ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week’s trivia question: What is the difference between zamorasefardi.com and zamorasefardi.es?
Zamora is the capital of Zamora province in the Castilla and León region of northwest Spain. It is about 250 kilometers or 150 miles from Madrid, and about 55 kilometers, or 35 miles, from Miranda do Douro in Portugal. While Zamora is best known for being the city with the greatest number of Romanesque churches in Europe, it also has a lesser-known but extremely important place in the Jewish history of Spain. Before the expulsion in 1492, Zamora was an important center of Jewish learning, and because of its proximity to Portugal many Jews passed through there on their way into exile.
Dr. Jesús Jambrina is an Associate Professor of Spanish, Ethics, Culture, and Society at Viterbo University in Wisconsin. He has done extensive research into the Jewish history of Zamora and has spoken with us about that history on several programs.
Dr. Jambrina founded the association Zamora Sefardí in 2013 to study and disseminate the Jewish heritage of the city as well as the province of Zamora. Every year since then they have organized a conference in Zamora, which aside from presentations of papers by scholars, has included book presentations, concerts, visits to Jewish sites and other activities.
This year Zamora Sefardí is celebrating its tenth anniversary, and this week Dr. Jambrina is speaking with us about the association and its ten years of activities.
