Barcelona - Sefarad 
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Fridays are long days for me. I'm at 7 am and return home about 21:30 h. A substitution workday I touch, I added 5 hours, because I still engrossed in the preparation oppositions (next October).
Between work and class I got an hour or hour and a half at most, I take something to eat or drink coffee before entering the academy.
At this juncture, a couple of weeks, having coffee before class, I found information on Hebrew culture in my city in the daily supplement of La Vanguardia. There is a kosher wine shop
and books in the Gothic quarter, particularly in the Jewish part of this area, commonly called in my Idoma
Jewish quarter. I also learned that there is what is called the interpretation of the Call Center. I was interested and decided it would make a visit to the store. As always, clueless as I am, I went to class without addresses or more data point.
work again this summer at the Hospital, primarily in the Psychiatry Department, with a raid a few weeks in other services. Work there, apart from the challenge, has the added plus of a time advantage (
a priori from 8:00 to 15:00, if I just work, of course, in the hospital "did not we drop the pen to 15:00 h) and I live not too far, involves a pleasant walk from my house, sometimes for the port and others through the Raval, Gothic Quarter La Ribera. A couple
of days, during my return home, I remembered the Hebrew store and decided to return home in the Gothic Quarter. In the Plaza Sant Jaume I stopped where I thought the call was
and let my feet take a course.
After five minutes, without knowing what street he was, I had planted at the store. It's called, of course, Barcelona
Call.
I went to browse. The store is in a very quiet and little traffic, is neatly organized, so that time seems to stop. I was browsing among the books, and sparkling wines sold there. Finally I asked the person attending and we just chatted for half an hour on
kosher wines, Jewish culture, religion and Kabbalah
. The conversation was so intense that I changed my first choice to take a book on Sephardic cooking by curiosity:
The essence, the infinite and the soul , Haim David Zukerwar, the shop owner recommended me as an introduction to philosophy Hebrew.
Today I tasted a bottle of cava
kosher, made in my home land Vallformosa (a small warehouse and quality for those who love the champagne). The person who served me told me some of the peculiarities of the production of champagne and wines of the status of Judaism in the world. Cava I was soft and fruity, a very good brut, with excellent value for money. Catalonia
saved many memories of our shared past Hebrew. They are easy to recognize in cities such as Girona, Montblanc, Barcelona ... has made a significant effort to recover these areas as nice (some, like the Call of Girona are spectacular).
overwhelmed the other hand I find that, compared to 1,200 million practicing Muslims (approximately) and gazillions more Catholics and Christians diverse Jewish population only amounts to some 20 million inhabitants. In my ignorance I thought it was a lot more. This detail added a point of admiration for a people that refuses to be wiped off the map even more between the maremagnum of globalization. As I noted, in Spain there are approximately 10,000 to 25,000 Jews.
not go into political issues, complex for me due to ignorance. As someone who admires the culture and learning, I wanted to know. Many years ago I spent a weekend in Girona, precisely in the Jewish quarter of the city. On the train back to Barcelona coincided with what I sensed then that should be a rabbi
, with whom I had a conversation about the medieval history of Girona, this man, polite and extremely worship, sealed fond memories of that trip. Now I know in my city there are places of encounter with the Hebrew culture.
If you like good wine, leisurely stroll through one of the most beautiful areas of Barcelona, \u200b\u200bpolite and pleasant conversation, it goes through
The Call and do not forget the little shop. I like it.
