Judaism

After the expulsion of the Moors, Toledo was left bereft of a large part of its educated population. The void was quickly filled by floods of Jews fleeing the increasing insecurity of the Muslim kingdoms. They efficiently took over the Jewish quarter and lived peacefully and prosperously side by side with their Christian neighbors until the late 14th century. The city's unusual religious tolerance was perhaps not appreciated by the rest of Europe, as shown in this proverb.

'Priests go to Paris for their studies, lawyers to Bologna, doctors to Salerno, and devils to Toledo.'

Jews in Toledo lived in two walled off quarters: one about the old market Alcarr‡, that lives only in memory as the 'Old Quarter', and the other, gated by the Cambr—n, extends from the gate to where the church of Santo TomŽ now stands and is the main Jewish quarter.

The most famous Toledan Jew was King Pedro the Cruel's treasurer Samuel Lev’, appointed in the 1350's, a reputedly generous and cultured man who is remembered through the synagogue he built, the Tr‡nsito. It is written of him that 'since the days of our captivity, none of the children of Israel ever reached such an exalted state as his'. In his day, at least ten synagogues and five cultural centers flourished inside the Jewish quarter. Accordingly, his downfall sounded the knell of theirs. Although originally a protector of the Jews, the financially unstable and greedy King Pedro turned on the elderly Lev’, accusing him of theft, and he died under the indignities of torture, without having spoken a single word in his own defense. Next came a crippling fine imposed by Enrique II, followed by the days of the fanatical Arcediano de Ecija, who whipped the city into a frenzy and caused the riots that destroyed the Jewish quarter in 1391. The Jewish community never recovered from this and merely languished on until their final expulsion by the Reyes Cat—licos in 1492.

Those interested in learning more about the Jews of Toledo should look into visiting the Sephardic Museum, created in 1964.

Created by Ellen Campbell and Casey Logan 2004.