A Look at the Sephardi
The Jews from Spain and Portugal
This short article looks at the Sephardic Jews, a distinct ethnic community that lived for millennia in the Iberian Peninsula of Spain and Portugal. 15 percent of Jews and 3 percent of American Jews are Sephardic. The Sephardic Jews have a unique culture formed by their distinctive history and geographic origins. I am Sephardic, with my maternal ancestors from Spain. My father was Scandinavian.
All Jewish communities originated in the Middle East. Most Jews were expelled from Israel during Roman rule and scattered worldwide. The Sephardic Jews moved to Spain and Portugal. Sephardic comes from "Sepharad," the ancient Hebrew word for Spain.
The Iberian Peninsula was governed by Christians before coming under the rule of the Muslim Moors in the 8th century. During the Muslim rule, Sephardic Jews experienced a Golden Age. Unlike many other regions of medieval Europe, Spain had religious tolerance towards its Jewish inhabitants. Sephardic Jews were free to openly practice their religion, engage in trade, and participate in the broader society. This era saw the flourishing of Sephardic Jews in philosophy, science, medicine, and literature. The great Sephardic philosopher Maimonides lived during this time.
The turning point came with the Reconquista, a Christian effort to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule. As Christian territories expanded their influence, Sephardic Jews faced mounting pressure and persecution. This culminated in 1492 when Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic Monarchs, issued the Alhambra Decree mandating the expulsion of Jews from Spain. This was followed by the 1536 Portuguese Inquisition where Sephardic Jews were persecuted and forced into conversion.
Many Sephardic Jews moved to other parts of Europe, where they often thrived in academia, medicine, business, and government. The great 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza was a Sephardic Jew in the Netherlands. Some opted to stay in Portugal and hide their Jewish identity. Many found communities in North Africa and the Ottoman Empire of Greece, Turkey, and Morocco. Others made new communities in North and South America. There is a relatively large Sephardic community in Argentina, and the first Jews to settle in what is now the United States were Sephardic.
My Sephardic ancestors, with the Sephardic family name of Curiel, left Spain after the Inquisition and migrated to Portugal where they faced forced conversion and persecution during the Portuguese Inquisition. They later moved to Italy, Hamburg, Amsterdam, the Ottoman Empire, and, in the 1600s, New Jersey of Colonial America. Two of my ancestors were officers in the American Revolutionary War and supplied boats and land for George Washington's war efforts. The boats Washington and his troops rode across the Delaware on and the land where they subsequently camped were supplied by my ancestors.
During World War II, the majority of Sephardic Jews who remained in Europe were wiped out in the Holocaust. Today, most Sephardic Jews descend from those who had immigrated after the Spanish Inquisition to Turkey, North Africa, and the Middle East, regions largely spared from the Holocaust.
After the establishment of Israel in 1948, many Sephardic Jews migrated there. Today, most Sephardic Jews live in Israel and have a strong influence on Israeli culture. A much smaller number, approximately 200,000 to 300,000, live in the United States.
As reparations for the mistreatment and Inquisitions, Spain and Portugal recently offered citizenship to the ancestors of Sephardic Jews expelled and forcibly converted.
Sephardic Culture
Many Sephardic exiles and their descendants proudly retained the rich culture they developed in Spain, even after forced conversions.
The Sephardic language is Ladino, a Jewish version of Spanish that mixes Hebrew, Spanish and Middle Eastern languages. Ladino is written in Hebrew characters.
Sephardic art and architecture exhibit Islamic and Moorish influence, featuring intricate patterns and decorative motifs.
Sephardic food is distinctly different from the Northern European cuisine of the Ashkenazi Jews. Sephardic food is Mediterranean, light, colorful, and uses olive oil. From the North African and Middle Eastern influences, it is sometimes spicy with hummus and curry.
Below are two Sephardic songs in the traditional Sephardic language of Ladino, a combination of Spanish and Hebrew. The first is Middle Eastern-sounding, the second is Spain-influenced.