Posts by Michael Waas
138 posts
Look at who showed up in the Times of Israel today. Congrats Aron Sterk for arousing such interest!
Another day, another Inquisition document with the difficult handwriting from the 16th century. I can read it partially but I am not interested in a transcription here. I am interested in the immediate family names. I think this might be a sibling of one of the extended maternal family of the de Pintos. Thanks! For the record, I can read that the parents were Joao (de Afonso?), and Violante Nunes....
I wanted to return to an old discussion about the de Pinto manuscript. I've been researching his grandmother Violante Henriques and her family, which, contrary to HP Salomon's thesis, show up multiple generations as Judaizing and so many cousin marriages that I've lost count in the span of 3 generations. In the manuscript, de Pinto states that his grandmother had a brother known as Antonio Henriqu...
Wonderful article (in Turkish) about the ongoing project in Tire to document the Jewish community. The picture used to headline this article has my g-g grandfather in it, apparently some of the music students were from Tire.
Another day, another genealogy request from the Inquisition. This one dates to 1570 and concerns a Tome Dias. I have the gist of it but would love anyone's general comments. I am particularly interested in the second half of the first page and the first half of the second page.
Would anyone like to take a stab at helping decipher this baptism? It's of Jean Vaiz Izidro, 1630 in Bordeaux. Thanks!!
This is an absolute crime. I fully expect that the authorities in Turkey will conveniently never find the vandals. Thank god Memo Kosemen had already documented the cemetery.
Anyone want to take a stab at this rather impossible script? It's the genealogy of an early prisoner of the Inquisition. Thanks!
Now for something properly termed Ladino. Beautiful editions of the Pirkei Avot in the direct Hebrew-to-Spanish translation. Some interesting linguistic findings too!
I'm reposting my call again to join our genetic study for those eligible to participate. Hi, I'm looking for potential participants to participate in our study of Western Sephardi paternal DNA lineages. Thanks to a generous grant, testing kits will be provided at no cost to the participants. Eligible participants are those who are direct paternal line descendants of the Western Sephardi community....
Hi, I'm looking for potential participants to participate in our study of Western Sephardi paternal DNA lineages. Thanks to a generous grant, testing kits will be provided at no cost to the participants. Eligible participants are those who are direct paternal line descendants of the Western Sephardi community. What is needed from participants is a paternal genealogy as best as you have it. The goa...
Jacob Rosen published an article on Avotaynu Online concerning Female given names in Damascus as derived from the sicil of the Sharia courts. It is an extremely valuable work as he has uncovered many examples of previously unsourced given names. One of the most interesting findings is the lack of a sizable Spanish influence as we see in other places around the Empire, thus suggesting that the Must...
One of the most important developments in the Eastern Sephardi world in the 19th century was the educational colonization by the Alliance Israelite Universelle. They succeeded where others failed in no small part due to the fortune of hitting the Empire at the height of Tanzimat.
Does anyone have access to a copy of "Die Marranen in Madrid"? I have some questions from it. If not, I'll just ILL it to the University of Haifa. Thanks!
I would love to read the report from the archaeologist!
Does anyone know what exactly became of the research notes of Zosa Szajkowski? Or if he even left any? Being as the Bordeaux parish archives are one of the few that aren't digitized, I would like to find out more information about the New Christians he pulled the names of in the Bordeaux community. Hag sameach!
Wow! Amazing! The Judaica Europeana project teamed up with the State Archives of Venice to digitize and make available selected documents from the 16th-18th centuries about the Jewish community.
My great-grandfather's younger brother Yosef Rebi was one of these soldiers who died fighting for the Ottomans there.
From last year...sounds like an amazing haggadah, Eliezer Papo!
Would anyone like to take a stab at navigating this bad handwriting on the kettubah? I think I got most of it but I want to check and see if I missed something. It's of Ribca Vaz to Isaac Meatob. Raif Melhado, any interest in taking a stab at it?
Ashley Perry, please contact me about this article that appear on your organization's website. There is something that needs to be discussed privately. Thanks.
Hi, does anyone have any knowledge of the descendants of the Judaizing De Nis (Dinis) family of Venice and Antwerp? I know one son Isaac ended up in Amsterdam for some time under the name Isaac Marcos. Florbela, do you know much about them from your work? I am curious to know what became of the family in the 17th century.
This continues an older article I posted before. Even though this is not quite part of the Sephardic Diaspora, this speaks to the syncretization and dialogue that occurred in the Sephardic and Mizrahi worlds. Important work being done here.