Prayers of Bragança

This publication (in Spanish) includes a Prayer Book used by a family in Bragança, Portugal, who practiced the Law of Moses in secret for more than 500 years. 

After 1492, the border between Spain & Portugal became a refuge for many Jewish families fleeing the inquisition in Spain. The topography of the area, specially around the Duero River, allows for easy crossing through hidden paths between both sides of the border. 

When the expulsion and forced conversions were imposed in Portugal in 1497, Crypto Jewish population even grew as many Portuguese families escaped to this, then, remote area in the northeast of the country, also known as Trás-os-Montes (Beyond the Mountains)

Inquisition officially arrived to Portugal in 1536 persecuting marranismo among New Christians  affecting well established secret Jewish communities in cities and towns like Bragança, Vimioso, Carçao, Miranda do Douro, Mogadouro and many others in La Raya, as the border between the two countries in called. 

Prayers of Bragança were transcribed from oral tradition in 1925 by Antonio Fernández's family (see picture) and along other archeological evidences it proves what investigators José Manuel Laureiro and Anun Barriuso have identified as a culture of resistance, meaning finding ways of maintaining the Jewish belief system alive in the context of forced conversions.

Prayers of Bragança (Editorial Verbum, 2018) was presented at Centro Sefarad Israel, Madrid, on June 27 and also at the 6th International Congress in Zamora on July 6.  

Antonio Fernández, whose family originated in Trabazos (Zamora) and later when to Bragança

From leaft to right: Anun Barriuso, José Manuel Laureiro, Antonio Fernández and Inés Nogueiro

6th International Congress “Jews in the Kingdom of León”, Zamora, Spain, July 5 & 6

Registration HERE, fee includes access to activities & events as well as congress sessions

Pre-congress activities and events

June 27, 19:00h, Centro Sefarad-Israel, calle Mayor 69, Madrid. Panel “Jews in the Kingdom of León”, Panelists: Margalit Matitiahu, Anun Barriuso, José Manuel Laureiro and Marciano Hervás.

Visits to historic Jewish Quarters

All Departures will be from NH Palacio del Duero in Zamora

July 2, 9:00, León
July 3, 9.00, Salamanca
July 4, 17:00, Fermoselle

La Hostería Real

July 3, 8:30 PM. Music of Sepharad, concert by Judith Cohen 

Sessions

July 5

10:30, La Alhóndiga Palace, Film, Sefarad, caminos y vida: León reencuentro (90 minutos), director Jack Matitiahu. Q&A will follow.

14:00, Lunch

19:00. Keynote address: “Life and Path of a Zamoran Crypto-Jewish family”, Genie Milgrom, author of Pyre to Fire (2018), My 15 grandmothers (2012), and How I found my 15 Grandmothers (2014). Milgrom is also Board Member of the Jewish Genealogical Society in Miami.

20:00. “Spanish Citizenship and the Anusim. Restoring 15 generations family trees”, Abraham García, Institute for Sephardic, Crypto-Jewish and Anusim Studies, Netanya Academic College, Israel

21:00. Coctel

July 6

9:00 Opening Remarks.  

9:15. “Critical Approaches to the medieval Jewish population in León: the community of Castrum Iudeorum”, Mario Lozano Alonso, Historian

10:00. Jaime Einstein (1947-2015) in Memorian. Einstein was a Cuban-Israeli lawyer and writer, author of The Splendor (2008), a fictional biography of Mosé ben Sem Tob de León (1290-1305), and the unpublished novel The Island of Abraham, on the Jewish community of Cuba, Einstein’s country of origin. He was also a passionate scholar on the history of Sepharad (Jewish name for the Iberian Peninsula), particularly of the city of León, where he was an active participant in the efforts to recuperate city’s Jewish legacy.   

10:30. “On Leonés Language”, Alicia Valmaseda Merino, Linguist

11:00. Reading of Judeo Spanish poetry, Margalit Matitiahu, poet. She is the author of several books, among them, Kamino de tormento (2000), Vagabondo eternel (2001), Despertar el selencio (2004); Asiguiendo al esfuenio (2005) o Cantón de solombra (2005). Matitiahu has received numerous awards and recognitions in Israel and Spain for her literary work, including the Award of the Ateneo of Jaén (1996), and Israel Prize for Artistic Creation (1999)

12:00. Tribute to Abraham Haim for his 40 years of Intercultural Exchange between Spain and Israel. Presenters Leandro Rodrígues, Porfessor Emeritus from University of Ginebra, and Agustín Remesal, writer and for several decades RTVes correspondent in Jerusalem, Lisbon and New York.

13:30. Lunch.

16:00. The Judaizers in the scapulars of the Cathedral of Tuy: religious dissent, and social tension in the Miño Border”, Suso Vila, Historian

16:30. Panel on the book Crypto Judaism in La Raya (Northern border between Spain and Portugal). The prayers of Braganza, authors Anun Barriuso y José Manuel Laureiro, researchers at Centro Isaac Campanton, Antonio Fernandes, grandson of Eugenio Carvalho, who transcribed the prayers book from oral tradition to writing in 1925. Inés Nogueiro, researcher at the Instituto de Investigaçao em saúde-Universidad de Oporto.

17:30. “Jewish imaginary in history and narrative from Extremadura: The Blue Flame”, Marciano Hervás, Historian  

18:00. “Saint Christoph y the conversos”, Ramón Álvarez González, Historian

18:30. Closings

21:00. Teatro Principal, Sephardic Music Concert by María Salgado, among the most important singers in the musical tradition of Castile and León, including Judeo Spanish and La Raya repertoire.   

