SEGORBE

SEGORBE, city in Valencia, E. Spain . It appears that many Jews settled in Segorbe after the Christian conquest. In 1270 the taxes of the city were leased by Astruc Jacob Sisson, and in 1274 the community was combined with murviedro and onda burriana to form a single district (collecta), paying 2,000 solidós in taxes. Several extant details on the community are known from the second half of the 14th century. The financial situation of the community during this period is reflected in a query (Responsum, 282) addressed to R. Isaac b.   sheshet perfet (Ribash). The responsum indicates that the community borrowed money from Muslims in order to redeem a Sefer Torah crown which had previously been pledged. Some community leaders did not agree to stand surety for the debt, and the community therefore took it upon itself, under the strength of a ban, to repay the debt within one year. A number of members who had not been present at the proclamation of the ban demanded that it be abrogated because of debts already owed by the community for taxes to the crown. The ban was lifted and R. Isaac b. Sheshet ratified its abrogation. Although it is clear that the community of Segorbe was affected by the persecutions of 1391, the degree to which the community suffered is not known. In 1393 Juan I acquitted Jacob Hassan of Murviedro and his wife of having committed several "offenses," including the accusation that Jacob had given unleavened bread to a converso of segorbe . There is no information on the community during the 15th century, and it is possible that none existed. At some unspecified time the small number of Jews living in Segorbe moved to neighboring Murviedro. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baer, Spain, 1 (1929), index; Neuman, Spain, 2 (1944), 233. (Haim Beinart)