On the flip side...

Castillo de los Mendoza

Think Disney. Think knights and armor. Sword fighting and turrets. It was all real.

We went north of Madrid to Manzanares El Real on Wednesday. The backdrop was a mountain range and the town itself was all the cute little tiled roofs and orange brick you could want. In the town is Castillo de los Mendoza which was plucked right out of a Zorro film. Suits of armor, spiral staircases for sword fighting, and Spanish flags in the breeze. I was thrilled.

History is a collection of nice little stories. It so rare that we get to see that it was once a reality. One of my thoughts of late is that a Jew is a student of history. By definition. We are both a living part of it and draw our strength from it. Too much of our religion and ritual is history for us to ignore it. Every once in a while it´s nice to see that history was real. As goofy as that may sound, things we hear or read about have a very different flavor to them than things that we see and touch. Part of why Israel makes such a big deal about archeology is that it gives us something to touch. I saw a blurb in today's newspaper about Iran gloating over France because archaeologists found evidence of wine making that was 500 years older than what had been found in France. Everything needs a context and everyone wants a history.

The gift of a place like this is the reality it gives to the history books and the films. One of the wonderful things that Hollywood has done is to show us what life was like in long ago and far away. To a Jew,who is by definition a student of history this is invaluable. Sometimes it's nice to touch that reality.

posted by YS @ 11:22 PM