Evan Millner

It is interesting how similar the Greek tune sung here is to the one used at Bevis Marks - with a marked difference, however, in tempo. Of course, before the war, there were a great many congregations, each preserving the musical tradition of a specific locality in Spain. Most of this musical tradition has been lost. The question is, how 'Western' (un-Turkish) were some of the congregations in G...

This study recording of Ngal Hamihya על המחיה might be of use to some people. It is based directly on Rev. Halfon Benarroch's audio recording of the same.

This audio file in English and Ladino may be of interest to some:

I am currently making a recording of Benjamin Mussafia's Zecher Rab, which I will be publishing on my Latinum site. https://www.patreon.com/posts/17722763 For more background on this text, see http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11244-mussafia-musaphia-benjamin-ben-immanuel

Is anyone familiar with this list of Spanish and Portuguese sources, by Kayserling, published in 1890?

Mishnah Berachot is now completed. I hope some of you find this to be of some use.

Has someone started a project like the Analytical Bibliography of Neo-Latin texts online, but for the texts in the Spanish tradition? I know William Yehudha De Oliveira has made some efforts in this direction, but not as a formal indexed project.This would be really useful, especially as more and more of the texts and manuscripts are scanned and come online. Here is, for comparison, Dana Sutton's ...

What do people think about setting up a regular weekly google hangout for text study of a relevant S and P text? Or it could be done by topic, with different people hosting it each week? Another weekly hangout could be set up for teaching the musical tradition?

There appears to have been an Act of the Legislature of Barbados entitled "An Act Concerning the Vestry of the Hebrew Nation resident within this Island" governing the S and P congregation there - but this Act is not in the extant published Acts of Barbados - although there are several references to it in the Nidhe Israel Archives. I wonder what it actually says. Apologies for the poor image qual...

Some of you may be interested in this recent post I wrote about the Yitzchak Abendana Latin translation of the Mishnah. I found it curious that both brothers were working on Mishnah translations simultaneously - Kabod Ribbi Yaakob Abendana in London was working on a Spanish translation, while his brother Yitzchak up in Oxford was working on a Latin translation for Cambridge university. I rather s...

A current project I am working on: I used S&P pronunciation for the Hebrew section. People often surmise that the converso Jews did not know Hebrew - but the huge number of Latin-Hebrew publications seems to indicate to me that there was a ready market in Spain for such texts, and that I suspect Jews were ready consumers of such bilingual texts. Interestingly, Montanus was accused of 'Judaising' b...

Some Sephardic Scholarship:

Thoughts?

Does anyone here know much about Isaac Cardozo's Philosophia Libera (1673), apparently is a Jewish "version" of Gassendi, and an attempt to reconcile Jewish theology with Democritean atomism? Here is the google books reference:

Musings on S&P and kabbalah. On the subject of SandP and kabbalah - it is constantly reiterated that S&P tradition is anti-kabbalistic. I don't buy it. Too many important Spanish rabbis were kabbalists. Even so-called anti-kabbalistic rabbis appear to have embraced kabbalah. For example Jacob ben Aaron Sasportas who was virulently anti-Sabbatean, was also apparently a kabbalist of some note. You s...

Clarification from Halfon Benarroch about the rubric to not say Ets Hayyim when hashkaba us read at end on weekday shaharith..only refers to hashkabah of shibang after which kaddish is recired and not a regular hashkabah.

Here is the relevant section from Historia de riti Hebraici by Leo of Modena....my Italian is derivative from my Latin, so my understanding of it is approximate.

Regarding tsittsit, (with reference to the discussion below) John Allen, writing here http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=n4PHt3wHE9wC&pg=PA307 claims to be quoting Leo of Modena's 'Rites and Customs' when he says the following (see image) - and references the illustration displayed as illustrative of Leo of Modena's description of how a tallet is worn.

A free history book:

Here is an interesting historical article that highlights the enlightened approach of the Sephardim to secular education - it dates from 1856, and relates to the first attempt to set up a modern school for Jews in Jerusalem - at this time, the Sephardim were vastly (but vastly) in the majority, but the Ashkenazim tried hard to derail the project. vid. pg 347

Swaying during prayer - if you move during prayer at Bevis Marks nowadays, it looks odd - everyone stands stock still, and no-one sways, except for visiting Ashkenazim......yet here is an eyewitness account from 1868 that indicates it was once otherwise....http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G0IEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA74

If you happen to be in town this Friday Night you are welcome....no need to advance book, we always seem to have enough food to go around.......for more information on Jewish facilities in the East End of London, and information on how to find us, visit https://sites.google.com/site/jewisheastlondon/

Interesting snippet I came across today, from Allen's 'Modern Judaism' (1816)

http://guardiansofthemark.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/october-4-friday-night-dinner-at-bevis.htmlAfter a month's break, our weekly Friday Night Dinner is back on.Come and join our friendly family at Bevis Marks, relax and have a fun time with us. Enjoy our beautiful synagogue, and experience the refreshing change of our Spanish and Portuguese synagogue services.We ask that you give a small donation to...

Stumbled across this today: