| The cultural heritage of the Jews of medieval Spain is difficult to assess, so interwoven is it with the historical legacy of Spain itself, from the time of the earliest inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula to the Visigoths, and the legacy bequeathed by the centuries of Moslem occupation. The Middle Ages was a time of wars of conquest and re-conquest, but it also saw periods of peaceful coexistence and tolerance between different religions, cultures and ethnic groups that linger in our collective memory as an example of how certain Utopias can be made to work. Although brief when reckoned in terms of centuries, the period left its stamp on several generations, for it was a time when the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula enjoyed considerable social and cultural status, occupying positions of the highest responsibility under the patronage of first Moslem and then Christian kings and rulers. In those temporary oases of history, Jewish culture, including music and especially poetry, scaled heights that would not be reached again for many centuries, under very different social and geographical conditions. |
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