Sephardi Lives: A Documentary History, 1700–1950

by Julia Phillips Cohen (Editor), Sarah Abrevaya Stein (Editor)

This ground-breaking documentary history contains over 150 primary sources originally written in 15 languages by or about Sephardi Jews—descendants of Jews who fled medieval Spain and Portugal settling in the western portions of the Ottoman Empire, including the Balkans, Anatolia, and Palestine. Reflecting Sephardi history in all its diversity, from the courtyard to the courthouse, spheres intimate, political, commercial, familial, and religious, these documents show life within these distinctive Jewish communities as well as between Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Sephardi Lives offer readers an intimate view of how Sephardim experienced the major regional and world events of the modern era—natural disasters, violence and wars, the transition from empire to nation-states, and the Holocaust. This collection also provides a vivid exploration of the day-to-day lives of Sephardi women, men, boys, and girls in the Judeo-Spanish heartland of the Ottoman Balkans and Middle East, as well as the émigré centers Sephardim settled throughout the twentieth century, including North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. The selections are of a vast range, including private letters from family collections, rabbinical writings, documents of state, memoirs and diaries, court records, selections from the popular press, and scholarship. In a single volume, Sephardi Lives preserves the cultural richness and historical complexity of a Sephardi world that is no more.

Genres: Judaism, Nonfiction, History, Jewish

479 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2014

Reviews

[Omar Abu samra · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important work for those who interested in jewish history during the ottoman era

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very interested tidbits, but the sections translated/shared were often so short that even Cohen's attempts to give the reader some context didn't help alleviate the feeling of reading something fragmentary.

[Galya P · Rating 3 out of 5]

An anecdote-based narration with no structure at all.

[The Jewish Book Council]

Review by Randall C. Belinfante for the Jewish Book Council.