A combination of factors contributed to the decline of Spanish-Jewish culture. Many of the sophisticated peoples of the Jewish community had already begun to doubt there Judaistic faith simply by adopting intellectually philosophical beliefs that had discredited their religion. As it was said in this article, “Those who read a few columns in a book of Greek philosophy will soon tear to shreds the scroll of the Torah.” (Alami, pg. 117) Although ancient philosophy was a contributor to the decline of Judaism, it was not as common as others which had appealed to the general masses.
Another reason for the cause of a decline in Judaism culture is because the majority of the people in Spain we’re Christians, and they were extremely intolerant of the Jewish peoples. Frequent riots had occurred throughout the country for the purposes of targeting, killing or forcibly converting individuals under the Jewish faith. The environment of Spain for the Jewish people was certainly not a safe one. To avoid the violent acts of the Christian citizens of the country, many Jewish peoples converted to Christianity for the protection it had provided.
Not only did the citizens of Spain suppress people of the Jewish faith, the authorities of Spain probably had the biggest impact in the decline of the Jewish culture. In particular, a man named Vincent Ferrer was a leader in the Spanish community in forcing the conversion of Jews to Christianity. He was known to be responsible for the creation of the Laws of Valladolid, which was a set of laws created to significantly suppress the people of the Jewish faith. This had caused many of the Jews to lose their homes, careers and cause them to pay much higher taxes than Christians and had caused either the deat...
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...ntil they confessed others who practiced Judaism and were then given a severely torturous sentence, or were put to death. Although the violent mobs and the severe suppression were very hard for the Spanish Jews, the Spanish Inquisition was certainly the causative factor in the expulsion of Jews in Spain.
The worst violent act in the Spanish Inquisition is not the many mechanisms used to torture the innocents as bad as that is. But it is that during an execution, thousands of Christian peasants of the city and countryside gathered together to celebrate and make the death of innocent people a spectacle. The fact that thousands of people enjoyed and approved of the deaths of people just because they practice a different religion is more gut wrenching than any torture device that could be manifested because it shows how dark the mass of humanity can be if we allow it.
Finally, when it came down to the types of ceremonies and views both civilizations had, they were on two different pages. The Natives believed happiness was the key to good fortune. So, in order to get that fortune, they’d do sacrifices, and rituals to please the “mighty ones”. Then, as stated in the book “A History of Latin America”, it says, “Jews publicly converted to Christianity to avoid the torture…”, In which, this showed how religion and the spiritual views were forced upon people in the Spanish civilization.
The Inquisition run by Tomas de Torquemada persecuted other religions and was a base of counter-reformation
Before Columbus landed in the West Indies in 1492, The Spanish Inquisition made it known to anyone within Spain’s domain of influence that if a person was not of the Catholic religion, they were to be punished severely and sometimes even fatally. This influence would undoubtedly be brought over to the Americas a century later, as the colonization of the New World would begin by then. While it was very essential for the Spanish (as well as the Portuguese) to improve their economy by using the resources they found in Latin America, it seemed to a number of them as if that was the only reason for being there, or the main reason at the very least. During the Spanish Inquisition and from that point after, it was the Pope’s main goal, to convert everyone to Roman Catholicism; an opportune moment arrived as the Americas were found, along with the Natives who resided there who were waiting to be converted.
Jews have been persecuted throughout all of history. A deep seated hatred has existed in many nations against them. Throughout history Jews could not find a resting place for long before they are thrown out of over 80 countries including England, France, Austria and Germany (Ungurean, 2015). Deicide is one of the reasons why Jews are hated. It is said that Jews are the responsible party for the killing of Jesus. The gospels describe Jews delivering Jesus to Roman authorities while demanding that he be crucified and his blood be on their children (Schiffman, n.d.). As a result Jews are held accountable for the death of Jesus and they are hated by many.
After the Expulsion form Spain in 1492 and forced conversions in Portugal, many Jews and New Christians, sought answers for these tragic events, claiming that they were signs for the approaching messianic era. A number of other worldwide developments added fuel to the fire. The Reformation was threatening Christianity and the Ottoman Empire had expanded through Europe and North Africa. Europe during the Age of Discovery found a “New World” with new people in new territories who could be converted by the messiah. Messianic hopes and speculations spawned myths among the Jews and Christians that spread throughout the community.
Jews have faced heavy discrimination throughout the Middle Ages, 1800s and mid-early 1900s. Middle Ages Anti-Semitism dates all the way back to the Middle Ages, where all over Europe, persecutions of the Jews took place (“The Roots of the Holocaust”). During this time period, the Jews were “regularly excluded, persecuted, exploited and murdered” (“Medieval anti-Semitism”). “They were forbidden from holding public office; from employing Christian servants; from doing business; from eating or having sex with Christians” (Medieval anti-Semitism). It was also illegal for Jews to be seen in public during Christian Holy Week.
