by jerome socolovsky
jta
toledo, spain | It doesn’t look like matzah. It doesn’t feel like matzah. And it certainly doesn’t taste like matzah.
But for dozens of non-Jewish children, the doughy patties they learned to make with flour and water — then fry on an electric hot plate — represent the unleavened bread Jews eat on Passover.
At least, that’s what they were told at a matzah-baking class in the Spanish city that was a hub of medieval Jewish Spain, a place where Jews both thrived and suffered.
The class was one of Spain’s offerings for European Jewish Heritage Day, when cities across Europe seek to honor their once-vibrant Jewish cultures.
In Spain, 23 cities and towns take part in the annual day. The main events take place in the cities that have preserved their juderias, or quarters where Jews lived until the expulsion from Spain in 1492.
The Network of Juderias sponsors tours, seminars, concerts and Sephardi culinary tastings on Jewish Heritage Day. In Toledo, the city with the biggest juderia, participants were offered tours and free admission to the Sinagoga del Transito — the old Samuel HaLevi Synagogue that bears its post-expulsion name.
“I wanted my children to know the culture of their city,” said Luisa Ruiz, one parent whose child was learning how to make matzah. “And Jewish culture formed — no, it forms — part of their city, because when we walk through the city, we walk through areas that used to be Jewish.”
The instructors conceded that the hand-made matzah was far from authentic. Instructor David Calvo said they had adapted the baking process to make it easier for Toledo’s kids to get a feel for a Jewish custom.
“It’s a nice custom with plenty of history and importance in Jewish culture, and in Toledo the Jewish heritage is one of the most important that we have,” he said.
“I suppose that we Toledanos all have Jewish ancestors,” said instructor Juan Carlos Villacampa. “It’s important for people to know the past so that in the future they will understand that cultures are mixtures of people and that they should be tolerant.”
Jewish communities in Madrid advertised the event, but not a single Jewish child was to be found at the baking class.
As he mashed the dough with his hands, Ivan Izquierdo, 11, showed that he had at least listened to the explanation about what matzah is.
“It’s like bread, but without yeast,” he said. “The Jews eat it.”
After kneading the dough, the children were told to roll it flat and season it with herbs, poppy seeds and sesame seeds, then place it on the greased hot plate. The final product bore a greater resemblance to a pizza base than the Israelite bread of affliction.
Jewish Toledo never recovered from the expulsion. Though the city’s juderia was the biggest in Spain, most of Spain’s remaining 35,000 Jews are concentrated in Madrid, Barcelona, the Costa del Sol and the enclaves on the North African coast.
The synagogues also are a reminder of the many anti-Jewish riots and massacres that occurred here.
“We don’t tell the children these things because they might be frightened,” said Victor Manuel Martin, another instructor. “We try to focus on it from a more cultural and more positive point of view.
“They should have fun and get their hands messy making unleavened bread,” he continued, “and then they should eat it.”
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California