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They want to visit this beautiful city, the Jewish Quarter in particular, a fascinating and enigmatic place where history and faith are inextricably intertwined. The plan is to have lunch in the Jewish Quarter and then head down to Barcelona, where they are set to join some fifty thousand other people to enjoy a Clásico, a match expected to be difficult, yet no less thrilling.
While waiting for their friend, The Grandma couldn't help but wonder what life might have been like for an ordinary young woman in this Jewish Quarter centuries ago, before she was forced to abandon her home and her land.
More information: 'El Call de Girona', The Medieval Jewish Quarter
Musings of The Grandma...
Girona, Catalunya, around 1450.
My name is Esther. I am sixteen years old, and I live in Girona. I am Jewish. I am Catalan. I am a daughter of this city.
Every morning, I wake up to the sounds of the narrow streets of the Call, the Jewish quarter where my family lives. Beyond our door, neighbours greet one another, merchants prepare their goods, and the familiar noises of everyday life fill the air. Our streets are narrow, but our world is not small.
My father works to support our family. Like many members of our community, he knows the importance of trade, craftsmanship and the relationships that connect us to the wider city. My mother manages our household and teaches me the traditions that she learnt from her own mother. She tells me that memory is something we must carry carefully.
Friday is a special day in our home. As evening approaches, we prepare for Shabbat, the sacred day of rest. The ordinary rhythm of the week gives way to prayer, family and reflection. Our celebrations follow the Jewish calendar. We remember the Exodus during Passover, welcome the Jewish New Year at Rosh Hashanah, and gather for other festivals that connect us with generations who lived long before us. Food, prayers, family stories and familiar gestures help preserve our identity.
Our community has its own religious institutions. The synagogue is a place of worship, study and gathering. The ritual bath, or mikveh, is part of Jewish religious life, particularly important in traditions concerning family purity. These places are not simply buildings. They are part of the way we understand ourselves.
I know that Girona is more than the Call. Christians and Jews inhabit the same city, and our lives are connected through work, commerce and daily encounters. Yet we do not enjoy the same rights, and the boundaries between our communities are not always easy to cross. Our elders remember the terrible violence of 1391. Since then, our community has become smaller and more vulnerable. Some families have left. Others have converted to Christianity, sometimes under pressure. There are stories that adults discuss quietly, especially when they think children are not listening. I do not know what the future will bring. I only know that this is my home.
What remains of Esther's Girona?
Girona, twenty-first century.
Esther never existed as a documented historical person. Yet girls like her lived in these streets, celebrated their festivals, learnt family traditions and witnessed the changing fortunes of their community.
Today, visitors can still walk through the narrow streets of Girona's Jewish quarter, particularly around Carrer de la Força.
The Museum of Jewish History, housed in buildings associated with the last medieval synagogue, preserves objects, documents and memories of a community that contributed profoundly to the city's cultural and economic development. Among its most moving remains is a fifteenth-century mikveh, rediscovered in 2014. The surviving ritual bath offers a rare material connection to the religious lives of Jewish women. The museum also preserves Hebrew funerary inscriptions from Girona's medieval Jewish cemetery on Montjuïc, reminders that these were real families who lived, loved, worked and died in this city.
In 1492, the decree issued by the Catholic Monarchs forced Jews who wished to remain Jewish to leave their kingdoms. For Girona's medieval Jewish community, it marked the end of centuries of established communal life. But it did not erase its history.
When we study medieval Jewish Girona, we often encounter the names of celebrated scholars, rabbis and intellectuals. Yet history also belongs to those whose names have disappeared. To the women who prepared the Sabbath meal. To the girls who grew up in the narrow streets. To the mothers who passed on prayers, customs and stories. To the families who considered Girona their home.
Esther is imaginary, but the world she represents was real. And perhaps that is why walking through the Call can be such a moving experience. We are not simply visiting old buildings. We are entering a place where human lives unfolded, where traditions survived from one generation to another, and where a community helped shape the identity of an entire city.
The Jewish history of Girona is not a separate chapter from the history of Girona. It is part of Girona itself and also part of Catalunya.
More information: Museu d'Història dels Jueus
Allà, amb els meus fills i filles,
aquelles criatures estimades que havia criat
sobre els meus genolls, també hi vaig deixar l'ànima.
I left my family. I forsook my house.
There, with my sons and daughters,
the sweet, dear children whom I brought up
on my knees, I left also my soul.
