Vayetze -A Working Woman
King Solomon describes the ideal woman in his acrostic poem ‘Eshet Hayil (Proverbs 31:10).’ His female model, though, may come as a bit of a surprise. He describes her as a working woman, labouring […]
Tag Archives: Converso
Jews and the Great Fire of London
In all of the recent fanfare surrounding the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London (2-5 September), I didn’t hear any mention of Jews. That’s for good reason. Jews […]
Antwerp to Amsterdam – Escape and Esnoga
Amsterdam’s Portuguese Esnoga (Synagogue) was inaugurated on Shabbat Nahamu, August, 1675. Four men contributed the largest amounts towards the Esnoga’s construction. Among them was Isaac de Pinto. He was born […]
Tisha B’ab – The Expulsion and the Holocaust Today
The Expulsion from Spain is said to have occurred on the 9th of Ab. While it may have actually transpired a couple of days beforehand, the association is still apt. […]
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 […]
Ki Tisa – ‘Sin’ and the Western Sephardim
I used to think of the significance of Torah portion of Ki Tisa as being about the sin of the Golden Calf, and of how the people turned away from […]
The Sephardi Origins of the Dreidel
Whilst visiting Portugal this past summer, I was given a gift. It appeared to be a dreidel, though I was told that it was actually a Rapa, a Portuguese top […]
Lekh Lekha – The Secret of Circumcision
The practice of newborn male circumcision is synonymous with Jews and Judaism. The Torah records that the commandment of this procedure was first directed at Abraham and his family. Since […]
