Toledo טולדו
The centre of Jewish Spain under Christian rule: city of translators, of the Rosh, and of the road to Tortosa.
After Toledo's reconquest in 4845 the city became a crossroads of three cultures: its famous school of translators carried Arabic and Jewish science into Latin Europe, and it held one of the most influential Jewish communities in Spain, with court financiers, physicians and great synagogues, two of which still stand.
In 5065 Rabbeinu Asher—the Rosh—arrives here, fleeing Germany after the death of the Maharam of Rothenburg, bringing Ashkenazi methods into the Sephardi world; his son Yaakov writes the Arbaah Turim here, the framework of all later halakha.
The same city shows the reverse. In 5108 plague riots sweep Spain; in 5151 a wave of violence spreads from Seville to Toledo, and tens of thousands convert to survive. A generation later their descendants face the disputation of Tortosa, the Inquisition and the expulsion of 5252.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Rishonim
- the Rosh, Teshuvot HaRosh — the responsa of the Rosh, who led the community of Toledo
- Arbaah Turim, introduction — the code written by his son in this city
- Sefer HaKabbalah — the chronicle of the Spanish communities
Documents of the period
- Shevet Yehudah — the disputations and the calamities of Spanish Jewry
Basis: tradition.