CHAPTER 13: FESTIVALS – THE CYCLE OF FAITH

CHAPTER 13: FESTIVALS – THE CYCLE OF FAITH Narrator: Ibn Gabirol (Shelomó ibn Gabirol, 1021–1058/70) Direction and Production: Javier Bona López This chapter explores the cycle of Jewish festivals in medieval Zaragoza, presented as a tapestry woven with the golden threads of memory and faith. From the weekly sanctity of Shabbat, with its rituals of preparation, candle lighting, and family dinners, to the solemnity of the High Holy Days (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), marked by the sound of the shofar and the purifying fast. The script also travels through the joy of Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles), the light of Hanukkah, and the carnivalesque spirit of Purim, culminating in Passover, the great Feast of Freedom, with the Seder meal and the intergenerational transmission of the story of the liberation from Egypt. Each festival is presented as an act of resistance and an affirmation of Jewish identity in the heart of Aragon. CREDITS AND SOURCES Narrator: Ibn Gabirol (Shelomó ibn Gabirol, 1021–1058/70) Direction and Production: Javier Bona López Documentation and Advisory: Miguel Ángel Motis Dolader (San Jorge University of Zaragoza) Main Sources: • Asunción Blasco Martínez. La Judería de Zaragoza en el siglo XIV. Instituto Fernando el Católico (IFC), 1988. • Miguel Ángel Motis Dolader. La judería de Zaragoza: Centro de la vida económica y social. Rolde de Estudios Aragoneses. • Miguel Ángel Motis-Dolader, Ana Ruiz-Varona, Lourdes Pérez-López. Urban Morphology and Functional Hierarchy of the Jewish Quarter of Zaragoza (Spain) at the End of the Fifteenth Century. Journal of Urban History, 2023. • Ángel Canellas López. La Judería Zaragozana. Cuadernos de Zaragoza, no. 2, 1974. • Asunción Blasco Martínez & Susana Lozano Gracia. La Judería de Zaragoza – Paso a Paso. Zaragoza City Council, 2023. • Sefarad Aragón. La desaparecida judería de Zaragoza. Self-published, 2010. • Leopoldo Torres Balbás. Studies on the Jewish quarter of Zaragoza and its baths. • Cultural Heritage of Aragon. Institutional records. • Guide to the Jewish Quarter of Zaragoza. Zaragoza City Council. • Zaragoza Municipal Archive (AMZ). Historical maps. • Joseph Pérez. The Jews in Spain. Marcial Pons Historia, 2005. Final Note “If you enjoyed this chapter, I invite you to share it and help spread the word. You can also listen to our other series on the medieval Jewish quarters of Calatayud, Tarazona, and Híjar on the three main podcasting platforms.” Zakhor. Remember. Shalom.