Recovering Jewish Spain: Politics, Historiography and Institutionalization of the Jewish Past in Spain (1845-1935)
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Recovering Jewish Spain: Politics, Historiography and Institutionalization of the Jewish Past in Spain (1845-1935) Michal Rose Friedman Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2012 © 2012 Michal Rose Friedman All rights reserved ABSTRACT Recovering Jewish Spain: Politics, Historiography and Institutionalization of the Jewish Past in Spain (1845-1935) Michal Rose Friedman This dissertation is a study of initiatives to recover the Jewish past and of the emergence of Sephardic Studies in Spain from 1845 to 1935. It explores the ways the Jewish past became central to efforts to construct and claim a Spanish patria, through its appropriation and integration into the nation’s official national historical narrative, or historia patria. The construction of this history was highly contentious, as historians and politicians brought Spain’s Jewish past to bear in debates over political reform, in discussions of religious and national identity, and in elaborating diverse political and cultural movements. Moreover, it demonstrates how the recovery of the Jewish past connected—via a Spanish variant of the so-called “Jewish question”—to nationalist political and cultural movements such as Neo-Catholicism, Orientalism, Regenerationism, Hispanism, and Fascism. In all of these contexts, attempts to reclaim Spain’s Jewish past—however impassioned, and however committed—remained fractured and ambivalent, making such efforts to “recover” Spain’s Jews as partial as they were compromised. Table of Contents Acknowledgments ……………………………………………………………...............................ii Dedication.......................................................................................................................................vii Introduction……………………………………………………………………………… ..............1 Chapter One………………………………………………………………………… ...................33 Jewish History as “Historia Patria:” José Amador de los Ríos and the History of the Jews of Spain Chapter Two…………………………………………………………………… ...........................83 Between Historia Positivista and Historia Oficial: The Recovery of the Jewish Past at the Real Academia de la Historia (1876-1918) Chapter Three…………………………………………………… ...............................................137 Orientalismo Hebraico as Spain’s Other History: The Place of the Jewish Past in Theories of Iberian Hybridity (1880-1918) Chapter Four…………………………………………………….................................................197 Reclaiming Sepharad: Spain’s Jewish Past Between Sefardismo and Hispanidad Conclusion……………………………………………………................................................... 261 Bibliography………………………………………………….....................................................269 i Acknowledgments There are many individuals whose support, and inspiration, enabled me to write this dissertation. At Columbia University, I had the honor of studying with the late Professor Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, whose erudite scholarship and teaching provided me with a solid grounding in the medieval and early modern history of Spanish Jewry and that of the conversos. Knowledge of this history was essential in writing the dissertation and has informed it extensively. I am most grateful for the generous support of Elisheva Carlebach, who helped me to finish the dissertation and reconstruct my dissertation committee in the wake of Professor Yerushalmi’s illness and death. Adam Kosto chaired my committee and my defense with graciousness and efficiency, making the entire process a congenial and rewarding experience. He also contributed numerous insightful comments and observations at the defense and at the revisions stage. I am humbly indebted to him for all his dedication. I would like to thank Jonathan Schorsch and Alberto Medina for their provocative insights, questions, and interventions during the defense, as well as for their generous feedback and comments on the dissertation. I am equally indebted to Antonio Feros, of the University of Pennsylvania, for his continued support and interest in my work over the years, ever since I had the great honor and pleasure of studying with him when he was at New York University. I was able to conduct research in Madrid thanks to grants from the Fulbright Commission (I.I.E.), The Program for Cultural Cooperation between American Universities and the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sport. My experiences living and studying in Spain have shaped this dissertation in multiple ways. During my undergraduate studies, a course on Spanish History taught by Eduardo Manzano Moreno (of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones de Historia) at the Instituto Internacional at Calle