The Sephardic Jews are the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula (modern day Spain and Portugal) for centuries before the 1492 expulsion of Jews from Spain. The word “Sephardic” comes from the Hebrew word for Spain, “Sepharad.” Sephardic Jews developed a distinctive liturgy and way of life that reflected the blend of Jewish and Spanish cultures. Today, the term “Sephardic” refers more broadly to Jews who follow the customs and religious practices of the Jews from the Iberian Peninsula.
Some key facts about Sephardic Jews:
- Before 1492, Sephardic Jewish communities thrived in Spain and Portugal for centuries, tracing their presence back to Ancient Rome. They contributed significantly to the intellectual, spiritual and cultural development of the Iberian Peninsula.
- Sephardic Jews spoke Ladino, a hybrid language mixing Hebrew and medieval Spanish. Ladino was written with Hebrew letters.
- Sephardic Jewish practice centers around the Sephardic liturgy, which has unique features like different festival prayers and hymns.
- Sephardic Jews emphasize coats of arms and family trees due to their history of living as prominent members of Spanish society.
- Sephardic Jews have unique food customs tied to the cuisine of Spain like paella and bourekas.
- After the Spanish Inquisition, Sephardic Jews dispersed across Europe, North Africa and the Ottoman Empire. Large Sephardic communities formed in Greece, Turkey, North Africa, Italy and elsewhere.
- Sephardic Jews follow halakha (Jewish law) like other Jews, but have different traditions and customs.
- There are approximately 3 million Sephardic Jews worldwide today, compared to about 10 million Ashkenazi Jews.
Origins and Early History of Sephardic Jews
The early history of Sephardic Jews in the Iberian Peninsula remains somewhat unclear. According to tradition, Jews have been present on the Iberian Peninsula since the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE. Some Jewish families in Spain and Portugal trace their history back to this period. However, the first substantial evidence of Jewish settlement in Iberia dates back to the early centuries of the Common Era. Historical evidence attests to Jewish communities in Spain and Portugal as early as 300 CE. Early Jewish settlers likely came from other Mediterranean communities in Italy, North Africa and the Middle East.
Under early Muslim rule in Iberia from the 8th to 11th centuries, Jewish culture and scholarship flourished in centers like Córdoba and Toledo. This period is sometimes called the “Golden Age” of Sephardic Jewry. The Sephardim became an integral part of the multicultural civilization of Al-Andalus. They made major contributions in the fields of Torah study, poetry, philosophy and sciences. By the 11th century, the Sephardic Jewish community numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
After the Christian Reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, the size and influence of the Sephardic Jewish community gradually diminished. There were intermittent outbreaks of anti-Jewish violence and persecution. For centuries, Jews faced increased pressure to convert to Christianity. The Spanish Inquisition, beginning in the late 15th century, ultimately led to the expulsion of all unconverted Jews from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1497. The Sephardic diaspora spread across Europe, the Mediterranean basin and the New World over the following centuries.
Distinct Customs and Liturgy
Over the centuries of relative isolation in Spain and Portugal, the prayers and religious customs of Sephardic Jews diverged from those of Ashkenazi Jews in central and eastern Europe. Sephardic liturgy has a more aesthetic, poetical style in comparison to the more legalistic Ashkenazic liturgy.
Some distinctive elements of Sephardic liturgical practice include:
- A different version of the Passover Seder
- Unique festival prayers, like those for the New Year and Day of Atonement
- Poetic hymns called “piyutim” that are interspersed through the services
- Distinctive melodies used during prayer and Torah reading
- Different order and variations in the wording of prayers
- Pronouncing Hebrew letters like “tav” and “kaf” differently
Sephardic Jews also developed their own style of Biblical cantillation for reading the Torah and Prophets in the synagogue. Sephardic cantillation has a more lyrical and ornamented sound compared to the Ashkenazi style.
Sephardic rabbis like Moses Maimonides also compiled their own guides to Jewish law (halakha) that in some ways differed from the Ashkenazi codes. The most well-known Sephardic code is the Shulchan Arukh of Rabbi Yosef Karo from 16th century Safed.
