Analysis Of Christopher Ray's After Expulsion

The Jewish people have an expansive and troubled history. Unlike being a Christian or Muslim, being Jewish is not simply a matter of religious beliefs. Being Jewish is an ethnic identity that does not necessarily mean a person follows the Jewish faith. Jews for many years had no nation of their own, and so they were disseminated among many other different people and nations. After Expulsion indicates the difficulties the Jewish people went through not only with non-Jews, but also within the ties of Hebrew blood. Jews were not fully accepted by Christians or Muslims and had many separations among themselves. There were influential people within the Jewish community who did what they could to keep their people held together. The Jews were forced to be together depending on where they lived; this did not, however, prevent them from picking up characteristics of Christian life which the more zealous Jews did not approve of. Religious leadership was based off of popularity more so than any formal teaching, and even then the religious leaders were not as respected as their Christian counterparts. Ray explains how the Jews’ standing and acceptance in different areas impacted their lives to fluctuating degrees and how the Jews viewed themselves as being founded on their …show more content…
This is of course what Ray went through to write After Expulsion. The outline of his work was impacted heavily by attending multiple symposiums dedicated to topics such as the Mediterranean area, Iberia, and Sephardic studies. He spent some time in Barcelona studying and gathering resources. He uses research from different archives using different documents to show the same point. He also took advantage of gaining assistance from his colleagues to review his work and help him keep an open perspective and not narrow the content of the book too