11

What is sephardiC Culture?laura leIbman, reed college

Although Sephardim share Judaism’s basic beliefs and tenets, Sephardic culture maintains a distinct flair, developed during the long history of Jewish communities in Spain

and Portugal, as well as the experience of living as minorities in Muslim lands following the Iberian expulsions.

While most commonly Sephardim are defined as “Jews whose ancestors were exiled from Spain (Sepharad),”1 at times the term has been used to mean any non-Ashkenazi Jew. Portland’s Sephardic congregation Ahavath Achim originally served primarily Eastern Sephardim from Turkey and Rhodes whose ancestors had fled Spanish persecution and found refuge in the Eastern Mediterranean. Yet over the years it has increasingly drawn its membership from other non-Ashkenazi Jews, including Sephardim whose ancestors settled in Western Europe and Mizrachi Jews (Communities of the East). Eastern Sephardim share an Iberian experience with Western Sephardim and the experience of living in Muslim lands with Mizrachi Jews.

The Iberian legacy is crucial to Sephardim, whose ancestors were exiled from Spain and Portugal, particularly the influence of Spanish language and literature. While Sephardim in Western Europe used a more standard version of Spanish and Portuguese as Jewish languages, Eastern Sephardim used Ladino to foster their post-exile identity. Ladino evolved from the early modern Spanish Sephardic Jews brought with them post-exile and combined with numerous loan words from local languages. Like Yiddish, Ladino pronunciation and vocabulary varies among communities; however, Ladino still remained an important unifying force among Eastern Sephardim. Hence the Sephardic religious curriculum often included Ladino. As Sephardic scholar Rabbi Marc Angel explains, “Ladino was the language of their minds and hearts; it was the vehicle of their civilization and a way of life.”2

Ladino plays an important role in the Sephardic literary tradition as well. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many religious texts used Ladino to reach a popular audience. Likewise popular literature, songs, novels, and newspapers were written in Ladino. Ladino folktales about the trickster Joha, for example, entertained and educated people about communal values regarding “tolerance, moderation,

1 George K. Zucker, “Preface,” Sephardic Identity: Essays on a Vanishing Jewish Culture. Ed. George K. Zucker (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2005), 1.

2 Marc D. Angel, Foundations of Sephardic Spirituality: The Inner Life of Jews of the Ottoman Empire. (Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2006), 119.

h

seahorse fountain photo

The seahorse fountain–described as “an ancient, decorative monument with bronze sea-horses”–was a landmark in Rhodes’ Jewish Quarter, La Juderia, which had been home to Jews at least since the early 1300s. “As one walks through the streets of the old Juderia,” writes Rabbi Marc Angel, “one experiences the same buildings, the same colors and moods experienced by Rhodeslis since the Middle Ages.” The fountain gave its name to the square–the “Seahorse Square”–also called Square of the Jewish Martyrs (Plateia ton Martiron Evreon), dedicated to the memory of the1,604 Jews rounded up in the plaza and sent to their deaths at Auschwitz. Only about 150 Jews from Rhodes survived the Holocaust.

12

dignity, and honor.”3 Today the language persists even for non-native speakers via proverbs such as La muerte no konose ni riko ni povre (Death does not know the difference between rich and poor); Gudio bovo no hay (There is no stupid Jew). Sephardim did not only speak Ladino; they created a common world view through it.4 For some Sephardic Jews, speaking Ladino and being Sephardic are inseparable. “It’s my love of heritage and culture,” explains Ahavath Achim congregant Mark Abolafia regarding his attachment to Ladino. “The romansas, the songs, the melodies, the refranes, the lines that my papu used to say to me.”5

While Eastern and Western Sephardim share an Iberian past, Sephardim and other non-Ashke-nazi Jews share the legacy of living in Muslim lands. Muslims governed Iberia for eight centuries, starting in 711 CE. For Eastern Sephardim, this influence continued after the expulsion when they fled to Otto-man lands. The melding of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic cultures dur-ing the medieval convivencia (coex-istence) influenced Sephardic life. During the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry (the 8th through 11th centu-ries), in particular, “Muslim rulers encouraged a sophisticated cultural legacy that was distinctive from Islam, thus allowing Jews and other minorities to partake in this cultural legacy without feeling any pressure to convert.” Sephardic food and art exemplify the convivencia’s impact.6

The convivencia birthed Sephardic cuisine. Medieval Iberia’s convivencia melded foodways and created a cuisine with rich flavors. New eastern spices combined with garlic, herbs, vinegar, and garum (a pungent fish sauce) to produce a food that celebrates sharp, complex flavors. During the late medieval era, a second tradition arose featuring perfumed, sweet, and colorful foods infused with fragrant spices. Several items in the exhibit reflect the continued importance of sweets in Sephardic life, including the silver kucharera sets and dulces bowls. Muslims also brought specific foods to Iberia that would come

3 Matilda Koén-Sarano, Folktales of Joha, Jewish Trickster. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2003), 1, 10.

4 Angel, Foundations of Sephardic Spirituality, 119, 132-33.

5 Mark Abolafia oral history by Ivonne Saed for the Vida Sefaradí Project, September 30, 2013, transcript, p. 2. Oregon Jewish Museum.

