The Last Jew: A Novel of The Spanish Inquisition

by Noah Gordon

Overview

In the year 1492, the Inquisition has all of Spain in its grip. After centuries of pogrom-like riots encouraged by the Church, the Jews - who have been an important part of Spanish life since the days of the Romans - are expelled from the country by royal edict. Many who wish to remain are intimidated by Church and Crown and become Catholics, but several hundred thousand choose to retain their religion and depart; given little time to flee, some perish even before they can escape from Spain.

Yonah Toledano, the 15-year-old son of a celebrated Spanish silversmith, has seen his father and brother die during these terrible days - victims whose murders go almost unnoticed in a time of mass upheaval. Trapped in Spain by circumstances, he is determined to honor the memory of his family by remaining a Jew.

On a donkey named Moise, Yonah begins a meandering journey, a young fugitive zigzagging across the vastness of Spain. Toiling at manual labor, he desperately tries to cling to his memories of a vanished culture. As a lonely shepherd on a mountaintop he hurls snatches of almost forgotten Hebrew at the stars, as an apprentice armorer he learns to fight like a Christian knight. Finally, as a man living in a time and land where danger from the Inquisition is everywhere, he deals with the questions that mark his past. How he discovers the answers, how he finds his way to a singular and strong Marrano woman, how he achieves a life with the outer persona of a respected Old Christian physician and the inner life of a secret Jew, is the fabric of this novel. The Last Jew is a glimpse of the past, an authentic tale of high adventure, and a tender and unforgettable love story. In it, Noah Gordon utilizes his greatest strengths, and the result is remarkable and moving.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466866737
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Publication date:	03/25/2014
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	72,177
File size:	474 KB

About the Author

Noah Gordon has had outstanding international success, selling in Germany alone more than eight million copies of his recent trilogy (The Physician, Shaman, and Matters of Choice). The Society of American Historians awarded him the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Shaman as the best historical novel of 1991/1992. He was also voted "Novelist of the Year" by the readers of the Bertelsmann Book Club, and twice, in 1992 and 1995, he won the Silver Basque Prize for Spain's bestselling book. An earlier book, The Rabbi, was on the New York Times Bestseller list for 26 weeks. Noah Gordon lives with his wife in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Noah Gordon has had outstanding international success, selling in Germany alone more than eight million copies of his trilogy The Physician, Shaman, and Matters of Choice. The Society of American Historians awarded him the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Shaman as the best historical novel of 1991/1992. He was also voted "Novelist of the Year" by the readers of the Bertelsmann Book Club, and twice, in 1992 and 1995, he won the Silver Basque Prize for Spain's bestselling book. An earlier book, The Rabbi, was on the New York Times Bestseller list for 26 weeks. Noah Gordon lives with his wife in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Reading Group Guide

In the year 1492, the Inquisition has all of Spain in its grip. After centuries of pogrom-like riots encouraged by the Church, the Jews-who have been an important part of Spanish life since the days of the Romans-are expelled from the country by royal edict. Many who wish to remain are intimidated by Church and Crown and become Catholics, but several hundred thousand choose to retain their religion and depart. Given little time to flee, some perish even before they can escape from Spain.

Yonah Toledano, the 15-year-old son of a celebrated Spanish silversmith, has seen his father and brother die, almost unnoticed in a time of mass upheaval. Trapped in Spain by circumstances, he is determined to honor the memory of his family by remaining a Jew. On a donkey named Moise, the young fugitive begins a meandering odyssey across the vastness of Spain. The novel treats Yonah's evolution into an adult with the outer persona of an Old Christian physician and the rich but dwindling inner life of a Jew. Anchoring the narrative is the moving love story of his relationship with a Converso woman who finds her secret way back to the religion of her ancestors.

Discussion Questions

1. Yonah Toledano and the other Jews in Spain hart terrible choices in 1492 conversion, expulsion, or death. Faced with the same choices today, which would you choose? Why?

2. What were the qualities that enabled Yonah to survive? In your opinion, could a teen-ager survive in a similar situation today?

3. Discuss how Yonah's isolation limited his sense of Jewishness. Did it also strengthen his Jewishness in any way?

4. Helkias Toledano's family had a special relationship with thefamily of Benito Martin. What are some positive aspects of Spanish society that are revealed by their relationship? What negative aspects are revealed?

5. Discuss Yonah's sexuality. Consider how his sexual experiences were shaped by his secret existence. What effect do you believe this had on his personality and his life?

6. Consider the novel's title. Perhaps in 1492 there were other unconverted persons who, for one reason or another, failed to depart when the Jews left Spain. Yonah knew there were Jews in other lands. Why did he feel as though he were the last Jew in the world?

