When Shmuel ha-Levi was a Hasid: Day 2 in Toledo
Trip Start
Aug 17, 2008
1
4
9
Trip End
Aug 25, 2008
Toledo,
Castile-La Mancha,
Spain and Canary Islands
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
We began the morning with a bus and walking tour of the city with an excellent local guidewho knew much of the Jewish history of Toledo. He spoke honestly about the Muslim-Jewish convivencia, or "coexistence" of the Middle Ages, a time when Jews and Muslims lived together tolerantly. (He also railed against the high property prices in the city.) Once we got off the bus and wandered the cobblestoned streets, the journey became magical. Toledo is home to two of the three synagogues that serve as testaments to medieval Jewish history in Spain
Toledo Landscape
. We passed by the statue of Shmuel Ha-Levi, aka Shmuel Abulafia (not Abraham of Kabbalistic fame), the great financier and medieval oligarch, who commissioned the building of one of the two surviving synagogues. The Abulafia statue, erected in 2002, sits in the middle of a Spanish plaza but bears more resemblance to a character from Fiddler on the Roof , than a medieval Sefardic Jewish communal leader. It seems that Jews through time and space have always worn long beards, peyes, and kippot and had rather impressive noses. Or at least the artist who crafted this bust seems to think so. After paying our respects, we made our way to the synagogues. For me they felt haunted, but in a good way. Although the synagogues are not active, I felt presence, enough presence that I had a desire to put on a kippah. After hearing about the architecture of the building, we went out onto the synagogue's terrace and began our first text study of Maimonides.Many in the group were unfamiliar with the Jewish tradition of studying in hevruta, with study partners. In our pre-trip meeting we had introduced them to hevruta, but there was something significant about doing Jewish learning in the place from which it came (more or less...Maimonides was from Cordoba where we will go tomorrow). The act of doing a text study of Maimonides gave presence to this place long absent of active Jewish practice
Part of the Kiev Group
. In fact, bringing our group of Russian-speaking Jews to the synagogue to study Jewish philosophy was itself active Jewish practice rendering what had been turned by the government into a museum to Spanish Jewish history into an active bet midrash.We also brought up the history of anti-semitism in Spain and how, right there in Toledo, was born the idea of limpieza de sangre, purity of blood laws that excluded "new Christians" (recent converts from Judaism) from public political life. Some scholars call this the birth of modern racial anti-semitism, when Jews are no longer defined by their community affiliation, belief systems, or deeds, but by whom their parents and grandparents were. It was this law that marked Jews who had converted to Christianity, either under coercion or by choice, as less and unworthy Christians.
We left Toledo behind for an epic bus ride filled with Russian singing and a brief wrap up conversation about Jewish life under Christian rule. We arrived in Cordoba at 7pm, a city still roasting under a 100 degree sun. It's a beautiful medieval city that served as the capital of the Caliphate in the 10th century. If Toledo's grandeur is clearly Christian, Cordoba's is Arab and Muslim, and so its Jews lived in an Arabic-centered world
Tagus River and Toledo
. Even its literature and text looked to the Arab world, like Yehudah Ha-Levi's poetry, which he modeled on Arabic poetic forms, and Maimonides' texts, many of which were written in Arabic and inspired by Greek philosophy.Maimonides haunts the Cordovan landscape and its tacky gift shops. A colleague of mine back home had one request-to bring back Maimonides memorabilia. I ducked into a few shops and then, looming on a shelf at about eye level, I saw it.-the poorly modeled, cheap Maimonides bust, the turbaned Jew sitting on his royal throne with the name Maimonides etched on the pillar on which stood his throne. The sales woman was very happy to show me her entire line of Maimonides kitch, a sadly limited selection of busts made from plaster and bronze. After choosing the most perfect likeness of the great philosopher, I went to pay and found myself in a Spanish-language conversation about how important Maimonides was to Cordoba and how important it is for a man to find a woman. The shopkeeper's lecture on human truths included a stern reprimand to women for fighting over men, and for children who ignore their parents and don't study. I understood "padre" "ninos" and then she took off her shoe and started beating in the air as if a father should beat his son if he was a poor student. I'm sure Maimonides would concur....fortunately he's barefoot in the statue.
ps - we all just heard about the plane crash in Madrid. Everyone here is fine.
Comments
Rambam kitsch!
Great post - I especially liked the part where you talk about getting me Maimonides stuff - I am clearing off space on my desk right now! (I'll pretend to act surprised)
More seriously, the idea of the text studies in these places sounds magical - a really exciting model for travel-meets-learning. Yasher Koah!
Sarah