... The long history of the Spanish Inquisition serves as a reminder of the bigotry and the persecution that took place. It is only one of many persecuting acts that are piled on top of Jewish history. Many Christians look back onto the Inquisition with shame and humidity.
Hebrew religion began to give rise to Judaism after the destruction of the temple and the exile of Judah in 586 BC. The term "Jew," in its biblical use, is almost exclusively postexilic. The Jewish religion of the biblical period evolved through such historical stages as the intertestamental, rabbinic, and medieval to the modern period of the nineteenth century with Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism.
Later on in history Judaism and Jews caught even more flack. In Europe which was very strong in the early Christian Church; Jews were a clear minority. Because the Church kind of ran Europe, prejudice and anti Semitic laws came about. One in the sixth century was the Justinian Code, the Jews couldn’t read their Bible in Hebrew, and Jews couldn’t testify in court against Christians. Specifically in 533 Jews couldn’t marry Christians, work with them, hold a public office or appear on the streets of Holy Week. These ideas continued and became violent.
In the post-doctoral Cohen was in the search of whether or not there was a period of time were Jews, Christians and Muslims lived in peace under the control of the Islamic world. This event was called convivencia and occurred during the Golden Age. The region where this event took place was Spain. The convivencia was a controversial topic due to the differences in religion among the groups. Recent Spanish historians do not take for consideration the event of convivencia due to the disbelief that it actually occurred. Jewish historians have their side of the story where they argue that Jewish-Islamic relations during convivencia were harmonious. There are suggestions that this event of peace among these three groups was impossible based upon religious challenges. Each different version about convivencia has been influence by politics. Cohen was not only able to answer whether convivencia took place, but also demonstrated an extended background about each culture. Cohen emphasizes the roles that each group played during convivencia and the influences and contributions that each one contributed. In Islamic Spain there was a greater tolerance and freedom than anywhere else in that area. Jews and Christians had the option to pay a poll tax to be protected under the same rules as Muslims. Jews were protected from discrimination and had the right to be treated as any other Muslim. In contrast, with Christians-Jew relations there was an immediate social, economic and religious difference. Christians believed that they were superior to Jews. Relations between Christians and Jews were not as engaging as relations between Jews and Muslims. The main idea that kept Jews in a good social position was their influence in local economy. Many Jews...
The first problem they tried to deal with during the Inquisition was the Moors. At first, they tried preaching to the people, and not forcing them to convert to Catholicism. However, the plans quickly changed and they decided that it was more efficient for forced conversion or expulsion to be used against the Moors (Reston). This did not please the Moors. They fought back against Ferdinand and Isabella. The fighting between the Christians and the Moors went on for almost ten ...
The Disputation of Barcelona was held through a period of 5 days in June of 1263 where Pablo Christiani, a monk that was a former jew, and Rabbi Moshe, son of Nachman Gerondi, philosopher, physician and a Jewish intellect in the Middle ages, participate in a disputation in the Kingdom of Aragon. King James and his wife Queen Yolanda host this disputation hoping for the conversion of Judaism to Christianity to be easy and simple and recruit Pablo Christiani to represent the christians while Rabbi Moshe is there representing the Jewish. This film shows the constant fight of religions trying to take out the Jewish religion and force a conversion. While they tried it through a disputation they never did stop torturing the Jews and forcefully convert
Not all Jewish communities continued on their faith with YHWH. Before the exile, many communities began to scatter all over the Middle East, Egypt and Babylon; however, the exile...
Jewish persecutions go back centuries to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It was rumored, at the time, that the Jews were responsible for sentencing the death of Jesus. In the Bible, the Jewish people are quoted as saying, “The blood of Jesus. His blood be on us, and on our children.” (Matthew XXVII. XXV) This passage shows the want from the Jews to have Jesus crucified and killed. As a result of this, the Christians began the tradition of making the Jewish community bear the guilt of the death of Jesus Christ. Christians began havocing and causing trouble at different Jewish services and and different synagogues. The right of the Jewish men and women became less and less. This prejudice against the Jews wen...
In 1478, Spain’s Monarchs Ferdinand II and Isabella I established the Spanish Inquisitions, with the intension of maintaining Catholic orthodoxy in their country and territories. The inquisitions were prisons intended to “convert” and punish people of Jewish and Islamic beliefs or anyone else who disagreed with the ideals of the Catholic Church. During the 350 year time period, am estimated total of around 125,000 prisoners of the Inquisitions were “investigated”, tortured and starved. In 1095 Pope Urban II convinced many Christians that is not a sin if they kill non-Christians or non-believers. Urban II then proclaimed that all Christians who were willing to fight Muslims in the holy lands, would be forgiven of their past sins and would be accepted into heaven and so began the crusades. Despite the many beliefs that Muslim and Christian’s share, the crusaders felt justified by God in the violent slaughter of Muslim peoples. In retaliation, the Muslims formed their own crusades against the Christian peoples. It is believed that when the crusades finally ended in 1291, the total death toll reached somewhere between 1 million and 3 million people, yet religious struggles over dominance in the Holy Lands still continue even