Posts by Michael Waas
138 posts
Upsetting news from the old Portuguese cemetery in Bayonne.
A great lecture to go to if you're in the London area on the 10th. Eliezer Papo will be giving it and I am sure it will be both informative and entertaining!
I know this topic has come up a fair bit but I wanted to share a short article I just wrote with some documentary examples inside regarding the history of Sephardic surnames, both pre-Expulsion and New Christian. The lists of examples are by no means exhaustive at all, they are just some easy examples to share.
I have a riddle for you and I have yet to solve it myself and I am not sure there is an answer.Let's say after a man is widowed young and his only child dies with mom, and he remarries several years later to a convert yet, by other data, he has fathered at least one, possibly three children in the meantime. And the data points to that he was having children with the woman who later became his wife...
This story shows up with Sephardim too. For example, my great-grandfather Americanized his name from Rebi to Reby. It didn’t happen at Ellis Island like my mother’s family had heard, it was just a simple vowel switch to Anglicize the name. It’s still a myth. This blog is a good reminder not to believe all stories you hear and to critically analyze each piece of evidence on their own merits.
This is an interesting grant program. Aron Sterk, Florbela Veiga Frade, Laura Arnold LeibmanPerhaps this could be a way to organize something with Torre do Tombo to help start saving a lot of the Coimbra and Evora Processos and Inquisition archives?
This is the presentation I gave last month in Lisbon at the Society for Sephardic Studies conference. In it, you can learn about how careful interdisciplinary approaches and microhistories can illuminate past.
I am pleased to share our article on Y-Chromosomal haplogroup, J-Z640. While the crux of the article is focused on ancient origins during the Bronze Age in the Levant, the Jews who belong to this haplogroup all show strong evidence for entry into Europe via Iberia during the era of al-Andalus. Consequently, there is predicted evidence of other subclades of Z640 entering Iberia with the Arabs so fo...
Ton Tielen is preparing to start his lecture here in Jerusalem for the S&P community here
I'm pleased to announce that my paper "From Tudesco to Portuguese: A case study on the Waas-Levie (Vaz Lopes) of Amsterdam" has been accepted for the Ninth Annual Conference of the Society for Sephardic Studies: Sephardi Jews between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, taking place this June from the 24-26 at the University of Lisbon. Did anyone else who submitted here get accepted?
This happened just the other day in Thessaloniki. The long fought for recognition of the destruction of the ancient Jewish necropolis of the city was brutally vandalized. Devin E. S. Naar captures eloquently what this means for those of us who are descendants of Salonika. The Aristotle University sits atop the ancient necropolis and it appears that even this memorial attributing its destruction to...
Several years behind schedule, but finally online, the Bordeaux Municipal Archives have fully digitized the parish registers of the city, including registers of the Portuguese Jewish community in the 18th century. Before the 18th century, the community was still ostensibly publicly Catholic. Happy hunting
The 9th Annual Conference of the Society for Sephardic Studies has extended their call for papers for this year's conference in June to January 23. I have submitted a paper for it and if you were thinking about it, you have a bit more time to submit. Hoping to see many of you in June!
The Inquisition of Coimbra operating on Spanish soil in 1626? Indeed. In the course of studying the notarial archives of Antwerp, I came across the following testimony, in front of notary Gilles van de Bossche, in 1626, regarding a Baltasar Carvalho. As it turns out, this Baltasar was an Old Christian and his crime was " impedir o recto ministério do Santo Ofício". Here is the link to his processo...
Recently, we've had a few posts connected to foreign rabbis who came to Amsterdam and looking for information about them within the archive of the PJC. This is one such example from my mother's family. The first doc, sent to me many years ago, is a dedication in Judeo-Spanish at the bottom to my ancestor Rabbi David "Davitchon" Angel, z"l. In it, it states that he went to Amsterdam in the year 561...
For those of you in the New York area, Hadar Feldman Samet is giving a very interesting lecture at the beginning of next month on the Sabbatean community. Her work is really interesting and she gives a very good lecture having seen her and met her at a conference. Definitely a lecture to not miss!
The Dahan Center has been uploading the sessions from the recent conference in Lisbon. This is my lecture on the Ma'aminim/Sabbateans of the Ottoman Empire. I am sure shortly that the lectures of Aron Sterk, Judith Cohen, Florbela Veiga Frade, Inês Nogueiro, and Sarina Roffe will be uploaded if they are not already.
The Salti Institute of Ladino at the University of Bar Ilan is now selling this very important set, published this year. In Israel, the price is 120 NIS including shipping. No word yet on any price for internationals. Needless to say, I will be purchasing this set as it is one of the most important contributions to preserving Judeo-Spanish and continuing its vibrancy and legacy.
This is a worthy CFP. Looking forward to submitting something, Eliezer Papo!
New two-volume set being published about Judeo-Spanish in Hebrew by Professors Nivi Gomel and Shmuel Refael. Looking forward to purchasing a copy!
Not Sephardic specific but since we get a lot of questions on here, this is an excellent initiative to follow. This looks to be focused solely on autosomal testing so for those of you looking to learn more, this is a good place to start.
FYI, the Spanish National Archives has a newer catalog searching tool that actually functions well (perish the thought!). Maybe I am slow on the uptake but this looks very new. Happy searching!
I am happy to announce a special project organized by Ton Tielen and myself. We would like to announce our pilot project, indexing the Amsterdam Notarial Archives for Portuguese Jews. The Amsterdam Notarial Archives are a rich resource, revealing details about the every day lives of Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam. Please answer the poll questions below. If you are interested in participating, expect...