R. Isaac Campanton, and the great sages that flourished in Spain, all of them on their own right

Book of the Tradition (written in the 16th century), Abraham ben Solomon of Torrutiel, translated from Hebrew by Jaime  Bages, Granada, 1920, 270-71. (1)

 
The great sage Isaac (ben Jacob) Campanton (2) studied with his father, taught the Law to Israel and had many disciples, among them my own father and R. Solomon –of blessed memory-, who had a great knowledge of the Talmud, and learned from his teacher for more than twenty years.

Another disciple of Campanton was the great Isaac de Leon (3), who was a scholar on all sciences and taught many disciples on his own, among them, the saint and compassionate R. Shimom Maimi – of blessed memory (4)-, who sanctified Portugal.

Other disciples of Campanton were the great sages Isaac Aboab II (5), R. Moshe the French, R. Shem Tob ben Shem Tob (6), and the great Samuel El Valensi - of blessed memory- (7), who supported his friends, and also had many disciples, among them, the strong hammer, of clever ingenuity, the sage Joseph Uzziel (8), and the sage Moshe Alliegna (Alami?)

Beside the mentioned above, many other sages studied with Campanton during his first years as a teacher, by the end of his life Moshe El Valensi studied with him along with several others not named here.

The great, and compassionate R. Shem Tob Lerma was one of the distinguished disciples of Isaac Aboab II. Lerma died in prision in the capital of Portugal after the expulsion, and many expelled Jews, like the sage Mori, the teacher Jacob Lual and R. Abraham Saba (9) arrived to Fez.

Later these sages went to Arcila by means of an injured boat lent by their enemies with the intention of making these men to die on the sea, but God did a miracle to the sages since they could land in Arcila despite of a badly damaged ship, without a captain, and without a sailor; only God’s clemency guided them.   

The sage Campanton died in Peñafiel, (Hebrew) year 5223 (1463ce), after overcoming several misfortunes, and going like a wanderer, and as a vagabond across the land (refers to Old Castile, and Leon), from here to there because actual terror. I have heard that when Campanton was persecuted by the princes he lied down over the tomb of his notable teacher R. Isaac Gikatilla (10), and when he got up from his teacher’s sepulcher, he said to his disciples: “ Eight days from today, I will die”.   

All these sages mentioned above were disciples of Campanton, they taught the Law in Spain until the time of the expulsion when we all were forced to leave, as I will refer next.  

Notes 
1- Torrutiel's book is a follow up in the 16th century to the another one by Abraham ibn Daud of same title written on 1161. Torrutiel's work covers from 1180 to 1525.  
2-All references to sages will be linked to the Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906 edition, unless is indicated differently. You need to click on the name:  R. Isaac Campanton
3-  R. Isaac de Leon
4- R. Simón Memmi (o Maimi), he was called "the portuguese" went from Portugal to Zamora to study at the Rabbinical School led by Campanton. According to Abraham Gross, Memmi was in Segovia on 1492 (Iberian Jewry, page 27, note 13), and he returned to Portugal along his family through Zamora that same year. Memmi died a few months later due to his suffering in prison. This information comes from Abraham Saba's account of what occured to several sages with whom he traveled to Portugal after the expulsion.   
5-  R. Isaac Aboab II
6-  R. Shem Tob ben Shem Tob
7-  R. Samuel Alvalensi
8-  R. Joseph ben Uzziel
9- R. Abraham Saba
10-R. Isaac Gikatilla
 -----
El maestro Isaac  Campantón y los grandes sabios que florecieron  en España, cada uno maestro en su lugar

El gran maestro Isaac  Campantón estudió con su padre (llamado Jacob), enseñó la Ley a Israel y formó  muchos discípulos, siendo de ellos mi padre y R. Salomón—de bendita memoria—gran conocedor del Talmud, que aprovechó las enseñanzas del maestro durante  más de 20 años, el maestro Isaac de León, que fue un sabio en todas las ciencias y formó también numerosos discípulos, siendo  uno de los mejores el maestro, santo y piadoso que santificó a Dios en Portugal, el maestro R. Simeón Maimí—de bendita  memoria. El maestro Isaac Aboab (II), R.  Moséh el Francés, R. Shem Tob ben Shem  Tob y el gran maestro, favorecedor de sus amigos, Samuel El-Valensí— de bendita memoria —quien a su vez tuvo  muchos discípulos entre los mejores, el martillo fuerte, el de agudeza de ingenio, el maestro Josef Uzziel y el maestro Moseh Alliegna (¿Alami?).

