Jewish Heritage Trip to Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar Blog

Today our tour of Barcelona began. Twenty-eight of us visited famous areas of general and Jewish interest. In terms of Jewish awareness, we visited a small square which had Hebrew names engraved on some of the stones in the wall. Presumably, this was once a Jewish cemetery in the Middle Ages. We paused and recited Kaddish there. Around the corner, we stood where the Ramban, Nachmanides, was forced into a disputation with Christian theologians in the year 1263. These were part of an anti-Jewish agenda at the time. We stood in many areas that go back to the time of the Inquisition. Perhaps the most uplifting part of the afternoon was entering a small synagogue, one of five in the immediate area, from the medieval period. Today it is a museum and is used occasionally for services and lifecycle occasions. We were given an explanation and enabled those who wished to daven Mincha there. It was in the synagogue when we learned that members of our shul, Bernie and Riva Schwartz, became grandparents today to a granddaughter. In the evening, we had dinner and visited with members of the Atid congregation, a liberal/progressive synagogue from the point of view of the Barcelona Jewish community. I

t was a busy and meaningful first day coming right off the plane. We will all sleep well tonight.

Outside a medieval synagogue in Barcelona

Inside the Masorti Atid synagogue in Barcelona