Of Converts and Legends: Toledo, Spain in the 21st Century

<b>Toledo, the Jewel of Sefarad, la Jerusalén de los sefarditas</b>

Most visitors go to the Judería of Toledo, Spain for half a day, only 33 minutes from Madrid by bullet train, and find themselves overwhelmed. For the Jewish tourist, la alhaja (gem) of the visit is usually the Sinagoga de Nuestra Señora de Tránsito y Museo Sefardí (the Transito Synagogue and Sephardi Museum) located near the El Greco Museum in the Judería Mayor and facing the Tagus River, which is located at the edge of Tránsito Square. Five hundred years ago, this empty space was filled with Jewish homes. Today those Jews are either dead as the victims or 14th century pogroms and an Inquisition that lasted from 1492 until 1834, or spread like seeds from an álamo tree that cries for Spanish soil, across the world from New York to Jerusalem, some holding a key to a house in Toledo.

<b>A Church that Wants to Be a Synagogue</b>

The Sinagoga de Santa María la Blanca, the church that wants to be a synagogue, is seldom visited by the Jewish tourist, and it is becoming even less of a favorite Jewish stopping place, a place of prayer for the dead. It has once again become a full church disguised as a place where the two religions can meet in peace. A judeo converso has made it his own private art gallery and place where to hook Jews to convert on to the Roman Catholic faith. Vicente Ferrer, the 14^th century priest who converted thousands of Jews into his private new anusim, new Christians, comes alive once again This 15^th century Dominican forcefully converted the buildings into Christian churches. One such synagogue was in Toledo, later renamed Santa María la Blanca which is still owned by the Church, where today an anusim, Abraham Kron and his Fraternidad María Estrella de la Mañana (Fraternity Mary Morning Star) has taken over the church and ancient synagogue in order to fish out new anusim. His carnada is not violence this time but some bad art, a group of quiet nuns, tour guides, and some Jewish celebrations.

Some orthodox Jews refuse to enter such a building, others feel uncomfortable, the majority, like myself, take it in stride. It is part of a historical cycle that continues and is not much different from what it used to be. Now it is in the open, sugar coating or not, Toledo is a city that does not want Jews. It is a city that breaks windows of Jewish bookstores and restaurants. It is a city where tourist guides rather not deal with Jewish tourists. We are “a difficult lot, specially the Americans and Israelis.” What they do want from us is the dollars and the shekels. With those in hands, they will look the other way and swallow hard when they want to say that it was really the British historians that exaggerated about the seriousness of the Spanish Inquisitions, and that really we Jews bring it on ourselves like we always do. Of course, they are not anti-Semitic. They, the Toledans, are truthful, and Jews are good for high-end tourism. If you do not believe me, ask the mayor and the minister of tourism, both “socialists and lovely people”!

<b>A House that Now Does Not Belong to a Jew</b>

I should say that the mayor, the tourist minister, the Consorcio, the owner, and perhaps some people making money out of the publicity, want the legend to be true. The building located on Travesía de la Judería called “La Casa del Judío” (The House of the Jew) has been opened to the tourists since 2010, and all tours that are in Spanish propagated the “legend” that here lived the Jew that funded Columbus’ voyage to the “new” continent. It can be visited only on Saturdays through previous appointment with the Consortium of Toledo, which leaves out all Jews who celebrate the Sabbath. Other arrangements can be made with an official guide who has a key to the building. Only the basement can be visited, a 15-minute run through some archeological rocks, as an “official guide” so succinctly put it for me, very similar to what is left of the Sofer Synagogue, only a few blocks away. It is true, nevertheless, that “The Jew’s House” (what a horrible name, but the mayor of Toledo found it “normal”) has been made “pretty” for the “rich” Jewish tourists. No one is supposed to know, outside of the citizens of Toledo, about the existence of the old synagogue of Sofer, which is located across the street from the 15^th century palace/convent of the Catholic King Fernando and Queen Isabella, and covered with water filtered through it wooden cover that let not only rain through but also garbage. The Synagogue of Sofer was “found,” after it disappeared from all papers in 1480, by Professor Jean Passini, whose articles about Toledo and its Jewish Quarter I highly recommend.

According to a description by the Consortium, the building is XIV or XV and XVIII or XIX. When one does further research on a carved wooden beam with the following Hebrew verses carved, the mystery becomes even more confusing:

Aquí está la puerta de Yahveh, por ella entran los justos. Gracias

Te doy, porque me has respondido, y has sido para mí la Salvación (See Consorcio link below)

Here is G_d’s door, through it only the just enter. I give thanks because You have answered my prayers and have been my Salvation. (My translation)

French Professor Passini, has a photo of this beam in his latest book on the Judería of Toledo, but does not say much about this find. His photo is very different from the one I received from a Toledano and the one I took. Moreover, the official photographer of the contraction site, Jose Maria . . ., has no photos of this particular beam. Some, who prefer to remain nameless, believe the beam was not found in this particular property but near the wall of the Sofer Synagogue. Most think that this is was put at the entrance of this “possible” miqvah. In my humble opinion, I believe that this was a place where only the “just,” the Jews, entered to be literally saved during pogroms. These basements-there were others similar to this one in the Judería—offered strong protection against the onslaught of Christian masses after Catholic priests such as Ferrer stirred them up.

-          Bosch¸­ Lynette M. F. Art, Liturgy, and Legend in Renaissance Toledo (History of Jews in Spain, including 14^th-15^th century pogroms and the  Spanish Inquisition, 1492-1834).

-          Duncan, Ronald, “St. Vicente Ferrer and the Anti-Semitism of Fifteenth Century Spain,” Society for Crypto Judaic Studies.

-          El Museo Sefardí, Toledo, España.

-          Encuentros en la Judería de Toledo, 13-15 Abril 2012.

-          Fraternity Mary Morning Star.

-          Go on a Tour and Meet the Anusim Father Abraham Kron (See May 12)
Padre San Juan de la Cruz (Abraham Kron), Santa María la Blanca, Toledo, Red de Juderías.

-          “La Casa del Judío,” Rutas Patrimonio Desconocido-3: Consorcio de Toledo

-          Passini, Jean, La Judería de Toledo, Madrid: Ediciones del Sofer, 2011.

-          “Patrimonio Desconocido: La Casa del Judío,” Consorcio de Toledo.

-          “Photo Gallery: Toledo, Spain,” National Geographic (It includes a 1982 photo of the Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca)

-     Santa María la Blanca, Turismo de Castilla y La Mancha

-     Sofer Synagogue