Submitted by Stephanie Schwartz on the 2016 winter session program in Spain sponsored by the College of Health Sciences…
When I first saw the old city of Toledo, Spain, the historic and grandiose cathedrals, old brick buildings, and gray cobblestone that make up the roads took me aback. Although the city is absolutely breathtaking with its antiquity, the most beautiful part about this city is its history. What makes this city so special is the fact that Judaism, Christianity and Islam used to exist in harmony years ago. Our second day in Toledo, the group went on a city tour and one of the sites we visited was the Jewish Quarter, which is now recognized as two parts, old and new. The Old Jewish Quarter is an alleyway of abandoned homes that used to be occupied by Jewish families many years ago. The New Jewish Quarter is characterized as the part of the Jewish Quarter that was rebuilt after Jews were exiled from Spain. Whenever wandering around the city of Toledo, one can recognize when they are in the Jewish Quarter by seeing one of three blue and white tiles that read ‘Spain’ and ‘life’ in Hebrew or a picture of a menorah. I find this aspect of Toledo’s history remarkable simply because there are very few places in the world that have this unique history of three contradictory religions living in peace.
