[4] as saving life supersedes all but the three cardinal sins of idolatry, adultery and murder.
The Almohad conquest in many ways marks the end of Golden Age of Spanish Jewry. I look forward to sharing some of the highlights of Spanish Jewish life over the following 350 years.
[1] This view was not shared by Rav Yehuda Halevi, who in his philosophical work The Kuzari gives short thrift to the views of the philosophers using them as a foil from which to gain a greater understanding of Judaism. While having a much less enthusiastic view of philosophy such a view came about only after serious study.
[2] In a somewhat similar vein Rav Soloveitchik argued that his grandfather, Rav Chaim, developed the Brisker approach to Talmud study in response to the powerful attraction of science. This system took a more “scientific” approach to Talmud study, focusing on precise definitions, classification, categorization and innovation hoping to demonstrate that Torah is no less intellectually stimulating and demanding than the sciences. Those who rejected this new approach to learning referred to it, disparagingly, as chemistry.
[3] In contrast to his view on philosophy, Rav Yehudah Halevi wrote hundreds of “non-religious” poems.
[4] Fascinatingly, the Tosafists (living in Christian France and Germany) ruled that the concept that pikuach nefesh, saving a life supersedes all other mitzvot save for the three cardinal sins, just means that one is allowed to violate the Torah to save one’s life, but a pious individual may, and presumably should give up his life rather than violate any of the mitzvoth of the Torah. Thus better to die than eat a cheeseburger. Jewish law has accepted the view of the Rambam as recorded in the Mishne Torah that to give up one’s life when not absolutely necessary would be an act of forbidden suicide.
