#Sephardim Jews

[jewishorchidist]

a sad story about a beautiful jewish culture; i recommend we all fall down this rabbit hole.

i think this is something we should spread awareness about as jews, because they aren’t the only ones who’s rich and unique traditions may be lost.

**EDIT: THIS ARTICLE IS FROM 2014

more recent wikipedia article

[hindahoney]

Cast of a Purim play in a Sephardic Jewish community, NYC, 1936

📷 credit: Center for Jewish History

[nonbinary-vents]

Argh I was looking at my eyes in the mirror and started thinking about how Jewish they look. And then I just started crying because like. I’ve seen my eyes in so many Jews, in so many eras. The same eye shape, the same heavier lids and under eyes and dark brown irises and slight slope and intensity and just. So many times and places and histories of our people, and I can see my eyes. And they are so, so beautiful

[sefarad-haami]

Adafina: The Classic Sephardic Sabbath Stew

🇺🇸 Adafina is a classic Sephardic Sabbath stew similar to cholent among Ashkenazi Jews. It was prepared before sundown to comply with Sabbath laws, ensuring a ready meal the next day. This slow-cooked stew combines meats, vegetables, chickpeas, and eggs, transforming these ingredients into a delicately textured and flavorful dish. The recipe emphasizes using organic ingredients to enhance the taste, with the key ingredient being time, as the long cooking period perfects the flavors.

🇪🇸 La adafina es un guiso clásico sefardí para el sábado, similar al cholent entre los judíos asquenazíes. Se preparaba antes del atardecer para cumplir con las leyes del sábado, asegurando una comida lista para el día siguiente. Este guiso cocido a fuego lento combina carnes, vegetales, garbanzos y huevos, transformando estos ingredientes en un plato de textura delicada y sabor exquisito. La receta destaca el uso de ingredientes orgánicos para mejorar el sabor, siendo el tiempo el ingrediente clave, ya que el largo período de cocción perfecciona los sabores.

🇮🇱 La adafina es un guiso klasiko sefardí para el Shabat, parecido al cholent entre los djidyos ashkenazis. Se preparava antes del eskurezimiento para kumplir kon las layes del Shabat, assegurando una komida lista para el día sigyente. Este guiso kochido a fuego lento kombina karnes, verduras, garvanzos i wevos, transformando estos ingredyentes en un plato de textura delicada i sabor eskisito. La rezetika sujere uzar ingredyentes organyikos para mejorar el sabor, siendo el tiempo el ingredyente klave, pues el largo peryodo de kochura perfecciona los sabores.

[leroibobo]

kadavumbagam synagogue in kochi, kerala, india. it's also known as the "cochin blossoms synagogue" for its floral details.

malabari jews trace their origins to jews who'd come to present-day kerala from the middle east from antiquity. the synagogue was renovated in 1700, but the original dates back to the 12th-13th centuries. it was said to have been built by jews who'd fled persecution to kochi's ernakalum district. the specifics of the story vary.

after a period of abandonment beginning in the 1970s, it was restored in 2018 by local josephai "babu" elias and is now in use again. it's currently the oldest functioning synagogue in india.

[chanaleah]

this version of Hatikva by Daniel Saadon appeared on my youtube home page and I was so grateful! this version is upbeat, celebratory, and while the original Hatikva is gorgeous, I also love how this one incorporates a Mizrahi sound and lyrics for the modern day while keeping the original lyrics. The music video is also a great watch.

I suggest everyone give this version a listen if you have not already.

[eretzyisrael]

Who are the Mizrahim? History 101

Where do Jews come from and what is the difference between Sephardim and Mizrahim? Loolwa Khazzoom gives this succint explanation for the Jewish Virtual Library:

A Baghdadi Jewish family

Regardless of where Jews lived most recently, therefore, all Jews have roots in the Middle East and North Africa. Some communities, of course, have more recent ties to this region: Mizrahim and Sephardim, two distinct communities that are often confused with one another.

Mizrahim are Jews who never left the Middle East and North Africa since the beginnings of the Jewish people 4,000 years ago. In 586 B.C.E., the Babylonian Empire (ancient Iraq) conquered Yehudah (Judah), the southern region of ancient Israel.

Babylonians occupied the��Land of Israel and exiled the Yehudim (Judeans, or Jews), as captives into Babylon. Some 50 years later, the Persian Empire (ancient Iran) conquered the Babylonian Empire and allowed the Jews to return home to the land of Israel. But, offered freedom under Persian rule and daunted by the task of rebuilding a society that lay in ruins, most Jews remained in Babylon. Over the next millennia, some Jews remained in today’s Iraq and Iran, and some migrated to neighboring lands in the region (including today’s Syria, Yemen, and Egypt), or emigrated to lands in Central and East Asia (including India, China, and Afghanistan).

