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Exodus 2: Spain to Portugal to Ceuta to Morocco to Rock of Gibraltar

Do you think as a 1492 Jewish resident of Spain you would be  good because  you pay your taxes and would be  good if  when “legally” expelled from your ancestral homelands you helplessly acquiesce to your assets being confiscated? Is your neighbor good because he chooses to stay and to drop his religion  and that of his ancestors for more than a millennium and a half? How do  you really feel about the need for observance of the laws like these emanating from despots like Isabel and Ferdinand ?  What view do you have of people that disobey their laws in form and or in spirit like the Jewish remainer who continues to be Jewish in secret or the Jewish leaver who smuggles wealth out?

Much of Southern Spain was the realm of the Moslem Moors of North Africa until what was called the re-conquest for Christianity of those lands. Most Spanish Jews, like you and your Israel family , are descended from Jews who lived under the rule of the  Moors whether in Morocco or in Iberia. It is interesting for me to contemplate the possibility that Ytzchak ben Salamon Al-Israeli Rabbi, astronomer, physician and philosopher born in North Africa half a millennium before the expulsion might be part of the Israeli family chain of Rabbis (more family lore).

Just consider this – in 1492 you as a member of the Israel family have the choice of leaving  your long established ancestral homeland because of unjust laws being imposed by descendents of the invading conquerors of that  homeland or converting.

Abraham Senior  and some of the elite community choose to convert as do the majority of the poor Jews who have no real choice. Abraham, on being baptized, becomes Fernando Coronel with his ruler Ferdinand being his godfather. Abraham, now Fernando Senior  has a secret synagogue hidden in his estate. Even he and most of his family will almost immediately break  the law by observing some Judaism and as a result  are guilty of heresy risking burning at the stake.

Once again consider how you feel about the Inquisitors who will enforce the law and the crowds of devout Catholics that will cheer as the fire consumes the helpless victims. As a Jew can you possibly forgive them and not remember all of them as evil?  Can you really view all this as just  history? Should a 21st century non- Jew hold a different opinion ? Should a 21st descendent of a slave have any different view of those benefitting from slavery as compared with the view of a descendent of those beneficiaries ? Is it not what is most important how people today regard historic actions and understand why people did what they did in those days? However each time I ask myself the question I find it more and more difficult to regard it as just history.

Unsurprisingly some “Conversos” staying put in Spain decide to drop their faith entirely but, notwithstanding this, they will still be regarded as separate from the general populace for many generations.

Isaac Abrabanel, some of his fellow elite  and some of the  poor choose exile and to  leave Iberia. Abrabanel cannot choose to go to Portugal as he was born there and having fled to Spain after a dispute with the Portuguese Monarch could not safely return. Some are  choosing to move to countries not ruled by Catholics A significant number settle in Tetuan, Larache, Tangiers, Mililla, Arcilia, Alcazar Quivir and Chechauen in Northern Morocco to live amongst their Jewish brethren already there including the Berber Jews – resident there for a millennium and a half. Those moving to Morocco will be ruled there  by Moors as were their ancestors.

You and your Israel family choose to move to Portugal attracted by the welcome mat laid down by its ruler for Jewish refugees. and which has the feel of being a country rather like Spain until recently. The 21st century  you already knows this move was to  be only  temporary because 400 years after the expulsion an ailing Judah born in Brazil could be found in London, shortly before his death and apart from most of his family back in Belem, seated penning his will in the same language as those exiles had spoken when they arrived around that time in North Africa.  This alone is proof that I am part  of the Jewish diaspora automatically entitled today to reclaim Spanish and Portuguese nationality if I were to so choose, just  as if they had exiled me rather than my ancestors. My DNa also reflects my ancestry in Morocco.

Clive Russell
Clive Russell
CLIVE currently serves as Joint President of Russell Business LLC (“RB”), which is the collective name for a community of synergistic and complementary activities and businesses encompassing the International Property Market. RB is engaged in business activities that combine cutting-edge structured finance and technology geared to maximize returns from various sectors, including residential and commercial property, hotels and energy-related assets. Over the years, Clive’s forte’ has been the ability to develop and/or identify “below the radar” concepts, strategies and opportunities ripe for leveraging and ultimate success.

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