Origins of Sephardic Jewry Dr. Henry Abramson

Brief overview of the origins of Sephardic Jewry, from earliest settlement through the Visigothic period to the Muslim Conquest of 711.

[mrdasilver]

I'm a Brazilian-Italian/Portuguese of partly both Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish descent, and I couldn't be more proud of my heritage! 🇺🇸🇧🇷🇮🇹🇵🇹❤️🇮🇱

[robertshepherd]

I love your light-heartedness and modesty. Makes your brilliance shine all the more. your scholarship impresses and inspires me.

[susannahfox]

I was excited to listen to this lecture, having had a lifelong interest in this topic, even when I visited Córdoba and Toledo in 1970 and witnessed the artifacts of the peaceful coexistence of the three monotheistic faiths back in the day. However, the world has changed, and I have changed, since that long ago day. Since Jesus Christ IS the Messiah, (read Isaiah 53 for more insight), this changed the way I could receive your well-prepared lecture. There are some things I feel I must share with you regarding what you have taught here. Number 1 is, if Sephardic Jewry was so intertwined with the Islamic and Christian faith in Spain, why not study more on those subjects so as to present a more in depth look at the situation, instead of glibly riding over it? I can only speak to the Christian side of things, so, kindly permit me to share a few items. First, by the time Rome made Christianity it's official religion around 300 AD or so by Constantine, it had already begun it's sad decline into heresy and paganism which continues to this day. There is a big difference between Roman Catholism, and Christianity, as per the actual Bible and the scripture that came from Jesus and His disciples, not to mention the Tanakh and the Old Testament which is a prefiguring of the coming of the Messiah and moving from law to grace for salvation. The Old and New Testaments were presided over by Latin speaking priests who would execute people who even tried to understand scripture. So to say "Christianity" for RCC is not true. You also mentioned Paul as "trying to convert Jews" when, if you took time to read the book of Acts, and Galatians, just to name 2 books in the New Testament, you would find that Paul was "the Jew of Jews, a Pharisee, from the tribe of Benjamin, etc" who was converted on his way to Damascus to kill more Christians, by an intervention from Jesus Christ in a supernatural encounter who asked him "why do you persecute me?" Saul, later known as Paul, devoted the rest of his life to The Messiah, and specifically, was focused on the Gentiles for conversion. Peter was the apostle dedicated to the conversion of the Jews, which again, I direct you to the Book of Acts in the New Testament for more detailed information. I felt these items were important to pass on, since they are key elements in this story. Remember, those who have accepted Jesus Christ and follow His teachings (the younger brother) have been grafted into the olive tree of elder brother Israel. Shalom and Maranatha!

[RoseGlass]

I am here because I found out yesterday my father's last name is traced back to Sephardic Jews and I want to learn about my ancestors.

[dannysgluck]

Dr. Abramson, I enjoyed your lecture very much, but I feel impelled to point out the following. I am anything but an expert. My familiarity with Sufism and Islamic civilization is entirely connected with the fact that I follow meher baba; however, I believe that it is more or less commonplace, in Sufism at least, if not in Islamic civilization as a whole, to understand that the tradition of poetry about love and drinking is a spiritual enterprise in which the lover is the spiritual aspirant, the beloved is the almighty, the tavern keeper is the spiritual master, and the drunkards lying on the doorstep of the tavern are those intoxicated with the divine love which he dispenses. The most well known example of this type of poetry in the west is the Song of Songs. Also the rubaiyat of Omar khayyam is quite well known. The most famous Sufi poet like this in the Islamic world would, I believe, be Hafez of Persia. I think the poetry of rumi, who is better known in the west, is also in this tradition.

[AvnerRosenstein-ULTRA-LXV]

I have to agree with most of the comments. I have watched dozens of your lectures at this point and they are absolutely delightful. Sephardic Jewry has always interested me and fascinated me and this video just added to it seven-fold. I myself am also Ashkenazi.

I was wondering...even though I doubt you will ever see this comment but do you have a video like this on the origins of Ashkenazi Jewry?

Secondly, I was wondering why in more recent times Sephardi is also used for the Jews within Arabic countries and not the traditional word of Mizrahi? Is it literally because of Liturgy or due to the Sephardi chief priest in modern Israel was put over those communities there?