7. Consider the character of the physician Bernardo Espina, and discuss how the author used this characterization to impart information about the era, medieval medicine, and the Inquisition. What does Espina's marriage reveal about the society? Discuss his religious feelings, and his attitude toward both Catholicism and Judaism.

9. Examine the clandestine Jewish religious service in which Yonah took part while a guest in the Saadi home in Granada. Then consider the religious services which he experienced years later with the same group of conversos in the hidden valley of Pradogrande. Discuss the reasons for the differences.

10. Consider Nuno Fiero, physician of Saragossa. What prompted his interest in Yonah? Why was he inclined to look favorably upon Jews? In addition to medical science, what are some of the other lessons that he taught Yonah?

11. In Judaism, Jews may pray when alone, but the presence of ten persons (ten men in Orthodoxy) is required before a formal religious service may begin. In your opinion is there a connection between this requirement and the fact that the children and descendents of most of the "secret Jews" ended up as Catholics? Can you think of other reasons why Judaism could not survive in subsequent generations?

12. The period described in The Last Jew was a violent and often barbarous time. Do you believe civilization has advanced since 1492? In what ways? Do you believe we have regressed? In what ways?

13. Do you think a religious inquisition could take place in America? Give reasons.

 

About the Author

Noah Gordon, a former newspaperman, has written prize-winning novels that have been widely read in many countries. He is the author of seven books: The Rabbi, The Death Committee, The Jerusalem Diamond, The Physician, Shaman, Matters of Choice, and The Last Jew. He lives with his wife, Lorraine, in Brookline, Massachusetts, a few miles from the grandchildren to whom The Last Jew is dedicated.

Gordon decided to write The Last Jew in 1992. "That year I made two trips to Spain, once to do a book tour and once to accept a prize in San Sebastian. During both trips I noted that Spain was observing two important anniversaries. It was exactly 500 years since Columbus made his first voyage to the New World. And exactly 500 years too, since the Jews were expelled from Spain. I knew of several American writers doing books about Columbus, but I knew of no one doing a novel about the period of the expulsion, and a little fight went off in my head. I was then in the middle of another novel, and it wasn't until 1995 that I was able to begin work on The Last Jew."

"I had the thoroughly enjoyable experience of making several research trips to Spain, visiting the places and countryside I ryas to write about, and in my imagination seeing and hearing the Jews who vanished from there so long ago. In the process I fell in love with modern Spain, a vibrant democratic monarchy where even now new sites are being uncovered that attest to the Jewish life that once existed there."

Editorial Reviews

This "moving" historical novel details the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in the 15th century, "a period in history that has never really been explored." "A great evocation of time and place." A few readers found it a bit academic -- "difficult and rambling."

Barnes & Noble Guide to New Fiction

Set in Spain under the Inquisition, this latest big historical novel from Gordon (Shaman; The Rabbi) follows the adventures of young Yonah Helkias as he stays true to his Jewish faith, escapes from misadventures and finds love. In Toledo, in 1489, a precious reliquary of a Christian saint, crafted by Yonah's silversmith father, disappears; Yonah's older brother, who was delivering the relic, is found dead; and compassionate physician Bernardo Espina begins to investigate the theft and murder. Meanwhile, the Inquisition starts to target Jews, including conversos like Espina (Jews by birth who have entered the Catholic church). The bulk of the novel takes place three years later, when the deadline for all Jews to leave Spain has arrived. Yonah, aged 13, joins thousands of his co-religionists headed for Spanish borders and ports, but instead of departing, Yonah remains behind. After witnessing Espina's death in an auto-da-f , Yonah leads a fugitive existence as a farmer, a shepherd, a cathedral laborer, a pot repairer, a seaman and, finally, as an apprentice armorer under the demanding master Manuel Fierro. Delivering armor, he returns to Toledo, where he bargains with his family's persecutors to escape a dangerous rendezvous with relic smugglers. Then Yonah's master is fatally double-crossed; after avenging him, Yonah heads to Saragossa, where Fierro's brother trains him to become--like the heroes of Gordon's The Physician and Shaman--a doctor. Yonah changes his name to Ramon Callico, marries a woman who knows his secret, but never gives up his desire to restore Espina's honor to his son, the stolen relic to the Church or his own soul to Judaism. Gordon has earned an international audience for his impressively documented historical narratives, his compassion for the trials of migr s and his intricate descriptions of Renaissance crafts. Through a crowded landscape of characters and incidents, he illuminates the choices history forces on individuals--and, not incidentally, creates a grand, informative adventure and a completely engaging, unsentimental portrait of a turbulent time. (Aug.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The Spanish Inquisition went after converted Jews as well as Jews, and the Church would not tolerate anything but complete obedience to its edicts. Those who could leave Spain did so quickly. But Yonah, the 15-year-old son of a famous Toledo silversmith, finds himself caught in Spain as most of his Jewish family flees or is killed. He survives using his wits and his physical strength, taking various names and traveling the waterways as well as the roads. He becomes a shepherd, a silversmith and eventually a physician. He meets many terrible people but also some good ones. He also commits murder to save himself. Yet wherever he goes and whatever he does he retains his Jewish faith and longs to be able to practice his religion again. Gordon did quite a bit of research to provide realistic details for this historical fiction. It is very readable and would be an excellent additional resource for studies of Spain in the late 1490s and early 1500s. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2000, St. Martin's, Griffin, Thomas Dunne Books, 348p., Holab-Abelman

