JACOB JR, MY JEWISH WORLD. A visit back in history to Jewish Barcelona
Shalom! World. By ARTHUR WOLAK 11/27/2010 23:14 The Spanish city has a rich Judaic tradition, and may be home to the oldest synagogue in Europe. Talkbacks ( 3 ) BARCELONA – Known for its cosmopolitan restaurants, modernist architecture and pleasant Mediterranean climate, Barcelona – the second largest city in Spain (after Madrid), and capital of the province of Catalonia – also has a rich Jewish history that deserves to be explored by all interested tourists. Long before the tumultuous expulsion of the Jews in 1492, Jewish culture thrived throughout the Iberian Peninsula. Indeed, during an era justifiably known as the Golden Age, Spain’s large, influential, and prolific Jewish community produced many luminaries. Through their great works of poetic, biblical and kabbalistic writings, these poets and rabbinic scholars exercised a profound influence on the development of Jewish philosophical thought, and halachic and liturgical practice. Their insights later