Bob’s review of The Jews of Spain: A History of the Sephardic Experience > Likes and Comments
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Yes, they were originally Spanish Jews, but they changed a lot over the next 500 years. And they weren't particularly "Western Mediterranean" because the Sultan of Turkey welcomed the Spanish Jews of the 1500s and so a lot of them settled in the cities and towns of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Syria, Lebanon etc.) They did speak Ladino and even now, at least you can hear Ladino songs on YouTube. I don't know how many people still speak it. Probably, as you say, "a few".
A large number settled in North Africa and stayed there till they migrated to Israel or France after 1949. They remained separate from the "original" North African Jews causing a rift among the Jews because of their feeling of superiority.
Great review of what sounds like a fascinating book Bob! Also liked your observations about the resentment that "successful minorities" typically arouse: so true.
Thanks, Gaye, I hope you're well. Funny that I've read far more books about Japanese history than about Jewish history. I guess it's because you feel, as you are part of it, that you want to know about things unseen that don't enter family/town life. And then I went to Japan at age 16, studied Japanese (not Hebrew) etc. etc.
Bob, A fascinating review of the book by Jane Gerber detailing "The Jews of Spain", quite definitely a people apart from other Jews. When Baruch Spinoza's family fled from Spain & then Portugal to the Netherlands, they were at times more accepted by the Dutch than by the Ashkenazi Jews who had a longer residency in Amsterdam & elsewhere in the Netherlands. Their culture & language was seen as "foreign" to other Jews, even as they shared the same religious background. Spinoza on the other hand was seen as a heretic within his own Sephardic community & expelled from his synagogue because of his interest in science & things forbidden to more adherent Jews.
Your comparison of the Sephardic Jews of Spain to the Asians in East Africa, the Chinese in SE Asia and the Armenians in Turkey, Iran & elsewhere is apt. Sometimes, it seems impossible for a minority community to completely adapt to a host landscape with its own inbred cultural traditions. Still, one guesses that there remain some residue of the conversos, Jews pretending to be Catholic & therefore "fully Spanish" within Spain today, as there were intermarriages over the centuries.
If you haven't read the late Yale Prof. Maria Rosa Menocal's wonderful book, The Ornament of the World. How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, I recommend it highly. It focuses on the inherent tensions of the 3 major religions within Spain prior to the reconquest & how they managed to forge relationships that were not universal but which transcended religious differences over many centuries. In any case, an excellent review! Bill
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the comments. I am aware of Maria Rosa Menocal's book, but haven't gotten hold of it so far (probably could get it via the library). Re. your comment on Spinoza--I am here, writing these reviews and talking with you because my paternal grandfather was expelled from his yeshiva in (what is now) Belarus because he refused to stop studying a chemistry book he'd acquired. He became an illegal immigrant in Konigsberg, East Prussia, and then came to New York. If he'd been a "good boy", I wouldn't be here.
About minority communities, I think they have to be racially or religiously different, otherwise, very often if not always, they do get absorbed. A lot of immigrant communities in the US, Canada, and Australia slowly disappear into the common citizenry but even if, say for example, Jews become Americanized to a great extent, if they keep their identity, they can't disappear like Polish, Italian, Irish, German, Scottish or Norwegian people can. Individuals can shed their identity, but if racially different, it's harder.
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Yes, they were originally Spanish Jews, but they changed a lot over the next 500 years. And they weren't particularly "Western Mediterranean" because the Sultan of Turkey welcomed the Spanish Jews of the 1500s and so a lot of them settled in the cities and towns of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Syria, Lebanon etc.) They did speak Ladino and even now, at least you can hear Ladino songs on YouTube. I don't know how many people still speak it. Probably, as you say, "a few".A large number settled in North Africa and stayed there till they migrated to Israel or France after 1949. They remained separate from the "original" North African Jews causing a rift among the Jews because of their feeling of superiority.
Great review of what sounds like a fascinating book Bob! Also liked your observations about the resentment that "successful minorities" typically arouse: so true.
Thanks, Gaye, I hope you're well. Funny that I've read far more books about Japanese history than about Jewish history. I guess it's because you feel, as you are part of it, that you want to know about things unseen that don't enter family/town life. And then I went to Japan at age 16, studied Japanese (not Hebrew) etc. etc.
Bob, A fascinating review of the book by Jane Gerber detailing "The Jews of Spain", quite definitely a people apart from other Jews. When Baruch Spinoza's family fled from Spain & then Portugal to the Netherlands, they were at times more accepted by the Dutch than by the Ashkenazi Jews who had a longer residency in Amsterdam & elsewhere in the Netherlands. Their culture & language was seen as "foreign" to other Jews, even as they shared the same religious background. Spinoza on the other hand was seen as a heretic within his own Sephardic community & expelled from his synagogue because of his interest in science & things forbidden to more adherent Jews.Your comparison of the Sephardic Jews of Spain to the Asians in East Africa, the Chinese in SE Asia and the Armenians in Turkey, Iran & elsewhere is apt. Sometimes, it seems impossible for a minority community to completely adapt to a host landscape with its own inbred cultural traditions. Still, one guesses that there remain some residue of the conversos, Jews pretending to be Catholic & therefore "fully Spanish" within Spain today, as there were intermarriages over the centuries.
If you haven't read the late Yale Prof. Maria Rosa Menocal's wonderful book, The Ornament of the World. How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain, I recommend it highly. It focuses on the inherent tensions of the 3 major religions within Spain prior to the reconquest & how they managed to forge relationships that were not universal but which transcended religious differences over many centuries. In any case, an excellent review! Bill
Hi Bill,Thanks for the comments. I am aware of Maria Rosa Menocal's book, but haven't gotten hold of it so far (probably could get it via the library). Re. your comment on Spinoza--I am here, writing these reviews and talking with you because my paternal grandfather was expelled from his yeshiva in (what is now) Belarus because he refused to stop studying a chemistry book he'd acquired. He became an illegal immigrant in Konigsberg, East Prussia, and then came to New York. If he'd been a "good boy", I wouldn't be here.
About minority communities, I think they have to be racially or religiously different, otherwise, very often if not always, they do get absorbed. A lot of immigrant communities in the US, Canada, and Australia slowly disappear into the common citizenry but even if, say for example, Jews become Americanized to a great extent, if they keep their identity, they can't disappear like Polish, Italian, Irish, German, Scottish or Norwegian people can. Individuals can shed their identity, but if racially different, it's harder.
I was surprised to read recently that there still are a few Ladino speakers alive in the world, so that connection to the Spanish world is still open