The municipal library of Aínsa, as well as neighbors and visitors from other places are in luck. This week, the graduate in Hebrew Philology, teacher and researcher Francisco Andrés Lascorz has done delivery of the first twenty books that make up its Judeo-Aragon collection. The donation will be made progressively until January 2023, exceeding 200 copies.
Until the transfer is completed, the Aínsa-Sobrarbe City Council and the donor have committed to spread this important legacy through activities, colloquia and conferences that they bring to the population the knowledge about the traces that the Jewish communities left in Aragon. In Sobrarbe, specifically, there is a special motivation to value the Hebrew heritage that has gone so unnoticed until recently.
It was in 2015 when in a house in the medieval village Jewish baths from the fourteenth century were discovered, Currently a mandatory stop for guided tours of the old town. In the autumn of 2020, in addition, events in memory of the tragedy that occurred in the summer of 1320 in the Aljama de Monclús, now partially submerged under the waters of the Mediano swamp. Bielsa, the Chistau Valley and the Lamata Paleontological Museum also attest to the impact that the Hebrew culture had on the Sobrarbe.
Its relevance led Lascorz to write the book ‘The Jewish communities in Sobrarbe’ in 2016. It is one of the eight that he has published, along with fifty articles, on the history of the Jewish communities in the Crown of Aragon. “My parents, grandparents, great-grandparents … were born in Sobrarbe and I have always felt overbearing. Now, about to deliver my doctoral thesis, I believe that the donation can enrich the library’s collection and serve as a claim to onlookers and researchers residing in Sobrarbe“, has explained.
A collection of exceptional value
The Hebraist assures that the bond with Aínsa goes back to his childhood, where he points out that he has many friends who will appreciate the gesture. Lascorz acknowledges that although he is sorry to let go of the collection that he has shaped for more than 30 years, “opening to everyone a very little known part of our history is more than worth it.”
The altruistic work will allow any citizen to consult copies in Spanish, French, English or Hebrew published since the 19th century until our days very difficult to obtain. “For example, facsimile reproductions of great works such as the Sarajevo Haggadah, a manuscript drawn up in 1350, which is guarded with great affection and zeal in Sarajevo ”, the professor advances.
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The first conferences will be scheduled during April, May and June and will resume in the fall. For the mayor of Aínsa-Sobrarbe, Enrique Pueyo, “this donation contract reinforces our commitment to spread the active economic and cultural life that the Jews had during the Middle Ages in Sobrarbe. We are very grateful for this assignment, which we hope will attract specialists in the field from all over Spain and from other parts of the world ”.
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