#sephardic culture

[adiradirim]

Sephardi bridal ensembles, displayed in the Quincentennial Foundation Museum of Turkish Jews (Istanbul) and the Synagogue of El Transito Museum (Toledo)

[sefarad-haami]

Universo cultural sefardí: tradición oral y kantes clásicos

🇪🇸 Emisión en Sefardí: El programa ofrece un recorrido completo por la música, historia y tradición oral sefardí. Se presenta un cuento de la escritora Matilda Koen Sarano, "El djueves de la necocherá", que relata con humor la preparación de comidas sefardíes. Además, se incluyen investigaciones sobre las comunidades sefardíes tras la expulsión de Sefarad y una serie de refranes transmitidos por generaciones. El programa también cuenta con kantes tradicionales y romances, destacando "Yo hanino, tú hanina" por Flory Jagoda, "Hero y Leandro" por Santiago Blasco, y "Kuando el Rey Nimbrod" y "Adio kerida" por Yehoram Gaón.

🇺🇸 Broadcast in Ladino: The program offers a comprehensive exploration of Sephardic music, history, and oral tradition. It features a story by writer Matilda Koen Sarano, "El djueves de la necocherá," humorously recounting the preparation of Sephardic dishes. Additionally, it includes research on Sephardic communities after the expulsion from Sefarad and a collection of proverbs passed down through generations. The program also features traditional kantes and romances, highlighting "Yo hanino, tú hanina" by Flory Jagoda, "Hero y Leandro" by Santiago Blasco, and "Kuando el Rey Nimbrod" and "Adio kerida" by Yehoram Gaón.

[rotzaprachim]

absolutely rocking ladino banger about cooking eggplants

[ibebizi]

Canta, dulçhe paxarillo, todo gala y todo brío, más galante y más constante que el sol bello a su apuntar, a su apuntar.

Pero advierte qué desvelos da el amor y crudos selos al constante y fino amante sin dexarle descansar, y descansar.

Passo firme my tormento con disgusto y sin contento, todo amargo y sin descargo de quien me quiere matar, quiere matar.

No se aduele quien me mata, siempre fiera y siempre ingrata, su contento es my lamento, su alegría es my penar, es my penar.

[nesyanast]

I somehow missed this gem of a show on Netflix that portrays Ladino-speaking Sephardic Jews in 1950s Istanbul!

[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.)

[leroibobo]

venice's levantine synagogue was built in 1541 for use by wealthy sephardim coming from what's today palestine, lebanon, and syria. the synagogue is located in venice's jewish ghetto, where italian, sephardic, and ashkenazi jews were sequestered. all of venice's synagogues were forced to close in 1917 to avoid an austro-hungarian invasion and remain inactive today.

[cicerobussytransplant]

in retrospective, a really weird thing about the sparrow were the not infrequent moments of diagnosing ancestry back centuries from looking at a face, as if that's normal, achievable or even a regular thought process. very weird almost mystical phrenology going on there ngl

[eliounora]

my oc dara drawn at lightning speed!

[jewish-vents]

Being non Ashkenazi in a country that isn’t Israel sucks so badly. I’m Mizrachi-Sephardi (I know it refers to Minhag at its core, but my family’s Israeli so we interpret these things more through a cultural lens), but mostly Mizrachi. The country I live in has barely any Mizrachi or Sephardi Beitei Knesset in it, and there’s also not much of a Jewish culture outside of Ashkenazi stuff. I want to connect to my heritage, but I can’t even go to the place that my Mizrachi side was built up, or we will literally get executed. I’m so tired of everything being so Ashkie centric in the diaspora, obviously there’s nothing wrong with Ashkenazi stuff but I just wish there was more of a movement for non Ashkie Jewish cultures. I don’t know, it just sucks that right now I can’t really feel comfortable in my community

.

