Aron Sterk

Manuscript Siddur of Abraham Balenzuela. Abraham returned to Judaism too late to learn Hebrew so he wrote out the whole daily siddur in a transcription based on Spanish, so that he could follow the service.Note he refers to the lamps as 'januquillas' - cf. the inscription on the Amsterdam Pharar hanukiya (hanukilha).

http://mailchi.mp/083f59f7bee5/newly-released-material-shows-tens-of-thousands-of-jews-living-in-israel-long-before-the-balfour-declaration

A mapping of the synagogues of Salonica. I find it interesting that the Portuguese synagogues, all founded in the decades after the forced conversion of 1497 - no. 6 Old Lisbon (Yashan) 1510, no. 23 Portugal 1525, no. 32 Evora 1535, no. 15 New Lisbon (Chadash) 1536, no. 9 Yahya 1560 - are all somewhat marginal around the central concentration of 'Spanish' synagogues, particularly the first Old Lis...

I would very much appreciate help transcribing this document in Portuguese from London 1693

5000 but only *3* under the new law, and only 7.5 of applicants approved in Portugal. It may be the two fgovernments were not expecting the type of applicants they are getting ...

http://www.centrodehistoria-flul.com/abertura/call-for-papers-congresso-internacional-judeus-de-portugal-e-a-diaspora-judaica-luso-espanhola

The XIIth four-yearly European Association of Jewish Studies Congress will take place in Krakow, Poland next July. They have extended the deadline of the call for papers until December 17th. The EAJS conferences are always fascinating and the venue this year is particularly interesting from the Jewish perspective. It would be nice to know if members of this group are attending and what they might ...

Another morph on the ‘Marrano sausage’ myth. Botifarró is actually *catalan* blood sausage from the opposite side of the peninsula from Portugal. This story seems to go back to a 2010 article by a French academic but is a variant of a myth we have seen before here. No doubt this new story will get a life of its own and run in the world of internet fakes facts.

Newly discovered in Marsh's Library, Dublin a copy of one of the first printed books (an incunable) in Portugal - The book is in Hebrew and was printed in Lisbon in Portugal on 16 July 1489. It is currently 528 years old, and predates by three years Columbus’s voyage to the New World and the expulsion of the Jews from Iberia. The text is a Commentary on the Pentateuch (the first five books of the...

As if our good friend Ton Tielen doesn’t get enough questions ...

https://www.jta.org/2017/06/27/news-opinion/world/this-400-year-old-jewish-library-survived-hitler-and-the-inquisition?utm_content=buffera22fd&utm_medium=social&utm_source=jtafacebook&utm_campaign=social

In the Virgin Islands there is an inter-faith 'Hurricane Supplication Day' (a rogativo or rogation) at the beginning of the Hurricane season and a 'Hurricane Thanksgiving Day' at the end (3rd Monday in October). The Jewish community in St Thomas used to sing this Thanksgiving hymn, "O Hurricane" attributed to Benjamin Cohen Carillon, minister in Jamaica. It was sung by the Hazan Samuel Elias Levy...

I am posting this here in relation to the history of the 'Maranos' of Belmonte. In 1924 the Lisbon community wrote to the Sephardic Chief Rabbi in Jerusalem Jacob Meir asking for advice on how to deal with the 'anoussim'. His reply is quite surprising - "they should be circumcised and accepted without regard to the possibility that they will subsequently fall away from their Judaism"I am rather su...

Anyone seen this? A couple of red lights flicking here. I wonder where an expert in the anthropology of tourism goes with this?

Elvas discovers medieval 'synagogue'? Are they making it up for the tourist trade now?

For those whose interest in their Sephardi heritage is more than just genealogical this will be welcome news. I post this for information, not for discussion if the admins would like to block comments.

http://www.dn.pt/portugal/interior/nacionalidade-portuguesa-atribuida-a-713-descendentes-de-sefarditas-8730365.html

Prayer of the 'Portuguese Jewish Nation' on the death in 1751 of William IV Prince of Orange, first hereditary Stadtholder of the Netherlands - with some remarkable calligraphy

Olve Utne this is the print in question. In the JHM collection.

Responsible history and genealogy should be aware of the discourses it uses. This article shared by Reconectar Español is for me unacceptable. The racist premises underlying the supposed avoidance of 'mestizaje' is bad enough, but the approving of the blatant antisemitic trope "y no tanto la ganancia y el dinero como es para los asquenazis" - "[a defining trait] of Ashkenazis is pursuit of gain an...

This looks a fascinationf study. It is a pity I won't be able to afford it and don't have access to Brill online. Anyone have access?

The kina of 9 Ab (lament) Yehudah veYisrael, was written by Don Judah Yahya, who fled to Portugal in 1391 and was employed in the service of Queen Philippa of Lancaster. When the preacher Vincent Ferrer sought to preach against the Jews in Portugal he was told by the king, at the instigation of Judah, that he could only do so with a red-hot crown on his head!

A little living history - in Brazil Rabbi Haim Amsalem has been overseeing the conversion of the descendants of Portuguese Jews in Paraiba, north-east Brazil (formerly part of Dutch Brazil) and today performed the community's first Brit Mila. Muitos parabéns aos novos membros da Nação!

Tracey Brown, Director of Sense About Science added: “Genetics researchers are telling us that you are better off digging around in your loft than doing a DNA ancestry test if you want to find out about your family tree."

A cautionary story for those relying on commercial DNA tests. The Dahm triplets are genetically identical but according to the test have different ethnic origins ...