Historical mistakes can be fixed, according to Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.).
Reparation was the overarching theme of a Tuesday event organized by the Embassy of Spain recognizing the inauguration of an exhibit about the history of Jews in Spain.
“The Golden Age of the Jews of Al-Andalus” showcased the chapter of history between the early eighth century to the end of the 15th century in present-day Andalusia, Spain. At the time, Muslims ruled the region and Jews, Christians and Muslims coexisted.
The exhibition illustrated the intellectual, cultural and social achievements of the Jewish communities in Al-Andalus through a compilation of artifacts and documents.
The Washington, D.C., event was organized by the Congressional Friends of Spain Caucus, the World Jewish Congress, the American Sephardi Federation and Madrid’s Centro Sefarad-Israel, the latter of which designed the traveling exhibit.
“[This exhibit is] about the Golden Age of the Jews in Spain, about the lives of the Sephardic Jews of Muslim Spain, the legendary time where the three religions lived with each other in peace,” José Eugenio Thovar Lozano of the Embassy of Spain said.
The prosperous era came to an end in 1492, when the king and queen expelled all Jews from Spain or forced them to convert to Catholicism. An estimated 175,000 Jews fled the land that year, according to the Museum of Jewish Heritage, as well as tens of thousands more in the following years.
They largely resettled in Portugal, North Africa and the Ottoman Empire. The prominent philosopher and Sephardic rabbi, Maimonides, was among those who relocated to Egypt due to religious persecution.
On June 24, 2015, Spain enacted a law granting Spanish citizenship to Sephardic Jews of Spanish origin. The exhibition came to D.C. on June 24, marking the 10-year anniversary of the citizenship law.
“Spain did a very bad thing,” Thovar Lozano said. “You can fix historical mistakes … and we did that in the case of the Sephardic Jews. Of course, we will never be able to compensate and make it up [to] those who were expelled, who fled their houses with their keys and thought that they would maybe be able to come back one day and never did.
“But you have their descendants who are able to come back to Spain and to be celebrated as Spaniards. That’s very important.”
Throughout the past decade, more than 72,000 people obtained Spanish nationality, allowing them to reconnect with their heritage and identity: “We are extremely proud,” Thovar Lozano said.
“This is the anniversary of the citizenship law that allowed Sephardic Jews and descendants of Sephardic Jews to reclaim the part of their identity that was stolen from them,” Jason Guberman, the executive director of American Sephardi Federation, said.
Ezra Friedlander, a political consultant, was among the event’s invited attendees.
“We’re celebrating this bill, which was a monumental opportunity to redress what transpired hundreds of years ago,” Friedlander said. “These events are very educational in nature for young people to know what transpired so many hundreds and hundreds of years ago.”
Tina Chancey, a musician who performed at the event with another member of the northern Virginia-based Trio Sefardi, browsed the exhibition before closing out the evening program with song.
“There are so many places in Spain that are significant to Sephardic Jews,” she noted.
Guberman said events such as this one are necessary to showcase the broad diversity of Jewish history. “Events like this are critically important to help people realize the beauty, depth, diversity, vitality of the whole Jewish experience,” he said.
“You can take the Jews out of Spain; you can’t take Spain out of the Jews,” he added.
