As usual, the Toronto Jewish Film Festival — which runs from May 5-15 — has a great lineup of movies this year. A sampler: Uri Barbash’s Kapo in Jerusalem (May 9 and 15) is shot through with moral ambiguities. Bruno Kaminski (Gil Frank), a Holocaust survivor in Israel, is accused of having committed reprehensible […]
Spain has revealed both sides of its face in recent weeks. Insular, intolerant Spain reared its ugly head when 18,000 Spaniards posted nearly 18,000 antisemitic comments after Maccabi Tel Aviv defeated Real Madrid by a margin of 98-86 in the final game of the Euroleague basketball championship. Enlightened Spain surfaced when Spanish Interior Minister Jorge […]
On Aug. 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain for the New World, ushering in an era of boundless exploration that changed the world. He started his historic voyage one day after a royal decree, signed by Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, went into effect. The decree, which ordered all professing Jews […]
On Feb.7, the Spanish government announced it will offer citizenship to Sephardi Jews around the world whose ancestors were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition. Spain’s justice minister, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, disclosed that legislation enshrining this historic decision will be passed within months, if not weeks. More than 500 years after tens of thousands of Jews […]