ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week’s trivia question: What special Jewish connection is there between the cities of Zamora in Spain and Bragança in Portugal?

(This is the last in a series of three programs about Jewish presence and history in Zamora, a city and province in the northwest of Spain, near the Portuguese border.)

Dr. Jesús Jambrina is an Associate Professor of Spanish and History at Viterbo University in Wisconsin. Dr. Jambrina has done extensive research into the Jewish history of Zamora. He was responsible for the establishment of the Centro Isaac Campantón there and also for the organization of six annual international conferences about Jewish history and presence in that region.

In parts 1 and 2 of this series we spoke with him about the history of the Jews in Zamora and the Centro Isaac Campantón, which is dedicated to studying, preserving, and communicating the Jewish legacy of Zamora, and is named after the city’s most renowned Jewish sage.

In this program Dr. Jambrina is speaking with us about the international conferences that have been organized by the Centro Campantón, and especially about the most recent one, held on July 5 and 6 in Zamora. The theme this year was Jews in the Kingdom of León, and aside from the many and varied speeches and round-table discussions, there was a prior presentation in Madrid of the book Los criptojudíos de La Raya. Una cultura de resistencia. “Las rezas de Bragança”, by Anun Barriuso y José Manuel Laureiro. This publication, which is in Spanish, includes a prayer book used by a family in Portugal who practiced Judaism in secret for more than 500 years.

In addition, in the three days before the beginning of the conference guided tours were given of the cities of León, Salamanca and Fermoselle, all of which have important connections to the Jewish history of the region. On July 3 ethnomusicologist Judith Cohen gave a concert of Sephardic music, and the conference concluded with a performance of traditional songs by local folk singer María Salgado.

The Conference was 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