•The fifty-five year old woman walked cautiously to the small
bedroom in the back of the house situated in the judería
of Toledo. Doña Robledo stroked the altar cloth her grandmother
made for the synagogue. It was a cream colored silk cloth embroidered
with fine silk strands from Granada depicting the Tree of Life. Her
grandmother told her that Tree of Life symbolized the Ten Commandments. Although outsiders often commented on the obvious conclusion
that the tree was representative of the Garden of Eden, few individuals
grasped the hidden significance of the teaching of the Law. Her grandmother
always adorned the embroidery with pomegranates because the
fruit represented fertility and life.
Doña Robledo gently touched the golden brown eagle with extended
wings on the fine silk cloth. Her grandmother said the phoenix and
eagle of Toledo were the same bird because it never died. After living
a thousand years and being consumed by fire, the eagle rose from the
ashes to live another thousand years. She often said that despite many
trials, the eagles, like the Jewish people, would survive. Lamenting the
pogroms across Spain forcing Jews to become conversos, the grandmother
said that Jews and conversos were one people.
On this Shabbat, Doña Robledo lit the olive oil clay candle holders
with the raised menorah ceramic motif. Closing her eyes and moving
her hands to inhale the holy smoke, she prayed,
Bendito seas Tú, Eterno, nuestro Dios Rey del universo que nos
santificaste con Tus mandamientos y nos ordenaste encender las velas
de la fiesta.
She prayed silently that El Eterno would always protect her children
and grandchildren. She prayed that even though her family had been
baptized under duress, she asked that G-d would remember how she
washed off the Catholic baptism of all her children and grandchildren.
The priests told Jews that only Catholic baptism would save their souls, but Doña Robledo always washed off the Catholic baptism because
this religion did not believe in one G-d. The Ten Commandments
did not include a Jesus Christ or a Virgin Mary. The statues of a melancholy
mother and a suffering bloody son in the churches frightened her.
She had to de-baptize her children because her own identity was shaped
by the traditions of her mothers living the language of Jewish rituals.
Her own mother sponsored the medieval Sephardic custom of the hadas’
celebration for newborn babies. Hadas were the fairies bringing
good luck and prosperity for the recently born baby.
In June 1391, eight synagogues in Toledo were destroyed. Jews were murdered and mass baptisms took place. Few Jews returned to the old juderías
but sought safe residences in outlying areas of the city. At this moment
in 1449, citizens of Toledo accused the Jews of requiring the menores to pay
higher taxes. Several conversos were recently condemned to death by fire.
On January 27, 1449, murder, robbery and confiscation of property
took place in the judería of Toledo. As the voices of the angry menores
were heard in the streets as they ravaged the judería, Doña Robledo
rushed to the Cathedral of Toledo to be baptized. Her altar cloth was
burned in the looting. Nothing of her house was left. The aging old
woman left to find a home with friends and family outside of the city
once regarded as the prized jewel of Sephardic Judaism.
Effective 1449, Jews in Toledo could not hold any public office or
have any authority over any Christians or the Holy Catholic Church. It
was a time of persecution of people believing in El Eterno.
The Inquisition became more active in Toledo to signify the“Act of Faith” sentiment. On February 12, 1486, 750 women and
men from seven parishes filed in a procession through the streets
sentenced to numerous penances. Over 900 penitents from six
parishes were punished on April 2, 1486. Another 750 men and
women Jewish penitents repeated the same procession on June
11, 1486. By May, 1487, twenty-three Jewish persons were executed.
Archival material was not gathered to record this massive
conversion and abuse.
Above the judería the golden eagle of Toledo was consumed in the
fire of the martyred Jews. It was a time for weeping.
(Excerpt from a new book tentatively titled Toledo Tradition Keepers
by Isabelle Medina-Sandoval to be published by Gaon Books.)