Remembering Sepharad: Jewish Culture in Medieval Spain [Paperback]

Isidro G. Bango (Author), Isidro Gonzalo Bango Torviso (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2004

Sepharad is the name that the Spanish Jews gave to the Iberian peninsula, and to remember this place is to remember its people. Highlighting diverse practices - from architectural design to bread-baking; from marriage ceremonies to the legislation of personal attire - "Remembering Sepharad" traces the vibrant cultural, political, and religious life of the Jewish people in Spain from Roman antiquity to the expulsion of Jews in 1492. Drawing on a wealth of material, including archaeological pieces, furnishings, codices, sculptures, paintings, scale models, maps, and excerpts from primary texts, this highly readable account recreates the contentious and mutually transformative relationships among Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the period. As a religious and ethnic minority under an alternately Christian or Muslim majority, the Jewish community adapted its cultural practices to the situation, even as it retained its distinctive religious heritage. The material culture of the period thus reflects both the potential for intercultural hybridity and the persistence of the kind of anti-Semitism that culminated in the Inquisition and the expulsion. "Remembering Sepharad" provides an extensive and beautifully illustrated archive of material that testifies to the diversity and richness of a culture that endured centuries of oppression, leaving an indelible mark on the history of Spain.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: State Corporation for Spanish Cultural Action (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8496008274
• ISBN-13: 978-8496008274
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,295,903 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sepharad, November 20, 2009

By 

Alfred Moritz (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Remembering Sepharad: Jewish Culture in Medieval Spain (Paperback)

A most illuminating and objective historical review of relations between the rulers and their subjects--variously Muslim, Catholic and /or Jewish on the one hand and the virulent unrelenting anti-semitism of the powers in Rome culminating in Iberia--as the author puts it- - "until the "Catholic Monarchs" (Ferdinand and Isabella)eventually accepted what had become a popular clamor, no doubt well organized by a minority of radically anti-semitic clergy in connivance with groups with ulterior motives". This magnum opus was originally issued under the auspices of " La Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior de España--("The State Corporation for Spanish Cultural Action Abroad") and is a must-read for anyone trying to understand the deadly, millenial, visceral, murderous, hatred of Judaism by the church hierarchy.