Royal Spanish Academy appoints TAU researcher in historic decision

For the first time in its 300-year history, the Royal Spanish Academy has opened its doors to several Israeli professors, among them TAU’s Prof. Eleazar Gutwirth of the Department of Jewish History, Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of the Humanities. The landmark decision was intended to recognize Prof. Guwirth’s decades-long contribution to the study of Sephardic, Hispano-Jewish history and culture in the medieval and Renaissance periods. He was elected to the Academy after a three-year selection process, becoming a member for life.

Director of the Academy Prof. Darío Villanueva Prieto explained that such a crucial branch of the Spanish language and culture as the Judeo-Spanish one should be represented in the Academy, and emphasized that the decision recognizes the contribution of Sephardic Jewry to the culture of Spain before and since the expulsion of Jews in 1492.