[adiradirim]

From right to left: Beya Melamed; Bulgaria, 1890 - Jewish bride after the wedding; Turkey, early 20th century - Torah ark curtain made from a woman’s dress; Izmir, Turkey, 1929 - Wedding dress belonging to a Jewish family from Edirne, Turkey; early 20th century, gifted to museum exhibition in memory of Colombe Papo

Worn in the 19th and 20th century for weddings and other occasions by women across the Balkans and Anatolia, bindallı dresses were typically made of velvet in deep jewel tones. They were decorated with extensive gold embroidery of floral designs, which give this group of dresses their name, meaning thousand branches. This Ottoman-derived yet European-influenced style marked a transitional period between uses of traditional and modern western fashions.

The dresses - adopted from the surrounding culture as a fashionable item without any Jewish specificity - took on unique Jewish meaning through their use in the synagogue, where they became ark curtains, Torah mantles and binders, bimah covers, and the like, frequently with added dedicatory inscription. The donation of dresses and trousseau items by women to the synagogues created a personal bond between the women and the synagogue. The habit of donating these textiles to the synagogue endured long after the original embroidered bedclothes and dresses had gone out of fashion, and the transitional bindallı fashion thus remained alive in Sephardi synagogues long after the passing of the brides who wore the dresses.

[sefarad-haami]

Los sefardíes

Un sefardí es una persona que es un judío de España y Portugal, o un descendiente de esos judíos. Estos judíos vivieron en España y Portugal desde los últimos siglos del Imperio Romano hasta que sufrieron persecución y fueron obligados a abandonar esos países a fines del siglo XV. Los sefardíes inicialmente escaparon al norte de África y otras partes del Imperio Otomano, y muchos luego se establecieron en lugares como Francia, Holanda, Inglaterra, Italia y los Balcanes. Salónica (Tesalónica) en Macedonia y la ciudad de Ámsterdam se convirtieron en centros clave para las comunidades sefardíes. Los sefardíes que se mudaron generalmente conservaron su idioma nativo, el judeo-español (ladino), así como su literatura y costumbres. Se hicieron conocidos por sus contribuciones culturales e intelectuales dentro de las comunidades judías del Mediterráneo y del norte de Europa.

En cuanto a la práctica religiosa, los sefardíes tienen muchas costumbres rituales que son diferentes a las de los asquenazíes (judíos de áreas de habla alemana), pero estas diferencias reflejan variaciones en la tradición, no una división en sectas religiosas. A principios del siglo XXI, de un estimado de 1.5 millones de judíos sefardíes en todo el mundo (que es significativamente menor que la cantidad de asquenazíes), la mayor población estaba en Israel. El gran rabinato de Israel incluye tanto a un gran rabino sefardí como a un gran rabino asquenazí.

El término "sefardíes" a menudo se usa para describir a los judíos del norte de África y otras regiones que no tienen lazos familiares con España pero que han sido influenciados por las tradiciones sefardíes. Sin embargo, el término "mizrahíes" podría ser un nombre más preciso para este grupo.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Sephardi". Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 Feb. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sephardi. Accessed 3 May 2024.

[bijoumikhawal]

Karaites are not a were (there are probably around 50,000 of them today), and they aren't biblical literalists. Karaites still interpret the Torah. They do not try to read the most obvious meaning out of it (which is still interpretation), they try to read what would have been obvious in Antiquity (which is also interpretation). Community leaders may often be Ḥakhamim (scholars) who are consulted regarding the Torah, and in the past compiled volumes of different interpretations (most have been lost). However, the only exaltation they have, to my understanding, is as scholars, filling an advising role. Every Jew in Karaite Judaism is encouraged to study the Torah and interpret it. All interpretations are held to the same scrutiny. The interpretations I've read from Karaites can be very satisfyingly logical (such as the "Tekhelet is woad" argument).

They reject that the Talmud is equal to or above the Torah, and I've seen a few different opinions from Karaites about what that means. One person I've bumped into said you shouldn't consult the Talmud at all, but the stance on the official site for American Karaites is as follows: "Rejection of the authority of the Talmud does not mean that the Karaites consider it unlawful to consult it or to rely on it; it means only that they deny its heavenly origin and regard it as an original work of the Sages in interpretation of the written Torah, and therefore subject to the shortcomings inherent in any handiwork of mortal men uninspired by heaven." Not to be controversial or anything, but I agree with them on that point. Further, that which directly contradicts the Torah is to be discarded as a custom, which is a contention with some Talmudic interpretations.

