Michael Waas

I figure I'd throw out this question on here as well. Anyone familiar with any research work that might have been done concerning the movement of Persian Jewish families into the Ottoman Empire, specifically into Izmir? So far, the only answer I've gotten has been someone lecturing me that these people were not Sephardim, but Mizrahi, not helpful whatsoever...any leads would be great.

Anyone want to take a stab and see if you can read the kettubah? The solitreo-like characters are particularly difficult on this one for me. I have yet to see it but I am interested to know if the kettubah mentions siblings/parents (besides the fathers) of the Groom and the Bride. Thanks!

Georgina Marks, David Mendoza suggested I ask you. Do you know anything concerning Menasseh Mendes, one of the early important figures of the Bevis Marks community?

Who knew that Djudeo-spanyol actually has its roots in Roman "Ladinus"? (in case anyone can't tell, I am being highly crass and sarcastic, this is exactly why we formed this group in order to help educate and expand collaboration about Sephardic history, which for too long now has been suffering under Ashkenazic folk misconceptions)

Exciting news! The Israel Genealogy Research Association just announced that the database of males from the 1890 Ottoman Nufus (census) of Jerusalem has been published. It consists mainly of Sephardim but also Ashkenazim as well.

And this is the second, from 5488, the marriage of Abraham Vaz Lopes (his second) to Sippora, a convert. Thanks!

Hi, I am in the process of researching a family in the Portuguese community of Amsterdam. I wanted to see if anyone wanted to give it a try with me to understand the kettubot of one man, who married twice. This is the first one, from 5478 (1717), Abraham Jacob Vaz Lopes married to Rachel Jacob de Casseres. Thanks!

A very interesting paper on the genetic study of known Converso/Nuevo Cristiano communities in Iberia, specifically Belmonte and the Xuetas was just accepted for publishing a few weeks ago. You can read and access the paper here, on my cursory reading of it, I think the methodology appears to be quite sound and the results quite interesting:

Great pictures of ongoing conservation work being done on precious documents of the Esnoga that remain in Ets Haim Library in Amsterdam.

I am sharing this post published by the Israel Genealogy Research Association from today. The world of Sephardic researchers, academics, and genealogists is lessened today by the passing of Mathilde Tagger:It is with great sorrow that I write to inform you that Mathilde A. Tagger passed away this morning.Mathilde Cohen was born August 31, 1933 in Tangier, Morocco. She arrived in Israel with her mo...

Google Books can be quite the incredible resource (as Google is in general) for connecting us to books and manuscripts we might not otherwise have access to. One such book I came across records an interesting conversation between an ancestor of mine (S. T. Amario = Shem Tov Amarillo, Chief Rabbi of Korfu and Larisa) and Christianized Jewish missionaries from England. These books can be incredible ...

Since we have so far started with our focus on the Western Sephardim, I wanted to pull us further to the East with the Ottoman Sephardim. Today, I am sharing a picture that is near and dear to my family. The story of how the picture arrived to me is as interesting as the picture itself. This photo, taken in a Sarajevo photo studio in the 1870s, is of my great-great-great grandfather Rabbi David "D...

Ton. do you think this should be public? I think it might be better off as private.