The Velho Cemetery – London
Hidden behind buildings and walls is England’s oldest surviving Jewish cemetery. It was established after the 1656 resettlement. I visited there with congregant and friend Jack Shlomo. With wisdom he brought along a […]
Author Archives: shalommorris
Matot – Unifying the S and P
One of the most common refrains made by visitors to a Spanish & Portuguese synagogue service is that it doesn’t sound Sephardic. That invariably leads to a discussion about the […]
Bordeaux, France
Bordeaux is one of those Spanish and Portuguese communities that I’d heard about but had never quite understood how it fit in amongst the rest of Western Sephardim. That is […]
Nefuzot Yehuda – Bayonne, France
In terms of Portuguese Jewry Bayonne is somewhat of a misnomer. The Jewish community was actually based on the other side of the Adour River in what is called St Esprit (where […]
Basque Country – Following The Converso Escape Route
Basque Country is a unique and fascinating region. It preserves its own language – not like any other, though it straddles both sides of the French-Spanish border. Located just west […]
Catalonia – Barcelona and Girona
My recent trip to Spain reinforced my love of local history museums. Local museums typically orient broader historical developments around their own. In so doing they add new perspectives to historical developments that […]
The World’s Longest Running Synagogue?
I write this post in the hope of answering a question that I’ve been pondering for the past few months. What is the world’s longest continuously running synagogue? I ask […]
South Manchester – Sha’are Rahamim, Hayim and Zedek
South Manchester will soon be home to the first Sephardic synagogue constructed in England in decades. I received a sneak peek at its construction when I went to Manchester before […]
Beha’alotekha – Bevis and Brexit
As an American living in England, I’m often asked about Donald Trump. Now as a resident of England, my American friends ask me about Brexit. From the lack of city […]
My second ‘100 Days’ – Winter in London
Every city is unique, each with its own climate, ebb and flow, culture and pace. As a rabbi, it is important for me to understand a place’s character so […]
Shalom Says Hello 