The rejection of the Talmud wasn't done for shits and giggles- it was likely a political choice reacting to the introduction of Islam, or in reaction to the consolidation of power among rabbis and how difficult the Talmud and additional interpretations risked becoming to learn, preserve, and transmit. There's a reason Sa'adiah Gaon was praised because “Were it not for Sa’adiah, the Torah might have disappeared from the midst of Israel", and it is notable that he was also a major opponent of Karaites. We don't actually know, because figuring out the beginning of Karaite Judaism is hard- some say it was a dispute over the Exilarch position (which Karaites say is made up, and some contemporary sources lack mention of), we have a document from 641 (i.e. the previous century) mentioning Karaites in Egypt, some think they were connected to Philo, others to some other group. But you don't break off from a major sect of your religion for fun!

Further calling Karaites biblical literalists invites one to think of Christian biblical literalists, which really isn't the case. For example in some ways Karaite women have better protections than Rabbinic women- they can initiate divorces! And if necessary, a court could issue a divorce order by itself. Fundamentalist can be a more accurate term, but still implies something false- Karaites did not arise in reaction to modernism, secularism, liberalism, etc. Most religious scholars will tell you fundamentalism is a modern phenomenon. Karaites are a decidedly, very old community. Further, "fundamentalist", in most cases, is being used as a pejorative for Karaites, not intended as an accurate description. People who don't use eithef of these terms also like to use the word "extremist".

[ibebizi]

Escucha, pulida dama, escucha un rato y atiende, que es tu galán el que canta y el que por ty pena y muere.

El que se humilla atu sielo, cuyos finos pinçeles de la primavera hermoza no enmitan con sus claveles.

El que ya, desesperado, abista de tus desdenes, se considera difunto y bibe solo con verte.

Pues sy quieres darme vida, pues que tú la culpa tienes de naser tan hermoza, no me trates de tal suerte.

Allenta con la esperansa aquien rendido se ofrese, que no es justo que se diga el ser las hermozas crueles.

Lo piadoso y lo tirano es bien hecho que se obstente, que no es justo que ninguno y muera por solo el verte.

Que sy llego a mereçer, el que aquesta llama ardiente se mitiguen tus cariños, seré tuyo eternamente.

Y aun que yo meresca poco por lo mucho que mereçes, me servirá de disculpa el rendirme aty obediente.

Dispón de aqueste cautivo tuyo, lo que tú quizieres, que será gran d[ic]ha mía el hazer lo que tú me ordenes.

Mándame que mude los montes y que alas fieras sujete, que todo me será fásil no mandando que te dexe.

Y sy fiera determinas no queres corresponderme, en tanto mar de suspiros my esperansa se anegue.

Lleve el mar mis desvaríos, el viento mis ayes lleve, abraze el fuego mis ansias, por que un fuego a otro temple.

Mas ¡ay, qué tan raro insendio! pues sy eres toda de nieve, ny puedo ablandarte un punto ny puedo hazer que me queme.

Ny puedo tan poco dar treguas, my bien, de quererte, por que tus ojos divinos lo disponen de essa suerte.

Pues son imán de las vidas, lazo estrecho sy se advierte con que apriziona el amor poderozo, altivo y fuerte.

Sin que pueda no adorarte aquel que llegare a verte y solo será dichozo quien llegare a mereçerte.

Duélete deste aflixido que sabrá agradeserte con mil rendidas finezas la ventura de esta suerte.

Templa ya los rigurozos flecheros con que das muerte, depón lo humano de parte y aquy lo divido exerçe.

Çesa, my bien, de matarme y da prinçipio a quererme, que sy tú no me das vida, tengo segura la muerte.

Aty de mesma apelo, humilde, por que sentensies que quien busca lo seleste es justo hallar lo clemente para que rinda atus plantas los trofeos y laureles con que Cupido, amor niño, çiñe sus invictas sienes.

[nesyanast]

How beautiful is the Ladino ✡️ language! I read this song is common at Sephardi weddings, but this version gives it such an enchanting ethereal vibe to it. I can't stop playing this track on Spotify, my new song fixation of the week.