Sephardi Language History Culture Names Congregations

They settled mainly in Morocco, the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey, Southwest Asia, North Africa and south-eastern EuropeFor the band of the same name, see Europe (band . Europe is a continent forming the westermost part of the Eurasian supercontinent. Europe is bounded to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Mediterranean Se), southern FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents., ItalyThe Italian Republic or Italy ( Italian: Italia is a country in the south of Europe, consisting mainly of a boot-shaped peninsula together with two large islands in the Mediterranean Sea: Sicily and Sardinia. To the north, where it borders France, Switzer, Spanish North AmericaNorth America is the third largest continent in area and the fourth ranked in population. It is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific Ocea ( Southwest United StatesRegions of the United States The Southwest region of the United States is drier than the adjoining Midwest in weather; the population is less dense and, with strong Spanish-American and Native American components, more ethnically varied than neighboring a and Mexico), Spanish South America and Brazil, as well as the Netherlands, England, Germany, Denmark, Austria, and Hungary.

In the vernacular of modern-day Israel, the word Sephardi has also come to include the immigrant Jewish communities that were indigenous to various other countries of the Near East now resident in Israel, most notably those of Yemen, Iraq and Iran, that have no ancestral ties to Spain or Portugal. Jews from these Near Eastern communities are also sometimes called "Oriental Jews" or the Hebrew equivalent Mizrhîm, and were once also referred to as "Arab Jews", a phrase that is rarely used today.

A third usage of the word is in reference to the Nusach Sepharad (Sephardic liturgy) which in some Hassidic communities of Eastern Europe replaced the Nusach Ashkenaz ( Ashkenazic liturgy) during the 18th and 19th centuries. In this usage, a Sephardi is someone who follows the Sephardic liturgy.

The remainder of this article concerns Sephardim in the first sense: Jews of Spanish origin.

1 Language

The traditional language of the Sephardim is Judæo- Spanish, also called Ladino (a term considered pejorative in some circles).

It is a Romance Language derived mainly from Old Castilian ( Spanish) and Sephardi Hebrew, and is often considered a dialect adjacent to modern Castilian — the official language of Spain — because of their intelligibility.

Judæo-Spanish has been conserved by the crypto-Jewish marranos of Portugal and Brazil and is still spoken by many of them. It is also spoken by many of the few Sephardim still remaining in Turkey and amongst the Sephardi immigrants of Israel.

Portuguese has also been used by Sephardim — especially amongst the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of Western Europe.

Other languages associated with Sephardic Jews are mostly extinct, i.e., Italkian (Judæo- Italian), formerly spoken by some Jewish communities in Italy. Low German, formerly used as the vernicular amongst Sephardim of the Hamburg and Altona area of Northern Germany is also no longer in use as a specifically Jewish vernicular.

2 History

Among the Sephardim were many who were the descendants, or heads, of wealthy families and who, as Marranos, had occupied prominent positions in the countries they had left. Some had been state officials, others had held positions of dignity within the Church; many had been the heads of large banking-houses and mercantile establishments, and some were physicians or scholars who had officiated as teachers in high schools. Their Spanish was a lingua franca that enabled Sephardim from different countries to engage in commerce and diplomacy.

The Sephardim rarely engaged in chaffering occupations nor in usury, and they did not often mingle with lower classes. With their social equals they associated freely, without regard to religion. They were received at the courts of sultans, kings, and princes, and often were employed as ambassadors, envoys, or agents. The number of Sephardim who have rendered important services to different countries is considerable, from Samuel Abravanel (financial councilor to the viceroy of Naples) to Benjamin Disraeli. Among other names mentioned are those of Belmonte, Nasi, Pacheco, Palache, Azevedo, Sasportas, Costa, Curiel, Cansino, Schonenberg, Toledo, Toledano, and Teixeira.

The Sephardim occupy the foremost place in the roll of Jewish physicians; great as is the number of those who have distinguished themselves as statesmen, it is not nearly as great as the number of those who have become celebrated as physicians and have won the favor of rulers and princes, in both the Christian and the Islamic world. That the Sephardim were selected for prominent positions in every country in which they settled was due to the fact that Spanish had become a world-language through the expansion of Spain.

For a long time the Sephardim took active part in Spanish literature; they wrote in prose and in rhyme, and were the authors of theological, philosophical, belletristic, pedagogic, and mathematical works. The rabbis, who, in common with all the Sephardim, laid great stress on a pure and euphonious pronunciation of Hebrew, delivered their sermons in Spanish or in Portuguese: several of these sermons have appeared in print. Their thirst for knowledge, together with the fact that they associated freely with the outer world, led the Sephardim to establish new educational systems wherever they settled; they founded schools in which the Spanish language was the medium of instruction. Theatre in Istanbul was in Judæo-Spanish since it was forbidden to Muslims.

