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Cantor Composfr-Conductor
ACOB DARKIN SHOLOM SECUNDA
Passover at the Concord is a supremely enjoyable holiday. Cantor Jacob Barkin assisted by Sholom Seconda. directing the Concord Choir, conducts the inspiring services and presides at the festive Sedarim.
Outdoors and indoors, the tuperlatioe facilities of the Concord heighten your enjoyment of the day'* sport and the nights glittering entertainment.
THt^fel -mHft finmttt r~*t" �� HOTEL
Concord
9
IN MONTREAL CALL: HU. 1-3947
DOH'J BE CAUGHT
IH THE LASJ-MIHUJE RUSH
THIS YEAR...
GET YOUR
'64 PLATES NOW
YOUR NEW LICENCE PLATES MUST BE ON YOUR VEHICLE BEFORE MARCH 1st, 1964
You can obtain your new plaits at tin following locations:
IN QUEBEC BoisfonteliM) B�lldlntj, corner St Foy Road CITY: �nd B+fya<afi�
Cadrln BeiHsHiif, comer Caron and Chares* M ftoulevaret
MONTREAL: mCre�ax^|a*t- Montreal
MM Orlea*� � Montreal
Vonfoft C*y Man � Verdun
MIS K***tottftt� AVOMO � Notre-Dame de
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The Jewish fteseiiee In
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By JotliiM Hodiirein, InitnKtOff fit LotJn-Awtrieon _. ork oid or New York UnlvtrtJty, wrfrlnfl IN HM JfHriffc
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Bv Yo
In 1942 probably almost as many Jews chose to remain in Spain as left it, adding a large contln* gent to the older Marrano sector. The last underground synagogue to be discovered by the Inquisition existed as late as 1720. Its congregation consisted of twenty famU lies, who were taken into custody in that year. Five of them were victims at the final auto-da-fe" on April 7, 1720.
However, to this very day not inconsiderable remnants of the so-called New Chrittian* of Portugal and the Chiutat of Spain's island of Majorca have remained. The last Jewish ancestors of the New Christian* were forcibly baptized wholesale in 1497 in lieu of an expulsion, such as had occurred five years earlier in Spain. On the Balearic island the Jewish community disappeared similarly as long ago as 1435.
Yet the majority population con-tinues to be aware of the "Jewish-ness" of the two minority groups in Portugal and Majorca. This awareness of their remote Jewish ancestry has, therefore, been preserved by them, and is still being handed down from generation to generation. This Jewish "presence? has been both physical and cultural.
History also records efforts in high places of Spanish officialdom to reintroduce into the country descendants of those exiled in 1492. Such incidents provided the precedents for the initiative taken both by Alfonso XIII during World War I and the Franco regime during World War II to extend Spanish citizenship to Sephardiro in order to provide them with its protection. But, during the, Second World War, Spain became a haven also for a considerable number of Ashkenazim, almost 100,000 of them, as they fled from Vichy France.
In I860, because of turmoil in Spanish Morocco due to military -action there, the Spanish Government invited the Sephardim of that area to take refuge in Spain. A number of them settled in Seville. j
When, in 1868, the then Provis-skmal Government, in power after the fall of Isabel II, declared that the establishment by that revolution of religious liberty signified the revocation of the 1492 Edict of Expulsion, the Moroccan Jews in Seville established the first public synagogue in over 350 years.
It was located at No. 11 Lum-beras Street The Government's statement was made in response to an inquiry from the Jewish community of Bordeaux about the legal status of the Edict. About the time of the Sephardic re-entry from the south, a few Ashkenazim came into the country from the north.
As far back as 1643, under Philip IV, his closest minister and adviser, the Duke of Olivares, sought to ease Spain's economic difficulties by inviting a number of Sephardim from Salonica. To give them a tangible inducement for returning, he offered to allow them to establish a synagogue.
This aroused the Inquisition and the Church, which fought the Duke's efforts. He, in turn, enlisted the support of a majority of the Council of Ministers and even proposed the abolition of the Inquisition in order to eliminate this great obstacle to the resettlement of Jews in Spain. In this effort, premature for that time, the Duke overreached himself and fell from power.
This did not stop the Prime Minister in the succeeding reign of Charles I! < 1666-1700) from attempting something similar. Spain's economic position was then BO better than raider the previous rnkr. Minister sfaaoel da Lira, concerned abort the deteriorating finamdal sftttation, looked with awry upon the ecoaonric contribution the fiepasrdins, many of then e�-Marra�os, were making to the prosperity ef the Netherlands.
la a sjMSBpra&dviB to the ^Mitfil of 8t�U k� called atte*tfasj to what the Edict of KxftWoft 1*4 do** to
�� J��iah
ttfc to .-Jfate. He urged
up Spain's New World domains to Jewish settlement, so that the Jews might be enlisted In the development of the colonial empire' and, through it, in the improvement of the motherland's economy. This effort also failed,
A further lessening of religious fanaticism may be seert in the December, 1782, decree of Charles II in favor of the Majorcan Chutto*. The latter, suffering from economic and social ostracism, petitioned this monarch in 1778 to ease their condition. Nine years later, after the request had been studied with no undue haste, the King issued an order removing all obstacles in the way of the Ckuet&t toward the island's economic opportunities and official employment
The effects of this royal order were very slow in becoming reality. However, a beginning had been made in the rehabilitation of a noticeably large group whom the majority of the population held to be Jewish despite hundreds of years of Catholicism.
