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Sephardic Jews invited back to Spain after 500 years
More than 500 years ago, tens of thousands of Jews fled Spain because of persecution. Now their descendants are being invited to return.Before the infamous Spanish Inquisition of the 15th Century, some 300,000 Jews lived in Spain. It was one of the largest communities of Jews in the world. Today, there are about 40,000 or 50,000 - but that number could be about to swell dramatically. In total, about 100,000 Jews fled Spain in the course of the 15th Century. Some went to North Africa, but most settled in the economic powerhouse of the day, the Ottoman Empire - which then stretched from Hungary to Turkey, and beyond that to the south, and was expanding. About 90% of Jews in modern-day Turkey are Sephardic Jews. Roni Rodrigue, 55, a car dealer in Istanbul, has already claimed his Spanish passport. "At the time of the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan was said to have commented that he couldn't understand why a great Spanish king like Ferdinand would go without the Jews - who were such a source of wealth - and just give them to him," says Maria Josep Estanyol, a historian at the University of Barcelona. Estanyol doubts very many will re-establish roots in Spain. "Given how disastrous things are here today, I'd advise against it," she says. Whatever the motivation, some Muslim scholars are denouncing the offer as unfair. They point out that their ancestors were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition. But no-one is inviting them back. Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2013-03-07 |
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