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A cantor reading from the Passover story in a Spanish synagogue.
Jewish communities in Spain and Portugal blossomed under the
Muslim Caliphs and the Christian kings, and Jews played an
important role in the administration and in sciences. In the
14th century attitudes of the authorities toward Jews began to
change. Jews were forced to live in special quarters locked at
night and during Christian holidays. In 1492, all Jews were forced
to either convert to Christianity or to leave the country. Jews
from the Iberian Peninsula migrated to Muslim North Africa, to
Turkey, Western Europe and, in the 16th and 17th centuries, as far
as Mexico and North America.
Full-page miniature from Haggadah, Spain 14th century. |