In Portugal the Sephardim were given important roles in the sociopolitical sphere and enjoyed a certain amount of protection from the Crown (e.g. Yahia Ben Yahia, first "Rabino Maior" of Portugal and supervisor of the public revenue of the first King of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques). Even with the increasing pressure from the Catholic Church this state of affairs remained more or less constant and the number of Jews in Portugal grew with those running from Spain. This changed with the marriage of D. Manuel I of Portugal with the daughter of the Catholic Kings of the newlyborn Spain. In 1497 the Decree ordering the expulsion or forced conversion of all the Jews was passed, and the Sephardim either fled or went into secrecy under the guise of "Cristãos Novos", i.e. New Christians. This Decree was symbolically revoked in 1996 by the Portuguese Parliament.

In Amsterdam, where they were especially prominent in the seventeenth century on account of their number, wealth, education, and influence, they established poetical academies after Spanish models; two of these were the Academia de los Sitibundos and the Academia de los Floridos. In the same city they also organized the first Jewish educational institution, with graduate classes in which, in addition to Talmudic studies, instruction was given in the Hebrew language.

3 Culture

The Sephardim have preserved the romances and the ancient melodies and songs of Spain, as well as a large number of old Spanish proverb s. A number of children's play s, like, for example, El Castillo, are still popular among them, and they still manifest a fondness for the dishes peculiar to Spain, such as the pastel, or pastelico, a sort of meat-pie, and the pan de España, or pan de León. At their festivals they follow the Spanish custom of distributing dulces, or dolces, a confection wrapped in paper bearing a picture of the magen David.

4 Names

They bear exclusively Portuguese and Spanish given names, as Aleqria, Angel, Angela, Amado, Amada, Bienvenida, Blanco, Cara, Cimfa, Comprado, Consuela, Dolza, Esperanza, Estimada, Estrella, Fermosa, Gracia, Luna, Niña, Palomba, Preciosa, Sol, Ventura, and Zafiro; and such Spanish or Portuguese surnames as Belmonte, Benveniste, Bueno, Calderon, Campos, Cardoso, Cardozo, Castro, Curiel, Delgado, Fonseca, Cordova, Leon, Lima, Mercado, Monzon , Rocamora, Pacheco, Pardo, Pereira, Pinto, Prado, Sarabia, Sousa, Suasso, Toledano, Tarragona, Valencia, and Zaporta.

In contrast to Ashkenazic Jews, who do not name newborn children after living relatives, Sephardic Jews, often name their children after the children's grandparents, even if they are still alive. The first son and daughter are traditionally named after the paternal grandparents, and then the maternal parent's names are next up in line for the remaining children. After that, additional children's names are "free", so-to-speak, meaning that one can choose whatever name, without anymore "naming obligations." The only instance in which Sephardic Jews will not name after their own parents when one of the spouses shares a common first name with a mother/father-in-law (since Jews will not name their children after themselves.) There are times though when the "free" names are used to honor the memory of a deceased relative who died young or childless.

5 Congregations

Great authority was given to the president of each congregation. He and the rabbinate of his congregation formed the "ma'amad," without whose approbation (often worded in Spanish, Portuguese, or Italian) no book of religious content might be published. The president not only had the power to make authoritative resolutions with regard to congregational affairs and to decide communal questions, but he had also the right to observe the religious conduct of the individual and to punish anyone suspected of heresy or of trespassing against the laws.

6 Relationship to other Jews

Although the Sephardim lived on peaceful terms with other Jews, they rarely intermarried with them; neither did they unite with them in forming congregations, but adhered to their own ritual, which differed widely from the Ashkenazic. Paradoxically, those who had suffered the racial pride of limpieza de sangre applied a similar concept toward other Jews. Wherever the Sephardic Jews settled they grouped themselves according to the country or district from which they had come, and organized separate communities with legally enacted statutes. In Constantinople and Thessaloniki, for example, there were not only Castilian, Aragonian, Catalonian, and Portuguese congregations, but also Toledo, Cordova, Evora , and Lisbon congregations, and differenced themselves from Romaniotes. In Morocco, Sephardim considered themselves superior to Berber Jews . Under the common pressure of the Islamic society, the Berbers tried to merge with the Sephardim by naming their children with Sephardic names .

One interesting example is the " Belmonte Jews " in Portugal. A whole community survived in secrecy for hundreds of years by maintaining a tradition of intermarriage and by hiding all the external signs of their faith. The Jewish comunity in Belmonte goes back to the 12th Century and they were only discovered in the 20th Century. Their rich Sephardic tradition of Crypto-Judaism is unique. Only recently did they contact other Jews and they now profess Orthodox Judaism, although they still retain their centuries-old traditions.

The term Sephardi can also describe the nusach ( Hebrew language, "liturgical tradition") used by Sephardi Jews in their Siddur (prayer book). A nusach is defined by a liturgical tradition's choice of prayers, order of prayers, text of prayers and melodies used in the singing of prayers. This is to be distinguished by the "Nusach Sepharad" used by Chassidic Jews.

This phrase is frequently used in contrast with Ashkenazi Jews, also called Ashkenazim, who are descendants of Jews from Germany, Poland, Austria and Eastern-Europe.

7 Medicine

Although less than in Ashkenazi Jews, there is a higher incidence of certain hereditary diseases in Sephardi Jews. The most important ones are:

See also Jewish Genetics Center about testing.

their own ritual, which differed widely from the Ashkenazic.

Sephardi Jews

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