The following is a letter to the editor that I wrote, which appeared in The New York Times, regarding Spain’s betrayal of Sephardic Jews after the country’s reversal on the issue of granting them citizenship.
August 5, 2021
To the Editor:
Re “Spain’s Reparations for Jews Become Elusive” (news article, July 25):
While Spain’s 2015 pronouncement that it would confer citizenship on Sephardic Jews was commendable, its about-face is reprehensible.
When King Ferdinand callously ordered the expulsion of Spain’s Jews in 1492, it was a cataclysmic event and a truly dark moment in the annals of Jewish history. Tens of thousands of Jews were banished from Spain, leading to numerous deaths along their arduous journey and forcible conversions that robbed countless Jews of their heritage and faith.
After extending a proverbial olive branch and pledging to do the right thing for people of Sephardic Jewish descent, Spain sadly seems to have reneged.
The fact that Jews with legitimate claims to Spanish citizenship and duly completed applications would be treated so cavalierly, either being completely ignored or summarily rejected on fallacious grounds, is utterly shameful and an affront to their ancestors, whose lives were shattered when they were forcibly removed from the country they called home.
N. Aaron Troodler
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.
