The Sephardic Narrative

This lecture focuses on the courage, endurance, resilience and recovery of the
Sephardic Jews from 1391, when the first major pogroms occurred in Spain through
the expulsion of the Jews from the Iberian peninsula, first from Spain in 1492, and
then in 1497 from Portugal. It then traces the Sephardic Diaspora, to the Netherlands,
France, Italy, North Africa, and eventually throughout the Ottoman Empire. The
lecture continues the account through to the destruction of the last of the Sephardic
communities in the Balkans during World War Two and the (minor) resurgence of
interest in Sephardic Jewry in Israel and North America

 

Dona Garcia Nasi: The Great Sephardic Female Leader

The migration of the Jews after the expulsion in 1492 follows symbolically the life
journey of a remarkable Jewish woman, perhaps the first Renaissance Sephardic
woman leader. After her remarkable journey from Spain to Portugal to Amsterdam,
Dona Gracia devoted much of her life and substantial fortune to help the many
converses escape from the Portuguese inquisition and resettle in either Italy of
Palestine. The lecture discusses her life history and accomplishments of this
remarkable leader who transcended the rigid gender boundaries of her era.

Sephardic Music

Sephardic music played a pivotal role in preserving the Jewish tradition and
community. Songs in Ladino include three main categories of songs: some are
imbued with nostalgia recollected the lost idyllic life in Spain, which Jews had
enjoyed for centuries. Other songs were didactic, used to transmit the accounts of the
fathers of Judaism and the cycle of the religious year. Still others recount life cycle
events and the religious year. Many songs romanticize the idyllic life of the Jews
during the earlier relaxed and more tolerant era. The lecture examines the nature of
Ladino music and its role in communal life.

The Ladino- Judeo- Spanish Language

Jews from Spain preserved the Ladino over more than 500 years. After the expulsion
the Jews continued to speak it in the communities. The lecture discusses the origin
and the evolution of Ladino before and after the expulsion