One of my best friends is a jew, and next week she gets married, to a muslim guy, isn’t that cool? So I want to make an special wedding-gift, and I am researching some things about judaism in Toledo, where her ancestrors lived before been expelled.

Among other things I have discovered several of my surnames have (potentially or actually) sephardic roots. However I saw a sephardic surnames database and I can assure that virtually every spaniard has one or more jewish-converted surnames… There are Herrero, Pino, Oro, Hierro, but also hugely popular surnames like Sánchez, González or Díaz.

Researching, I also I came across this video:

I am a great fan of dIRE sTRAITS, and I really dislike the utilisation of the song “Brothers in Arms” (my favourite one) in this video.

Mainly I think there is a distortion from the original meaning of the song. The change is so big -and ridiculous- as when Ronald Reagan used Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” as a patriotic anthem in his presidential campaign. It is really sad. I do not think the author of the video has understood the point.

Anyways, if one wants to see some fanatic videos, there is no need to go so far away. Let’s see at what this Spanish lady said in 1979*:

I wonder if she still lives, and what they would think right now. Would she be so fanatic yet?

*If you do not understand Spanish, do not worry about. Just imagine from her tone, and you’ll get it.