
The Taroç family (also spelt Teroç, Toroç and sometimes Taros) (
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
: טארוש, ''Tarosh'') (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
:التاراس, ''al-Taras'') is a
Sephardic Jewish
Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), pt, Judeus sefar ...
family originally from
Girona
Girona (officially and in Catalan language, Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter River, Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in ...
,
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
. Members of the family occupied key positions in the courts and economy of Catalonia, becoming one of the wealthiest Jewish families in Catalonia during the 13th to 15th centuries. The family progenitor is Todros Taroç (born al-Taras), who was the son of
Azriel ibn Menahem al-Taras, thus making the Taroç family a cadet branch of the
al-Taras family from
Castile. Todros Taroç adopted the surname Taroç which is a
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
spelling of al-Taras which mans "embroider" in Arabic. Following the
Alhambra decree
The Alhambra Decree (also known as the Edict of Expulsion; Spanish: ''Decreto de la Alhambra'', ''Edicto de Granada'') was an edict issued on 31 March 1492, by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain ( Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Arag ...
of 1492, the majority of the family immigrated to the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
,
the Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is equ ...
and other parts of the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
and
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
, adopting the surname Toros.
History
The Al-Taras family probably came to
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
in the 8th-century and subsequently settled down in Castile. The Taroç family patriarch, Todros Taroç, had two sons, Todros Taroç II and Ibrahim Taroç. It seems that Ibrahim Taroç's male line died out around 1300, however his brothers line survived. Todros Taroç II had one son
Vidal Taroç
Vidal Taroç (Hebrew: וידל בן טודרוס טארוש) was a Catalan Jewish landowner and court Jew.
Biography
Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, around 1265. His father Todros Taroç II was a wealthy Gironan merchant, and paternal grandson of ...
, who bought several profitable estates
Montcada, and began to lend money to several
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
aristocrats in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
. His son Isaac Taroç, inherited his father's estates and increased the family's profits tenfold. He had two children
Salomo Abraham Taroç Salomo Abraham Taroç (Hebrew: שלמה אברהם בן יצחק טארוש) was a 14th century Sephardic Jewish physician and money lender.
Biography
He was born in early 1301 in Girona, Catalonia. His father, Isaac Taroç, was a wealthy lando ...
and Vidal Taroç II. Salomo Taroç was the first to establish a relationship with the ruling monarchs of Catalonia, possibly serving as a court physician for the Crown of Aragon. Similarly, his son
Abraham David Taroç
Abraham David Taroç (Hebrew: אברהם דוד בן שלמה אברהם טארוש, ''Avraham David ben Shlomo Avraham Tarosh'') (Arabic: إبراهيم داود بن سلومو إبراهيم, التاراس, ''Ibrahim Dawud bin Salumu Ibrahim a ...
made jewellery for
Eleanor of Aragon, later developing a close relationship with
King John I, who even made a legal exemption for Abraham, allowing him to be married to two women at once. It was also around this time that Abraham began lending large sums of money to several Spanish nobles, resulting in Abraham's children becoming deeply engrained in the cultural and economic elite of Catalonia. However, the family's position began to deteriorate, as tensions rose between Jews and Christians. The last mention of a member of the family living in Spain before the expulsion of Jews in 1491 is Astruc Taroç II (Abraham Taroç's grandson), who, on July 9, 1492 helped to sell the historic
Girona Synagogue
The Girona Synagogue (Hebrew: הבית כנסת של גירונא) (Catalan: ''Sinagoga de Girona'') was an important medieval synagogue in Carrer de Sant Llorenç in Girona, Spain, which served as the centre for early Spanish Kabbalism, with sch ...
, which the family helped to build and fund several hundred years prior. The majority of the family immigrated to
Rhodes
Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...
, later settling in
Edirne and
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
, where they mostly live up until the present. Most Jews with the surname Toros descend from the Taroç family.
[{{Cite book, last=Beider, first=Alexander, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ng9TzQEACAAJ, title=A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Italy, France and "Portuguese" Communities, Including Surnames of Jews from Continental Italy, Non-Ashkenazic Communities in France, and Sephardic Communities in Western Europe (after the 1490s) and the Americas, date=2020, publisher=Avotaynu, isbn=978-0-9980571-8-7, language=en]
References
Surnames of Jewish origin
Jewish families
Spanish families
Sephardi families