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Can Sephardic Jews Go Home Again — 500 Years After the Inquisition?

Summarizing Josh Nathan-Kazis in Forward · Published Monday, January 27, 2014
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JL;DR SUMMARY Following a 2012 announcement by Spain offering citizenship to Sephardic Jews as a gesture of reconciliation for the 1492 expulsion, the offer had not yet materialized by late 2013. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Inquisition  Spain  Jewish Diaspora  Cultural Identity  Sephardic Jews  Genealogy  Expulsion  Heritage  Spanish Citizenship  Historical Reconciliation 

Places mentioned

Madrid, Madrid Autonomous Community, Spain
"By late 2013, Spain had not given out any passports. No one even knew how to apply. Ive got a little bit of Sephardic blood, and my grandfather looked like a duke in an El Greco painting. So, at the end of 2013 I went to Madrid to see about becoming Spanish, and to figure out what Spain wanted with us after 520 years."
Madrid Autonomous Community, Spain
"On a Friday afternoon in early November, I spread out four sheets of paper on the glass conference table at Spains official Jewish federation and launched into my bid for Spanish citizenship."
New York City, New York, United States
"Gomez, born in Madrid in 1660, was my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather. He died in New York City; a house he built upstate is now a museum."
Jerusalem, Israel
"Yet while Spain pays plenty of attention to its relationship with Israel, it also maintains strong economic and political ties to the Arab world. The country has deep historic, economic and diplomatic relationships with Arab nations, plus a growing Arab immigrant community. That can force Spain into tough positions, like the one the country faced around the 2012 U.N. vote on Palestinian non-member observer state status. According to de la Obra, the governments cultural work promoting Spains Sephardic heritage is a tool that the foreign ministry uses in striking that tricky balance."
Nigeria
"Madrid was suffocating amidst endless recession, and the Jewish community there was dying along with it. The country, meanwhile, was trying to negotiate its newfound interest in its Sephardic past while figuring out how to capitalize on it. My theory about why Spain had extended the citizenship offer turned out to be more or less correct. What I didnt expect was that my trip to Spain would undermine my own belief in those imagined highborn roots. By the time I got on the flight back to JFK, I wasnt sure I was Sephardic anymore, and I was certain I didnt want to be Spanish."
Taraba, Nigeria
"On a Friday afternoon in early November, I spread out four sheets of paper on the glass conference table at Spains official Jewish federation and launched into my bid for Spanish citizenship."
Seville, Andalusia, Spain
"The Spanish Jewish identity, it isnt tangible, said Sebastian de la Obra, who runs his own private museum just down the block from the synagogue. 'Theres no Mezquita, theres no Alhambra, theres no Giralda de Sevilla.'"
New York, United States
"Ive got a little bit of Sephardic blood, and my grandfather looked like a duke in an El Greco painting. So, at the end of 2013 I went to Madrid to see about becoming Spanish, and to figure out what Spain wanted with us after 520 years."
Cross River, Nigeria
"Madrid was suffocating amidst endless recession, and the Jewish community there was dying along with it. The country, meanwhile, was trying to negotiate its newfound interest in its Sephardic past while figuring out how to capitalize on it. My theory about why Spain had extended the citizenship offer turned out to be more or less correct. What I didnt expect was that my trip to Spain would undermine my own belief in those imagined highborn roots. By the time I got on the flight back to JFK, I wasnt sure I was Sephardic anymore, and I was certain I didnt want to be Spanish."

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Retrieved 2025-08-12 05:31:29 UTC
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