In Toledo, Spain, there’s an early-13th-century synagogue named “Santa Maria la Blanca.” I know that in the wake of the Inquisition, the building was used for many purposes, including a Christian church, and was named “Santa Maria” in the 15th century. But now that it’s a synagogue again, why haven’t they renamed it something more appropriately Jewish? Does anyone know what it’s original (pre-Inquisition) name was?
Cite that it is in fact “a synagogue again” in any operational sense?
As far as I can see it is not a functioning church, mosque or synagogue. Nothing I see indicates that it is more than a monument.
A hijack, but one I’ve always found funny:
One of the biggest groups of Hasidic Jews is the Satmar Hasidim. Extremely ultra-Orthodox people. They, like most groups of Hasidim, are named from the town in Eastern Europe in which their sect originated, which in their case, is Satu Mare, in Hungary (or Rumania, I’m not sure where it’s ended up after many years of border-shifting.) Of course, Satu Mare means… St. Mary. So they’re the St. Mary Hasidim!
[/hijack]
Edited to fix a typo.