Part 2 – Sephardic Jews of Spain
The Catholic Church was to blame
A Syrian bishop (110 A.D.) by the name of Ignatius of Antioch on his way to martyrdom in Rome wrote a message which clearly differentiated between “Judaism” and “Christendom” admonishing Christians not to hold fast to the Jewish practices which they must have been keeping; by the second century (177 A.D.) these had now developed into numerous texts and accusations that blamed the Jews for crucifying Christ, calling them the Jerusalem mob (slayers of the Lord ). Anti-Jewish writings followed; in 190 A.D. an anti-Jewish Easter Homily was introduced into the Catholic Church (eliminated by the Catholic Church 30 years ago).
The Church began to enforce laws to limit interaction with the Jews by threatening to excommunicate their neighbours if they lived or eat in their company, they forbade the blessing of the produce of Jewish land and excluded Jews from holding public office, going on to later confiscate property with further threats of a forced conversion through baptism or face expulsion.
Having suffered persecution, rejection, domination and isolation by Visigoth rule they welcomed the Arab conquerors with a sigh of relief! These looked upon the Jews with favour, granting them full religious freedom (for which they paid a tribute of a golden dinar per capita) giving them prominent positions in the political, cultural, social and economic arenas, not only releasing them from slavery but giving them the freedom to organize and administrate entire communities; they served as intermediaries between the Christians and the Islamists.