The Tortosa Debate 1413/14
In 1413/14 a second debate, this time between a group of Jewish Rabbis and Geronimo de Santa Fe', a converted Jew, was organized in the town of Tortosa, by the Catholic Church and Ferdinand the First, King of the Kingdom of Aragon. 5 Rabbis, were chosen to confront Santa Fe', a converted Jew: - Zarchia Halevy, Astrik Halevi, Joseph Albo, Nissim Ferrer, and Matityahu Yitzhari.
The conditions under which Jews were forced to live after the Barcelona debate greatly deteriorated. A set of new regulations were issued by the king. One of the regulations required the Jews to attend Christian ceremonies conducted in their synagogues. Dominican monks took advantage of the situation and began to participate in the ceremonies, and were joined by Christian masses. The monks used the situation to interfere in the internal affairs of communities and increased the internal disputes. This practice began before the Barcelona debate, but after the debate the situation greatly deteriorated and Jews have lost their sense of security within their own community. The king agreed to limit the number of monks each visit to the synagogues to ten, but the monks began to do whatever they wanted.
A wave of pogroms began in 1391 in Siville and spread to Jewish communities throughout Spain, and created a completely new situation. The Christian Mob raided synagogues and turned them into churches. The Jewish homes were looted, girls and women were raped and many were massacred. Some Jews managed to escape and hide, some migrated to Portugal and North Africa, and between 50,000 to 100,000 Jews were forced to convert to Christianity. Some communities were wiped out completely by massacres or forced conversion..
After the wave of pogroms ended, Vincent Ferrer, a monk of Jewish background, was nominated by the church to increase the pressure on Jews to convert to Christianity. He began to move from one community to the other with 300 members of the Flagellants sect (who were known for beating themselves as means of purify themselves of their sins). He used to enter synagogues with a cross held high in one hand and a Torah scroll in his other hand and turn the synagogues into churches, forcing the members of the community to convert to Christianity. He converted by force about 25,000 Jews. In Toledo, alone he converted 4,500 Jews.
The Tortosa debate took place under these conditions. The debate was different from the Barcelona debate in several characteristics. First of all, the debate was long and lasted from February 1413 until November 1414. Second, this time, there was no high rank intellectual rabbi to speak with authority. Third, there is speculation that some rabbis were already consumed with doubts about their Judaism even before the debate started, and at least some of them converted to christianity before the end of the debate and entered the service of the king. Fourth, the debate was conducted in the presence of Pope Benedict the 13th and seventy cardinals and bishops wearing golden robes. The debate was held in a magnificent hall in the presence of an audience of more representatives of the church, the nobility, and the people of the town. It is estimated that between 1000 to 2000 people attended the debate daily.
The Pope said in his opening statement that the debate was not on the question which of the two religions is the true religion, because there is no doubt that Judaism was once a true religion, but Christianity had inherited it. His instructions were to concentrate on one issue only: bringing evidence from the Talmud that the Messiah had already came.
In fact, in Tortosa no real debate took place, but a show. Santa Fe', the convert, quoted passages purporting to be from the Talmud, to prove his claims, but the rabbis were not allowed to check the validity of his quotes. Also, the rabbis were not allowed to coordinate their positions. The quotes were, of course, a forgery. Santa Fe' treated the rabbis with disparagingly and disrespect, and took advantage of the differences among themselves about the issues to sow confusion among them. Even before the end of the debate, rumors circulated all over Spain that the Jewish side lost the debate, and the demoralization among the Jewish population grew even more when it became clear that the rabbis who participated in the argument converted.
Following the debate the, Pope Benedict issued in 1415 a new Bulla in which 12 new restrictions against Jews were added to the old ones. It was a reaffirmation of any restrictions imposed in the past and not always enforced or even eliminated. Jews were forbidden to take public office, to live with Christians or to eat with them, and Christians were forbidden to buy from Jews or sell them. Every community was allowed to have one small synagogue and it was forbidden to repair or build a new building. All the Talmud copies were collected and burned, and the Jews were forbidden to hold anti - Christian literature. And last but not least, all Jewish boys of the age of 12 were forced to participate in three Christian ceremonies year.
As a result of the "crushing victory" of Christianity over Judaism Jews and their property were exposed to more severe attacks. Monk Ferrer, who has been nominated earlier by the church as head of the conversion operation, took advantage of the severe embarrassment and demoralization among the Jews after the conversion of the rabbis, and put heavy pressure on the members of the Tortosa community and over 3000 were forced to convert.