WHO IS A SEFARDIC JEW TODAY?

 Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D

In the Jewish world today there are two major groups that are very different from one another: Ashkenazic Jews trace their background to Eastern Europe, and  Sefardic Jews to Spain. However, because in the US most of the Jews are from Russia and the Ukraine, there is a tendency to assume that the way they practice their Judaism is the authentic one. This is a big mistake, for there are many Sefardic Jews in the States and around the world that practice their faith differently. And here is a personal note: When I came to the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in 1961, the custom was for rabbinic students to lead the daily services in Ashkenazic Hebrew. When my turn came, I told Dr. Nelson Glueck, the president, that I was a Sefardic Jew from Turkey and did not know how to read the Hebrew prayers in Ashkenazic. He said: “for you I will a make an exception,” and I led the morning services in Sefardic. From then on, all my classmates followed my lead and soon the chapel practice was changed in favor of Sefardic Hebrew.  

The term “Sefarad” appears only once in the Hebrew Bible, in the writings of a little known prophet by the name of Obadiah. He probably lived in ancient Judah, in the 6-5^th cent. BCE, and in v.20, he mentions  “the Jerusalemite exile community of Sefarad,” most likely referring to Jews who lived in Asia Minor, which in Persian cuneiform texts is called “Saparda.” However, the Targum of Jonathan (probably 2^nd cent CE), placed Sefarad in Spain. And, for centuries, Spain has been called Sefarad in Jewish texts.

So, technically speaking, a Sefardic Jew is one who can trace his/her family back to those who were expelled from Spain in 1492, after having lived in the country for more than 700 years, and having created an incredibly rich Jewish culture with luminaries such as Ibn Ezra (d.1167), Nahmanides (d.1270) or Maimonides (d. 1204). After 1492, Jews migrated  slowly but surely back to north Africa, but also to many parts of Europe, the Balkans, and various places in the Ottoman Empire, where Jews were openly welcomed. It is even reported that the Ottoman sultan Beyazid II (1447-1512) had said: “You call Ferdinand (who, along his wife, Isabella, signed the edict of expulsion) a wise king? He made his country poor and enriched mine?”

The Jewish world is not monolithic. Even Ashkenazic Jews who speak Yiddish , a type of medieval German, are divided into two sub-groups, namely, Litvaks and Galizianers. Sefardic Jews also have their own sub-groups. Those who left Spain brought with them, Ladino, that is, medieval Spanish, but they quickly adapted to the country of their residence and began to speak the language of their neighbors, such as Arabic in many Moslem countries (“Edot Hamizrah”) as well as Ladino in many parts of Europe and in the old Ottoman empire, including Palestine, before the State of Israel was established in 1948. In fact, up until now, in Turkey, we  Jews spoke Ladino at home, Turkish in the streets but our cultural language was French. And then there are Persian Jews, Yemenite Jews or Jews of Bombay who did not originate in Spain but because their ritual pattern is closer to the Sefardic Jews, they too are deemed Sefardic in the Jewish world.

In the past, Sefardic and Ashkenazic Jews split on almost every aspect of Jewish life: they pronounced Hebrew differently, used different prayers, had different customs regarding language, life-cycle events, food, music etc. Just read the novel “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem” (2013) by Sarit Yishai-Levi to understand the animosity that existed in Israel between these two groups up until recent times.

Today, there are Sefardic Jews in every part of the world, including Israel-a large proportion- but also in Europe, in the Americas (including many Portuguese Jews), even in Spain. In fact, in 2015, the Spanish parliament, sighting the end of “centuries of estrangement,” unanimously passed a law, inviting back Sefardic Jews who were exiled in 1492. In our time, there is a greater number of intra-faith marriages between Ashkenazic and Sefardic Jews (mine included), and modern Israel, having adopted the Sefardic pronunciation of Hebrew along with the Ashkenazic script, is trying the bridge the gap. However, many differences still exist, and the modern world will need to accept that  Yiddish speaking Eastern European Jews are not the only authentic Jews in the world but that there are many Sefardic Jews who keep distinct traditions of their own. Jews are diverse, and this example is good for the world, because it compels us to respect others who are different from us.