My family and I recently returned from a two-week trip to Spain and Portugal. We explored Barcelona, Granada, Cordoba and Lisbon.

I always enjoy exploring Jewish sites when I travel. However, there is very little left in Spain or Portugal of its once rich Jewish past.

When we think of 1492, we think of Christopher Columbus. However, 1492 is also the year Jews were expelled from Spain by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Five years later, Portugal expelled its Jews.

Jewish life in Spain began as early as the third century. It was difficult living as a Jew in Spain as the Catholic rulers adopted laws such as children of a mixed Jewish-Christian marriage should be baptized by force (A.D. 589), forced baptism of Jews or expulsion (613), and only Catholics might reside in Spain (638). There developed a substantial number of secret or Crypto-Jews who maintained their Jewish traditions even after outwardly converting to Catholicism.

Spain changed dramatically when, in 711, Muslim armies invaded the Iberian Peninsula and started taking over southern Spain. While the Muslim and Catholic worlds continued to clash in Iberia, Jewish life began to flourish. A Jewish cultural revival began by the early 900s. Jews began to assume positions such as court physicians, merchants, craftspeople, farmers, diplomats, poets, geographers, writers, scholars, philosophers and scientists. In 1146, the Muslim rulers began closing synagogues and Jewish schools and compelled Jews to embrace Islam. By 1250, Catholic Spain was again blaming Jews for crimes they did not commit (blood libels), engaging Jews in disputations or public debates between a priest and a rabbi often resulting in massacres against Jewish residents, and finally the beginning of the Inquisition by the Roman Catholic Church which victimized the Jews of Spain for the next 250 years.

The Golden Age of Spain (about 950-1250) came abruptly to an end. The two plazas we visited in Cordoba dedicated to the famous Jewish poet and philosopher, Judah Halevi, 1075-1141, and to the great Jewish philosopher and physician, Moses Maimonides, 1135-1204, are reminders of an age gone by, destroyed by intolerance and religious chauvinism. This Golden Age of tolerance and growth led to great developments in philosophy, art, science, architecture, poetry and culture as Jews, Muslims and Christians challenged themselves and each other with new ideas and perspectives.

By 1250, the Jews of Spain had apparently outlived their usefulness to the Catholic and Muslim majority. As a small minority, Jews were sought after as allies by the invading Muslims or by the native Catholic population. In the 13th century, Catholic Spain was asserting control over both the Muslim and Jewish groups as the Inquisition began to search out all infidels, all non-Catholics. Over the next 250 years, the persecution of the Jews increased including imposing the wearing of a badge by all Jews, taxes on the Jewish communities, the destruction of synagogues, riots against Jews and even Conversos (Jews who converted to Catholicism), forcing Jews to live in certain areas only; prohibiting Jews from working in certain professions, public burnings of Jews and Conversos, expulsions of Jews from their homes and villages and finally, in 1492, the expulsion of all Jews from Spain.

There were about 250,000 Jews in Spain in the late 15th century. About 100,000 Jews went to Portugal only to be expelled from there in 1497. Many fled to Northern Africa (20,000 went to Morocco), and many escaped to western Europe (25,000 to Holland, 10,000 to Italy, 10,000 to France). Turkey was the only country to openly court the expelled Spanish and Portuguese Jews, taking in about 100,000 of these now homeless people. Some went to America. About 20,000 died as they searched for a new home.

At least 50,000 Conversos remained in Spain after being baptized. Many of these Conversos continued to secretly maintain their Jewish traditions. This is an amazing story as some modern day Catholics in New Mexico, Central America and Spain continue to observe certain Jewish practices which they witnessed from their parents and became incorporated into their own Catholic rituals.

The Spanish Inquisition and Expulsion was the worst period of injustice and hatred acted out against the Jews. That is until the modern horrors of the Holocaust only 65 years ago.

Minorities are fragile and need protection. It is the sign of a strong country when it can legally protect the rights of minorities.

Jews were a fragile and unprotected and homeless people. For 2,000 years we were not given citizenship in most countries, we were at the mercy of a ruler or king, we were powerless and we were persecuted. All along, we maintained our devotion to our heritage and our love for education and our desire to help make our world a better place.

We are now so fortunate to have a land of our own, to have reclaimed our homeland of Israel. Israel is the only place in the world where Jews live as the majority. And Israel is a country which continues to make significant contributions to our world in the areas of medicine, technology and agriculture, despite having neighbors who are sworn to its destruction.

The Jewish people have given greatly to our world civilization. The odds have always been against us. Imagine a world where we could live in peace and tolerance.

Rabbi Barry Krieger is the rabbinic facilitator for the Hillel organization at the University of Maine in Orono. He may be reached via bkrieger56@aol.com. Voices is a weekly commentary by Maine people who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life.