Introducing the Jews of Spain

During the previous week day sessions, I introduced the third edah we're studying this year - the Jews of Spain. I began by introducing one possible theory for the origin of the name of the country. We do know for sure that ancient Phoenicians, neighbors bordering Israel to the north some 3,000 years ago, sailed to Spain, following the coast of North Africa, establishing along the way the colony of Carthage. The Phoenicians first believed that the Iberian peninsula was an island, and having spotted strange animals which resembled rabbits (these animals were actually hyraxes), supposedly gave the area the name - "ee" (meaning island in Phoenician, which is a Canaanite language closely related to Hebrew) "shafan" or "shafania" (meaning rabbit in Phoenician/Hebrew). When the ancient Greeks took over the area as a colony, the name evolved to "Eesfahan" and, several hundred years later, the Romans re-named it "Heespania," from which the modern name of "Spain" (or "España" in Spanish) is derived. This is just one of many theories about the name, but I thought it interesting to share with the students since the Phoenicians were a Semitic people who are often mentioned in the Bible.

Jewish presence in Spain can be traced back for certain to Roman times, some 2,000 years ago. Jewish traders from Mesopotamia had already established communities along most of the coast of North Africa, and a few Jewish traders made their way to Spain over the Strait of Gibraltar, establishing small communities there. Student volunteers read out loud from a brief history of the Jews in Spain taken from the history series, "Out of Spain" by Andrea Aelion Brooks, describing how Visigoths conquered Spain from the Romans in the 5th century C.E., forcing all the local inhabitants, including the Jews, to convert to Christianity. We then learned that in 711 C.E. the Visigoths were conquered by Arab Muslims from the area referred to as Mauritania (present-day Morocco) by the Romans. These Arab-Muslims who now ruled Spain were referred to as the Moors (from Mauritania). It was during the 300-plus years of Moorish rule over Spain that Jews experienced a golden age which some claim was not matched anywhere in the world until Jews settled in the United States. Aside from having to pay a tax to the Muslims for land that they came to own, the Jews were treated as equals in every aspect of  life.

At this point, I shared a "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews" video and multimedia presentation with the students about the Jewish "Golden Age in Spain," including a segment about Maimonides, the great Jewish philosopher, physician and rabbinic authority who was born in Cordoba, Spain at the end of the 10th century, and whom I've mentioned to the students at various times during the past year, most recently relating to the Jewish concept of tz'daka.

During our joint community activity period with Shira and Y'tzira on Tuesday and Wednesday, I was very heartened to see that our studies about the Jewish middot (values) have taken root. We played hangman (an apt game at this point in the year, since we celebrate Purim in just a few weeks!), and the students were able to quickly figure out the Jewish values I had "spelled" out with blank lines after guessing just a few letters in each instance.

During our Hebrew Through Movement session, I continued to introduce new Purim vocabulary even as I was reviewing all the other vocabulary we've learned to date. I have also been introducing literacy into the program, slowly but surely reaching the point where most of the students are beginning to recognize 4 basic command words on flashcards - la'koom (get up), la'shevet (sit down), la'lechet (walk) and la'atzor (stop). By the end of this school year, my goal is to have most of the students recognize at least 10 of the basic vocabulary words, including words on signs in our classroom and around the school (delet - door; chalon - window; sheirooteem - bathrooms; loo'ach - referring to a bulletin board, white board or calendar; shoolchan - table; and keeseh - chair).

Ashley, leelbosh maseicha al Peter. (Ashley, put a mask on Peter.)

Gabby, leelbosh maseicha al Charlotte. (Gabby, put a mask on Charlotte.)

Ariston, la'seem megillat ester al ha'rosh v'az l'har'eesh ra'ashan me'al ha'rosh shel Jeremy. (Ariston, put the scroll of Esther on the head and then make noise with a noisemaker/grogger over Jeremy's head.)

Ari, leelbosh maseicha v'az l'heestovev. (Ari, put on a mask and then turn around.)

Joey, la'seem megillat ester al ha'rosh shel Sammy; Sammy, l'har'eesh ra'ashan me'al ha'rosh shel Joey. (Joey, put the scroll of Esther on Sammy's head; Sammy, make noise with a noisemaker/grogger over Joey's head.)

Sammy v'Joey, l'hatzbee'ah al ha'meela "la'atzor." (Sammy and Joey, point to the word "stop.")

Joey, leekro et ha'meela, "la'koom." (Joey, read the word, "get up.")

Yesterday, during both sessions of JQuest, we again joined the Shira and Y'tzira tracks to view the movie, "Havana Curveball." This film was produced in 2014, and follows a San Francisco boy named Mica during the 3-year period in which he fulfilled a mitzvah project as part of the process of becoming a Bar Mitzvah. He began the project at the age of 13, just prior to his Bar Mitzvah ceremony, but it took 3 years for him to carry it out. Since we ask our B'nai Mitzvah students to work on a mitzvah project as part of their path toward becoming members of our Jewish community, this film provided our students with a lot to think about!

Next Saturday, March 5th, our sixth graders will attend morning Shabbat services with their families, in order to become familiar with the service. Sixth graders will not attend JQuest on Sunday, March 6th. All fifth graders and their parents will attend JQuest on March 6th during first session only, at which time the students will each receive a gift of a Siddur (prayer book), and will be given time to decorate a cover for the book. The siddurim will be kept at JQuest, to be used during our week day and Sunday tefillah sessions.