Association of Friends of theJewish Culture of Tarazona "Moshe de Portella"
January 13, 2001
The Jewish journalist Walter Ruby has written an article about the Jewish Quarter of Tarazona and our association, which will be published in the Jewish Magazine of New York
http://www.thejewishweek.com/.
December 03, 2000
There were found numerous jewish manuscripts in the Cathedral of Tarazona.
PATRIMONY - A research initiated by the Moshe de Portella Association of Tarazona found almost fifty Jewish manuscripts. According to first studies, most of them are from the 14th century.
MARIANO GARCÍA Heraldo de Aragón Zaragoza
The "Moshe de Portella" Association of Tarazona which was founded in February 2000 in order to recover the Jewish roots of this locality, decided to start searching some documental testimony of the Hebrew culture. In close collaboration with the bishopric of Tarazona, the chapter of the cathedral and the archivist Juan Cruz Martínez, we were searching patiently among hundreds of antique volumes treasured at the cathedral. The results have been positive. "Our idea was to search for some testimony which could remit us to the Translator School of Tarazona", tells us Javier Bona, secretary of the Association. "The Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492 and the inquisition ordered to confiscate all their books and documents. Therefore only few testimonies of this kind could be recovered in Spain".
Sephardic calligraphy
The existence of dozens of parchments found among the recovered documents was known before - they were published in a scientific magazine - but they were kept in a safe which key had been lost a long time ago. Nevertheless, among them we found about 25 more documents which were not known until now. "We knew that the only reason to keep
these documents was to use the sheets of those Jewish books for binding later Christian books, which was usual at that time", states Javier Bona. And this was what ocurred.
The historian Migual Angel Motis, expert in Hebrew culture and history, just started studying the found items. "Almost all can be dated from the 14th century", he states, "and
they are written with brown vegetable ink and in square writing characters of the sephardic type which constitutes one of the most beautiful calligrafies". Regarding the, "a great part of the written sheets pertain to biblical codexes with "masora" or notes by the rabbis.
There are parchements which correspond to the "Psalms", to the "Deuteronomy" and "Ecclesiastes". Moreover there are fragments of haftarot, or books for liturgical use of
the cycle of the profets as Josuah o Jeremias; some text seems to be from the Talmud; a fragment of "Mo'ed qatam", a treatise about the agricultural cycles with personal annotations by the proprietor of the book; and text pages of scientific character which could be from a work of Jento ben Isaac Xaprut (famous physisian and theologian
of the 16th century, who entered in 1375 in polemics with Pedro de Luna, time cardinal at that time), or with somebody of his school".The research is about to be finished, but we do not exclude to find more documents. "With these discoverings Tarazona becomes one of the most important archive cores of the Jewish culture in Aragón on the same level as the Cathedral of Zaragoza or the collection of the Aljama of Jaca which are kept at the DPH". The "Moshe de Portella" Association has planned to incorporate reproductions of these manuscripts in the future Museum
for Jewish Culture to be created in Tarazona. For this purpose, the European program ASOMO (Leader II) granted a contribution of three millions of Spanish Pesetas.
Discovered numerous Jewish manuscripts in the Cathedral of Tarazona
December 01, 2000
The "Asociación de Desarrollo de la Comarca del Moncayo" (ASOMO-LeaderII) (Association for the Development of the Moncayo District) just contributed three millions of Spanish Pesetas or 60 % of the total cost for the first phase of the Multimedia Center "Moshe de Portella" which will be installed at the temporary seat of the association. It is projected to be opened in summer of 2001.
September 18, 2000
Tarazona applies officially for its entry in the Network of Spanish Jewries.
The municipal council just approved in its last plenary to apply for the incorporation of Tarazona in the Network of Spanish Jewries "Caminos de Sefarad" ("Sepharad Trails") as pointed out in the agreement as a "member with full rights". The proposal was presented by the Friends of the Jewish Culture of Tarazona Association "Moshe de Portella" during the session of the Sectorial Council for Culture and Tourism and was approved unnanimously. If the Network accepts Tarazona, it will become the first town of Aragón to be a member of "Caminos de Sefarad". The success of the Cultural Days "El retorno de Sefarad a Tarazona" ("The Return of Sepharad to Tarazona") which took place last weekend have intensified the wish to bring to knowledge the history of the Jewish Aljama of Tarazona and to recover its Jewry. The agreement applies also for the support of the municipal council of Tudela and of the municipal council of Gerona for the presentation of the candidature of the town of the Queiles.
August 01, 2000
TARAZONA
Success of the Sephardic Days
The Cultural Days "The Return of Sepharad to Tarazona" organized by the Friends of the Jewish Culture de Tarazona Association "Moshe de Portella" were held with big attendance. At the inauguration ceremony were present the responsible for cultural affairs of the Embassy of Israel in Spain; Miguel Gargallo, responsible for cultural affairs of the Council of Zaragoza; the mayor of Tarazona Javier Calavia and the president of the association Angel Alcázar. With a big attendance, the aims and immediate projects of the association were presented. Lateron, Miguel Angel Motis presented the history of the Jewish Aljama in a pleasant and didactic way to an audience which was surprised by the numerous facts and anecdotes unknown to the majority of the inhabitants of Tarazona.
A part of the history of the town forgotten during many years which now wants to be recovered. Moreover, representatives of the Network of Spanish Jewries, Uncastillo Foundation, Celtiberic Space and visitors from Madrid, Barcelona, Tarragona, Segovia and
other Spanish places attended the Cultural Days. Lateron, the new seat of the association was inaugurated with excellent "tapas" and a sephardic wine.The day of yesterday was started with a conference about the "Jews in the History" by Julio Frias and continued with a lunch elaborated by Javier Latorre as per traditional
recipes with an attendance of more than eighty persons. In the afternoon there were a guided visit of the Jewry "in order to touch the spirit of those Jewish people of Aragón from Tarazona which still can be felt" as Miguel Angel Motis expressed it. The ceremonies were concluded by an emotive concert which had its revival after 500 years of absence at the same place where this music and chants had been heard in those times.
These Cultural Days have opened the doors in order that this iniciative of Tarazona serves as a union for other similar iniciatives in Aragón.
April 21, 2000
Within short, the Municipal Council of Tarazona will treat the formal application of entry of Tarazona in the Network of Spanish Jewries, proposed by the Sectorial Council of Culture and Tourism. In this committee are represented all cultural collectives and associations
of the town.
March 26, 2000
We plan to create associations like ours in other towns of Aragón in order tu recover and to signpost the Jewish quarters, to open Jewish Heritage Centers and to publish web sites in order to bring to know the history of the Jewries of Aragón. Anybody who wants to collaborate in the creation of the Network of Jewries in Aragón, please contact us at
