The Séfarades (sometimes spelled sépharade ) constitute a branch of the Jewish people which follow the liturgical Judaïsme Spanish (in particular in the pronunciation of the words of the Prière S). They contributed to a significant degree to the Sciences and Al-Andalus technology with scholars like Maïmonide, Abraham ibn Ezra, Juda Halevi, Nahmanide, Solomon ibn Gabirol, Moïse of Leon and well of others.

Etymology

Séfarades draw their name from the Hebrew Sefarad which indicates the Iberian peninsula. This word is a Hapax, i.e. a term which appears only once, in the Bible and would indicate Sardes, the capital of the Lydie on the river Pactole, whose famous Crésus was king with bringing together of sonority with the Hespérides, nymph S of the Occident, is not excluded.

It is possible also to see in the word “séfarade” a bond with the Akkadien and especially the Arab safar (“voyage”), which one finds in safari in Swahili. Indeed, the idea of the perpetual exile, the Jewish wandering, the need for fleeing persecutions unceasingly can have produced a patronymic appropriation of the concept of voyage, of wandering (what this word also means in akkadien).

With the narrow direction, Sefarad which in Hebrew, wants to say Spain, indicates this country and the Juif S originating in this area.

In a direction more widened, the word gradually indicated all the Jewish communities practitioner the ritual forms specific to the Jews originating in Spain and Portugal. Those, after their exiles of 1492-1493, were indeed spread through the Mediterranean basin (and to a lesser extent through Europe of the North-West), influencing the local Jewish populations arabo-Berber. In Israel, the chief rabbi séfarade represents especially the Jews resulting from the old Arab countries, much more than those claiming itself of an Iberian origin increasingly diluted with time.

History

A new religious movement at the Berber ones of the Atlas, the Almohade movement directed by Ibn Tûmart, replaces the Almoravides; the king almohade Abd El Moumein occupies very whole North Africa. With Sijilmassa - in the South of Morocco - end takes what seems to be hitherto a Jewish autonomy since the Roman epoch.

Diaspora

Constrained by the Decree of Alhambra signed by the queen Isabelle the Catholic in 1492, to leave the Spain, Séfarades preserve nevertheless a language close to the Castillan of the 16th century that one names Judéo-espagnol and who knows dialectal alternatives which are the Judéo-Catalan, the Judéo-Portuguese and the ladino.

The Jews of Spain exile themselves primarily in North Africa, in the Balkans and in Anatolia then under the control of the Ottoman Empire but also in Italy. The Jews of the Portugal took it along towards the Netherlands. The séfarades also emigrate in the Nouveau World, they were the first Jews of America.

The Decree of Alhambra of 1492, person in charge of the expulsion of Séfarades of Spain remained into force officially until in 1967.

In the years 1950, the immigrants sépharades in Israel will be irradiated in mass (more than 100 ' 000 people) officially to prevent the Prophylaxie of a parasitic worm, causing serious damage and causing a very high mortality of this community.

Specificities

In addition to the differences in pronunciation with the Ashkénaze S, there exist minor differences in the programs of prayers and the way of practicing certain commands of the Jewish law.

external bonds

• ''' Jews in septentrional Africa ''' Ab. Cahen (Chief rabbi of the province of Constantine) - Printing works L. ARNOLET. - 1867 - 116 pages

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