Jews reclaiming life in Spain

For centuries Jews were forced out of Spain. Today, Jewish communities are once again holding services there, studying Torah, and building Jewish life across the country. 

Their story is one thread in the tapestry encapsulated by the theme for the 2026 Investec Jewish Achiever awards, “Les Festival des Juifs”, bringing together the cultures, histories, and experiences that make up Jewish life around the world.  

Spain’s Jewish story is one of resilience and achievement. A culture scattered more than 500 years ago has survived, evolved, and found its way back to the country it once called home. 

“The community is quite mixed, but predominantly Sephardi,” says Eryn Sarkin, a member of the World Union of Jewish Students who has explored Jewish life in Spain. “It’s a melting pot of other cultures.” That mixture reflects both the depth of Spanish Jewish history and the people shaping its community today. 

Medieval Iberia was home to a flourishing Jewish world in which scholars, poets, and scientists contributed significantly to intellectual and cultural life. That world was shattered in 1492 when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella issued the Alhambra Decree, ordering Jews to convert to Catholicism or leave Spain. 

Those who fled established Sephardic communities across North Africa and the Ottoman Empire, carrying their traditions with them. One of the strongest threads connecting those communities to their former home was Ladino, the language that developed from the Spanish spoken by Jews before the expulsion and which absorbed influences from the languages of the diaspora. For generations, Ladino preserved a connection to Sefarad (modern-day Spain and Portugal). 

Today, Spain is again an important centre for the study and preservation of Ladino and Sephardic culture. At the same time, its modern Jewish population is far from uniform. Alongside Sephardim are Jews whose families came from elsewhere, including Latin America, as well as Spaniards rediscovering Jewish ancestry hidden for generations. 

David Benatar, the president of the Federation of Young Jews in Spain, offers a first-hand perspective. “There isn’t a common or homogeneous experience,” he says. “There are a lot of different experiences. For me, being Jewish in Spain is a really different experience than for a lot of other Jews. 

“I grew up in a non-Jewish school and high school,” he says. “I went to the public university and studied political science, which is an extremely complicated space to be Jewish. My experience has been harder, or at least different, to that of a person who went to a Jewish school with all Jewish friends.” 

Yet there is also a shared reality, particularly among younger Jews. Recorded antisemitic discourse, incidents, and attacks in Spain increased by 321% in 2024 compared with 2023, according to the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain’s Observatory on Antisemitism.  

“There is a common ground among Spanish Jews when it comes to the hard situation we’ve been facing over the past three years,” says Benatar. “In public spaces, we are not Jewish. We don’t eat kosher, we are just vegetarians, or we just feel sick that day. We try to hide our identity because we are scared, or simply because it brings us fewer problems.” 

That in no way discourages them from being Jewish. “It has meant that we enjoy Jewish spaces more and need them more than ever,” Benatar says. “We no longer show our Jewish identity in public spaces, but we still need to show that identity somewhere. So, we all go to Jewish spaces – not only synagogues, but activities, unions, and other organisations that provide these environments.”  

That determination to create and protect Jewish spaces is another achievement in a long history.  

More than 500 years after the expulsion, Judaism in Spain has many strands. Together, they tell a story of a culture that survived being scattered, adapted to new realities, and continues to be woven into the fabric of Jewish life today. Spain is not simply a chapter in Jewish history. It is a living thread in the tapestry of Jewish culture.