Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry: From the Golden Age of Spain to Modern Times / Edition 1

by Zion Zohar

Overview

Sephardic Jews trace their origins to Spain and Portugal. They enjoyed a renaissance in these lands until their expulsion from Spain in 1492, when they settled in the countries along the Mediterranean, throughout the Ottoman Empire, in the Balkans, and in the lands of North Africa, Italy, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, mixing with the Mizrahi, or Oriental, Jews already in these locations. Sephardic Jews have contributed some of the most important Jewish philosophers, poets, biblical commentators, Talmudic and Halachic scholars, and scientists, and have had a significant impact on the development of Jewish mysticism.
Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry brings together original work from the world's leading scholars to present a deep introductory overview of their history and culture over the past 1500 years. The book presents an overarching chronological and thematic survey of topics ranging from the origin of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry and their history to kabbalah, philosophy, and biblical commentary, and Sephardic Jewish life in the modern era. This collection represents the most up-to-date scholarship about Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry available.
Contributors include: Mark R. Cohen, Norman Stillman, David Bunis, Jonathan Decter, Yitzhak Kalimi, Moshe Idel, Annette B. Fromm, Zvi Zohar, Morris Fairstein, Pamela Dorn Sezgin, Mark Kligman, and Henry Abramson.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814797068
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	06/01/2005
Pages:	343
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 6.00(d)

About the Author

Zion Zohar is associate director of the Institute for Judaic and Near Eastern Studies at Florida International University, where he is also the chair of the President Navon Program for the Study of Sephardic and Oriental Jewry. He is the editor of Song of My People: High Holy Day Liturgy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Part I
1 A Global Perspective on Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewry
Zion Zohar
2 The Origins of Sephardic Jewry in the Medieval Arab World
Mark R. Cohen
3 The Judeo-Arabic Heritage
Norman A. Stillman
4 Judeo-Spanish Culture in Medieval and Modern Times
David M. Bunis
5 Literatures of Medieval Sepharad
Jonathan P. Decter
6 Medieval Sephardic-Oriental Jewish Bible Exegesis
Isaac Kalimi
7 Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah in Spain
Moshe Idel
Part II
8 Hispanic Culture in Exile: Sephardic Life in the Ottoman Balkans
Annette B. Fromm
9 Sephardic Jurisprudence in the Recent Half-Millennium
Zvi Zohar
10 Safed Kabbalah and the Sephardic Heritage
Morris M. Faierstein
11 Jewish Women in the Ottoman Empire
Paméla Dorn Sezgin
Part III
12 Early Modern Sephardim and Blacks: Contact and Conflict between Two Minorities
Jonathan Schorsch
13 Diversity and Uniqueness: An Introduction to Sephardic Liturgical Music
Mark Kligman
14 A Double Occlusion: Sephardim and the Holocaust
Henry Abramson
15 Sephardim and Oriental Jews in Israel: Rethinking the Sociopolitical Paradigm
Zion Zohar
About the Contributors
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Younger scholars have much to gain by their encounter with these brilliant essays especially where the authors generously gesture precisely to those lacunae in excisting scholarship that may prove to be the foundations of future careers.”
-Midwest Jewish Studies Association - Shofar Book Reviews

Editorial Reviews

"Younger scholars have much to gain by their encounter with these brilliant essays especially where the authors generously gesture precisely to those lacunae in excisting scholarship that may prove to be the foundations of future careers."

Midwest Jewish Studies Association - Shofar Book Reviews

Younger scholars have much to gain by their encounter with these brilliant essays especially where the authors generously gesture precisely to those lacunae in excisting scholarship that may prove to be the foundations of future careers.”
• Midwest Jewish Studies Association - Shofar Book Reviews

From the Publisher