Otros,  además de los mencionados, estudiaron con el maestro Isaac Campantón, en los primeros años de su vida, siendo ya en el final de ella, cuando lo hicieron el maestro santo y piadoso R.  Moséh El-Valensí—de bendita memoria—y algunos grandes sabios aquí no mencionados. El grande y piadoso maestro R. Shem Tob Lerma, que fue uno de los más distinguidos discípulos del maestro Isaac Aboab, se quedó en la cárcel, en la capital de Portugal, después que llegaron a Fez los judíos expulsados, junto con el sabio Morí, el maestro R. Jacob Lual y R. Abraham Saba. 

Al cabo de un tiempo fueron a la ciudad de Arcila, en un barco frágil, siendo la intención de sus enemigos que se sumergiesen en el mar,  mas Dios hizo un milagro con ellos, pues desembarcaron en Arcila,  como hemos dicho, maltrecha la nave, sin patrón ni marinero, solo por la misericordia de Dios que los guiaba. Murió el maestro Isaac  Campantón en Peñafiel, en el año 5223 (1463ec), después de haberle sobrevenido varias desgracias, yendo errante y vagabundo por todas las tierras, de aquí para allá, por causa del terror real. He oído decir, respecto de él, que cuando era perseguido por los príncipes se echó sobre el sepulcro del grande e insigne maestro R. Isaac Gikatilla, y que, al levantarse de dicho sepulcro, dijo a sus discípulos: «De hoy en 8 días moriré». 

Estos maestros mencionados, discípulos todos ellos del maestro, enseñaron la Ley en España hasta el tiempo de la expulsión, en que hubimos de salir de allí, como  vamos a referir luego. 

Mentions to Campantón and Zamora in Yitzhak Baer's classic book on the Jews of Spain

"Tras la muerte de (Abraham) Benveniste (rab de la Corte), tenemos la noticia, en 1450, de una comisión encargada de repartir los impuestos entre los judíos del reino formada por las siguientes personas: R. Yosef ben SemTob, el famoso filósofo, Yosef Benveniste, hijo de Don Abraham; R. Isaac Campantón, el último Gaon de Castilla; y de otros dos judíos ricos e ilustres"

After (Abraham) Benveniste (Rab of the Court) died, around 1450, a commission to divide taxes among the Jews of the kingdom was created, members of this commission were R. Yosef ben SemTob, the well known philosopher, Yosef Benveniste, son of Don Abraham, R. Isaac Campantón, the last Gaon of Castilla, and two other rich and distinguished Jews"  

Yitzhak Baer, Historia de los judíos en la España cristiana (Traducción de la edición hebrea (1945, 1959) por José Luis Lacave), Zaragoza, Editorial Ríopiedras, 1981, p. 708.

Notas
Mentions to Zamora in Baer's book on pages 350, 694, 783-4, 828, 840-1, 865-6, 870-1

Our Goals for 2015

 

1- Organizing our Third International Conference on Jewish Heritage of City of Zamora on July 3 at Colegio Universitario-UNED, from 9 to 14hrs and from 17 to 20 hrs.

2- Creating mobile Apps for city’s Jewish Sephardic Route, which facilitate and keep our visitors updated on our research on the subject.

3- Presenting to the government of Castilla y León a proposal for creating a statewide Jewish Sephardic Route using Zamora as a model for collaboration between Scholars and authorities to value local, and regional Jewish heritage.   

