This week I visited Segovia , specifically the Jewish quarter, it was a visit full of mixed emotions. On one hand the emotion that fills my soul every time I reach the
places that were once inhabited by my ancestors, but on the other hand
the sadness of knowing that in those streets passed the hardships before
the expulsion. As
you walk through the streets of Segovia you can hear the echo of
history and when you reach the street where the Church of Corpus Christi is
located a stab can be felt near the heart when reading on the
plate “old Mayor Synagogue of Segovia"
The ancient synagogue of Segovia was transformed into a Church (later
built the monastery) in the XIV century after a “mysterious legend” full of false accusations: The Jewish population was accused of stealing a consecrated communion wafer from
a church and attempting to boil it in the synagogue to desecrate the
body of Christ. These
events reached the ears of Queen Catherine of Aragon and Castile who
decided, after hearing these accusations to remove the property of the
synagogue and offer it to the bishop of Tordecillas. Thus the Kal became a market, then a Convent until a fire in 1899, when
it was rebuilt and converted into the present Corpus Christi Church.
When
passing near the Jewish Cemetery , there is the Fonsario del Pinarillo, a place
where there are caves in which some Jews hid to not be converted, they
took refuge in the hope of escaping during the night, but some were
captured and their destinies were death or conversion.
I also visited
the educational center of the Jewry, Abraham Seneor’s former home, he was
one of the most outstanding figures of the Castilian Jewish community
during the Middle Ages and, undoubtedly, the most relevant in the
history of the Hebrew Aljama of Segovia. He
was one of the great offices of the Kingdom of Castile (Almojarife),
besides Rabino, he was representative of the Jewish Community and
Banker, since the family Seneor were part of an
important financial group that even was lender of the Crown of Castile.
The Jewish community of Segovia was prosperous and some of its members had an important place within the Segovian community. Until their expulsion in the year 1492 the jewish people were recognized by their work in the fields of medicine and architecture. After this year the destiny of the converts was always bound to trials
and a life full of secrets, a sentence unjustly imposed by its own
non-Jewish neighbors who acted as constant guards against a possible
return to their non-Catholic customs. The expelled went away without any property since the Clergy stayed with everything that could have financial value. The
departure was painful, the choice to remain faithful to their identity
was paid with the price of the departure towards an uncertain road full
of sacrifices
.
Of hearth and bone
