After expelling Jews in 1492, Spain considers inviting them back

[bemildred]

Nothing to do with i/P of course.

TOLEDO, Spain — The Jews who flock to the two medieval synagogues in this walled city are tourists, not worshipers. No one of their faith has practiced it in the temples' exquisitely decorated precincts since 1492.

That was the year King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, besides dispatching Christopher Columbus to look for a passage to India, decreed that the Jews of Spain had to either convert to Christianity or quit the country. Many fled — and were robbed, beaten or raped on the way out. Those who stayed faced possible torture and a gruesome death in the Spanish Inquisition.

More than half a millennium later, Spain says it is intent on rectifying its "historic mistake." Under a government proposal still to be voted on by lawmakers, descendants of Spanish Jews would be offered citizenship and welcomed back to the land that drove out their ancestors.

Up to 3.5 million Jews worldwide trace their lineage to Spain, although it's not clear how or when their forebears made their way there in the first place. Known as Sephardic Jews after the Hebrew word for Spain, they scattered across Europe, North Africa and farther afield. Nowadays, the highest concentration of Sephardim is in Israel.

http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-spain-jews-20140327,0,4173586.story

[COLGATE4]

1. I'm certainly glad that they didn't hurry... nt

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

2. Some people(s) take longer to come

to terms with their darker historical past. Any forward positive momentum is a welcome sign.

[COLGATE4]

5. I'm sure all the Sephardic Jews are thrilled with it. nt

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

6. If one wants to assign responsibility to a people in the present for the sins of the deep past

then may I ask what country that you reside in?
There's always accountability in some form that has not been addressed from nation to nation.

[LeftishBrit]

3. I doubt that too many will be availing themselves of this offer; but a nice gesture

[bemildred]

4. Yeah, what's not to like? And it was indeed an historic mistake. nt