6 Zion Zohar, “A Global Perspective on Sephardic and Mizrachi Jewry: An introductory Essay,” Sephardic and Mizrachi Jewry: From the Golden Age of Spain to Modern Time. Ed. Zion Zohar (NY: New York University Press, 2005), 6.

h Silver kucharera

rosalyn and sol menashe

13

to be seen as quintessentially Sephardic: rice, artichokes, almonds, oranges, saffron, caraway, and capers. Sephardim

passed along the convivencia’s culinary impact long after they left Iberia.7

Sephardic art represents a second way the convivencia impacted Sephardic culture. The new Muslim courts brought a rich tradition of silk fabric, ceramics, ivories, jewelry, and architecture to Iberia that connoted privilege, luxury, and prestige to other Iberians.8 Moreover like Iberian Jews, the Muslims took the second commandment, against making graven images, very seriously. Whereas the Visigoths’ Catholic art had regularly featured human or divine figures, Iberian Muslims primarily used geometric patterns, arabesques (scrolling vines,

lines, or flowers), and ornate calligraphy to decorate their art and architecture. During the convivencia Jewish synagogues, gravestones, textiles, jewelry, and luxury items began to employ this ornate style. This arabesque style gives Sephardic art an Oriental feel and often sets it apart from Ashkenazi art. Although Western Sephardim tended to abandon this style for the more subdued, plain style favored in Protestant Europe, Eastern Sephardim continued to develop the tradition of embellishment post-exile in Muslim lands. Several items in the exhibit such as the tablecloth and the silver filigree megillah scroll reflect this arabesque tradition.

Beyond the influence of Moorish food and art, Muslim rulers’ relative tolerance influenced Sephardic culture. Sephardic culture tends to tolerate difference and be more receptive to external influences. First, Sephardim have historically been more likely than Ashkenazim to harmonize religion with secular culture. Sephardic education reflects this harmony and has valued mastering both religious works and so-called secular subjects like poetry and philosophy. Consequently Sephardim have written many great Jewish philosophical texts and poems, forms they adapted to meet religious subjects. Second, because Muslim leaders often encouraged Jewish participation in society, Sephardim have historically been more active than Ashkenazim in secular politics. Third, this early multicultural training encouraged even medieval Sephardim (including Maimonides) to publish in vernacular languages like Arabic as well as Hebrew.9 Several exhibited items reflect Sephardic harmonizing of religious and

7 Laura A. Leibman, Messianism, Secrecy, & Mysticism: A New Interpretation of Early American Jewish Life. (London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2012), 182, 203-204. David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson, A Drizzle of Honey: The Lives and Recipes of Spain’s Secret Jews (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1999), 44, 82–3.

8 Jerrilynn D. Dodds, Maria Rosa Menocal, and Abigail Krasner Balbale, The Arts of Intimacy: Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Making of Castilian Culture. (New Haven: Yale UP, 2008), 18.

9 Zohar, “A Global Perspective,” 6-7.

Dulces bowls h

esther menashe perkel

14

g Isaac Cordova

silver filigree Megillah sCroll

Isaac Cordova, whose name is engraved on the brass pull, was given this silver

filigree megillah scroll when he left Megri, Turkey, after the First World War to

come to the United States with his wife, Rachel Benveniste Cordova, his mother

and two brothers. He would always read from the megillah during Purim services

at Ahavath Achim, where he served as treasurer for some three decades. After his

death in 1961, the megillah was passed to his nephew, Richard Matza. Although

additional details about this scroll are unavailable, it was often customary in

Turkish communities for the father of a bride to present an ornate megillah scroll to her

future husband. Courtesy of Richard Matza.

g Albert Menashe

red fez brought from rhodes

The fez was the customary head covering for men in the Ottoman Empire through the

early years of the 20th century. This fez, in red felt, was brought to Portland by Albert

Menashe. In the early 1800s, Ottoman rulers introduced the fez and outlawed

turbans as part of a modernization effort. A century later, in 1925, Kemal Ataturk

banned the fez in Turkey as part of his modernization reforms. Courtesy of Rochelle

Menashe Stilwell and Albert J. Menashe.

g

silver Siddur Case With sephardiC Siddur

This Sephardic siddur and lovely silver case are examples of hiddur mitzvah,

the enhancement of a mitzvah by using beautiful or the best things possible in its

performance. The great sage Rashi explains that if one has a choice of two items to be

used for a mitzvah and one is nicer than the other, one should spend one-third

more for the nicer item. The concept of hiddur mitzvah comes from Rabbi Ishmael’s comment on Exodus 15:2: “This is my G-d

and I will glorify Him.” OJM Collection.

15

secular traditions, for example Albert Menashe’s red felt fez shows how Sephardim interfused the religious requirement for men to cover their heads with local non-Jewish customs.

