 |
| The Grandma visits Girona |
After visiting Brussel in Belgium, Claire Fontaine & The Grandma have travelled to Girona. They want to visit the city, especially the Call, the Jewish quarter where there is an important museum: El Museu d'Història dels Jueus.
Both friends are visiting the city and they are knowing more things about the Jewish community which was very important during the Medieval Age and which is studied and remembered nowadays. During the visit, they have been able to discover important Jewish characters of Girona and they have tasted some kosher wine from Capçanes, El Priorat.
They're going to spend all the weekend in Girona enjoying its places and its people. Next Monday, The Grandma is going to continue with her English studies and she's going to start reading a new book.
More information: Girona, Jewish city
Girona was founded by the Iberians, expanded by the Romans, who named it Gerunda, conquered by the Visigoths, then Moors, and finally by Charlemagne. Charlemagne incorporated Girona into Catalonia. By the 12th century, it was home to a large Jewish community.
Rabbi Moses ben Nahman Girondi, better known as Nahmanides or Ramban headed one of the most important Kabbalistic schools in Europe here. He was selected to advocate the Jewish position in the Barcelona Disputation of 1263 by King Jaume I. This was a debate in the Grand Royal Palace between the Ramban and Pau Cristia, a Jew who had converted to Catholicism. The purpose of this debate was to convince the Jews to covert to Christianity. Nahmanides prevailed, but in 1492, the Jews were expelled from Girona.
 |
| The Grandma visits the Jewish Call |
Some Jewish families chose to sell their properties to Christians before leaving Girona. Other members of the community believed they would return one day. They blocked off their properties and streets in hopes of reclaiming them in the future.
The Christian neighbors who were left behind were reluctant to move into these vacant homes for fear of being labeled secret Jews by the Catholic Church. As a result, the homes of the Jewish ghetto or Call, derived from the Hebrew Kahal meaning community, remained unoccupied for 500 years.
Over time, the people who lived near the Call built new structures, encroaching over the old houses. These construction projects gradually expanded, totally covering and entombing the vacant Jewish properties. This trend continued through the 18th century. With time, the Jewish Call was completely buried under the subsequent construction projects surrounding it.
More information: Call de Girona-Medieval Jewish quarter
The residents of Girona entirely forgot that a Jewish community had once existed there. The first clue reappeared in the 19th century, when a railway line was being built from Barcelona to France. When the construction crew dug through Montjuïc (Mount Juic=Mountain of the Jews), 20 tombstones with Hebrew inscriptions were unearthed. Except for a few archaeologists, no one really took note of this discovery.
During the centuries following the Jewish expulsion, Girona had developed beyond the old city walls. For most of this time, the new neighborhoods were considered the most desirable.
 |
| Claire Fontaine visits the Girona's Jewish Museum |
In the 1970s, the old town of Girona began to be gentrified. Mr. Josep Tarres i Fontan, a Catalan poet, was one of the people involved with rehabbing it. He purchased several 11th century buildings with the intention of building a restaurant. As work started on one of his buildings, the remains of Nahmanides’ yeshiva were discovered.
The discovery of such an important Kabbalistic site sparked the beginning of an exemplary model of preservation and education of a Jewish site in Catalonia.
The mission of the Nahmanides Institute for Jewish Studies is rehabilitating, studying and promoting the history of Girona’s Jewish community. Some efforts to accomplish these goals include offering grants to graduate students who wish to delve into such topics as family trees, Jewish lineages, and the lives of Jewish women. A specialized library is free and available to all who wish to use its resources.
More information: Call of Girona-Archaeological sites
The museum and institute together comprise what is known as the Bonastruc ça Porta Centre. Bonastruc ça Porta is Catalan for Nahmanides. The Bonastruc ça Porta Centre is located on the site of Nahmanide’s yeshiva. In its courtyard is an ancient excavated water cistern.
