Spanish & Portuguese Expulsion; Inquisition

On the 20th of Iyar in 1288, thirteen Jews in Troyes, France, were burned at the stake by the Inquisition. They were accused, in a blood libel, of the supposed murder of a Christian child. The thirteen Jews were chosen from among the richer members of the...

The Jews of Spain were expelled by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella on the 9th of Av of 1492, terminating many centuries of flourishing Jewish life in that country.

Following the death of King Joao of Portugal in 1494, his son King Manuel I ascended the throne. When his legitimacy as heir to the throne was challenged, Manuel wished to marry Princess Isabel of Spain, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, in order to sol...

The year was 1497. Just five years after leaving his native Spain due to the Edict of Expulsion, Rabbi Avraham Saba stood tearfully beside an olive tree outside of Lisbon, Portugal. There, under what he described as a “tree of tears,” he buried his most p...

The treacherous Jew, who had pretended to be a Catholic, would be put to death by burning in the city square.

In 1165, an agonizing question confronted Moroccan Jewry. A fanatical Muslim sect, the Almohads, had seized power and were embarked on a policy of forced conversion to Islam. The Jewish community was faced with a choice: to affirm Islamic faith or die.

According to Kabbalah, Kol Nidre is more than a technical vow-annulment procedure. Rather, by releasing our vows we are asking G‑d to reciprocate in kind . . .

Author of the Shulchan Aruch