Ms. Susana González, our history teacher in #ESO2 has organised a guided tour round the Old town of our beautiful city. Jalen joined Susana and the group so that he could speak about different Sephardic Jews and Jewish customs.
Susana was working the day before in a text (below) in order to prepare the students for the outdoors activity and she will continue working tomorrow on this text about which she has prepared a presentation. The final product will be a Kahoot for which the class will be divided into five different groups.The students will present the Language Advisor their kahoots.
History of Cáceres
Cáceres was founded by Romans in 74 BC. The first settlement was Castra Caecilia a roman camp.
In 25 BC , Consul Lucius Cornelius Balbus founded a colony called Norbensis Caesarina, wich became an important place in Lusitania. Later, the Barbarians invaded Hispania and we had no more news of the city until the moors conquered it. During the Almohade Empire the city enjoyed a period of prosperity and development.
In 1229 the citiy was taken by the King Alphonse the ninth of León. After that Cáceres belonged to the crown of León.
Most of the historic buildings we can now see here, wich led to catalogue the old city as world Heritage , were built between the late-middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance period.
The city walls are of Roman origin, going back to the 3rd and 4th centuries.The present enclosure was built after the Almohade conquest, and many towers dating to the 12 th century are conserved. Many of the towers , octagonal with a square ground plan , are known as torres albarranas ( towers built separately from the main fortification and joined to it by an arch or passage) and they have adobe cob walls.
The city walls have got four gates, they face each of the four points of the compass.
Gate of Mérida: to the South
Coria’s Gate:to the West
El Cristo o El Río Gate: to the East
New Gate or Arco de la Estrella : to the North
The Jewish Communities
Arco del Cristo the most important element in the Roman remains , probably dates back to the 3rd century AD. It is composed of two semicircular arches joined by a semi-barrel vault, and was formerly flanked by defensive towers. This is the beginning of the Jewish quarter.
The Jews paid more taxes and they lived in special quarter in the city, called aljama. They didn’t mix with the Christians nor the Moors, but they could share the city and at the same time keep their customs and beliefs.
The Jews specialised more in craftwork and business, money lending.... and some of the families became very rich.
Synagogue
Jews prayed in synagogues which were large room separated into two floors. Men prayed downstairs and women prayed upstairs.
They believe in Jehova and their holy book was the Bible and the Torah was their rule.
The Torah Scrolls (the most important work in the Jewish religion containing the Five books of Moses ) were kept in a special place in one of the walls.
The faithful had to wear special clothes as well and even have ritual baths ocasionally.
When the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 , the synagogues were converted into churches.The Jewish religion prohibited the reproduction of people as images.
The Jewish quarter
In Cáceres the Jewish commnities was formed by 650 people before the Catholic monarchs expelled them out of Spain.
Aljama, the Jewish quarter, is located near the walls.The streets are very narrow, next door to each other, and the squares were cul-de-sac with no way out.You could imagine how plesant these small quiet streets were.These things were made in order to protect them from attacks.That’s why the Jewish lent money and they had some good habits (customs) due to their religion.
It’s forbidden for the Jews to eat pork, or foods made (cooked) with blood.
Instead of pork they eat hare, lamb or poultry. If they don’t eat pork, they avoid illnesses caused by the tapeworm.
They have to wash their hand before cooking and they ought to buy the meat in a butcher’s. That’s why the butcher makes some rituals refered to the way he cuts the meat and some purifications lavatories.
They had their own wells inside their houses.
When a disease or plage comes into the town, the Jews , due to their good habits, were always healthy and Christians or Moorish communities blamed them for poisoning the wells or something like that.
They were prosecuted inside the town, so they have to run away , and when they arrieved in the Jewish quarter, with their narrow streets, their houses next door to each other , they could escape, and be safe.
That’s the way a Jewish quarter was formed.
They were expelled in 1470 off the city, and they have to build a new Jewish quarter and a new synagogue out of the walls. Today we called that synagogue Palacio de la Isla.
The Coexistence between the Jews and the Christians deteriorated in the 14th century, until the Catholic monarchs, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon expelled them from Spain in the 15th century (1492).
By Jalen Zeman
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