The governing body of the Jewish community was called the Aljama. The Call was self-administered by Jews, and taxes were paid directly to the king of Catalonia. The current structure is not the original house that he lived in anymore. This newer structure was built with recycled stones from the medieval homes that were torn down to make space for it. Seven stones with hewed impressions for mezuzahs were incorporated into this structure. One sits just inside the well.
 |
| Claire & The Grandma the Girona's Jewish Museum |
From the museum exhibits, we know that Jews were merchants, bookbinders, and businessmen. We had assumed that they spoke Ladino but according to last studies, the vernacular of Girona’s Jews was Catalan.
The Ladino, or Judeo-Spanish, or Sefardi, is a language that was born after the expulsion of the fifteenth century. It was formed with a base of medieval Castillian, with the addition of words from all the different parts of the Iberian Peninsula from which the Jews departed in 1492. Hebrew was used for prayers and scholarship. In the museum’s section about the professions of Girona’s Jews, there is a page from a medical manuscript written in Hebrew.
The Ladino, or Judeo-Spanish, or Sefardi, is a language that was born after the expulsion of the fifteenth century. It was formed with a base of medieval Castillian, with the addition of words from all the different parts of the Iberian Peninsula from which the Jews departed in 1492. Hebrew was used for prayers and scholarship. In the museum’s section about the professions of Girona’s Jews, there is a page from a medical manuscript written in Hebrew.
The most interesting information in Girona’s Jewish Museum was gleaned from two archives. The archive of Girona has records of property transfers dating back to 1284. These documents have helped map out the Call, and pinpoint where Jewish properties were located. Girona’s archive helped identify the site of the synagogue and Nahmanides’ yeshiva. The archive of Girona’s Inquisition lists all the Jews who converted to Catholicism. Their Jewish names were recorded, as well as the new names they adopted when they became Christians.
More information: Museum of the History of the Jews in Girona
The most amazing item on exhibit is a priceless Torat ha-Adam by Nahmanides, printed in 1595 in Venice.
The most interesting about this museum and institute is the rigor of scholarship and partnership with such institutions as the Israel Museum and the Jewish community of Barcelona. Private individuals were willing to lend, donate, or permit replicas from their priceless collection of artifacts and family heirlooms.
The Bonastruc ça Porta Centre has a lovely gift shop. Hebrew is taught, reemerging in Catalonia. Artists are invited to express their creativity by fashioning Jewish ritual objects, such as menorahs.
 |
| The Grandma contemplates the Catalan Atlas |
Many families in Catalonia harbor a secret: They are descended from Jews.
Many of them still retain vestiges of the Jewish faith expressed as unique family customs. There is still a lot of fear to both discover one’s Judaism, and to express it.
Perhaps one day, Catalonians who wonder about their roots will wish to reach into the past with their DNA analysis. In the meantime, a scholarly place is a safe place to learn about Judaism. That is how the Bonastruc ça Porta Centre serves the native Catalonians.
Girona is on The Sephardic Way, a network whose aim is to locate, revive and recover the cultural heritage of Jewish which covers, at this time, Barcelona, Girona, Besalú, Córdoba, Cáceres, Jaén, Hervas, Ribadavia, Segovia, Toledo and Tudela. Its object is to restore their synagogues and Jewish Quarters and create cultural centres and museums devoted to a deeper understanding of the Sephardic legacy.
More information: Patronat Call de Girona
During the Middle Ages, Girona was a very important Jewish centre with the best preserved and most important Jewish quarter in the Iberian Peninsula.
 |
| The Grandma in the Girona's Jewish Museum |
Surrounding a patio on the site of an ancient synagogue, there is a Catalan Museum of Jewish Culture, the Institute for Sephardic and Cabbalistic Studies and a library housing important medieval Jewish manuscripts. The Institute, which bears the name of the illustrious Girona-born Rabbi Mossé ben Nahan, or Nahmanides (Girona 1194-Acre 1270), was created in 1997 with the aim of rehabilitating, studying and promoting the history of Girona's Jewish community.
The aims of the Institute are pursued through research and education. It is complemented by the library which allows free access and consultation to its specialized material.
