Posts by Ian Pomerantz
109 posts
Dr. Anne Pardo, the mother of current Mexican President Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, relates her story of growing up in Mexico as a first generation Mexican-born Bulgarian Sephardic Jew.
The baroque continuo section (Italian triple harp, viola da gamba, harpsichord/kistorgel) as portrayed on the matseba of David da Rocha has been reconstructed in the Esnoga!
An excerpt of Rev. Dr. Sabato Morais’s sermon on Independence Day, July 4th/17 Tammuz, 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, months before the Gettysburg Address. An avid abolitionist and proponent of Abraham Lincoln and the Patriot’s cause in the War of the Rebellion then raging, the sermon Morais delivered at Philadelphia’s Congregation Mikveh Israel - Synagogue of the American Revolution was rep...
A Jew in early Florida which the American government traces to Morocco. Any information on this gentleman?
Dear friends,I can’t believe this is happening- but it is!On June 10, 2025, a unique musical event will take place at the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam: the modern Dutch premiere of the Hebrew oratorio Esther (1774) by Cristiano Giuseppe Lidarti, one of the leading liturgical composers of his time. This work, set to a Hebrew text by Rabbi Jacob Raphael Saraval, was originally written for Amster...
Here’s another piece of Mendes curiosa for sale, likely beyond my budget.
Well this is cool.
Notice the very modern commentary on host desecration that I highlighted in the brand new Jewish museum in Coimbra. 🫠
Does anyone know where Menasseh ben Israel’s Sefer Omri Nongam (1627) is located, which is supposedly the first printed siddur used by the Amsterdam Portugees Gemeente? I thought it was at Cambridge but I’m having trouble locating it in the catalogue.
Is anyone aware of any archeological or architectural study that confirms or refutes the idea that the structure in Castelo de Vide currently listed as a “synagogue” ever actually functioned as such? I have done a search for materials and have come up empty-handed, and the municipality won’t return my numerous emails.
Pedrimos a muestro Hakham. A remarkable man.Ke su alma repoze en Ganedén.
The question that I have been researching is; how do we faithfully reconstruct the musical forces that would have been in use at the Esnoga- especially to accompany singing- at its 1675 dedication and the years following? The least known element of this question concerns continuo. Payment records give very scant clues, and there is nothing directly notated in 17th- and early 18th- century scores a...
You may recognize at least two of these three gentlemen.
For those is the New York City metropolitan area, these two concerts may be of interest to you. We look forward to presenting our research.Eighteenth-century London was an especially cosmopolitan city and a relatively tolerant one, which led Jewish musicians from across Europe—from Sephardic, Ashkenazic, Italian, and Eastern descent—to move there. The Jewish community adopted musical customs of th...
Com pesar que comunico o falecimento do Sr. João Diogo, vice presidente da Comunidade Judaica de Belmonte.
Here are some interesting Ottoman period massebot in Cluj/Kolosvar, Romania. What is unclear is if they are in their original positions or if they were moved from elsewhere in the cemetery, or even from elsewhere Transylvania. Their position in a neat line near the gate and the fact that some of them are not right side up leads me to suspect the latter.
A question for the Americanists in the group- was American Jewish playwright Samuel B. Judah of German or Portuguese descent?
For those interested, I just released an album of Jewish art songs. Several of them are by Sephardic composers, including Léon Algazi, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Frieda Belinfante, and Darius Milhaud. I hope you enjoy.
What are the chances this Megilat Esther was actually read in a liturgical context?
Are there any records of the composer Leonora Duarte (1610 – c.1678) or her family that suggested that they ever returned to Judaism or had relationships with the Jewish community? She was supposedly baptized in Antwerp (I say supposedly because I’ve never seen the record), but much has been made in musical circles of her practicing Judaism either overtly or in secret, but I’ve never seen anything...
In case any of your have 20,000-40,000 USD to spare, here is an historically significant ketubah from the island of Faial in the Azores celebrating the marriage of David ben Abraham ben David Sabbah and Tamou bat Shalom ben Moses Abeaziz on Wednesday, 12 Nisan 5633 (April 9, 1873).
Picart’s illustration presents us with a tricorn hat worn along with the של ראש, which is significantly lower on the forehead than the position recommended in traditional sources: the natural hairline.
Picart’s illustration presents us with a tricorn hat worn along with the של ראש, which is significantly lower on the forehead than the position recommended in traditional sources: the natural hairline.
A Shavu’ot post:Over the past five years, there had been a leavened interest in Pan de Siete Cielos. Aside from a very specific community in Thessaloniki, do you know any other community with this tradition, or are we witnessing the invention of a tradition in real-time.