The Origins of Beit Rambam

The history of Beit Rambam began many years ago, when various groups formed by Jews of different nationalities but all residents of Andalusia, spread out among different places in the region – Seville, Cordoba and Cadiz, among others – started to take concrete steps to reach a goal that they had been dreaming of for some time: the creation of a Jewish congregation that would embrace and integrate the diverse reality of Andalusian Judaism in the 21st century.

In the beginning, our home base was the city of Cordoba, Initially, an association created to promote progressive Jewish values in Andalusia. This association became a reference point for the small groups of Jews previously mentioned that, little by little, started coming into contact and happily saw for themselves that they shared the same hopes and dreams.

The interest for this project gained strength in a brief space of time, most of all in Seville; so it was in this city where we decided to centralize the base of the congregation, and from there, tend to the members residing in other parts of the Andalusian territories.

Finally, in the year 2012, the community’s primitive dream came to fruition, because that was the year that the Statutes of Constitution, Organization and Operation of the Jewish congregation that decided to take the name of Beit Rambam, paying homage to the Cordoban Jewish sage Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, Rambam, were made.

Several of the members, constituted as the first Managing Board and headquartered in Seville, took over the project from its initial promoters, giving continuity to the project, in which they lovingly dedicated their time and energy, to turn what started being a small Andalusian chavurah into a full-fledged Jewish congregation.

After a year of functioning and the consolidation of the initial agreements, in Sukkot 5774, the first Board of Directors of Beit Rambam the Jewish Congregation of Andalusia was elected by vote.

Our congregation today

Beit Rambam is a plural Kehilah, with a commitment for reflecting faithfully the complex reality of the Jewish identity, as it is currently being expressed, in all its richness and diversity. The associated members wish to keep that identity alive, according to the principles of equality, tradition and modernity.

We are a congregation open to all Jews, both residents and those temporary visitors in Andalusia. Among us, all of them have a place and a space of encounter and participation: men and women, Sephardic and Ashkenazy, religious and secular, with no distinction.

The Jews that form Beit Rambam are aware that what they intend to achieve is not an easy task, but are convinced that time has come to start working for the future of the Jewish congregation in Andalusia with professionalism, excitement and dedication. The well known words passed on by Hillel, one of the wisest sages of Judaism in antiquity, is our best source of inspiration:

If I am not for myself, who is for me? And when I am only for myself, what am ‘I’? And if not now, then when?”

Ongoing and Future Projects

A place for Beit Rambam

Thanks to the generosity of the City Hall of Sevilla, we are meeting in a place given to us by the City Council for Citizen Participation.

However, we still need our own meeting spot that favors gatherings and allows us to multiply our activities in the long term.

We already have a Sefer Torah

Thanks to the generosity of the Routman family, who also donated the shipping of the Sefer from the USA to Sevilla, the Rimonim and the Yad, in loving memory of their daughter Stephanie/Shoshana.

The Aaron Ha-kodesh and Parochet, as well as the other elements were made by chaverim and chaverot of Beit Rambam and expenses covered by the Kehila’s resources.

Library

Various congregants and freends have donated books. However, we don’t have the furniture necessary to use Beit Rambam’s library. If you want to help us, your donation will be welcome. Please contact secretario@beitrambam.es.

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Besides the aforementioned projects, we are currently working on many others, although we don’t count with enough funds to carry them out. Throughout history, the modest Jewish kehilot have been backed up by the solidarity of its members and other institutions that have collaborated with them.

Any help you can provide will be welcome!
And of course, very much appreciated by Beit Rambam.

If you want to support us, please write to the Fundraising Commission:
secretario@beitrambam.es