Zamora lit first public hanukiah since 1491

The ceremony took place at Palacio de La Alhóndiga on December 19th sponsored by the Ayuntamiento of Zamora, the Jewish Sephardi Council of Jerusalem and our Center. The event closed a week of celebrations, which also included tours of the Sephardic Route in the city; a talk on the Judeo Spanish language and a Shabbat dinner at restaurant La bohème. Here some pictures.

At the podium Dr. Abraham Haim, President of the Jewish Sephardi Council of the city of Jerusalem, presents on the history and meanings of Hanuka. His Lecture used readings and songs to illustrate the celebration in different times and spaces of the Jewish cultural traditions. 

Candles lit among others by Francisco Javier Gonzalez, and Angel Luis Crespo, town councillors, local anthropologist María Antonia Muriel Sastre, and Dr. Jesús Jambrina, Viterbo University, promoter of Center Isaac Campanton.  

Participants on the tour of the Jewish Sephardi Route, Plaza of Santa Ana, entrance to the second of the Jewish Quarter in the 15th century.

Students and a professors of the School of Education of University of Salamanca - Zamora campus touring the Jewish Sephardic Route led by local anthropologist María Antonia Muriel Sastre, and Dr. Jesús Jambrina, Viterbo University, Wisconsin.

Students from University of Salamanca-Zamora campus touring the Jewish Sephardi Route in the city.

More info: La Ruta Sefardí se cuela en las aulas, La Opinión de Zamora, leer aquí.

Evidencias históricas/ Historical Evidences

This entry includes some of the few identified historical evidences of Jewish presence in Zamora, among them a couple of Hebrew seals from the 14th and 15th centuries; a Marriage Certificate from 1447, and an Gold Pendant found in the area of the Jewish Cemetery in the 19th century. Research in progress works with the hypothesis of a 12th century building located in the Old Jewish Quarter as the first Synagogue of Zamora; also the existence of a Mikveh at La Hostería Real, a 16th century building near by the same area. Hebrew Books by medieval Zamora authors are considered here since they were either published in the city (1) or refer to its Jewish presence (2).   

En el segundo capítulo de su libro El pasado judío de Zamora (1992), la profesora María Fuencisla García Casar, de la Universidad de Salamanca, refiere algunas de las líneas historiográficas que unen a las sinagogas de Toledo y Zamora desde la fundación misma de la primera. (39-47).

Desde entonces, y hasta 1492, Zamora aparece mencionada consistentemente, lo mismo en la tradición oral que en la escrita, como una ciudad relacionada con y habitada abiertamente por judíos. Pocas son, sin embargo, las pruebas arqueológicas encontradas hasta el momento de esta presencia en la ciudad y en la provincia, por otra parte, vastamente documentada desde el siglo XI, pero las existentes son significativas:

Dos sellos presentados en Las inscripciones hebreas de España (1956) de F.Cantera Burgos y J.M. Millás Vallicrosa, 369-370, y "Nuevo sello hebreo de la aljama de Toro", El Olivo, 9, 1979, 41-47.

El Comentario a la Toráh, de Shlomo Yitzhaki, conocido como Rashi (1040–1105) publicado por el impresor zamorano Samuel ben Musa alrededor de 1490, actualmente en la Biblioteca Bodleiana de Oxford, en Inglaterra.

Un ensayo acerca de la retribución divina, de Abraham ben Salomón de Zamora, autor del siglo XIII, poco conocido y cuyo manuscrito se halla en la biblioteca del Estado de Munich (códice 47-7d). (Gonzalo Díaz Díaz, “Hombres y documentos de la filosofía española”, Volumen 1, página 50)

La Januquía en el sillar de la iglesia de San Pedro y San Idelfonso en Zamora, cuyo estilo, según el investigador Álvaro López Asencio, puede ser datado antes del sigloXII. (La Opinión de Zamora, 20 de Julio, 2008)

Ketubah entre Moshe Saba y Shabi Luna redactada en Zamora en 1447 digitalizada en la Biblioteca Nacional de Israel.  