[sandraparradiaz]

Hi! I really enjoyed you cleared out a lot of doubts I had about my heritage, one thing it confused me a little bit is the fact that my grand grandmother was a Jew from France, her last name was Lavin and according to the family we are Sephardic Jews, another fact I came across during my investigation about it, was that even my last name Parra has a Hebrew meaning and it’s on the Sephardic Jewish last names. I was raised being a catholic which I never felt identify with, cause let’s be reasonable, nothing really makes sense there, the moment I knew I had Jewish heritage, and even before that I felt in love and really attracted to Judaism. I would like to convert, most important because something inside of me makes me want to restore the roots in the family and also leave that lie that hangs on it. Thank you for your video, as well, if you could answer my doubt about the Sephardic side in France, I would really appreciate it! Thank you

[motorhead]

Eshyshuk shtetl. Books on subject called "there once was a world". My cousins from Kovono ghetto. It is thought these Jews may have come up back door from Babylon maybe why there where Kararites were in Litvak . Great show. I listened to rabbi Wein for many years. You are on parr with him. Please do a show in Peter Berson group. Todah.

[hroman]

Even though it's 6 years old, this is such an interesting and informative lecture. As Crypto-Jews for over 400 years, it's amazing my family retained any vestiges of our Jewish Heritage. My family has emerged from the darkness, and we have embraced our Jewish identity. Hard to explain, but I feel complete.

[koobie]

I have recently discovered my Sephardi roots. It looks like my ancestors escaped Portugal to France and Britain. Then they lived in Britain firstly as openly Jewish and then crypto Jews for quite a few hundred years until they converted to Christianity.
It looks like we’re descended from António Fernandez Caravajal. Thank you for uploading this lecture 🙏🏼💖🌟

[kkkkkkk]

I’m Muslim and I love my Jewish people and I wish both Jewish and Muslims can live in harmony like they use to to and give eachother respect and value in the same government in Israel 🇮🇱 .. although the settlement in West Bank is not a nice thing to do... as when Jewish people who came to Israel or Palestine what ever u want to call it after ww2 Palestinians and Muslim brothers and sisters accepted them with love ... let’s get this love back

[gilbertomartinez]

Dr. Abramson, could it be possible to have you prepare a lecture on the Jews who fled Spain and settle in the New World even when they were violating an edict by which Jews were forbidden to cross the ocean? Thank you.

[VALENTNE]

Dr. Abramson, thank you for this lecture. I am Sephardi, living in Galilee, Israel. Today is 29 Elul 5781 and Rosh Hashanah begins in a only two hours. So, this will be the last lecture that I get to hear before the new year begins. Thank you for your work to help people understand aspects of Jewish history. שנה טובה

[shaniqueperez]

I'm Puerto Rican. My last name is Perez. My sons' last name is Nazario (from Nazareth). Their dad is also Puerto Rican and from the region of Ponce, Puerto Rico which is home to a rich history of Converso or Crypto-Jews. One of my son's middle name is Israel. And it genuinely never occured to me why Israel would be a family name of their Dad's family. I was born in New York and always attributed the pull Jewish culture had on me to that, never did I imagine that I am of Sephardic Jewish descent. I get my Ancestry DNA back next week and cannot wait to see it! Thank you for this video.

[alyssawilliams]

My grandmothers aunt (who raised her after her mother died) confessed on her death bed that she was Jewish, and told my grandmother never to tell people. She was very afraid of persecution. My grandmother was born in Mexico, but remembers strange looking furniture, and photos that didn’t look like Mexico. She said it looked European. My family by blood (dna test) says we are from the Iberian peninsula, with some Arabic. I would suppose we are Sephardi, but I have no idea how to trace things back. There is so little I have to go off of.

[Babygorl]

I'm here from my 23andme test, where I have a lot of Sephardic matches, most of which say their roots are from Syria and Morocco. I'm from the Caribbean and had no idea of any Jewish connection in my family. This is all quite interesting~

[avtaras]

24:30 It's actually well-established that Sepharad is Sardis (Sefardetis), in Western Anatolia. Tzarphat is Sarepta in Lebanon.

[steen]

As a Spaniard I have always been fascinated by the Sephardic culture. What a loss for Spain, what a shame. Thanks a lot for this very interesting lecture. I really enjoyed listening to you.

Your comments on how Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews reacted so differently to prosecution and stress was really revealing to me. It helps to better understand those two communities.

[EZRASH]

We are Jews from Aleppo, Syria and have many Spanish phrases and sayings and food in our culture, very interesting listening to your words,
the Jews from Spain who came to Aleppo in 1492-3 (they first arrived on Hannukah) still to this day light an extra candle every night of the Holiday in rememberance

[Kata_the_cat_lady]

I am from Poland and I just found out by genealogic tests that I'm about 20% sephardic. I am so excited to watch this great lecture!Thanks for sharing such a fascinating history Prof. Henry Abramson!