More information: Time Out
The Institute operates in two main areas: education and promotion. Academic and scientific programmes, including international conferences, lecture cycles, courses on cultural or historical themes, seminars intended for different professional groupings, such as for those in education or tourism, Hebrew language classes, workshops and activities for families and for children of all ages. There is participation in activities organized by other entities and institutions so as to publicize the Jewish history and culture of the city of Girona.
Research and study projects are undertaken relating to Jewish Girona, the reconstruction of family trees and lineages, and the history of Jewish women. Information is processed into databases available to researchers and all interested in these subjects.
The main aim of the Museum is to preserve and reflect the history of the Jewish communities of Catalonia, which throughout the entire medieval period formed part of, and made a decisive contribution to, the history of the country and its cultural and scientific development.
In most cases an attempt has been made to illustrate the explanations given during the visit to the Museum with examples of items originating from Girona's own Jewish history. These examples, which may be in documentary, archaeological or pictorial form, thus offer a general explanation of the pattern of Jewish life in medieval Catalonia.
The Museum has some thematic areas:
The Museum's eleven galleries thus form an itinerary allowing visitors to learn about aspects of the everyday life, culture and history of the Jewish communities of Catalonia and of Girona during medieval times.
RAHEL (11TH CENTURY)
Rahel was a Jewish woman who in 1040 sold in her own name a vineyard that she had inherited from her parents, situated outside the city walls near the abbey of Sant Daniel. She signed personally, in Hebrew, the deed for the sale of the land to Elies, a Christian. Since Rahel apparently knew how to read and write, a rare ability at the time, this enabled her to sign the deed of sale in her own hand. Most significant of all, however, is that Rahel acted on her own behalf and in her own name, and did not require male authorization to conduct a legal and legally recognized transaction concerning her own property. Hers is the oldest recorded signature in Hebrew in the city's history.
AZRIEL OF GIRONA (12TH CENTURY)
 |
| The Grandma tastes Kosher wine |
A cabbalist and philosopher, he was a very well-known member of the cabbalistic circle of Girona, and was both a direct disciple of Isaac the Blind and the philosophical master of Mossé ben Nahman. Spoke several languages.
Noteworthy among his large number of writings is the Sa'ar ha-so'el, an intelligible explanation of the theory of the 10 Sefirot in the form of questions and answers following the rules of logic, intended as an initiation for beginners.
Other writings include Commentaries on the Sefer Yesirah or Book of Creation, on the Aggadot of the Talmud, and on the daily Liturgy. In the latter case it can be noted as a curiosity that the work includes numerous Catalan terms written in Hebrew characters.
MESSULLAM BEN SELOMOH DE PIERA (13TH CENTURY)
A cabbalist, poet and philosopher. Also known as Vides of Girona, he was a friend of Mossé ben Nahman and Azriel of Girona, and together with them was one of the leaders of the Jewish community in 13th century Girona. Formed part of the city's circle of cabbalists. He used poetry to express his philosophical ideas, and was against the philosophy of Maimonides. He wrote two poems dedicated to Mossé ben Nahman, whom he looked upon as a great sage and master.
MOSSÉ BEN NAHMAN (13TH CENTURY)
A philosopher, cabbalist, talmudist, poet, physician and rabbi, he is the most important and outstanding figure in the Judaism of the Iberian peninsula in the 13th century, and was the greatest talmudic authority of his generation. Known to his contemporaries as the Master of Girona or Ramban, he is referred to today as Nahmanides or as Bonastruc ça Porta.
He was born in Girona in 1194, and died in the Holy Land in 1270. He was the rabbi of Girona and the keenest intellect and spiritual leader of the whole of Catalan Judaism. He was the most illustrious and prestigious member of the city's cabbalistic circle.
In 1263, summoned by King Jaume I, with whom he had ties of personal friendship, he defended Jewish beliefs against Pau Crestià, a Jewish convert to Christianity who was confessor to the King, in the so-called Disputation of Barcelona. Shortly afterwards he left voluntarily for Jerusalem so as to comply with the Talmudic precept to die at the mother's bosom. In 1270 in the city of Akko, he preached a New Year sermon which is still read in some synagogues all over the world even today.
