ate ruled today in reply to the inquiries. “Therefore the boycott is no longer valid at present, when the Jews are treated equally by the Spanish government.”
Immediately upon hearing the verdict of the Warsaw Rabbinate, the Jabne, a Jewish orthodox organization in Poland, telegraphed greetings to the municipality of Cordoba, where the Spanish government is now arranging large scale celebrations in honor of the Spanish-Jewish philosopher. Prior to the verdict, the Jabne organization had hesitated to send such a message to Spain.
The ban proclaimed against Spain more than 400 years ago, was a repercussion of the expulsion of the entire Jewish population of Spain by an order issued on March 31, 1492 by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. This order followed the infamous Spanish Inquisition in which Jews were tortured and killed because of their religion.
The order provided that all Jews and Jewesses of whatever age they might be, should leave the kingdom by the last day of July, but permitted them to remove their property provided it was not in gold, silver or money. The reason ascribed for this action in the preamble of the edict was the relapse of many “converses” owing to the proximity of unconverted Jews who lured them from Christianity and kept alive in them the practices of Judaism. No other motive than religion was assigned for the edict.
The number of Jews driven from Spain under the edict is estimated at 800,000. The edict was finally repealed nearly 400 years later, in 1858, when Spain became a republic.
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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.