KLIATT

The impact of the Inquisition and the Catholic Church on the lives of Spanish Jews in the late 15th and early 16th centuries is the subject of this latest novel from Gordon (Matters of Choice). Young Yonah ben Helikes, son of a Toledo silversmith, watches in horror as hundreds of thousands of Jews are given the options of converting to Christianity, leaving Spain, or facing the murderous violence of a population inspired to hatred by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. After his father and younger brother is killed, Yonah wanders through Spain, eluding agents of the Inquisition while trying to keep his Jewish faith intact. He puts his silversmith talents to good use by working at an armory and later gains the knowledge and skill of a physician. As Yonah matures, falls in love, and marries, he gradually puts together the missing pieces of his life and confronts the deaths of his relatives. Gordon is a natural storyteller, and, given the novel's fascinating setting and a more-than-likable hero, this superior historical novel should have a place in all libraries.-Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. For the Book, Seattle

Library Journal

YA-During the Spanish Inquisition, a Jew had only two choices: flee the country or convert to Catholicism. The Toledano family decides to flee, but before they can leave, their home is burned by a mob, and only 16-year-old Yonah is left in Toledo. Persuaded that his father's death and that of his older brother three years earlier were caused by the same man, the teen flees on the family's burro and begins the life of a wanderer, a fugitive who changes his name and pretends to be converted. He works as a shepherd in the hills, as a deckhand on ships trading along the Spanish coast, and finally as an apprentice to a physician in Saragossa. After the death of his mentor, Yonah takes over the practice and becomes well-known and respected. On a trip north, he stumbles on a remote and beautiful valley settled by conversos like himself. There he falls in love with a young widow and the two return to Saragossa and make a life together, ostensibly Christians, but secretly Jews. Finally confronting the cleric responsible for the murder of his father and brother, the wandering Jew finds peace at last. This exciting tale of 16th-century Spain has a mystery involving a stolen reliquary, a sinister Inquisitor, and a host of colorful characters. Most of all, though, it is the story of a resourceful and courageous young man determined to remain faithful to his religion.-Molly Connally, Kings Park Library, Fairfax County, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Having completed the Cole family trilogy (Matters of Choice, 1996, etc.), Gordon returns to the more familiar territory of Jewish history for his latest period novel. The author plows relatively untouched ground here. His tale concerns the Sephardic Jews, who were expelled from their homelands on Iberian Peninsula in 1492 but have received short shrift ever since from history and literature, both of which have been dominated by the Ashkenazi Jews of Germany and Eastern Europe. Yiddish has more literary cachet than Ladino (the Sephardim's Judeo-Spanish language), and the sufferings of Jews at the hands of the Inquisition have received less attention than the pogroms in 19th-century Russia. So it's a welcome change to find a Jewish historical novel focused on the wanderings and bitter internal exile of a man separated from his family at the Expulsion and left behind in a now Jew-free Spain. The story of Yonah Toledano, the title character, begins with a mystery: who killed Yonah's older brother and stole the reliquary their father had crafted for the local priory? It soon becomes clear, however, that this will not be a Jewish version of Name of the Rose. Rather, Gordon is making a game but stolid effort to re-create the Spanish picaresque, substituting the Inquisition and anti-Jewish violence for the more mundane obstacles traditionally faced by the genre's peripatetic heroes. As is the norm for historical fiction of this sort, the hero is impossibly noble, and love is repeatedly thwarted but ultimately triumphs. Regrettably, the novel is utterly devoid of humor, and its plodding, dull, pseudo-archaic prose paralyzes the action. Rather than a bawdy romp in the picaresque style, this isathrowback to epic potboilers like Anthony Adverse and the other bestsellers of the 1930s: well-intentioned and too well-mannered. A sugar-coated history lesson for the cabana at the beach.

Kirkus Reviews