Jewish Heritage in Barcelona
 
Reclaiming the Past
by Jeffrey Waldman
 
  
 
European tours of Jewish history predominantly remain the stomping grounds of Paris, Prague, and Cracow. Each of these cities possesses well-endowed museums of Jewish history, cemeteries, and lavish homages to local Jewish heritage. In Spain, Jewish tourism has been limited to visiting the Toledo synagogue, or the ruins of Moses Maimonedes' house in Córdoba. In recent years, Girona has been added to the tourist trail due to the rising popularity of Jewish mysticism, called cabala. Girona was an important medieval centre of kabalah study, and the city has restored the old Jewish quarter. Barcelona is now also set to become an important showcase of Jewish history with the restoration of the city's medieval synagogue in the historic Jewish quarter of the barri gòtic, the call.
 
Medieval Girona was famous for its cabalists, but has no functioning Jewish community today. Jews in medieval Barcelona were renowned for their skills as physicians and interpreters of the law, as well as for service at the Catalan courts. Today, the city has the largest concentration of Jews in Spain (roughly 4-5000), two functioning synagogues, a growing number of foundations and federations, an emerging field of academic investigations and historical preservations, and one of the most unique cross-pollenisations of the Jewish tribe outside of Israel. Whether affiliated or unaffiliated with a synagogue, Jewish men and women have made impressive niches in publishing, architecture and commerce. Slow and steady immigration, beginning in the last century, has revitalised the Barcelona Jewish community after more than 600 years since the expulsion of all Jews from Catalunya, in 1391. Anti-Jewish riots in Catalunya drove all Jews to convert or flee, a full 101 years before they were expelled from the rest of Spain, in 1492, by the Reyes Católicos, Isabel and Fernando.
 
Those dark days have become increasingly remote as the local Jewish population has grown during the past century. Now, with the reopening of the medieval synagogue to sightseers, if not to worshippers, Barcelona reclaims a long forgotten piece of its history. "I wanted to give the Jews of Barcelona a historical and cultural means to reclaim their past here," said Miguel Iaffa, the man who has been the driving force behind restoring the site of the ancient synagogue.
 
Located at the corner of Sant Domènec and Marlet, just 200 metres from Plaça Sant Jaume, the excavated and rehabilitated medieval synagogue is at the oldest standing corner of Barcelona, according to Iaffa. The ground- and first-floor structures date from the fourteenth century, while the four flights above were added in the eighteenth century. The vast difference of hewn stonework in the structure's façade demarcates the different time periods of construction. Inside the synagogue (which occupies the ground floor), are the remains of the fifth-century synagogue on which the fourteenth-century version was built. Archaeological evidence confirms the easterly facing portal towards Jerusalem, and the intentional location of the synagogue alongside an underwater spring that filled the congregation's mikveh, its ritual bath.
 
The recuperation of the medieval synagogue is a result of efforts by the Associació Call de Barcelona (ACB), a small association of historically-minded Barcelona citizens, directed by Iaffa. Initiated in 1985, its first concern was the investigation and validation of the historical authenticity of the site, which was often dismissed or discredited by city officials and historians.
 
"I was looking for recognition of the reality that Jews were present in Barcelona since the start of the city in the fifth century," said Iaffa. "The acceptance that this is the site of a synagogue from that time questions the already-established history of the city."
 
However, in 1987, the Ajuntament publicly confirmed the medieval synagogue's location through archaeological findings and commensurate historical documentation. By 1995, Iaffa and the ACB had procured enough funds to begin the physical restoration of the site. In 1999, the ACB received monetary support from City Hall to complete the reconstruction. In January 2002, the work will be complete. Glass floors will display the fifth-century ruins, there will be a new Aron HaKodesh (the ark where the sacred scrolls are kept), and a recreation of Spain's oldest congregational space for Jews.
 
Barcelona's Jewish community consists of far more than solely history. The city is home to two active Jewish congregations, each with its own place of worship. The Comunidad Israelita de Barcelona (CIB), represents the more traditional Sefardic population and claims between 500-600 families. Founded in 1918, and located on the edge of the upscale Gràcia district since 1954, CIB is housed in an impressive facility complete with two synagogues-one fashioned in the Sefardic, the other in the Ashkenazic vein-a library, communal spaces, a small school with a Jewish educational component, and a wide assortment of programming and social groups. Its population is mostly composed of families of the first waves of Jewish immigrants returning to Spain, which ended with the mass immigration of Moroccan Jews in 1956. Similar to other post-World War Two Jewish communities in Europe, CIB received substantial financial support from North American Jewish groups to rebuild a traditional Jewish community. However, with the influx of less traditionally observant Jews from Argentina in the 1970s and 80s and the estrangement of the younger generation of now Spanish-born Jews, the need for a progressive Jewish outlet grew in the 1990s.
 
Supported as a grass-roots endeavour with the help of local Jewish benefactors, Comunitat Jueva Atid de Catalunya (Atid), was born in 1997. Atid has a markedly more modest space and limited budget than CIB. The community of about 70 families and 50 singles is an egalitarian, open environment that welcomes all Jews and interested non-Jews to participate in and discover Jewish ritual, intellectual and social life, according to its rabbi, Ariel Edery, recently ordained in the USA at Hebrew Union College.
 
In addition to the two synagogues, Jewish lay organisations like the Fundació Baruj Spinoza and Federación Judae de España are present in Barcelona to support projects in Judaic studies, religious tolerance, and Jewish continuity in Spain. This past October, the first annual Congress for Jewish Studies in Catalan was held, and there is also an annual Jewish Film Festival.
 
While the resident community continues to grow, Jewish tourists have found a new stopover on the trial of European history. The medieval synagogue opened in 2002. Information and guided tours in English are available and can be arranged through Heritage Tours.

(Photos on this page - by Michael Cytrinowicz)

 
Heritage Tours has pioneered fascinating private tours of Barcelona, Gerona and Besalu as well as private tours of museums, historic quarters, synagogues and monuments all over Spain.

To help you design your next trip to Spain, contact a Spain Specialists at Heritage Tours. 1 800 378 4555.

 
 
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