Sephardim are among the descendants of the line of Jews who chose to return and rebuild Israel after the Persian Empire conquered the Babylonian Empire. About half a millennium later, the Roman Empireconquered ancient Israel for the second time, massacring most of the nation and taking the bulk of the remainder as slaves to Rome. Once the Roman Empire crumbled, descendants of these captives migrated throughout the European continent. Many settled in Spain (Sepharad) and Portugal, where they thrived until the Spanish Inquisition and Expulsion of 1492 and the Portuguese Inquisition and Expulsion shortly thereafter.

During these periods, Jews living in Christian countries faced discrimination and hardship. Some Jews who fled persecution in Europe settled throughout the Mediterranean regions of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire, as well as Central and South America. Sephardim who fled to Ottoman-ruled Middle Eastern and North African countries merged with the Mizrahim, whose families had been living in the region for thousands of years.

In the early 20th century, severe violence against Jews forced communities throughout the Middle Eastern region to flee once again, arriving as refugees predominantly in Israel, France, the United Kingdom, and the Americas. In Israel, Middle Eastern and North African Jews were the majority of the Jewish population for decades, with numbers as high as 70 percent of the Jewish population, until the mass Russian immigration of the 1990s. Mizrahi Jews are now half of the Jewish population in Israel.

Throughout the rest of the world, Mizrahi Jews have a strong presence in metropolitan areas — Paris, London, Montreal, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and Mexico City. Mizrahim and Sephardim share more than common history from the past five centuries. Mizrahi and Sephardic religious leaders traditionally have stressed hesed (compassion) over humra (severity, or strictness), following a more lenient interpretation of Jewish law.

Despite such baseline commonalities, Middle Eastern and North African Mizrahim and Sephardim do retain distinct cultural traditions. Though Mizrahi and Sephardic prayer books are close in form and content, for example, they are not identical. Mizrahi prayers are usually sung in quarter tones, whereas Sephardic prayers have more of a Southern European feel. Traditionally, moreover, Sephardic prayers are often accompanied by a Western-style choir in the synagogue.

Mizrahim traditionally spoke Judeo-Arabic — a language blending Hebrew and a local Arabic dialect. While a number of Sephardim in the Middle East and North Africa learned and spoke this language, they also spoke Ladino–a blend of Hebrew and Spanish. Having had no history in Spain or Portugal, Mizrahim generally did not speak Ladino.

In certain areas, where the Sephardic immigration was weak, Sephardim assimilated into the predominantly Mizrahi communities, taking on all Mizrahi traditions and retaining just a hint of Sephardic heritage — such as Spanish-sounding names. In countries such as Morocco, however, Spanish and Portuguese Jews came in droves, and the Sephardic community set up its own synagogues and schools, remaining separate from the Mizrahi community.

Even within the Mizrahi and Sephardi communities, there were cultural differences from country to country. On Purim, Iraqi Jews had strolling musicians going from house to house and entertaining families (comparable to Christmas caroling), whereas Egyptian Jews closed off the Jewish quarter for a full-day festival (comparable to Mardi Gras). On Shabbat, Moroccan Jews prepared hamin (spicy meat stew), whereas Yemenite Jews prepared showeah (spicy roasted meat), among other foods.

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[itskebb]

! DONT FORGET !

(Postcard of Mizrahi reading the Torah. Cant find much else)

Not all Jews are Ashkenazi so DONT TREAT US LIKE WE ARE!

! DONT FORGET !

! WE ARE JEWISH TOO !

(Moroccan Jews at a henna party wearing Kaftans and Berberisca. The Berberisca dress; or ‘Keswa El Kbria’ is a Moroccan Jewish wedding dress.)

[is-the-fire-real]

Taking Intro to Judaism is wild when you're converting to a Sephardic community.

We've had two classes in a row about kashrut. The Rabbi is Ashkenazi. He is also trying to teach us all the of the rules so we'll do fine before the biet din. So he's going down the list of stuff like "Probably no turkey, definitely no Fanta Naranja, no food from restaurants that aren't kashrut, milk and meat plates", etc. And again, I get it. He doesn't expect us to follow all of these rules all at once, we're just being educated.

But one thing I'm finding about Spanish Sephardim is that it's an even harder-core kind of diaspora. There's a broad tolerance for, or lack of observance of, food-related rules that I find fascinating.

Kitniyot are something we're expected to know about, but around here, you can have beans and rice during Pesach. During kabbalat shabbat, we were complaining about how it's impossible--not tricky, impossible--to get Passover wine while drinking plain old normal red wine the day after the Rabbi laid down all the rules about handling grapes.

