Spanish Inqusition On Tisha B'Av

Some 100 years before the expulsion of Jews from the countries under Spanish rule, Spanish Jewry was divided into two major segments: those who remained loyal to Judaism despite all the persecutions to which they were subject, and some 250,000 "New-Christians" who had embraced the dominant faith at least publicly.

But even these lived a life of isolation and fear. They were cut off from those of their Jewish brethren who had remained Jews. They were likewise afraid to maintain contact with each other lest they be suspected of harboring an attachment to their Jewish past.

Neither were they absorbed among the "Old Christians," who continued to hate them and to spy on them day and night, in order to hand them over to the church for judgment over the sin of relapsing from their new faith.

Those Jews were called "marranos" by the Old Christians. The word "marranos" means pigs. That is to say, that they were regarded as growing fat from the labor of others, and as people from whom others could derive no benefit other than through their death, when their flesh could be eaten.

The Jews who had remained Jews publicly, were faced only with the threat of expulsion, whereas the Marranos were faced by the penalty of being burned alive publicly for the sin of disloyalty to Christianity.

The marranos were constantly spied upon. At times the accusations against them were truthful. At other times, their enemies fabricated lying accusations against them in order to acquire their wealth and possessions.

Eighteen years before the expulsion, Torquemada, the most brutal among the Catholic priests, set up the Inquisition; a special tribunal to impose penalties upon those discovered to have been disloyal to the Church.

Ostensibly, the activities of the Inquisition were related to all Christians. In reality, it was the "heresy" of the Marranos which was the major concern of the Inquisition.

Upwards of 30,000 of the marranos were condemned to death by the Inquisition and they were burned alive. Other tens of thousands were condemned to physical torture more horrible than death. Most of these sanctified the Name of G-d in death.

The repeated confessions of the tortured that they had remained loyal to the Torah and Judaism, infuriated the inquisitors and their agents, and caused them to persecute the Marranos ever more relentlessly.

The repeated confessions also provided the inquisitors with further arguments in their efforts to prevail upon King Ferdinand to issue an expulsion edict against all the remaining Jews. For "as long as Jews would continue to live in Spain, they would continue to influence their brothers, the 'New Christians' to adhere to the faith of their fathers."

Writes Don Yitzchak Abarbanel in his commentary to Jeremiah: "When the King of Spain decreed expulsion against all the Jews in his kingdom, the date of expulsion was set at the end of three months from the day when the decree was proclaimed. It turned out that the day set for the departure of the Jews from Spain was the ninth of Av ['Tisha B'Av']. But the king did not know the character of the day when he issued his edict. It was as if he had been led from Above to fix this time."

The exiles went forth on the road in groups. Groups of various sizes preceded the great departure on the ninth of Av, and left during the three week period between the 17th of Tammuz and the ninth of Av. And although these days are days of mourning and weeping over the destruction of the Sanctuary and the land of Israel, and music is forbidden during these days, nevertheless the Sages of the generation issued permission to the exiles to march to the music of orchestras.

The musicians were to march at the head of the exiles and were to play on instruments in order to strengthen the spirit of the people, and to infuse in them hope and trust in G-d.

They uttered thanksgiving and thanks to their Creator over having withstood the test and not having submitted to conversion, and over their having achieved the merit of sanctifying G-d's Name by their departure from Spain.

It also was the aim of the Rabbis in permitting the playing of instruments at the time, to teach the people that we never weep over departure from exile; that we weep only over our departure from Jerusalem.

Reprinted from: The Book of Our Heritage by Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov, published by Feldheim Publishers

How Don Fernando Aguilar Blew The Shofar During The inquisition

An awesome event occurred once in Spain after the Expulsion. Many of the Jews had accepted Christianity under duress. Having held high government offices and having attained great wealth, they found it difficult to forsake all they had toiled for, and the prospect of wandering great distances in famine and destitution struck terror into their hearts. They therefore publicly abjured their faith, but remained inwardly loyal to the G-d of their fathers -- whose precepts they secretly strove to fulfill to their utmost capacity.
There was one among them by the name of Don Fernando Aguilar, who was conductor of the royal orchestra in Barcelona. The days of Elul arrived; the days of judgment were approaching and Don Fernando's soul yearned to hear the sound of the shofar on Rosh Hashana. His yearning was shared by many of his brethren.

What did he do? He announced that on a certain day (the date of Rosh Hashana), he would present a concert featuring instrumental music of various peoples.

