Vampire Weekend's Surprising Jewish Stories
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Needless to say, it did not end well for the Jews.
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On this day, 1413, the Disputation of Tortosa began which eventually forced the Jews living in Catalonia to convert to Christianity.
The dispute was initiated by Christian convert Geronimo de Santa Fe and was supported by Antipope Benedict XIII, for whom Santa Fe worked as a physician. While the Disputation, like previous ones, was disguised as a formal debate, the Jewish invitees could not refuse to participate. Additionally, Jews were threatened whenever they raised an argument against charges by their Christian opponents. Therefore, this was truly less a "Disputation" and more an act of mockery and menace to the local Jewish population.
The Rabbinic scholars who forcibly participated included Profiat Duran and Yosef Albo, who were often spoken over and never given the last word in an argument. The primary discussion explored the status of the Messiah, whom Santa Fe argued had already come (Jesus) according to the Jews’ own Jewish biblical texts. The Jews were denied permission to view the documents that their counterparts were referring to. Eventually the Disputation did not end after the in-person conference since the Jews were accused of "altering their words and beliefs frequently".
It wasn’t until April 1414 that the conversation shifted to "what the Talmud states about Christianity". At this point, the Jewish participants realized how little their arguments would be taken seriously. By December of 1414, a formal end was designated. Once the Disputation concluded, Pope Benedict XIII demanded that the Talmud be censored. In May of 1415, studying the Talmud was forbidden altogether by the Pope.