The Rabbi was like "here look I carry a card with all the banned substances listed on it so when I shop I won't buy something with an insect- or blood-based preservative". Which is cool! But meanwhile, the cantor was like "holy shit, bro, how are you and your wife avoiding eating pork and shellfish IN SOUTHERN SPAIN, you are very serious about being Jews aren't you".

It just seems very Spanish to me (affectionate) to learn the rules and then shrug in their general direction because whatyagonnado?

Anyhow, I howled in agony over Fanta Naranja, but I think giving it up would be best anyway. Probably keeping turkey on the menu, though.

[askjumblr]

Hi! I recently tried cooking Mizrahi food (t'beet) for the first time, and it was delicious. Can anyone recommend more Mizrahi recipes for me to try? I'd love to find a cookbook or something.

.

[koenji]

Rachel Sofaer, Jewish actress in Kolkata, in the Bollywood classic 'Punarianma: A Life Divine' in 1932.

Her family of Baghdadi Jews had migrated from Iraq first to Burma and then India. When Rachel's father fell on hard times financially, he permitted his daughter to act under the name Arati Devi. She was accompanied to the set by her mother and married a Baghdadi Jewish man in 1933 at age 21, never again acting in a film. Her cousin Abraham Sofaer became a Hollywood character actor. x

[mizrahimayhem]

Applications are officially open! 🧿🍉🪬

We are Mizrahi Mayhem, a zine celebrating Jews from Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean. All proceeds from the sale of this zine will be donated to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. We accept submissions in the form of artwork, photography, poetry, recipes, short fiction, and testimonials (creative nonfiction) — so if you’re a Jew of Asian and/or African heritage and you have something to say, we highly encourage you to submit your work!

🍉SUBMISSION GUIDELINES🍉

🪬FAQ🪬

🧿TIMELINE🧿

[secular-jew]

North African Jewish Woman, likely to be Berber, of Debdou, Morocco.

[leroibobo]

the portugese synagogue in amsterdam in the netherlands. it was founded in 1675.

while most expelled sephardic jews headed to the maghreb, ottoman territories in the middle east and eastern europe, or european colonies around the world, a minority went elsewhere in western europe, mainly to england or the netherlands. the sephardic community in the latter became the largest and richest in europe during the dutch golden age. despite the netherlands' proximity to germany, they predate the arrival of ashkenazi jews to the country by about three centuries.

[chanaleah]

Timeline Of Efforts To Re-Establish A Sovereign Jewish Homeland In The Land Of Israel

credit to rootsmetals

written description under the cut

Infographic vertically detailing efforts to re-establish a sovereign jewish homeland in the land of israel, and which jewish communities initiated said efforts.

539 BCE - Effort initiated by Babylonian Jews

167-160 BCE - Effort initiated by Jews in the Land Of Israel

66-73 CE - Effort initiated by Jews in the Land Of Israel

351-352 CE - Effort initiated by Jews in the Land Of Israel

556, 572 CE - Effort initiated by Jews and Samaritans in the Land Of Israel

614-617 CE - Effort initiated by Persian Jews, joined by Jews in the Land Of Israel

9th, 10th Century CE - Effort initiated by Karaite Jews

1210 CE - Effort initiated by Ashkenazi Jews

16th Century CE - Effort initiated by Sephardi Jews

18th & 19th Centuries - Effort initiated by Ashkenazi Jews

Modern Political Zionism - Effort initiated by Ashkenazi Jews; joined by Jews from around the world

[sefarad-haami]

Yehoram Gaon

🇺🇸 Yehoram Gaon, born December 28, 1939, is an Israeli singer, actor, director, and media personality from a Sephardic family. He began his career in the Nahal entertainment troupe during his army service and gained fame with the musical "Kazablan." Gaon has produced nearly fifty albums, including Ladino music, and performed extensively. He starred in notable films like "Operation Thunderbolt" and entered politics in 1993, serving on the Jerusalem City Council. In 2005, he was voted the 27th-greatest Israeli of all time. His 1974 album "Romantic Ballads from the Great Judeo-Espagnol Heritage" introduced Ladino songs to Israeli audiences.

🇮🇱 Yehoram Gaon, nasido el 28 de dekiembre de 1939, es un kantador, aktor, direktor i personalidad de medya de Israel, de una familia sefardí. Empesó su karyera en la trupa de entretenimyento de Nahal durante su servisyo militar i ganó fama kon el mizikal "Kazablan." Gaon produjo serka de sinkuenta alvumos, inkluyendo muzika ladina, i aktuó extensivamente. Protagonizó filmes notables komo "Operacion Thunderbolt" i entró en politiká en 1993, sirviendo en el Konsejo de la Ciudad de Yerushalayim. En 2005, fue votado el 27-mo israeli mas grande de todos los tiempos. Su alvumo de 1974 "Baladas Romantikas del Gran Eredado Judeoespañol" introduzó kantikas ladinas a las audiencias israelís.