Sephardic Jews

Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a <a href="/facts/Jewish_diaspora/E2Tc3qxx">Jewish diaspora</a> population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the <a href="/facts/Iberian_Peninsula/ztFXI8zt">Iberian Peninsula</a> (<a href="/facts/Spain/bIyrB8EY">Spain</a> and <a href="/facts/Portugal/lYzwDQ63">Portugal</a>) and their descendants. The term "Sephardic" comes from <a href="/facts/Sepharad/fjh5z6zz">Sepharad</a>, the <a href="/facts/Hebrew_language/hqKCSy9d">Hebrew</a> word for Iberia. These communities flourished for centuries in Iberia until they were expelled in the late 15th century. Over time, "Sephardic" has also come to refer more broadly to Jews, particularly in the <a href="/facts/Middle_East/8CD6pLWv">Middle East</a> and <a href="/facts/North_Africa/ItxQAfs7">North Africa</a>, who adopted <a href="/facts/Sephardic_law_and_customs/PPjhLBNg">Sephardic religious customs and legal traditions</a>, often due to the influence of exiles. In some cases, <a href="/facts/Ashkenazi_Jews/B9PIYy71">Ashkenazi Jews</a> who settled in Sephardic communities and adopted their liturgy are also included under this term. Today, Sephardic Jews form a major component of world Jewry, with the largest population living in <a href="/facts/Israel/dEe3IcaY">Israel</a>.
The earliest documented Jewish presence in the Iberian Peninsula dates to the <a href="/facts/Hispania/EYd2cv27">Roman</a> period, beginning in the first centuries CE. After facing persecution under the Pagan and later Christian <a href="/facts/Visigothic_Kingdom/hXFkz67j">Visigothic Kingdom</a>, Jewish communities flourished for centuries under Muslim rule in <a href="/facts/Al-Andalus/JTNmWTzP">Al-Andalus</a> following the <a href="/facts/Muslim_conquest_of_the_Iberian_Peninsula/8IwWDKTo">Umayyad conquest</a> (711–720s), a period often seen as a <a href="/facts/Golden_age_of_Jewish_culture_in_Spain/1wyhc2VB">golden age</a>. Their status declined under the radical <a href="/facts/Almoravid_dynasty/vkyHTAak">Almoravid</a> and <a href="/facts/Almohad_Caliphate/L9Xkck7b">Almohad</a> dynasties and during the Christian <a href="/facts/Reconquista/N1yFfeWf">Reconquista</a>. In 1391, <a href="/facts/Massacre_of_1391/eXAzELF6">anti-Jewish riots</a> in Castile and Aragon led to massacres and mass forced conversions. In 1492, the <a href="/facts/Alhambra_Decree/Wd7DNcUG">Alhambra Decree</a> by the <a href="/facts/Catholic_Monarchs_of_Spain/ge8uXJ5T">Catholic Monarchs</a> expelled Jews from Spain, and in 1496, King <a href="/facts/Manuel_I_of_Portugal/eTpIXP4N">Manuel I of Portugal</a> issued a similar edict. These events led to migrations, forced conversions, and executions. Sephardic Jews dispersed widely: many found refuge in the <a href="/facts/Ottoman_Empire/6QvfTRsg">Ottoman Empire</a>, settling in cities such as <a href="/facts/Istanbul/Xo1hzGWH">Istanbul</a>, <a href="/facts/Thessaloniki/o3BFhhPR">Salonica</a>, and <a href="/facts/%25C4%25B0zmir/CUkMRT28">İzmir</a>; others relocated to <a href="/facts/North_Africa/ItxQAfs7">North African</a> centers like <a href="/facts/Fez%2c_Morocco/yYpQPnpN">Fez</a>, <a href="/facts/Algiers/Cdk8BQl1">Algiers</a>, and <a href="/facts/Tunis/nmKNnW85">Tunis</a>; Italian ports including <a href="/facts/Venice/Xzc2uVDg">Venice</a> and <a href="/facts/Livorno/7Kj475D4">Livorno</a>; and parts of the <a href="/facts/Balkans/5Hy8ly0d">Balkans</a>, the <a href="/facts/Levant/uuJLt3Af">Levant</a> (notably <a href="/facts/Safed/5KIGF1ae">Safed</a>), and the <a href="/facts/Netherlands/y8xn5stT">Netherlands</a> (notably <a href="/facts/Amsterdam/Xdd393bz">Amsterdam</a>). Smaller communities also emerged in <a href="/facts/France/CxIeIKM3">France</a>, <a href="/facts/England/U9mE5bGL">England</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Americas/hEuUTL4K">Americas</a>, where Sephardim often played key roles in commerce and diplomacy.
Historically, the vernacular languages of the Sephardic Jews and their descendants have been variants of either Spanish, <a href="/facts/Portuguese_language/vr3Fwzw3">Portuguese</a>, or <a href="/facts/Catalan_language/W2uTbK8Q">Catalan</a>, though they have also adopted and adapted other languages. The historical forms of Spanish that differing Sephardic communities spoke communally were related to the date of their departure from Iberia and their status at that time as either <a href="/facts/New_Christian/hkskeg8V">New Christians</a> or Jews. <a href="/facts/Judaeo-Spanish/agC0XUvz">Judaeo-Spanish</a> and <a href="/facts/Judaeo-Portuguese/Y4p7C61o">Judaeo-Portuguese</a>, also called Ladino, is a <a href="/facts/Romance_languages/TMK4KHI3">Romance language</a> derived from <a href="/facts/Old_Spanish/PJjJbBDl">Old Spanish</a> and <a href="/facts/Galician-Portuguese/vJ9lKYzS">Old Portuguese</a> that was spoken by the eastern Sephardic Jews who settled in the <a href="/facts/Eastern_Mediterranean/RLpwLJyM">Eastern Mediterranean</a> after their expulsion from Spain in 1492; <a href="/facts/Haketia/W6dYGHw7">Haketia</a> (also known as "<a href="/facts/Tetuani_Ladino/rFVwWw4D">Tetuani Ladino</a>" in Algeria), an <a href="/facts/Arabic/A1e66hVV">Arabic</a>-influenced variety of Judaeo-Spanish, was spoken by North African Sephardic Jews who settled in the region after the 1492 Spanish expulsion.
In 2015, more than five centuries after the expulsion, both Spain and Portugal enacted laws allowing Sephardic Jews who could prove their ancestral origins in those countries to apply for citizenship. The Spanish law that offered citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews expired in 2019, although subsequent extensions were granted by the Spanish government—due to the <a href="/facts/COVID-19_pandemic/0xTsh7Ut">COVID-19 pandemic</a>—in order to file pending documents and sign delayed declarations before a notary public in Spain. In the case of Portugal, the nationality law was modified in 2022 with very stringent requirements for new Sephardic applicants, effectively ending the possibility of successful applications without evidence of a personal travel history to Portugal—which is tantamount to prior permanent residence—or ownership of inherited property or concerns on Portuguese soil.

Sephardic Jews open-in-new

Sephardic Jews