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Only descendants of Jews from the Iberian Peninsula are Sephardim, not all those of the lands in which they settled. The Jews from Syria, Iraq. Persia, Yemen ... are properly referred to as Eydot Hamizrach, communities of the East. Sephardi (from Hebrew Sephard: "far away") is a term also used to distinguish between the two major divisions (actually the differences are quite minor) in Jewish customs and rituals. Two thousand years ago there were two major traditions, that of the Holy Land, known as Yerushalmi, and that of the Babylonian exile, known as the Bavli. Again, the differences were actually little more than skin deep. There was a slight difference in pronunciation and in customs and catillation. To many Ashkenazim, especially outside of Israel, there are two types of Jews - Ashkenazim and Sephardim. To the average Ashkenazi, being called an Ashkenazi, and not a Litvak or Galicianer, or what not, probably doesn't make a difference. However, to a "Sephardi", there is a difference based on countries of origin. Many Sephardim consider only those who come from Spain to be a Sephardi, i.e. Jews of Turkey, Bulgaria, Amsterdam etc. This to differentiate from a North African, Mizrachi (which includes many Asian countries - Syria, Baghdad, Iraq, Persia, etc. ), Yemenite and Adanite, to name a few. (Try telling the difference between Yemenite Adanite pronunciation of prayers. I know I can't. Then try calling an Adanite a Yemenite and you could be in serious trouble.) Obviously, for the most part, calling a Bavli (Iraqi), or a Parsi (Iranian) a Sephardi won't upset them. Even the Shas party is called the "Sephardi" party. But, I don't think the average non "Sephardi", i.e. Mizrachi, would call himself a Sephardi, rather he would be more particular in his ancestral roots. There are many Jews (or were!) in Syria, Baghdad and India whose roots are traced to Spain and the Expulsion. Many Iraqi Jews went to Bombay and other Indian cities (as did a smaller number of Persian Jews, who throughout history also settled in Baghdad and other cities. And an entire community of Iraqi Jews settled in Teheran in the 1950s (while others went to New York or to Israel), leading an existence alongside the Persian Mizrahi Jews. It took several decades before the two groups began intermarrying on an extended basis. The entire area has seen individuals and families moving back and forth. About 100 years ago, a rather large number of Persian families moved to Baghdad and to Damascus as well, among them rabbis from Isfahan. This was taken from a posting between Nachum Tuchman of Israel and Schelly Talalay Dardashti on 3/9/2002. Mount Sinai Alliance - rabbi Abraham Tobal stated in a recent talk that "Assimilation threatens the future of Sephardi Jewish communities in Latin America." Of Latin America's 450,000 Jews, about 180,000 are Sephardi, with ancestors from Spain and Portugal who later settled in Syria, North Africa and the Balkans. About 20 percent of the world's Jews are Sephardi; the rest are Ashkenazi with ancestors from Germany and Eastern Europe. The two groups have different liturgy, religious customs and Hebrew pronunciations. Of interest to all, is the fact that three hundred and fifty years ago, 23 Sephardic Jews landed in the harbor of New Amsterdam (New York). Several of the men in the group were certified shohets and slaughtered their meat themselves.