Shortly before his death, he wrote a number of letters to his children in Girona, in which we can see how much he missed his family and the city. His personal seal in bronze was unearthed in the 1970s near Akko, and its inscription reads: Mossé, son of Rabbi Nahman, of Girona, have courage!. A copy of the seal can be seen in the Museum of the History of the Jews.
Among his works that are particularly outstanding for their exceptional quality are his Commentary on the Torah, the Torat ha-Adam, various Talmudic treatises, monographs about Jewish legal terms, and his poems, with their profound and cryptic content.
 |
| Jewish image in the Girona's Jewish Museum |
Members of one of the most powerful Jewish families in the history of Girona, they each held high office in the royal and local administration in the late 13th century.
They had enormous influence both within the Jewish community and in the general administration of the kingdom. The father, Astruc Ravaya, was the King's Bailiff for Girona and district, having succeeded his son Jucef Ravaya in this post. His other son, Mossé Ravaya, was Bailiff-General of Catalonia, and as such signed the Royal Charter of Palamós in the name of the King in the late 13th century.
BONAFILLA (13TH CENTURY)
A member of the Ravaya family, one of the most important and powerful families in 13th century Jewish Girona. She was a businesswoman who negotiated sales and loaned money against the payment of interest, all in her own name and at her own risk. In April 1288, she was accused of fraud before the ecclesiastical courts by a Christian resident of La Bisbal. Judged by the Bishop of Girona, she had her sentence commuted after paying bail to the value of 260 sous in the coinage of Barcelona.
JACOB BEN DAVID BONJORN (14TH CENTURY)
A scientist and physician. The son of Ester Caravida and David Bonjorn de Barri. Court physician and astronomer to King Peter IV the Ceremonious, he calculated astronomical tables commissioned to him by the King in 1361. He lived in Girona and Perpinyà.
ESTER (14TH CENTURY)
The daughter of Astruc Caravida, a powerful Jew of illustrious lineage, and of Bonadona. Her parents arranged her marriage to David Bonjorn de Barri. During her marriage she lived in Perpinyà. Her husband was apparently a bad-tempered individual who treated her so badly that she repeatedly asked him for a divorce. The royal astronomer, however, refused to give her the necessary document of repudiation or to return her dowry.
 |
| The Grandma in the Girona's Jewish Museum |
NISSIM BEN ROVEN GIRONDI (14TH CENTURY)
A Talmudist, physician, jurist and rabbi of the Jewish community of Saragossa in the 14th century. Originating from a family from Córdoba, he was born and trained in Girona, although he lived almost all his later life in Barcelona, where he was a spiritual master and leader and directed the Talmudic school created by the Grand Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet, a disciple of Nahmanides. He was known for his rationalist opinions, contrary to the mystical currents of the Cabbala. He wrote a commentary on the Halakot of Yishaq al-Fasi, Sermons, and a very important work, Responsum, used as an instrument of consultation by numerous communities all over the world.
BLANCA (15TH CENTURY)
A Jewish woman who had converted to Christianity and was the widow of the convert Bernat Falcó, the Falcó family being one of the most powerful families in the Jewish and convert community in the Girona of the 14th and 15th centuries. Blanca made her will in 1437, before a Christian notary. Nothing in her will indicates her Jewish ancestry, and she shows herself as a devout Christian and a lady of the Girona middle class of her day. A reference, however, to her son David, who is Jewish, and to the inheritance that she leaves him in her will provide irrefutable proof of her own Jewish past. She was a woman who was rich and influential, and she divided her inheritance between her children: three sons, two of whom were converts and one who was a Jew, and two daughters, who were both converts and married to converts in Perpinyà and Castelló d'Empúries.
More information: Fleeing the Holocaust in the Girona region
Our people represent a tapestry of interwoven identities embodying
the rich diversity of what it means to be Jewish.
Lynn Schusterman
No comments:
Post a Comment