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| Europe |
| Sephardic Jews invited back to Spain after 500 years |
| 2013-03-07 |
| More than 500 years ago, tens of thousands of Jews fled Spain because of persecution. Now their descendants are being invited to return. Before the infamous Spanish Inquisition of the 15th Century, some 300,000 Jews lived in Spain. It was one of the largest communities of Jews in the world. Today, there are about 40,000 or 50,000 - but that number could be about to swell dramatically. In total, about 100,000 Jews fled Spain in the course of the 15th Century. Some went to North Africa, but most settled in the economic powerhouse of the day, the Ottoman Empire - which then stretched from Hungary to Turkey, and beyond that to the south, and was expanding. About 90% of Jews in modern-day Turkey are Sephardic Jews. Roni Rodrigue, 55, a car dealer in Istanbul, has already claimed his Spanish passport. "At the time of the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan was said to have commented that he couldn't understand why a great Spanish king like Ferdinand would go without the Jews - who were such a source of wealth - and just give them to him," says Maria Josep Estanyol, a historian at the University of Barcelona. Estanyol doubts very many will re-establish roots in Spain. "Given how disastrous things are here today, I'd advise against it," she says. Whatever the motivation, some Muslim scholars are denouncing the offer as unfair. They point out that their ancestors were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition. But no-one is inviting them back. |
| Posted by:Anguper Hupomosing9418 |
| #14 Zhang Fei, according to an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, the Jews of Turkey are indeed paying attention to Erdogan. Link |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-03-07 22:56 |
| #13 They'd be fools to return. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2013-03-07 20:43 |
| #12 If they accept conversos, I expect a flood of Latin American immigration into Spain. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2013-03-07 18:09 |
| #11 Some Turkish Jews might, given the warning signs emanating from Erdogan's AKP. Good point, Zhang Fei -- and one I shouldn't have missed. Also some of the Jews now enjoying the North African Spring, who've also ejected moving to Israel or the U.S. And yes, Pappy. I never expect the Spanish Underwear Gnomes. ;-) Thanks! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-03-07 17:46 |
| #10 Only most of the Jews who take the citizenship won't move "home", bringing their magical economy-boost with them. Some Turkish Jews might, given the warning signs emanating from Erdogan's AKP. The US is too free market and too competitive, and Israel is too much of a state at war, whereas Spain is a country at peace where the locals have forgotten how to compete. And the transition from Ladino to Castilian Spanish isn't, relatively-speaking, all that great. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2013-03-07 17:15 |
| #9 Or Phillip II. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2013-03-07 16:04 |
| #8 It's like all those plans that start with "First, assemble ingredients," then have a series of blanks before finishing triumphantly with "Become king of the world!" Spanish Underwear Gnomes? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-03-07 15:48 |
| #7 An act of desperation by a country that can't think of any other way to fix the economy. They haven't grown their own workers for a generation, and it shows. First they tried bringing in Muslims from the southern shore of the Mediterranean, which didn't work out well, then labourers from the Hispanic Americas, who cost the earth in unemployment payments when the economy went south, so they shipped 'em back, and now in desperation they are offering citizenship to those clever, hard-working Jews... Only most of the Jews who take the citizenship won't move "home", bringing their magical economy-boost with them. Nor will they pull an Israel and drive out the colonizing Muslims for them, nor hand over a portion of their foreign earnings as taxes for the privilege of a sentimental second citizenship. It's like all those plans that start with "First, assemble ingredients," then have a series of blanks before finishing triumphantly with "Become king of the world!" |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-03-07 14:21 |
| #6 Why move to Spain to be broke, when I can be broke right here without having to learn Spanish? |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2013-03-07 11:44 |
| #5 I would advise going to Israel over Spain. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2013-03-07 11:12 |
| #4 The PIGS have a lot of catching up to do. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-03-07 11:09 |
| #3 "Muslim scholars are denouncing the offer as unfair. They point out that their ancestors were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition. But no-one is inviting them back." Gee, I wonder why? /sarc |
| Posted by: Barbara 2013-03-07 10:27 |
| #2 The Laffer Curve of immigration, or do we actually now accept the Jew ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-03-07 09:50 |
| #1 "At the time of the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan was said to have commented that he couldn't understand why a great Spanish king like Ferdinand would go without the Jews - who were such a source of wealth - and just give them to him," says Maria Josep Estanyol, a historian at the University of Barcelona. Ferdinand and Isabella borrowed money to wage the final war to expel the Moors from Spain in the Reconquesta. Once they expelled the Moors in 1492, they then expelled those to whom they owed the financial debt which financed the war. Leaving a little change in the pocket to finance a Genoan's idea to finding a new route to the Far East since old route east had been occupied by the Ottomans after the fall of Constantinople and their Portuguese neighbors were already nosing south around the African Cape of Good Hope. As they say, the rest is history. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-03-07 09:13 |