As if to renew the proposal of Minister Manuel de Lira to Charles II, Pedro de Varela, holding a post tantamount to prime minister under Charles IV, proposed to this monarch in 1^797 "the readmission into Spain of the Hebrew Nation, so that the rescue of the State may be achieved through the increase of commerce and industry, which will never succeed in matching those of foreign nations by any other means."
His plan was to negotiate with a number of powerful Jewish business houses of Holland to .set up, as a beginning, trade and industrial enterprises at Cadiz and other ports. In expectation of opposition by the Inquisition, Pedro de Varela advised the issuance of a royal decree without previous consultation with the Church.
He argued that what had been done by a decree in 1492 could be undone by similar royal action in 1797. The King, however, had in mind the violent reaction by the Inquisition sure to follow any such measure, and the proposal was shelved. In 1802, Charles IV found it necessary to quiet any apprehensions by confirming the prohibition of Jewish entry into the country.
The Inquisition's years, however, were numbered. On February 22, 1813, it was abolished by the Cortes of Cadiz that was leading the struggle for Spain's sovereignty against the Napoleonic occupation and, at the same time, attempting to liberalize the country's political life. The Holy Office received a new but brief lease on life in 1814 with the restoration of Ferdinand VII, but his action was nullified by the Cortes in 1820. Not even the triumph of political reaction in 1823 gave Ferdinand the courage to re-establish the Inquisition,
It was really the two World Wars that occasioned the settlement of Ashkenazim in Spain and the establishment of Ashkenazic synagogues. Spain thus became paradoxically a land of refuge for both Sephardim and Ashkenazim. To the credit of Spain it must be said that the Jewish refugees were kindly received.
During the First World War these included Dr. Max Nordau. Nordau was a celebrity in the Hispanic world, where he was widely admired and read, both in Spain and Spanish America, Dr. Nor-dan's prestige greatly aided the petition to the royal Government of Spain for authorization of a synagogue in Madrid, which was granted on February 3, 1917, to Ignado Bauer, the founder and first president of the Jewish community in the capital city. The synagogue was established at 6 Principe Street.
During the Civfl War (1936-9). the synagogue boilding was dew stroked. There are varying versions of UM story of how the synagogue's scrolls and other sacred objects were preferred In safe. keeping for its tneeeaaor, opened oader taeNPrance refta*. The fact Is* homer, that all of its fire jtereOe are MV I* �ee and strvic* attheMedrii .
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Oh January 2, 1949, dedication servieef were held at the second location, No. 62 Cardinal CUneroa Street, in the present of thirty-five worshippers. Since 1959 the Madrid synagogue is Housed in a community-owned building at Pi-zarro, 19. ,
Barcelona, too, had * synagogue before the Civil War disrupted life In that city. The present synagogue, located at Np. 24 Porvenir Street, is the second since the conclusions of the straggle. The building, owned by the community, contains two synagogues, one for the Sephardim and the other for the Ashkenazim, in addition to a library, administrative offices, classrooms, club rooms, and an auditorium and social hall.
However, the two Jewish communities of Madrid and Barcelona do not have all Jewish residents on their membership lists. It is estimated that there are about 250 and 2,500 Jews, respectively, in the two main cities of the country. In Valencia, Seville, Cordoba, San Sebastian, and Bilbao are a few families each, too few to constitute any organized Jewish community.
During the Second World War, Barcelona was host to a very much larger number of Jews, but most of those refugees were gradually evacuated to Israel or countries of the New World either by the Jewish Agency or the Joint Distribution Committee. Those who have chosen to remain in Spain include a number of North African Jews and those from other Mediterranean countries.
As noteworthy as is the restoration in Spain of the physical existence of two legally authorized Jewish communities and their synagogues, even more so is the interest in the Sephardic past.
In a country of over 30 million people, this is certainly not due to the presence of about 3,000 Jews. It is a rare Spaniard who has ever knowingly met a Jew. Even
(Continued on Page Seven)
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GROSSINGER NEWS-NOTES
TUESDAY WELD, lovely actress, was the cynosure of all eyes when she vacationed at Grossinger's this week. The talented girl proved to be as adept on skis and skates as she is on motion picture and TV screens. The vicaciona actress exhilarated everyone around her and delighted all who met or saw her here.
PATRICE MUNSEL, opera, motion picture, TV, radio, musical comedy, and night club star; her husband. Bpb Schuler, and their four children enjoyed their pre-vioua vacation at Grossinger's so much that they've come back for another portion of the pleasure served here. The youngsters are Heidi, 10: Rhett, 8; Chico, 6; and Rhett, 4. We saw the family having a happy time on the ski slopes.
* * * MONTREALBRS � Among
Montreakra who vacationed at GroaaiBger*a receatly: Mr. and Mrs. Mamrke Wieema*. aoted virologist Bernard Raaeh, Mm aad Amnette GrsfiUi*. Lawrence and Sheila Marshall, and Lee Rosa.
* * * SINGLES, MINGLE AND
TINGLE! � Grossinger's next weekend for singles wfll be Friday to Sunday, February 21-23 (Washington's Birthday). There'll be special activities for unattached fellows and girls, activities that will make it easy for them to meet So, if you're aingie and want to mingle, cVaon to Groealnger's and tingle February 21-2S!
Ifg
D01OTHY SAIilt