Un pendiente de oro reproducido en la revista Zamora Ilustrada el 28 de Junio de 1882, encontrado mientras se construían dos carreteras en el área de lo que sería el cementerio judío. (Guadalupe Ramos de Castro Juderías de Castilla y León (1988), página 181)

Edición conjunta de Darkhei ha-Gemara, de Isaac be Jacob Campantón, Rabino de Zamora y Gaon de Castilla,  y Halikot Olam u-Mavo ha-Gemara, R. Yeshu’ah ben Joseph ha-Levi, que incluye Mavo ha-Gemara, de R. Samuel ha-Nagid, Amsterdam, Publicado por Jan Jenson, 1754.

 
En estos momentos el Centro Campantón trabaja en la identificación de dos sitios arqueológicos, cuya documentación histórica y arquitectónica sugiere que formarían parte del legado judío sefardí de la ciudad. Estos sitios son la "bodega" en Plaza Santa Lucía # 10 y una mikveh (o baño ritual) en La Hostería Real localizada en la Cuesta Pizarro. Ambos lugares se encuentran en la Judería Vieja de Zamora y cuentan con una bibliografía de investigación que los refiere como de contenido judío.      

Notas

     *Haim Beinart menciona también que la comunidad judía de la ciudad fue fundada en el mismo período que las de Nájera y Salamanca ("Zamora", Encyclopedia Judaica. Eds. Michael Barenbaum y Fred Skolnik, And Ed. Vol. 21, Detroit, 2007)

"There is yet a lot to research about on the Jewish heritage of Zamora"

Quote from an interview with Dr. Abraham Haim, president of the Council of the Sephardic Community in the City of Jerusalem, published on La Opinion de Zamora, on December 11, 2014.

¿Is there enough material to research about on the Jewish heritage of Zamora?

You bet; there is a lot to research about on the Jewish heritage of this city. Zamora is among the first Jewish communities in medieval Spain, although not the only one. The importance of this community, which had several synagogues, and a Talmudic School, can't be denied. Like in many other places, the expulsion of the Jews and the converso phenomenon erased most of the remaining traces of the Jewish presence, but I know that the City Council is working on recuperating this legacy. The history of the Jews is not unfamiliar to this city, it is integrated into the history of Zamora itself. It shouldn't be excluded despise Jews being a minority in medieval times. 

For the complete interview in Spanish click here.

US prof gets Jerusalem medal for Jewish historical research in Spain’s Zamora

Council of Sephardi and Oriental Communities of Jerusalem recognizes Jesús Jambrina's achievements in the preservation of the Medieval Jewish quarters of the city.

By Marion Fischel, The Jerusalem Post, Sunday, November 9, 2014

The Council of Sephardi and Oriental Communities of Jerusalem last week granted the “Medal of the Four Sephardi Synagogues,” to an American professor who researches and publicizes the Jewish past of Zamora, Spain. 

Prof. Abraham Haim, president of the centuries-old Council said that the medal -- minted by the Israeli Society of Medals and Currency -- recognized the achievements of Prof. Jesús Jambrina in the preservation of the Medieval Jewish quarters of the city of Zamora. It also recognized his work as “organizer of two outstanding international conferences,” in Zamora and Portugal (2013 and 2014).

Haim praised Jambrina’s creation of the Isaac Campanton Center  to further the study of Zamora’s Jewish history. The center is named for the head of the Zamora yeshiva gedola, (Talmudic academy) now known to be the greatest in the Iberian Peninsula in the last century before the Expulsion.

This and other information about the area was known only to a few people, until Jambrina’s groundbreaking conference. Titled “Reencuentro e Historia de la Aljama de Zamora” (“Reencounter and History: The Medieval Jewish Community of Zamora”), it brought together a team of international and local experts in Zamora, in July 2013, to share their knowledge of its Jewish past.

“I want to share this recognition with all the people who have made all our programming possible, and especially with the people of Zamora, who have been the majority attending our events. This is an award for them as well,” Jambrina told The Jerusalem Post on November 7.

He added that it was important for him to express his gratitude for the welcome and support he received from the Zamora Municipality and Deputation, who were crucial in bringing the conferences to fruition, “and to the Vimioso Municipality and the Carçao Municipality in Portugal.”

