"Sepharad '92: Spain Takes Pride in its Jewish Heritage"
 
by Charlotte Gruet-Jarquin
 
in "Encounters" (Autumn 1990, p. 36)
 
     The year 1492 marked not only Columbus's departure for the New
World but also the expulsion of more than 200,000 Sephardic Jews
from their homeland by Queen Isabella of Spain.  Sepharad '92 is
an International Jewish Committee spearheaded by the World Sephardi
Federation to commemorate the five-hundredth anniversary of the
expulsion of the Jews from Spain and to celebrate the rebirth of
the Sephardic community after being scattered throughout many
different countries for five-hundred years.  The Sephardic
community recently received the Principe de Asturias prize, Spain's
most prestigious humanitarian award, for being "a scattered Spain
that has maintained with unparalleled fervor the cultural and
linguistic legacy of its ancestors."
     The International Jewish Committee, Sepharad '92,
headquartered in New York City, is currently planning national and
international events for 1992.  Key committee members are Sepharad
'92's founder and chairman, His Excellency Yitzhak Navon, former
president of Israel and minister of education; honorary chairman,
Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel; and president, Mauricio Hatchwell
Toledano, Spanish Jewish leader.  Sepharad '92's programs are
designed to educate the public about the events leading up to the
expulsion, the tragedy of the Inquisition, and the survival and
ultimate flowering of the Sephardic community.
     In 1992, the Smithsonian will organize an exhibition featuring
Sephardic art and artifacts which will travel to Spain, France,
Turkey, Latin America, and Israel.  The Smithsonian also plans to
include a special tribute to the Sephardic culture in its annual
Folk Life Festival on the Washington Mall.  The University of
Michigan is organizing a year-long program with panel discussions,
concerts, and exhibits, using "Jews and the Encounter with the New
World, 1492-1991" as the program theme.
     A two-volume music publication is planned for 1992, focusing
on "The Music of the Three Separate Spains: Sephardic, Christian,
and Moslem," the three religions that co-existed on the Iberian
Peninsula for eight centuries.  The American Jewish International
Congress will sponsor a travel program to Spain, Portugal, and
Turkey, all of which have a Sephardic tradition.  The American
Jewish Committee is compiling an oral history of the Sephardic
Experience in collaboration with the New York Public Library.  The
National Foundation of Jewish Culture will establish an information
center for cultural events and activities commemorating the
Expulsion.
     The National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council will
form Sepharad '92 local committees in cities throughout the United
States to stimulate awareness of Sephardim.  The American Sephardi
Federation and the Coalition for Alternatives in Jewish Education
will produce a four-part education program on Sephardic studies for
implementation in Jewish education curricula in the United States. 
Furthermore, New York State has approved a two-year curriculum on
the Sephardic experience, and the board of Jewish Education of New
York is planning the opening of a Judaic library in 1991.
     Filmmaker Lilly Rivlin will provide a historic overview of the
secret Jews, who for five-hundred years have been practicing
Catholics but have secretly maintained Judaic traditions.  Rivlin's
new film is entitled "Cry of the Heart."  The Sephardic Jews of
Florida are preparing a traveling exhibition entitled "Mosaic."
     Luis Yanez-Barnuevo, Spain's Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, presides over the Spanish National Commission for the
Quincentennial.  He has collaborated with the International Jewish
Committee in forming a Sefarad '92 work group in Spain.  In regard
to the Spanish Sefarad '92 group, Mr. Yanez said, "The National
Commission for the Quincentennial, while understanding that the
Spanish Jews and the Sephardic past are an indivisible part of the
Spain which made the discovery and development of the Hispanic
world possible, has as its main objective the promotion of the
history and culture of Spanish Jews and Sephardi to all Spaniards,
focusing on the areas which relate most to the event we celebrate."
     Sefarad '92 has already been instrumental in organizing events
in Spain such as "By My Spirit: Interfaith Prayer Assembly."  In
May 1992, thousands of people will gather in Toledo for a spiritual
celebration of religious harmony.  Sefarad '92 will also sponsor
seminars and lectures on the history of the Hews and their
contributions in Spain.  In cooperation with Tel Aviv University,
Sefarad '92 will reconstruct the medieval Jewish quarters in
Barcelona and Gerona.  It will also recreate the famous school of
translators in Toledo.  The Jewish quarter will be restored in
Seville, where a monument to tolerance will be built as well as a
museum devoted to Jewish contributions in the House of Oliveda at
the Royal Palace.  Sefarad '92 plans to stage a concert of old
Sephardic songs with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Valencia,
the "music capital" of the Quincentenary program.  Sefarad '92 is
currently preparing a facsimile edition of the Bible in the Spanish
language translated word-for-word from the Hebrew version published
in Ferrara in 1552.
 
Reprint permission granted by publisher.