Miguel Ángel served as a primary inspiration for this ii dissertation and has informed my understanding of Spanish history ever since. The friendships I developed in Madrid provided me with invaluable insights into Spanish history, politics and culture, enriched my stay there immensely, and have made Madrid become like home to me. Here, I thank David Atauri, Maria José Atienzar, Gemma Camañez, Jimena Maza, David Navas de las Heras, Fernando (Dandi) Pastor Rivas, and Javier Vázquez (Trucha) and his extended family. I also wish to thank: Aurora Riviére Gómez for her generous advice and sharing of her scholarly work and sources; Nitai Shinan for sharing his passion for our related topics of research as well as his findings in the form of his Master’s thesis at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem; and the students and professors of Hebraic studies at the Complutense with whom I came into contact during my studies. At the University of Oklahoma I had the good fortune to study with Norman A. Stillman and the late Yedida K. Stillman. Yedida’s memory and Norman’s continued support and friendship over the years have been invaluable through this process. At Carnegie Mellon University, I have been fortunate to receive the generous support of faculty members and staff, especially Joe Trotter, Caroline Acker, Judith Schachter, Rick Maddox, Roger Rouse, John Soluri, Jesse Wilson, Amy Halles Welles, Sue Cale, Natalie Taylor and Gail Tooks of the Department of History, Anna Houck of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean’s Office, and Susan Polanky of the Department of Modern Languages. I also with to thank many of my students—especially for their understanding of the challenges of teaching them while completing my doctorate and mothering two children. Across Panther Hollow at the University of Pittsburgh, I thank Adam Shear of the Department of Religious Studies for being a true intellectual interlocutor and friend throughout this process, as well as Lara Putnam and Diego Holstein of the Department of History, for their thoughtful insights and kind gestures of iii friendship. I also thank Erin Graff-Zivin of the University of Southern California, whose short yet most welcome tenure at the University of Pittsburgh in the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures provided me with yet another inspiring interlocutor and friend. I also am grateful to Daniela Flesler of SUNY Stony Brook for her generous engagement with my work. In Pittsburgh, beyond the immediate academic context, I have had the good fortune of enjoying the support of friends who have offered encouragement and support to me and my family throughout the often trying process of writing this dissertation. Therese Tardio’s unwavering belief in my ability to finish this dissertation, as well as her tough love, loyalty, and fun-loving friendship, has meant the world to me. Amy Crosson proved herself to be a loyal friend and partner-in-crime at the many cafes and libraries we frequented in writing our dissertations, making the process feel less lonely. I will always look back fondly on our creative attempts to make writing more enjoyable, and look forward to more joint adventures. With her warmth and empathy, Lisa Tetrault has provided much support and encouragement over the years. I am thankful to Albrecht Funk and Judith Schachter for many an evening of lively conversation, fine food and libations, as well as encouragement (despite my attempts to bribe Albrecht with a bottle of Rioja rather than present him with yet another dissertation chapter draft, while he served as what he called my “customs officer”). I am grateful to Irit Lerner and the entire Lerner-Holstein clan for their warmth, hospitality and splendid meals, and for providing me with renewed and joyful ways of reconnecting to my Israeli roots. On Beelermont Place I thank my neighbors Betty Rowland, Cliff and Meghan Davidson, Peter and Sylvia Leo and Manuel Schiff and Pauline Chaste, for their friendship, support and canoe instruction. iv I also wish to thank los Jóvenes sin Nombres of Pittsburgh (who shall not remain unnamed here), for their exemplary inspiration and intelligence as young individuals and leaders: Ana Karen Alberto, Annia Aleman, Christian Aponte, Alfonso Barquera, Alex Davis, Sara Faradji, Sara Ladley, Stephany McMullen-Mejía, Shelby Pasell, Diana Ramos, Rafael and Juan (Pepe) Rodriguez, Raymond, Hugo Rangel, and Joseph Thomas. Tavia LaFollette, Anya Martin and Michelle Carello have all been sources of friendship and inspiration who have allowed me to explore my creativity outside the confines of academe. For that I am grateful. I am indebted to the Eiss family for all of their patience and generosity over the years, especially when I would disappear to a neighborhood café to work during our visits to their Brooklyn home. To