This is a Conference partially sponsored by

Zamora City Council

Council of Sephardic Communities of Jerusalem

Centro Sefarad-Israel, Madrid

Centro Isaac Campantón

Association Friends of Sephardic Cultures

Hotel NH Palacio del Duero

La Hostería Real de Zamora

Contact information

Phone: (34) 609 740 116

Email: centrocampanton@gmail.com

Call for Papers: 6th International Congress on the Jewish Legacy of Zamora, Spain

Jews in the Kingdom of León
Zamora, July 5 & 6, 2018

NH Palacio del Duero
5/7, 19-23h, 5/6, 10-19h

We have reached the limits of presentations for this year's congress. Please, consider sending a proposal for next edition. You can yet register to attend our event by clicking Here.

Center Isaac Campanton invites proposals for the 6^thInternational Congress on the Jewish Legacy of Zamora, Spain, this year with the title of Jews in the Kingdom of Leon, specifically from the 9^thto the 15^thcenturies. 

This congress is open to professors, students, and independent scholars working on Spanish & Portuguese Jewish Studies. Proposals on the following topics, but not limited to, are welcome: 

Place of Jews in the Fueros(regional code of laws) in the Kingdom of Leon

Life and functioning of the Jewish communities 

Relevant personalities, e.g. Moises de Leon, Abraham Zacuto and others 

Kabbalah in the Kingdom of Leon

Movements across La Raya (Portuguese border)

Crypto Jewish genealogy and memories 

Inquisition and chronicles from the expulsion 

Jews from Leon region in the Sephardic Diaspora

Museum narratives and new approaches to regional Jewish history  

Proposals should be 250 words, and include name, institution (or independent scholar), email, and technological needs. Academic committee can request changes to the proposal in order for this to be fully accepted.  

Deadline: June 1, 2018. Email: centrocampanton@gmail.com

Registration: 10 euros in person, online 15 euros

Hannukah in Zamora, Spain

 Zamora is among a growing number of cities in Spain celebrating Hannuka every year. This time, our celebration will be at La Hostería Real located in La Horta neighborhood, the Jewish Quarter in the Middle Ages. This 14th century building, recently reconstructed, includes a mikvé, which has been open to the public.

December 20th, 9 PM
La Hostería Real, 7 Pizarro Street, 
Zamora, Spain
Reservations at 34 980 04 50 31

Spanish Hebrews, 14th and 15th centuries

“Indumentaria”: Colección de calcos hechos por Dn. Manuel Castellano (1846-1880).

Anotación manuscrita en el ángulo superior derecho a lápiz de grafito: "Siglo XIV." / "Judío". Anotación manuscrita en el margen derecho a lápiz de grafito: "Toca blanca. / Manto amarillo. / túnica verdosa / cinturón rojo. / y bordados de oro." Barcia. Catálogo colección dibujos originales BN. Tít. tomado de la anotación manuscrita. Pérdida de papel en el ángulo superior derecho

Hebreos españoles del siglo XV
Autor: Jaume Huguet
Fecha: 1462-75
Museo: Museo Diocesano
Características:
Estilo: Gótico Español
Material: Oleo sobre tabla
Copyright: (C) ARTEHISTORIA

Sephardic Days, Zamora, June 30 - July 4, 2017

June 29, Book Presentation: The Jews of Zamora. An Annotated Chronology (2016) by Jesús Jambrina. Panel moderator: José Manuel Laureiro. Centro Sefarad-Israel, Madrid, 7PM.

June 30, Shabbat dinner, Kosher Style, Hotel NH Palacio del Duero, Zamora, 9:30 PM, Reservations: 011 34 980 50 82 62

July 1, Zamora City Sephardic Route, departure from Plaza del Maestro, San Torcuato Street, 8 PM

July 2, Wineries Tour, D.O. Land of Wine of Zamora, departure from La Hostería Real, 7 Pizarro Street, 10:30 AM 

July 2, Concert Sefarad en el corazón de Marruecos, by Mara Aranda, Museo Etnográfico de Castilla y León, 8:15 PM, Reservations: 980 531 708.

July 3, International Congress Zamora in the Sephardic Memory, NH Hotel Palacio del Duero, Zamora. Previous registration, 5 euros.

July 3, Sephardic Songs concert by Judith Cohen, La Hostería Real, 7 Pizarro Street, 9:30 PM. Open to the Public. 

July 4, Zamora Province is presented with the Medal of the Four Ancient Sephardic Synagogues of Jerusalem, Diputación de Zamora, 12 M. 

Contact info for these events:

Email: centrocampanton@gmail.com  or Telph. 011 34 609 740 116

Call for Papers "Zamora in the Jewish Sephardic Memory"

 
5^th International Conference
Zamora, Spain, July 3, 2017, Hotel NH Palacio del Duero

Call for Papers

Center Isaac Campantón welcomes submissions for its 5^th International Conference, taking place on July 3 at Hotel NH Palacio del Duero. Common theme for this year is “Zamora in the Sephardic memory”. 

The goal of this conference is to foster scholarly conversations on the Jewish legacy of the city in connections with the diaspora from 1492 to the present.

Topics of interest include, but not be limited to

• Sages, and other personalities from Zamora in the Sephardic diaspora
• Zamora and the Kabbalah
• Mentions to the city in the documentation and chronicles of the expulsion
• Conversos in and from Zamora
• Anti-Semitic propaganda before and after 1492
• Inquisitions trials involving Conversos from Zamora
• Jewish genealogies 

Proposals should be submitted to centrocampanton@gmail.com and they should include: name and last name, institutional affiliation – independent scholars are also considered-, an abstract of 250 words, email, phone, and technological needs for the presentation (computer, projector, audio). Deadline: May 27, 2017.

Proposals will be immediate evaluated and the academic committee can recommend improvements of the abstracts before full approval.  
Information related to this conference will be updated on this web www.campanton.com