Cultural Traditions and Languages
Sephardic Jewish culture synthesized Spanish andHebrew elements. This Ladino-speaking culture produced unique styles of literature, poetry, architecture and visual arts.
Some other cultural markers distinctive to Sephardic Jews include:
- Ladino language – a Jewish version of Spanish with Hebrew letters and loanwords from Hebrew and Aramaic. Ladino was both spoken and used as a literary language.
- Love for Spanish and Portuguese family names and coats of arms as reminders of their history in the Iberian Peninsula.
- Cuisine influenced by Spanish flavors like olive oil, paprika and gazpacho. Dishes include bourekas, boyos de spinach and almodrote.
- Spanish-influenced melodies and instrumentation in Sephardic music.
- Architectural styles for synagogues inspired by Spanish and Moorish design.
Even Sephardic Jews living in the Ottoman Empire or North Africa retained use of Ladino and a Hispanic identity. However, following the Spanish expulsion many Sephardim adopted the languages of their new homes such as Greek, Turkish, Arabic and French.
Major Sephardic Communities and Diaspora
After the 1492 expulsion from Spain, Sephardic Jews fled mainly east to the Ottoman Empire, Italy, North Africa and other Mediterranean lands under Muslim rule. Pre-existing Jewish communities in these areas also became absorbed into the broader Sephardic world. Over the following centuries, major Sephardic diaspora communities emerged in places like:
- Ottoman Empire – Istanbul and other major Ottoman cities like Salonika, Izmir and Bursa.
- North Africa – Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.
- Italy – Rome and southern Italy.
- Greece – Corfu, Thessaloniki and other parts of Greece.
- Syria and Egypt – Aleppo, Damascus and Cairo.
- Portugal – Secret Jews in Portugal were called “Marranos” or “New Christians.”
- Netherlands – Amsterdam and other trading hubs.
- Americas – Caribbean, Latin America, New York.
Sephardic communities were generally well-integrated into the Ottoman millet system and economies of the Mediterranean region. Many Sephardic Jews rose to prominence in trade, medicine, scholarship and government service. However, shifting borders and alliances exposed some Sephardic communities to increased persecution and assimilation pressures in the late 19th and early 20th century. The worst example was the 1492-style expulsion of all Jews from Spain in the inquisition of 1492.
After the creation of Israel in 1948, many Sephardic Jews living across the Middle East and North Africa immigrated to the new Jewish state. Political instability and anti-Jewish policies in Arab nations during the 1950s and 1960s fueled this mass Sephardi immigration to Israel. Today, over half of Israel’s Jewish population has Sephardic/Mizrahi ancestry.
Sephardic Jews Today
There are an estimated 3 million Sephardic Jews worldwide today. The largest communities are located in Israel, France, the United States, Greece, Turkey, Mexico and South America. Contemporary Sephardic identity encompasses the descendants of Jews from medieval Spain and Portugal, as well as the preexisting Jewish communities where they settled in the diaspora. The majority of Jews from North Africa, the Middle East, Syria, Greece and Turkey self-identify as Sephardic.
Sephardic Jews generally have more integrated communities than Ashkenazi Jews. Intermarriage rates are higher among Sephardim in the Diaspora. Sephardim were historically poorer and less educated on average than Ashkenazim, though today socioeconomic differences have faded.
Since the mid 20th century, Sephardic and Ashkenazic communities have blended more through intermarriage and changing prayer customs. Orthodox synagogues may have both Sephardic and Ashkenazic services. However, Sephardic pride and consciousness of a distinctive cultural legacy remain strong among Jews of Spanish and Portuguese descent.
Though Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews comprise over 80% of world Jewry, several smaller Jewish ethno-religious communities also persist such as Yemenite Jews, Syrian Jews, Bukharian Jews and other Mizrahi groups. The diverse branches of Judaism all draw on the same spiritual roots while preserving their own unique traditions.