In addition to their distinctive cultural legacy, Sephardic Jews have separate minchagim (customs), interpretations of Jewish law, and prayer services than Ashkenazi Jews. Sephardic Hebrew pronunciation differs, as does their siddur (prayer book). Sephardim also have other distinctive customs. As Lou Menashe explains regarding names, “Our custom is that, when you’re married and your first child’s a boy, you name it after your father. In my case, my grandfather was Sam, so they named my brother Sam….At one time in Portland, there were five Sam Menashes….My brother Isaac, the second son, was named after my mother’s father, Isaac. There weren’t too many [Isaacs]… there were two or three Isaac Menashes.”10 Many exhibited artifacts similarly reflect Sephardim’s unique customs regarding holidays and life cycles. For example, Sephardim used the kucharera sets mentioned earlier not only for hospitality, but also as the mother of the bride’s traditional

10 Lou and Bernice Menashe oral history by Ivonne Saed for the Vida Sefaradí Project, July 10, 2013, transcript, p. 6. Oregon Jewish Museum.

Tablecloth h

judy malka

Before Judy Policar turned 16, her father’s mother, Sol Policar, appeared with spools of thread and a crochet hook, and began crocheting a tablecloth that was to be part of her granddaughter’s dowry, or ashugar in Ladino. When it finally reached its current size–60 by 91 inches–it was declared finished, and became another link in the chain of Sephardic tradition. Customarily, the bride brought items for the interior of her home to her marriage, and, as historian Gila Hadar notes in the Jewish Women’s Archive, “the custom of dowry indicates that the woman and her family expected her to have a home in which to place these objects.” In 1969, Policar married Yossi Malka, originally from Morocco, whom she met while both were living in Israel. She used the tablecloth for the first time at her first son’s brit milah, again at her second son’s brit milah, for both boys’ bar mitzvahs, and for their weddings. “Every time I put a little sign next to it saying that this was made by my grandmother,” she said, “and I feel like she is with us, in a way, with every use of this tablecloth.” Courtesy Judy Malka.

16

gift to the mother of the groom. Babies were often dressed in special circumcision outfits like the one in the exhibit. The ornate megillah scroll highlights a unique Turkish Sephardic custom: fathers passed megillot to their daughters’ grooms.11 In some instances, Sephardic traditions have been embraced by the wider Jewish community. For example, other forms of Judaism have borrowed from the Sephardic prayer book, and Israel adopted the Sephardic rather than the Ashkenazic pronunciation of Hebrew. Study of the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, once primarily the domain of the Sephardic Jews in Safed, is now prominent throughout the Jewish world.

The legacy of Iberia and living under Muslim rule continues to shape Sephardic culture and make it distinctive. The larger Sephardic community of Portland shares its experiences of Jewish exile with other Sephardim and non-Ashkenazi Jews throughout the world. Through maintaining and celebrating these cultural and religious traditions, members of Portland’s Sephardic community pass on a precious legacy.

Works Cited

Angel, Marc D. Foundations of Sephardic Spirituality: The Inner Life of Jews of the Ottoman Empire. Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2006.

Dodds, Jerrilynn D., Maria Rosa Menocal, and Abigail Krasner Balbale. The Arts of Intimacy: Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Making of Castilian Culture. New Haven: Yale UP, 2008.

Gitlitz, David M. and Linda Kay Davidson, A Drizzle of Honey: The Lives and Recipes of Spain’s Secret Jews. New York: St Martin’s Press, 1999.

Leibman, Laura A. Messianism, Secrecy, & Mysticism: A New Interpretation of Early American Jewish Life. London: Vallentine Mitchell, 2012.

Koén-Sarano, Matilda. Folktales of Joha, Jewish Trickster. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2003.

Zalman Shazar Center, “Sephardic Customs and Jewish Religious Rituals and Festivals,” Journey into Jewish Heritage http://www.jewish-heritage.org.il/ .

Zohar, Zion. “A Global Perspective on Sephardic and Mizrachi Jewry: An introductory Essay,” in Sephardic and Mizrachi Jewry: From the Golden Age of Spain to Modern Time. Ed. Zion Zohar. NY: New York University Press, 2005. 3-22.

Zucker, George K. “Preface,” Sephardic Identity: Essays on a Vanishing Jewish Culture. Ed. George K. Zucker. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2005. 1-7.

11 Zalman Shazar Center, “Sephardic Customs and Jewish Religious Rituals and Festivals,” Journey into Jewish Heritage http://www.jewish-heritage.org.il/ .

Copyright © 2014 Congregation Ahavath Achim and Oregon Jewish Museum.

Photographs by Christie Hazen, Pixel Light Studio unless otherwise indicated.Catalogue design by Ivonne Saed.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher.

Published byCongregation Ahavath Achim and Oregon Jewish MuseumPortland, Oregon

Printed in Mexico City, Mexico, on acid-free paper, by Grupo Stellar, SA de CV

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Congregation Ahavath Achim and Oregon Jewish Museum.Vida Sefaradí: A Century of Sephardic Life in Portland / Congregation Ahavath Achim and Oregon Jewish Museum.ISBN xxx-x-xxxx-xxxx-x (pbk: alk paper)1. Jews –United States. 2. Sephardim – United States—History. 3. United States—Oregon—History. I. Congregation Ahavath Achim II. Oregon Jewish Museum.