Interview to Rabbi Haim Casas
This week, as news on our website, we have Haim Casas with us. Sephardic and Andalusian Spanish Rabbi and also a very active and collaborating member of ATID.
Born in Córdoba, he grew up in Cádiz and fell in love with life in Seville. As he says well: 'I have made my homeland and my mother the world.'
Who is Haim Casas?
Good question The sages of ancient Greece considered the knowledge of oneself as one of the fundamental tasks of each human being. Socrates said that a life without reflection did not deserve to be lived. I think so I have a lot of inner work to be able to answer that question with median accuracy They say that for the works people are also known. If that's the case We cried could tell you that throughout my (still short life) I have tried to be honest with myself and with others, to show me how and how I am and from Doing what I thought was correct. I live life with the intensity of being aware that every day is a unique and unrepeatable gift. I can not tell you 100 Who am I but if I can tell you one thing: I want to be myself. And to this 'I' What I want to be still lacks to study more, to work harder, to learn more about the ones they surround you to be able to serve effectively and humbly the people of Israel. Maybe You can ask others who Haim Casas, probably they can help you and surely each one will tell you something different. To me the only thing that me It matters is that one day I am known for having worked hard for the future of our communities in Sefarad.
There is some difference between Haim 10 years ago with Haim Rabbi now?
I am the same but much more serene. The fruit does not ripen in a drawer between Cotton but outdoors, exposed to the inclemencies of time. Han It has been so beautiful and difficult years. The difficulty has tempered my character and It has made me a much more thoughtful person. The work, the study, the prayer, the experience of love and also of love; live in different countries, work for communities in England, France, Switzerland, Israel, Spain and Morocco ... All this has transformed me, but in essence I am still that young romantic, idealistic and full of optimism that firmly believes that it which was green will reverberate and that therefore the future of the Jewish community of Spain is brilliant.
You are the first Rabbi Cordobes after 500 years, how do you feel this?
Has it impacted your career as a rabbi? And in Spain? I live with responsibility. I feel the duty to preserve the memory of Our ancestors and the duty to build today a dynamic community that be a source of inspiration for future generations.
We know that in Spain there is still no rabbinical seminary, and We know that for many Spaniards wanting to study Rabinato implies to leave Spain, an arduous decision. How have you lived this facet?
It is important to go outside and then come back. Every rabbinic student must live His own Lech Lecha, this is: Like Abraham Avinu, he must leave his country, his house, his, to start a journey from the unknown to the unknown, from the truth to the uncertain. This trip transforms us into the deepest of our being. We make ourselves come out and look at each other and the other meet God.
Where did this vocation for Judaism began to the point of studying it? rabinato?
I would not call it vocation but need. Every Jew develops as a Jew in community and family. It was the need to live in a community in a city like Córdoba where there had not been an official Jewish community in 500 years ago, which made me encourage other Jews living in the area to create Beit Rambam, the first progressive Jewish community that was founded in Andalusia. Subsequently, the headquarters of the community moved to Seville because it is there where most of our partners live. The Rabinato came later and He also responded to a need, the need to improve my education Jewish if he really wanted to be useful to others. For me the rabbit has never been an end but only a means to be able to serve more and better.
Tell us about Makom Sefarad, any website? Where can we check?
Makom Sefarad is an initiative that seeks to enrich our Jewish life through the encounter with the other. This meeting is facilitated through cultural activities, seminars and shabatot. The other may be a Jew of one Origin different from ours, from another country, another culture or from a religious affiliation or ideologically different from ours. The other may also be a non-Jewish. Is the I meet with the other an opportunity to realize ourselves physically and spiritually. In Makom Sefarad we firmly believe that what made the age of gold possible Judaism in the peninsula was the meeting of cultural identities and religious of very different origin. This coexistence in diversity was never Easy but our ancestors knew how to use it for growth as individuals and as a community. Today we also live in a society of great plurality. We can see this plurality as a threat or how an opportunity to create a better world. The Jewish history of Spain can Be a source of inspiration for us today. This is the website: www.makomsefarad.org
As you see Judaism in Spain here in the long term and that is what you are can you contribute?
I said it before, I am deeply optimistic. I think the Jewish community Spanish will again be a source of knowledge and inspiration for the people Jew and for humanity. But for this to happen we must understand that the task is great and that we can not alone. We must flee from Personalisms and sterile egos. I am saddened when in Spain I hear talk of the community of fulanito or menganita. When a community has it Names and surnames is a very bad sign. Only when we work together for Build a legacy that we can leave our future generations work will be fruitful. The self is and will be barren. Only when the ego meets you to be a us, the task becomes meaningful, the crop yields its fruit. What plans are you short? And long? Both my short and long term plan is the same, I continue to learn of our rich tradition and of all those that surround me. Learn and work ... and sow so that those who come after can harvest.
