A ban proclaimed by the Jews of the world against Spain about 450 years ago, was officially lifted today at an impressive ceremony concluding the five-day celebration arranged by the Spanish government to honor the 800th birthday of Moses Maimonides, Jewish philosopher and physician of the Middle Ages.
The festivities closed with a banquet at which high civil and military Spanish authorities were present. President Zamora and Premier Lerroux sent messages to the banquet.
A moving scene was the reopening of the old Cordoba synagogue and with Jewish religious services for the first time since 1492, when the entire Jewish population was expelled from Spain. Chief Rabbi Julian Weil of France recited a special prayer for the President of the Spanish Republic and for Spain, for “restoring the Hebrew language and Judaism for the first time since 1492.”
The last vestige of sorrow and embitterment which the Jews felt for generations towards Spain, disappeared with the great en###iondisplayed at the ceremony of the reopening of the Cordoba synagogue. Three rabbis, reciting Hebrew prayers, blessed the solemn occasion.
“There are still more miracles reserved by God for Israel,” Chief Rabbi Weil said in his sermon. He recalled that in 1492, when the Jews were expelled from Spain the rabbis then ordered music in order to drown their sorrow in song. “Now,” he said, “we hear music here again, but with what a difference.”
TRIBUTES ARE READ
The banquet which closed the celebration was marked by a number of tributes which Jewish delegates representing Jewish communities all over the world paid to the Spanish government. Dr. Ignacio Bauer, a Jewish leader of Spain, was especially praised by the speakers for the years of effort which he put into bringing Spain and the Jews to a mutual understanding.
The mayor of Cordoba and the civil governor, replying to the speeches of the Jewish delegates, emphasized that the hospitality is an expression of the sincere sympathy and veneration which the Spanish government and people feel towards Israel.
The entire menu of the banquet was kosher. More than 200 messages of greeting from leading statesmen all over the world, were received at the banquet. Among them were messages from Lloyd George and Sven Hedin, whom Hitler recently congratulated on his seventieth birthday.
The majority of guests and delegates today started back to their native countries after the official conclusion of the Maimonides celebrations.
MOSLEM, CHRISTIAN JOIN IN TRIBUTE TO RAMBAM
In honor of the 800th birthday of Moses Maimonides, the great Jewish rabbi, philosopher and physician, a special octocentennial service was held yesterday morning by Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, 257 West Eighty-eighth street, during which tributes were paid by Christian, Moslem and Jew.
Dr. Israel Goldstein, Rabbi of the Congregation, gave the Jewish tribute, declaring:
“It is one of the ironies of history that the land where Jews were the victims of the Inquisition and from which they suffered expulsion in the same year that America was discovered, should now be hailing the memory of a Jew.
The Christian tribute was delivered by Prof. William Adams Brown, professor in applied theology at the Union Theological Seminary, who said in part:
“If you have asked me to join in your tribute today, it is because Maimonides was more than a Jew; because the ideals to which he gave himself were of universal human interest.
“It is especially appropriate that we should pay this tribute today because the conditions under which Maimonides’ life was lived were in many respects like our own. He was born in a time of acute social unrest. He knew what it was to live as a member of a minority in a community where the spirit of race and of religion was active and intolerant.
The Moslem tribute was delivered by Dr. G. T. Kheiralla, president of the Moslem Brotherhood, who said:
“It is meet that men of all faiths and races should pay homage to the memory of the second Moses. Men who rise above race and creed by their services to humanity, belong to humanity at large. Yet I cannot refrain as an Arab and a Moslem from claiming that we the Arabs and Moslems have a particular right to do a special honor to Ibn Maimon, for this was his correct Arabic name by which he lived and died.
PUBLSHING HOUSE PUTS OUT SPECIAL MAIMONIDES ISSUES
In connection with the anniversary of the birth of Moses Maimonides, Bloch Publishing Company has issued a special Maimonides number of its book bulletin.
It contains, in addition to the usual features, special items relative to the life and works of Maimonides and the reproduction of a portrait of Maimonides by Jules L. Butensky.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