"And Everything Began At Urla (Turkey); The Chronicle of The Varon Family" ("Y Todo Commenzo En Urla; Cronica de la Familia Varon") authored by Frid Mayo, Nissim. The book includes documents, genealogical tree beginning from 1859 and is a part of the Library of Congress collection. "Bibliography About Sephardi Families History and Genealogy in Two Major Libraries of Jerusalem" is an article by Mathilde Tagger and published in the Winter issue of ETSI (Sephardi Genealogical and Historical Review of 1999 "The Cross and the Pear Tree" - authored by Victor Perera who has written several books about his ancestors' global wanderings from medieval Spain throughout several countries in Europe to Jerusalem. Buy from my link to Amazon.com "Dicionário Sefardi de Sobrenomes" (Dictionary of Sephardic surnames) - in English and Portuguese - authored by Guilherme Faiguenboim, Paulo Valadares and Anna Rosa Campagnano - published by Fraiha Publishing House, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 528 pp, about $47. "This superb bilingual addition to the select library of essential books for Sephardic Genealogy has 528 pages divided into several sections. The first section, dealing with a brief Sephardic history and explanations of Sephardic onomastics is printed on 150 pages of glossy paper, beautifully illustrated and reminiscent of an "art book". The right hand page is in Portuguese and the left hand in English, which - though translated by someone for whom English is obviously not a first language - is quite enjoyable and informative. The remainder of the book, printed in non-glossy paper, consists of the dictionary of 17,000 Sephardic surnames. For this, the authors modeled themselves on Beider's Surnames of the Russian Empire, albeit with a few modifications necessitated by dealing with surnames written in a variety of alphabets and languages (instead of just Cyrillic), and covering a period of 6 centuries and 335 sources instead of the much narrower period and sources used by Beider. The dictionary section presents the surname, some spelling variants, geographical locations, type (patronymic, descriptive, etc.), meaning of, and sources where found. The dictionary does not include the rich individual biographic data and name variants occasioned by country and language changes due to the mobility of Sephardic Jews over the centuries as found in Abraham Laredo's landmark "Les Noms the Juifs du Maroc". That would have required several volumes instead of one. On the other hand, Faiguenboim' s book includes a much larger number of surnames difficult to find elsewhere and is a remarkable achievement for which we owe the authors a debt of gratitude. I would highly recommend this book as essential in any serious library of Sephardic genealogy books." From a posting by Jeff Malka on JewishGen 1/24/04 "Finding Your Spanish Roots" - authored by Dr. George Ryskamp "From New Zion to Old Zion, American Jewish Immigration and Settlement in Palestine, 1917 - 1939" authored by Dr. Joseph B. Glass "HaMadrij: Guia del Judaismo / Guide to the Values and Practices of Modern Judaism" authored by Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn and published by European Association of Jewish studies "Jewish Journalism and the Printing Houses in the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey" - authored by Gad Nassi and published by Isis Press in Istanbul, Turkey 2001. Nassi lists over 20 Jewish newspapers in Izmir, with the names of their editors or principals. "Ladino-English / English-Ladino Concise Encyclopedic Dictionary (Judeo-Spanish)" - authored by Dr. Elli Kohen and Dahlia Kohen-Gordon and published in 2000 by Hippocrene Books in New York "Les noms des Juifs du Maroc" - This article was published in the fall 1999 issue of ETSI. Index by names and places of the first 5 issues. "Sephardi Entrepreneurs in Eretz Israel" The Amzalak Family 1816 - 1918" Authored by Dr. Joseph B. Glass and Ruth Kark. Sephardi Federation of Latin American (aka FeSeLa). The organization was founded in 1972 as a part of the World Sephardi Federation and includes members from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela and the U.S. "Sephardic Genealogy: Discovering Your Sephardic Ancestors and Their World" - authored by Jeffrey S. Malka - Buy from Amazon.com "The Sephardi Heritage Vol. II: The Western Sephardim" - there is a list of surnames included in the book
My link to Amazon.com has pre-sorted titles relating specifically to Jewish genealogy for you. You can access this list by just clicking here > Jewish Genealogy Libreria Judaica
