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Cervantes, the Jews, and Spain Today

JL;DR SUMMARY The article explores the complex relationship between the famous Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes and Jewish themes, set against the backdrop of 17th-century Spain, a time when Jews faced significant persecution and expulsion. 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

IdentitySpainJewsExileReturn17th CenturyMediterraneanCervantesBorgesJacob Cansino

Places mentioned

Buenos Aires, Argentina
"In his lecture The Argentine Writer and Tradition, delivered in Buenos Aires and published, in essay form, in 1951, Jorge Luis Borges, argues for Argentine writers not to limit their interests to Argentine themes but to broaden them, to emphasize the particular by embracing the universal."
Spain
"Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, through his nuanced literary depictions of Mediterranean Jewry that coincided with a similar, broader sociopolitical movement within 17th-century Spain, is a prime example of Borges exhortations."
Madrid, Madrid Province, Spain
"Michael Gordon, in his upcoming book A Way Back Home, follows the stories of several practicing Jews, real and fictitious, who return from exile and who thrive in Madrid in the 17th centurynotably the royal translator Jacob Cansino of Oranas well as non-Jews Cervantes and the soldier-writer..."

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Cairo Item ID 80883
Cairo Source ID 10
Retrieved 2026-04-26 05:30:33 UTC
Curated 2026-04-26 08:30:45 UTC