Month: December 2019

Jews In Iberia

  

Jews In Iberia

While doing some research about Valencia (As you may recall, I’ve shared some stories of our recent trip to Spain over the last few weeks), after our stop there, I was surprised to find a separate notation in Wikipedia about the Jews. Valencia was founded in the Roman period circa 138 BC. The first invaders were Germanic people including Visigoths, who after adopting Christianity, started to persecute Jews.

The Moors (Berbers and Arabs) followed, and adopted Islam at about 714 AD. Only in 1171 AD, were Christians able to seize control of the city again. Meanwhile, Jews lived in Valencia during the early Muslim rule, and continued to live there during the Christian time. Many of them were artisans such as silversmiths, shoemakers, blacksmiths, locksmiths, etc., and a few were rabbinic scholars. The Jews took up about 7 percent of the population. During the “Black Death” in Europe (including in Spain), from 1348 to 1351, Jews were blamed for poisoning common wells in towns. They were tortured and burned. In 1391, the Jewish Quarters of Valencia were destroyed. Jews experienced a similar fate in Barcelona. One hundred years later, in 1492, Spanish rulers issued the Alhambra Decree; as a result of which a majority of the Jews in Spain (around 300,000) converted to Catholicism, and between 40,000 – 80,000, who continued to practice Judaism, were forced into exile. One of the destinations was Portugal where Jews lived for over two thousand years, and where some occupied prominent places in political and economic life. In 1497, When Vasco de Gama undertook the voyage to discover India, he used tables and astrolabe created by Abraham Zacuto, an astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, rabbi and historian, who served as Royal Astronomer to King John II of Portugal. The treasurer of King Alfonso V of Portugal was another Jew – Isaak Abrabanel. All of this ended with the establishment of the Portuguese Inquisition in 1536. In Lisbon, I bought a book titled “The 500 Hidden Secrets of Lisbon”. There I found a chapter titled, “The 5 most interesting places of Jewish Heritage”. Terreiro De Paco is mentioned there, where “in the 16th century this place was the scene of horrific ceremonies aimed against Jews.” There is not much left which can tell the rich history the Jews left on the Iberian Peninsula. After the expulsion, a vast majority of Jews eventually emigrated to Thessaloniki, Istanbul, France, Morocco, Brazil, Amsterdam and some other countries. Some of the Jews after living in Brazil, decided to continue their journey, and in 1654 twenty-three families arrived in New Amsterdam, which we all know as New York. This coincided with the development and the growth of the New World. Meanwhile, after being powerful empires, Spain and Portugal’s economies declined.

In 2014, the descendants of Sephardic (Sefared is Spain in Hebrew), Jews who were exiled in 1492 were offered Spanish citizenship. Similar laws were enacted in Portugal in 2015. Since then, 130,000 Jews applied for their Spanish citizenship. There are many surprises for those who want to find their roots and take DNA tests, since thousands of Jews converted or intermarried.

P.S. I wrote this story on November 3 during our cruise. I did not plan it, but it is posted on Friday, December 27, which is the sixth day of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah, honoring events and miracles, that happened over two thousand years ago. Hanukkah which is celebrated by Jews and their friends all over the world, is called the Holiday of Light. Let this light fill your life as well.

These are a few images of the human sculptures I encountered and photographed during our trip. Though those four people pretend to be someone else, you would never guess who carries Jewish DNA.

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It Is Another Beautiful Day

  

It Is Another Beautiful Day

I wrote this story on November 1stas we were moving along Iberian Coast. Yesterday our stop was in Malaga, Spain. As it became my routine, I was on the upper deck before the sunrise and when the sun came out, my heart was filled with joy and excitement for the new day, the new opportunities, the new encounters, the new photographs. And then I had the thought: How different is this sunrise from others that I’ve seen and photographed before? After we came down on the shore, instead of exploring some of the old castles or sunbathing on the beautiful beach, we met with some old friends whom we knew when they lived in San Francisco. For economic reasons they moved back to their home town Kishenev, Moldova, which used to be part of the Soviet Union and which is now an independent country. From their description, life in Kishinev is difficult. The country is poor, the government is corrupt, and the people are struggling. The sale of their home in San Francisco gave them enough money to be able to live comfortably in Moldova and to go on month long vacations to places like Malaga. After we returned to our ship, we chatted with some people we met there. One of them was a couple who live not far from Moscow and they shared with us stories about their life under the authoritarian leadership of the richest man in the world, Vladimir Putin. In spite of challenges and complaints and lack of English, they figured out how to be able to enjoy life and travel on cruises. We all live in the places which have their own challenges. Nevertheless even if it is raining, the sun shows up somewhere, filling our hearts with joy and hope.

The next day we arrived in Cartagena. The seaport’s history goes back over two thousand years ago. We decided to explore this town of over 200,000 people by riding on the top of the Red bus with discounted tickets (for seniors) – 6 euro per person. In forty minutes on the bus plus a half an hour walk through the main street, we had a good idea that this is not the place I would like to retire in, in spite of the low cost of apartments for about $125,000 and the people of retirement age I encountered. After we returned on the ship we met other retired passengers who were mostly young at heart and who like to go on cruises. As one woman from Scotland put it, “I would rather spend my money to have fun rather than give it to my children who would pay 40% of the inheritance tax on them”. Another man from Pennsylvania who retired 10 years ago, told me that a month after he and his wife return home from the cruise, they will be going on another one. The passengers on the ship are from Europe, Asia, America and perhaps from other continents.