"One of the problems with Sephardic genealogy is that few people are aware of the immense resources available." Sephardic Last Names - to join click on this link "Networking can provide useful ideas and practical, applicable tools to 17th Century Conversos in Amsterdam 500th Anniversary of the forced conversion of the Jews of Portugal ANUSIM list - for those who know/think/suspect or are just interested in whether they have Jewish ancestors that were forced to convert under duress and kept Jewish practices to any extent. Another interesting site to visit is The Sephardim often used different family names for different children - whether to confuse the Inquisition or just to confuse us. So 3 sons of the same parents might have used different family names - maybe they all shared an alias and maybe not. There is a list for people who think, know, suspect or are interested in the descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews who were forced to convert in order to stay in the Iberian Peninsula. They have been called various names like Marranos, Conversos, Crypto-Jews, etc. The list is called Anusim, which is Hebrew for 'the forced' (i.e. forced to convert). To subscribe to the Ladino Komunita list and follow the 'users' link. The list is in Spanish, Portuguese and English. Ana Kurland is the List Owner akur@loc.gov Passover with the Anussim "Archives: the move of the Jewish cemetery of Fez, Morocco" - authored by Philip Abensur. This article was published in the fall 1999 issue of ETSI. Aur Torah Sephardic Minyan - about the synagogue. Religious Art and new books Aventuriel - site of the Jewish culture in Murcia, Spain in Spanish, but if you use Google, it will translate into English Basto, Captain Barros Ben Porat Yosef Sephardic Yeshiva - Bergen County, New Jersey. Sephardic Day School, Ladino, Hebrew Immersion, Ivirt b'ivrit, Spanish Jews, Ottoman Empire, Rabbi Bassous "Bibliography: The Sephardis of Romania" - authored by Michael Halevy. This article was published in the fall 1999 issue of ETSI. Bibliography for Anusim Studies - recommended books to read Brazil, Porto Alegre Sephardic Community Finding our lost brothers and sisters - The Crypto Jews of Brazil Cemeteries in London - all, including Sephardic Conversos - refers to Jews who either chose (or were coerced by the Spanish Government in 1492) to practice Catholicism or be expelled - or face death. They were also called Marrano which when translated from Spanish to English means 'swine'. Conversos in Majorca are known as Chueta (i.e. pig)*. "Chueta" is based on the word "Jueda" which is "Jew" in Catalan, the dialect in that part of Spain. *Conversos - * Chuleta=chop (as in lamb chop) - Chueta=pork lard Converso Names Conversos Surfacing Among Southwest's Hispanics Guidance and Help for Conversos Online www.ezralanousim.org rabbi94@hotmail.com - Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn rabbidakunin@aol.com - Rabbi David Kunin rabbi@jpjc.org - Rabbi Rigoberto Emmanual Vinas www.saudades.org tav_22@yahoo.com - Sonya Loya Crypto Jews (Anussim) Crypto-Jews in the U.S., with members from all over the country, but in greater numbers from the western U.S., mostly located in California, Arizona and New Mexico. They meet annually. These are the ancestors of some of the victims of persecution from Spain and Portugal arriving in New Spain as the earliest settlers, keeping their secret traditions. Many of those of the last couple of generations never discovered their relationship until they were adults some now in their thirties and forties. There is a program for the study of this phenomenon at the U of New Mexico which has been in existence for a number of years. From a posting by Donald Cohen ofado@earthlink.net Cities with active communities of Bnei Anussim include Ruidoso, Carlsbad and Socorro, New Mexico; Denver and Pueblo, Colorado, Mexicali, Tijuana, Veracruz and Mexico City, Mexico, Guatemala City, Guatemala, Las Tunas, Cuba and Bogotá and Cartagena, Columbia. "Criptojudeus Portugueses, O Fim de uma Era" (edicao bilngue) - authored by Eduardo Mayone Dias and written in Portuguese Efrat - a settlement in the Gush Etzion bloc south of Jerusalem, is a town that has a number of Anussim. Eliyahu Birnbaum, former chief rabbi of Uruguay run a religious ulpan for students from the Spanish and Portuguese speaking worlds. Elizabethan Marranos Exposed Espasfarad - a forum (in French) dedicated to Sephardic and Spanish/ Portuguese researches ETSI - Sephardi Genealogical and Historical Society - http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/1321/ European Sephardic Institute Farhi Genealogy - The following site contains a Genealogy Database of the Major Families from the Ottoman Empire and beyond. A collection of historical facts about the Farhi families and General topics and personal documents as submitted by members of the Fleurs de l'Orient Gerona - this site, besides offering family history information about the Nahman family from Gerona, Spain has much Sephardic information, including Names of Jews from Toledo, Aragon, some Sephardic names, Converso names, Family Names from Torre Do Tombo Secret Archives: Portugal and more Halapid - The Society for Crypto-Jewish Studies High Holy Days Among Spanish Marranos Hispanic Genealogical Society of New York - can be contacted at Murray Hill Station, PO Box 818 New York, NY 10156-0602 Hispanics Hispanic Heritage Committee at Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York City - Mount Sinai Medical Center - Madison Avenue and 100th Street, Annenberg Building, Room 1201, New York, New York Hispanic Division, Library of Congress Institute for Marrano-Anusim Studies Iranian Sephardic Jews - there is/was a Sephardic community in Iran. They came via the Syria/Palestine of the Ottoman Empire, probably for commercial purposes. They generally did not inter-marry with native Persian Jews, although since there existed a very rich and very notable Jewish upper class of merchants, it could have been possible for economic and status reasons. The Sephardi Jews of Iran often have some very prominent genetic problems due to mixing within a limited population, both on the physical and molecular levels. Native Iranian Jews, having lived in this place for over 2,000 years tend to consider themselves very Persian ethnically and traditionally. From a posting by Menna siguiria@u.washington.edu 3-3-02 Jewish Agency for Israel TOP TEN; Britannica 2 STARS Jewish Language Research Website - wow, what a site! Here you will find: Bibliography of printed resources on Jewish Languages Jewish Language Heblang (Hebrew Language) Ladino Komunita (Discussions in Ladino) Sephardi/Mizrachi Studies Caucus Mailing List Hebrew Computing Jewish Computing - and the list goes on and on. Jewish Sephardic Genealogy Sources - first site on the web about Jewish Sephardic Genealogy. Gives sources, methods, archives, links, history, News lists, Genealogy forms and the ability to search for names. Webmaster is Jeff Malka Jews in Places - a web site that is dedicated to learning about the various Jews around the world -- their culture, their religious practices and their particular interests. A fascinating site at Jews, New Christians and Crypto-Jews of Portugal Kulanu - an organization that helps lost Jewish Communities Ladino - the language of the Sephardim (Jews who follow the traditions of those who lived in the Middle Ages - mostly in Spain, Portugal and Italy. Ladino Language - Ladino Folk Dictionary La Diaspora Sefadita - The Sephardic Diaspora Luso Web - Portuguese-Brazilian Conversos Marrano - Meaning of the Word Rescue of the Portuguese Marranos That Word Marrano Mexican Inquisition Documents Midrash Ben Ish Hai - a Sephardi organization in Great Neck, NY Mimouna Holiday - Moroccan Jewry Music - Sephardic and Ladino Flory Jagoda singing Ladino Historic Music of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in the City of New York - produced on a collection of three CD's by the Shearith Israel League, 8 W. 70 Street, New York, NY 10023; E-mail: sil@sailtd.com My Crypto-Jewish Self Nahmans of Gerona Names - I am attempting to create a list of both Ashkenazi and Sephardic surnames. If interested or if you wish to add a family name to my growing list, please see my Names Page. Ashkenazi Family Names and Spanish Family Names examples of names are displayed on this web site Benveniste Family - The Epstein family and the Horowitz family, both Leviim, are descended from the Spanish Benveniste family, which, after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, fled to Salonika. Further movements took branches of the family to many places in Europe and two distinct sub-families arose which took the surnames Epstein and Horowitz. It should be noted that these families, as others of Sephardi origin, merged with the local Ashkenazi communities and did not retain their Sephardi customs of prayer, etc. http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/02/17/JewishWorld/ Chaim Freedman on JewishGen posting of March 3, 2002. Recuerde que distingue entre mayúsculas y minúsculas) - Not sure what this means.
