Madrid, Spain – The president of the Federation of Spanish Jewish Communities used the platform of an interfaith conference in Madrid to issue a plea to the Catholic Church to return ownership of an ancient synagogue in Toledo to Spain’s Jewish community.
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PERIODISTADIGITAL.com (http://bit.ly/167InV7) reports that Isaac Querub made the request during the minutes of Sunday’s Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee meeting, a four day seminar aimed at promoting relations between Catholics and Jews.
Querub was referring to what now is called the Santa Maria la Blanca, an 1180 structure formerly known as the Ibn Shushan Synagogue, or more commonly, The Congregational Synagogue of Toledo.
The building currently serves as a museum.
Sources report that the Federation of Spanish Jewish Communities has also submitted a formal request to the Catholic Church.
Querub said later, “What would be a better act of generosity and reconciliation than the return of the Grand Synagogue of Toledo to the Jewish people and particularly to the Jewish community of Spain, as a symbol of dialogue between Jews and Christians.”
..Don’t hold your breath
So they take the best of our culture, give us back pain and suffering and then maybe they can come back and repay the atonement of their days.
Been there. A Hebrew-speaking nun runs the place. Very sad. This was the former home of Yehuda Halevi and the Ibn Ezra.
THE Catholic Church has influential components which are Hitler’s soul mates. Priebke ymsh a war criminal finally kicked the bucket in Italy and other countries refused to bury the war criminal and who comes forth but the Pius Brothers “a holy association” of Catholic anti-Semites and they will bury him
In 1948 the venerable Spanish Catholic Cardinal Segurra called for a new crusade. It is shame he failed because the Haganah and Palmach would have paid them back for the drunken robberies and murder of the “crusaders” during the 1st, 2nd and 3rd crusades. The Spanish Catholic Church cooperated with Franco and the Nazis
Spain has improved quite a bit since fascist Franco croaked re Jewish concerns. There may be some hope here especially if Yidden worldwide make this an issue.
At least they can’t “hide” a shul.
The Catholic church is in possession of one the world’s largest collections of Judaica – Torahs, manuscripts from the middle ages, and various artifacts, kept out of view in the basements of the Vatican. There are those who believe that they even have gold vessels and possibly the menorah removed after churban bayis shein. This is in addition to those that they display and lend out to museums. The church’s position is that these were gifts, given to them by Jews. It’s pretty sickening.
Focusing on the issue at hand, I think there is a reasonable possibility that a polite yet firm request could bear fruit. Catholics rarely attend church in Spain and medieval buildings cost a lot to maintain. I have been to that shul, it’s interesting, it was also a mosque for a period, also. I could also see why the city of Toledo would support the move … anything to attract more paying tourists. (Toledo really is a MUST SEE).