Many of the Marranos came to hear the sound of the shofar and they did! Many varied compositions were played by the performers, among them also the shofar sounds: tekiah, shvarim and truah, in full keeping with the prescribed order of the mitzva of shofar, under the very direction of Don Aguilar himself without any of the clergy aware of it.

It has been said: No one ever succeeded in confounding the Satan through shofar sounds as did Don Aguilar. All the emissaries of the Satan were present; the leading figures in the hierarchy and the Inquisition -- they all heard and saw, but knew nothing.

The Jewish 'Priest'

Over 400 years ago, there lived a nobleman who served as the chief advisor to the King in the Spanish Royal Court. When the counselor was already older, he became very ill. The king ordered the very best physicians for his dear friend, but all the doctors' efforts failed. When the counselor was at "death's door," the king sent for his personal priest to attend to the devout Catholic.

The priest entered the room of the dying man. After administering the last rights, the priest took one last look at the counselor, whom he too admired, and left the room looking very sad. The king's doctor returned to the room and was shocked to see the unconscious counselor actually moving his lips, then breathing deeply, and finally opening his eyes and asking for a drink of water. From then on, the patient began to recover quickly.

When the counselor was fully recovered, he asked for the priest to visit him. "First of all," he said to the priest, "I want to thank you for praying for me when the doctors had given up all hope. I have the distinct feeling that your prayers helped me; especially the short, strange prayer that you recited repeatedly."

The priest paled and stammered, "G-d accepts prayers in any language."

"But," persisted the counselor, "I am curious to know what that prayer was that you whispered into my ear."

"There are certain things that a clergyman must keep secret," answered the nervous cardinal.

"Listen," said the counselor. "When I lay unconscious, my soul hovering between life and death, the prayer you said sunk into my brain. I am sure those were the same words I heard the Marranos call out with their last breaths as they were burned at the stake. You must be one of the Marranos!"

The priest's face turned ashen. The counselor continued, "It is the duty of every true Catholic to inform the Inquisition of any suspicious behavior."

The priest quietly began his story: "I come from a family of secret Jews. When I was twelve years old, my father told me this and began to teach me about commandments I would be obligated to carry out in another year. When I was fifteen, he enrolled me in the Royal Seminary for the priesthood. He explained that as a priest I would be able to help my Jewish brethren. I would have free access to every home without suspicion and could encourage Jews to keep firm in their Jewishness. If I won the confidence of the inner circle of the Inquisition, then I could warn those who were under suspicion. All this, in fact, I was able to accomplish. G-d protected me from all danger.

"It has been my practice to whisper "Shema Yisrael" in the ear of each dying person. I do not always know who is or is not a secret Jew. If the person was born a Christian, he would be none the worse for it. But if he was a Jew, the holy words of the Shema could awaken in him his Jewish spark and a feeling of repentance in the last moment of his life, and he would then feel that he is dying as a Jew."

Both men were quiet now. The counselor broke the silence. "I have no choice but to put you in the hands of the Inquisition unless you are prepared to forget everything and from now on behave as a true Christian priest."

"I cannot make such a promise," replied the priest. "I am ready to give my life for my Jewish faith, as did my ancestors who died at the stake, with the Shema on their lips."

The royal counselor jumped up and happily embraced the cardinal.

"I, too, was born a Jew, and my parents were also secret Jews like your own. But my parents died when I was a small child and I was brought up by my uncle who was the royal counselor. Just before my 13th birthday, my uncle told me the secret that I was a Jew. He arranged for a teacher to prepare me for my Bar Mitzva, but that is where my Jewish education ended. I took over the position of royal counselor upon my uncle's death and slowly forgot that I was a Jew.

"When I became ill I remembered that I was a Jew and felt troubled and confused. If only there was some way I could die as a Jew, but the holy words of the Shema would not come to mind. Then, suddenly, as if in a dream, I heard those elusive words, "Shema Yisrae." My whole being became alive again. I made a vow that if G-d let me live, I would return to the Jewish faith with a whole heart.

"Now that G-d helped me to get well, I figured out a way to fulfill my vow. I will go before the king and tell him that at the height of my sickness, I made a solemn vow that if G-d would spare me, I would settle in the Holy Land to spend my remaining years in seclusion and holiness. I would ask the king a special favor; to allow you, my dear friend, to join me, to be my spiritual mentor and teacher in my old age. He would not, of course, even suspect that both of us are secret Jews."

Words could not express the joy which the "priest" felt. The king, in fact, agreed to all of the requests of his loyal counselor and allowed the "priest" to accompany him. Amidst great honor, the counselor and the priest left the shores of Spain. They eventually made it to the Holy Land and settled in Sfat.

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