I am waiting for someone to translate this site which appears to be created by Felipe Aira. It is in Spanish, which unfortunately I cannot read and it also appears to require a password. Help! Sephardic Names The Newish Jewish Group (Formerly The Jews by Choice Group) Washington Metro Area - plenty of information here that deals with Sephardic subjects including Crypto-Jews Os Marranos Portugueses Ottoman Sephardim People Searching - Here is an incredible resource - Web Detective. This commercial site offers many methods of finding people and places and is well worth your time. Free search offer. RootsWeb.com offers a Sephardim Message Archives Sefard Forum - E-mail Discussion List for researchers of Sephardic Genealogy SefardSIG - Sephardic Genealogy Sephardic Sites - Holland Sefard Forum - E-mail Discussion Group for researchers of Sephardic genealogy Sephardic Blogs and Much More Sephardi Connection Discussion Forums - interactive Sephardic cyber community with 15 forums; Genealogy; Israeli/Middle East; Social issues; Languages and Literatures; Education and Research; Customs; Cuisine and more "Sephardic Genealogical Information available from Ottoman, Balkan and Levant postal history" - authored by David Sheby. Thirty-two figures (postcards, hand stamps, commercial covers, signatures in solitreo). This article was published in the fall 1999 issue of ETSI. "Sephardic genealogical investigations in Amsterdam" - authored by Vibeke Sealtier-Olsen This article was published in the fall 1999 issue of ETSI. Sephardic House - a nonprofit, cultural organization has many resources of genealogical interest including historical books and memoirs of people who originate from all parts of the Sephardic Diaspora. Sephardic Jewish Center of North Miami Beach - Congregation Magen David Sephardic and Sephardim Genealogy, Jewish Genealogy - here you will find links to Sephardic sites for Family Pages, Holland, Egypt, turkey, Greece, Israel, North Africa, France, Italy, Caribbean, Iraq, Mexico, South America and Anusim and Crypto Jews. This is a MUST site for anyone researching Sephardic Genealogy. At this site, you can find additional Sephardic information including many articles by Jeffrey S. Malka, Lawrence Feldman, Ph.D. and Dan Leeson and others. You can also find article links to Elephantine Island Temple in the Nile; Account of the 1492 Expulsion; and more Sephardic Genealogy Resources http://members.tripod.com/~anak/anusim.htm Sephardic Jewish Center of North Miami Beach, Congregation Magen David Sephardic Studies -Sephardic Studies Material Arranged by Country of Origin Sephardim - the Jews that came from Spain and their language, Djudeo-espanol, also known as Ladino Sephardim.com - a research tool for Sephardic Genealogy / Jewish Genealogy and offers the largest collection of Sephardic names and heraldry on the net Sephardi Web sites - Les Fleurs de l'Orient - Genealogy & Other Links including Sephardic Forum Sephardic Naming - "there is really no way of knowing whether a particular family is Sephardic or not just by last name or location" according to a posting on JewishGen dated March 3, 2002 by Leon Taranto LBTEPT@aol.com Shearith Israel - located in New York City is a Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue Smyrna - the graduates of the Alliance school of boys of Smyrna from 1873 to 1879 (with the full list of the 240 pupils who attended the school during this period) published in the June 2006 issue of ETSI, the Sephardi Genealogical and Historical Review Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies Soletreo (Solitreo) - comes from the Portuguese word 'soletrar' or the Austrian words 'soletrear' or 'solitrear' meaning 'to spell'. The Soletreo is a way used by the Jews from Spain to write their spoken language (Spanish and later Judeo-Spanish), with Hebrew cursive letters. It is different from Rashi characters, which are only printed. Posted 3/-4-02 by Mrs. Laurence Abensur-Hazan laurphil@wanadoo.fr "The Rabbinate, in Izmir, Turkey, keeps Marriage Registers (entitled "Cazamientos") from 1909 until today, written in Judeo-Spanish, Latin characters. Some of them, initially written in Solitreo (or Chatzi kulmus: Judeo-Spanish written with old Sephardic Characters of Rashi type) have been transcribed in Latin Characters." Translating
With this LingvoSoft smart dictionary software on your computer, you can easily switch between English and Yiddish, or any one of many languages) for prompt translations of 400,000 words both ways! Download Free Trial now Voices of Sepharad - Voices of Sepharad celebrates the rich multicultural world of Sephardic music, dance and storytelling. Phone 651 227 2583; email: info@voicesofsepharad.com http://voiceoftheturtle.com/instruments.html World Council of Conservative/Masorti Synagogues World Sephardic Congress Yiddish and Judeo-Spanish: A European Heritage - lots of information on this fascinating subject at Please let me know if there is a favorite link of yours that is not included in my site and I will be happy to add it to Jewish Web Index
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