We live in a wonderful time. Two thousand years ago when the Romans were in this area, followed by other invaders, they left ruins of their former homes or beautiful tiles on the walls for us to come and enjoy. But I suspect they enjoyed looking at the sunrise as I can today (though they could not photograph it).

P.S. The four images are the testament to the beauty I photographed from the ship you can experience most of the time, regardless of the destination.

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What Is So Special About Gibraltar?

  

What Is So Special About Gibraltar?

Gibraltar was our first stop on our cruise from Lisbon to Barcelona. My day began at six in the morning. I went up to the 15th deck to capture the “Rock of Gibraltar” during the sunrise. On our agenda that day, we planned to visit the “Rock”, which was possible to reach by a funicular. (You can walk up to save money, but why? Though some do walk down the hill).

It is 1398 ft. high and offers panoramic views. But it is also known for its monkeys. I’d heard about their behavior before; especially stories about them stealing from tourists. As a precaution, I specially brought my old photo camera (just in case). After getting to the top, we were greeted by a monkey who climbed into our funicular cabin with us. Everyone was excited to capture photos. Monkeys are fed by the staff and visitors are warned not to bring any food. Some did not listen, and as a result, there are number of exciting stories about monkeys opening purses to steal bananas or grab an ice cream from a child. It is believed that the Moors,who lived there between 700 and 1492, introduced the Barbary Macaques to the area of Gibraltar. The monkeys are very peaceful and the young ones are playful (like any children). There are about 300 monkeys and you can see some videos of them on Youtube. But what makes Gibraltar special is its history. It is a British Overseas Territory, located at the southern top of the Iberian Peninsula. In 1704, Anglo-Dutch forces captured Gibraltar from Spain, and in spite of it bordering with Spain and being far away from Britain, in addition to constant conflicts between the two countries, the local Gibraltarians, who amounted to about 35,000 people, chose to stay independent from Spain.

Today, Gibraltar’s economy is based largely on tourism, financial services, cargo ships refueling and online gambling.

But its history goes back to 50,000 years ago. There was evidence of Neanderthal habitation discovered in one of the local caves. Since then many things changed, and many wars were fought for the strategically located Rock.

After our visit to see monkeys, we came down to explore an old street with some buildings going back to 1600s, where there are restaurants, stores and hundreds of locals and tourists mingling together. There I noticed some Muslim women with their head coverings and religious Jews with their head coverings. The irony was that both of those groups were persecuted and expelled from their Spain in the fifteenth century. Now all of them are together with other people from different parts of the world, who call themselves Gibraltarians.

P.S. These four images show the Rock and of course, the monkeys.

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It Is a Small and Wonderful World

  

It Is a Small and Wonderful World

Over the past two weeks I shared with you about our week long trip to Lisbon. It was the first stop on our three-week vacation, which originally was planned as a cruise from Lisbon to Barcelona. We’ve never before been in this part of the world, and since it is a long journey, we decided to explore other destinations as well. While in Lisbon, there was a possibility to visit other surrounding towns, but my wife Elfa suggested focusing on one destination at a time. She was, as always, right, since though some travel guides suggest spending two days in Lisbon, after a week we just started to get a sense of this wonderful place. And what made it especially interesting were the people we met there, on their life journeys.

The first couple we met was at a concert in a private home. They were from the South of France, and lived in Australia; however, when they came to Lisbon the first time some years ago, they knew it would be their home. Another person, the singer, was born in Brazil, where her grandfather, who was Jewish, ran away from Germany during World War II and ended up in Rio de Janeiro. Now Morelia lives in Lisbon with her Portuguese husband and their young daughter. I met a couple one morning by the Tagus River. Like me, they came to watch the sunrise. While photographing them, I learned that the woman is from Brazil, and her husband is from Romania; meanwhile, their daughter was born in Ireland, where the couple currently lives. At one of the restaurants we went to, we met a waiter who was born in Brazil. He lived in a small town where he heard gunshots every night. To escape those conditions, he first moved to Ireland. However, after two years being tired of the lack of sunlight, he decided to move to Lisbon, where his grandfather and father were born. We also befriended a woman who was originally from Nepal, India. For many years she lived in San Francisco, where her daughter still lives. Then she decided to move to Europe. First it was Barcelona, but after a few years, she decided that Lisbon is the city she would call home.

Some years ago, Elfa and I considered taking a one year sabbatical; to live somewhere in Europe and to explore other countries. If we would do it, we decided that Lisbon is the right city for the purpose. Following our visit to Lisbon, the next eight days our home was the Celebrity Cruise Ship named “Reflection”, where 1,271 personnel from 72 countries served about 3,600 passengers, who also came from different parts of the world. In spite of being from so many countries, we were all communicating in one language – English. Being there I felt that there are no boundaries, no political opinions or affiliations. We were all together under the navigation of the captain, who was from Greece, en route to one destination – Barcelona.

P.S. These four images show some of the encounters during our journey.

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