The
Ledor Vador Foundation was officially launched yesterday in Palma with the aim of giving new impetus to the understanding and promotion of Jewish culture in Mallorca and combating anti-Semitism on the island. The event, which is part of a touring programme, was attended by the Mayor of Palma, Jaime Martínez; the Vice-President of the Government of the Balearic Islands, Maria Antònia Estarellas; Palma’s Deputy Mayor for Culture, Javi Bonet; and the Foundation’s President, Ari Molina. It took in the venues of Can Bordils, Can Oms and the Centre Maimó Ben Faraig, which is dedicated to showcasing the Jewish heritage in the Balearic capital.
The event served to officially launch the Foundation and celebrate the reopening of the Centre Maimó Ben Faraig, located on Calle Almudaina in Palma’s historic centre, which is resuming its activities after several years of inactivity with a revamped exhibition layout. The municipal venue features 13 thematic display panels in Catalan, Spanish and English and brings together various elements relating to the Jewish presence in Palma and Mallorca.
During the first part of the event, held at Can Bordils, the Mayor of Palma highlighted the significance of restoring this centre for the city. “Today is a great day for Palma because our city has the opportunity to restore, for present and future generations, a place that is indispensable for the promotion of Jewish culture and, therefore, of the culture and history of the capital of the Balearic Islands,” he said.
The mayor also emphasised the importance of this tradition in the city’s history: “Neither today’s Palma nor that of previous eras could be understood or conceived without the valuable and priceless legacy of the Jewish community.”
Public-private partnership
The restoration of the Centre Maimó forms part of a partnership strategy between the City Council, the Jewish Community of the Balearic Islands and the Ledor Vador Foundation. In this regard, Jaimé Martínez expressed the council’s commitment to “continue collaborating closely” with both organisations and noted that the centre’s primary aim is to raise awareness of Mallorca’s Jewish historical and cultural heritage “amongst residents and visitors”, given its location on a route popular with tourists.
The president of the Ledor Vador Foundation, Ari Molina, reiterated, for his part, that the Foundation was established with the aim of promoting and expanding this work from a cultural perspective. The organisation aims to “raise awareness of and promote the Jewish cultural heritage in Mallorca”, including art, literature, music and the visual arts, as well as to foster new fields of research.
Among its projects is the creation of a chair in Jewish studies to facilitate specialised research into the Jewish presence in Mallorca. “The project will require time and dedication, but there is no reason why it should not become a reality,” said Molina, who believed that this initiative would fill “a gap in the university sector”.
The Foundation’s president also emphasised that the Centre Maimó must play a central role in this strategy, providing an introductory overview of this history whilst also serving as a starting point for those wishing to explore it in greater depth.
Ledor Vador’s cultural programme will run over the coming months, featuring activities linked to the European Day of Jewish Culture, including lectures, discussions and musical events. The programme will feature contributions from figures such as the former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, the writer Dory Sontheimer and the sociologist Alejandro Baer Mieses, amongst others.
A project with ‘religious and political’ boundaries
Molina emphasised that the Foundation will be strictly cultural and academic in nature. “The Jewish Community and the Foundation are two ontologically distinct institutions, without interference between them, but with common ground that will enable us to achieve the synergy of an open and effective collaboration,” he stated.
The president identified the fight against anti-Semitism as one of the guiding principles of the new organisation. “Anti-Chueta sentiment, which we thought had been overcome, is making a strong comeback. This is not a matter of folkloric expressions, but of an intensely offensive attitude. It is anti-Semitism, just as the anti-Zionism of those who believe that by changing the name of things, the nature of the fact changes, is also anti-Semitism. We are talking about the old, stale anti-Semitism of a bygone era. This is unacceptable in a society which, in the first third of the 21st century, is moving resolutely towards new social and economic achievements. Mallorca must be a place free from anti-Semitism,” he concluded.
Tribute to Jacqueline Tobias
The event also included a tribute to Jacqueline Tobias, former president of the Balearic-Israel Institute of Foreign Relations, in recognition of her lifelong commitment to promoting and disseminating Jewish culture and history in Mallorca since 1987. Tobias was presented by Ari Molina with a sculpture bearing the logo of the new Ledor Vador Foundation, forged in iron, in recognition of her work over almost four decades, which forms the foundation upon which the new project is built.
Following a visit by the delegation and some guests to the Centre Maimó Ben Faraig, the event concluded with a cocktail reception held in the courtyard of Can Oms, accompanied by a concert by the Croatian artist Jasmina Petrovic, who specialises in Sephardic music.
