No New National Home for Sephardic World Jewry in Spain: Spanish Government Gratified by Spanish Sen

An official announcement by the Spanish Government, defining its attitude towards the Sephardic Jews living outside Spain was issued here to-day by the Spanish Consulate, the first, it is believed, of a number of similar announcements to be made in other large Sephardic contres.

Taking into consideration the fact that the question of the Sephardic Jews has been reopened in connection with the creation of the Republic in Spain, the statement says, it is announced that.

1. The edict of Jewish expulsion of 1492 became invalid in 1812, since when admission to Spain has been permitted without distinction of religion or nationality; 2. there never was in Spain any purely antisemitic movement, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain being caused by the animosity felt against all religions other than the dominant faith of the country and not solely against Judaism; 3. a special law was published in 1924 facilitating the acquisition of Spanish citizenship by Spanish Jews living outside Spain; 4. the Republican Government has heard with particular gratification of the Spanish sentiments of the Sephardic Jews. The Spanish Government is not able, however, to hold out any hope of the encouragement of any Jewish mass re-immigration to Spain, or the creation of a new national home for Sephardic Jewry in Spain, which is rendered impossible by the economic condition of the country; 5. the Government, which has no religious colouring, is interested in the Spanish Jews preserving their ties with Spain by means of the Spanish language and Spanish culture, and for that purpose special classes will be organised here for instruction in Spanish language and culture, and a special newspaper will also be issued here (in Cairo) in the Castillian language, which is still spoken by the Sephardic Jews.

All the Republican political parties in Spain accept the reincorporation of the Sephardic Jews into the Spanish nation, the President of the Spanish Provisional Republican Government, M. Zamora, declared last week to Mr. Kibrick, an Argentine Jewish lawyer who had just arrived in Madrid (reported in the J.T.A. Bulletin of the 5th. inst.). The Spanish Consuls abroad, he said, will receive instructions to facilitate the details of the reincorporation of the Sephardic Jews into the Spanish nation, and the Spanish Parliament will solemnly revoke the edict of 1492, under which the expulsion of the Jews from Spain took place.