Comment
Comment
re: #75 goddamnedfrank
The Christian expulsion of Jews from Iberia was so extreme and caused so many forced Conversos and Jews to migrate to Mexico that for a time the term Mexican was used in the New World as a clever way of implying Jewish without actually having to say it. Then the Inquisition came to Mexico and all the crypto-Jews who weren’t crypto enough caught pure hell.
The idea that Christians should act like friends to the Jews is a rather new one, and has really only gained traction since modern Israel’s founding in the aftermath of the Holocaust. I suspect that deep down, many of them just want to see the Temple rebuilt, and that this new found love for Jews is simply a means to the end.
Indeed and which I think led up to the founding of Vatican II in the 60’s.
When talking about Cordoba in the 12th century, I always think of Maimonides, the Ram Bam. For those who don’t know, he was one of Judaism’s greatest scholars as well as a scientist and a physician. His most important contribution to Jewish life was the Mishnah, Judaism’s oral teachings. As a physician and scientist, he wrote volumes of medical texts and was highly regarded and sought after, by both Christian and Muslim rulers. He chose to remain in Muslim countries.
The Ram Bam was born in Cordoba, Spain in 1135, which was regarding as the seat of learning. In fact, he was trained as a physician in Cordoba and Fes. He and his family lived well under Muslim rule until the reign of Almohades, a fanatical Muslim ruler who forced the Jews to convert to Islam or die. They then fled to Morocco (Fes). Later, they moved to Israel (Palestine) and finally to Egypt where he passed away.
While in Egypt, he became a physician to the sultan as well as the people of Cairo; Jew and Gentile, peasants and royals. He was highly regarded among the Muslims and preferred to live among them rather in Christian cities.
His life is fascinating, particularly in the context of when he lived which was during the Muslim conquests at a time that not all Muslim rulers treated their non-believers cruelly and Jews were able to build a life and become successful. All in the “shadow” of Islam’s mosques.
