Approximately 1,000 ancient Jewish documents have been found in Girona, Spain - a city famous for its centuries-old Jewish Quarter. JTA reports that ketubot (marriage documents), Torah texts, and business contracts are among the papers found, and that they apparently belonged to Jews who ran away during the Spanish Inquisition of the late 15th century. Yoel Rappel, an expert on old Jewish communities in Spain and Italy, explained to Arutz-7 the background of this find:
"A large Jewish community existed in Girona during the Golden Era, i.e., from the 11th century up until the expulsion [in 1492]. It was the center of Kabbalah… Among the many notables who lived there were the Ramban [Nachmanides, Rabbi Moses ben Nachman], Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerondi, and Rabbi Yitzchak Sagi-Nahor. Today, in the middle of the Old City, a project is underway to reconstruct Jewish life there; a building that apparently used to be a Jewish home now houses a museum, and the project is proceeding nicely. The people involved are non-Jewish students; Jews don't live there any more…"
Rappel explained that it was common for Jewish documents to be bound up together in small books, and it is very likely that they existed this way for hundreds of years. "It now remains for the scholars to open these bindings, and see what is in there. It could very well be that another few pages of Kabbalah will be found, or possibly some pages of the Ramban's writings, that were heretofore unknown - thus that the find could be tremendously significant, and we'll just have to wait for the results."
"A large Jewish community existed in Girona during the Golden Era, i.e., from the 11th century up until the expulsion [in 1492]. It was the center of Kabbalah… Among the many notables who lived there were the Ramban [Nachmanides, Rabbi Moses ben Nachman], Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerondi, and Rabbi Yitzchak Sagi-Nahor. Today, in the middle of the Old City, a project is underway to reconstruct Jewish life there; a building that apparently used to be a Jewish home now houses a museum, and the project is proceeding nicely. The people involved are non-Jewish students; Jews don't live there any more…"
Rappel explained that it was common for Jewish documents to be bound up together in small books, and it is very likely that they existed this way for hundreds of years. "It now remains for the scholars to open these bindings, and see what is in there. It could very well be that another few pages of Kabbalah will be found, or possibly some pages of the Ramban's writings, that were heretofore unknown - thus that the find could be tremendously significant, and we'll just have to wait for the results."