In the Footsteps of Spanish Jewry: The Council of Christians and Jews (Vic)

The Council of Christians and Jews (Victoria) invites you to:

In the Footsteps of Spanish Jewry:
From "Golden Age" to National Disaster

Date: Sunday 15 March 2020     Time: 3pm to 5pm
Location: Danglow Centre, St Kilda Hebrew Congregation, 12 Charnwood Grove, St Kilda VIC 3182

In the minds of her Jewish sons and daughters, Spain was a second Jerusalem, so when the Jews were expelled 1492, they thought of themselves as doubly exiled. In modern Jewish historiography, the period when Jews lived in Spain under Muslim rule came to be thought of as a "Golden Age." Under subsequent Christian rule, Jews also enjoyed economic success and cultural growth. But in 1492, when Ferdinand and Isabella - Spain's most Catholic of monarchs - signed the decree of expulsion, that world disappeared.

Speaker: Paul Forgasz

About the speaker: Paul Forgasz’s career has spanned both the secondary and tertiary sectors of education. For more than a decade he was the Headmaster of the secondary school campus of Mount Scopus College. He was a lecturer in Jewish history and comparative religion at Monash University’s Australian Centre for Jewish Education and also taught Jewish education in the university’s Faculty of Education. Paul has maintained an active involvement for many years in Jewish adult education, particularly through the Jewish Museum of Australia's community education program. 
Since 2010, under the Museum's auspices, Paul also led a number of sold out Jewish study tours to various European destinations including Spain, Italy, Germany, Vienna, Poland and Lithuania. In 2020, he will conduct a first-time study tour of Jewish Greece.
Using the tour itinerary of Jewish medieval Spain as a framework, this illustrated lecture will explore the trajectory of this most fascinating of episodes in the history of the Jewish people. Walking in the footsteps of the Jews of medieval Spain, you will relive the momentous events that shaped their lives and destinies, during the best and worst of times.

Cost: $10 | Kosher afternoon tea

Please advise the CCJ office if you are attending | (03) 9429 5212 | ccjvic@bigpond.net.au