Sephardi

Definition

In the strictest sense, a Sephardi is a Jew original to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal: ספרד, Standard Hebrew Səfárad, Tiberian Hebrew {{unicode|Səp̄áraḏ}} / {{unicode|Səp̄āraḏ}}), or one whose ancestors were among the Jews expelled during the Spanish Inquisition incited by the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella (as codified in the Alhambra decree of 1492), or among the Jews expelled from Portugal in the subsequent Portuguese Inquisition (1497) by king Manuel I at the insitence of Isabella.

Related Topics:
Jew - Iberian Peninsula - Spain - Portugal - Standard Hebrew - Tiberian Hebrew - Spanish Inquisition - Catholic Monarchs - Ferdinand - Isabella - Alhambra decree - 1492 - Portuguese Inquisition - 1497 - Manuel I

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The name comes from Sepharad, a Biblical location {{ref|Obadiah}} that may have been Sardes but identified by later Jews as the Iberian Peninsula (and southern France).

Related Topics:
Sepharad - Sardes

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In the vernacular of modern-day Israel, the word Sephardi has also come to include the immigrant Jewish communities that were indigenous to the various countries of the Near East, most notably those of the Yemen, Iraq and Iran who are now resident in Israel, and have no ancestral ties to Spain or Portugal. Jews from these Near Eastern communities are also sometimes called "Oriental Jews" or the Hebrew equivalent Mizrāħîm, some of whom were once also referred to as "Arab Jews", a phrase that is rarely used today. (This article treats only Sephardim in the traditional sense, not this expanded Modern Israeli Hebrew definition.)

Related Topics:
Israel - Near East - Yemen - Iraq - Iran - Hebrew - Mizrāħîm - Modern Israeli Hebrew

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Note that the term Nusach Sefard or Nusach Sfarad does not refer to the liturgy generally recited by Sephardim, but rather to an alternative European liturgy used by many Chassidim. Sephardim traditionally pray using Minhag Sefarad, which is quite similar to Nusach Eidoth haMizrach (liturgy of the Eastern Congregations).

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