The province of Zamora and the city of the same name is located northwest of Castilla and Leon (close to the border with Portugal), two medieval kingdoms to which Jews fled, escaping the Almoravide and Almohade moorish invasions of the 11th and 12th centuries. Jews were also part of King Fernando I’s repopulation of the region in the mid 11th century.

After the Inquisition forced Jews into physical and spiritual hiding between the 15th and 19th centuries, there was scant awareness in Zamora of its Jewish history.

On the other hand, since Jews also fled from Zamora to Turkey, Greece, Syria, Israel, North and South America, North Africa and other  countries, many Sephardi Jews, internationally, know that their families hail from that Spanish province, or other parts of Spain. Jewish names connected to Zamora are Aboab, Arama, Corcos, De Leon, Saba, Valensi and Habib.

An exhilarated Jambrina spoke to the Post after the conference last year. “We’ve done it!” he said. The breakthrough event had united a team of dedicated researchers with a strong connection to the area. All the members of the conference were invited to the Deputation of Zamora, and Jambrina presented a proposal for marking Jewish sites in the city.

Asked about his motivation, he said his interest stemmed from the knowledge that his grandparents, who emigrated to Cuba in the early part of the 20th century, were from the village of Gema del Vino, a 10 minute-drive southeast from Zamora. Jambrina grew up hearing about Zamora and the village and when he began learning Sephardi history, he began delving into Zamora’s Jewish history. Yet when he finally managed to visit the city in 2010, he was puzzled that the places he knew -- by then -- to contain so much Jewish history, were not signposted.

The Post attended both conferences and was witness to the excitement of a number of local and international guests whose surnames, family stories and/or traditions, had impulsed them to search for their identity. Talks by well-known experts uncovered historical proof of dangerous border crossings from Spain to Portugal and back; customs from centuries ago still preserved in Spanish families; clues on doorposts, highlighting where a mezuzah should have been; tips on how to recognize a cross made by a converso (forced convert) and more.

The much-desired signposting of Zamora’s Medieval Jewish quarters took place in July 2014 at the second conference. True to its promise made at the previous one, the city signposted several places of Jewish. The first to be marked was the Medieval Jewish cemetery. In the presence of Zamora’s dignitaries, members of the public, press and conference attendees, Haim, who presented papers at both conferences, read a prayer for the souls of those who perished and who suffered during the Inquisition.

Jambrina told the Post  that the medal will be formally presented in a ceremony in March 2015 at the Viterbo University campus. He said that the medal was “an honor, and encouragement to continue this research work.”

When he began work on Zamora a few years ago, Jambrina said, he never imagined “that it would fly this way.”

“But reflecting on it now,” he said, “I would say that a lot has been accomplished in a relatively short period of time.”

“I think that this is what the Council is recognizing: two international conferences, signposting of Jewish Quarters, starting a study center, and some other events.”

One of these other events was Zamora’s celebration of the first International Ladino Day – the last day of Hannuka -- which last year fell on December 5.

By means of these academic interventions, Jambrina told the Post, “Zamora’s Jewish heritage has emerged full force in the field of Jewish Sephardic Studies. It has now been established that this was the one of the great cities of Sefarad along with Córdoba and Toledo, in the context of the 15th century, related to Jews in the Iberian Peninsula.”

He said his hope for the award was that in drawing attention to Zamora, it would help increase awareness of the Jewish heritage of the city, the province -- and even the region of Castilla and Leon -- among its residents, as well as the wider public, “so that we all continue learning and expanding our understanding of this part of Spain’s history and culture.”

In March this year, Haim presented the “Medal of the Four Sephardi Synagogues,” to the former king of Spain, Juan Carlos, at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid in recognition of the bill passed recently, granting Spanish citizenship to descendants of Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. 

Rosa Valdón, Mayor of Zamora, Abraham Haim, president of the Sephardic Council of city of Jerusalem and Jesús Jambrina, Associate Professor of  Spanish and History, Viterbo University

For more information (in Spanish) click here