Norah Babington

Which historians and researchers have the highest credibility and are the closest to the correct estimation of how many jews lived in Spain before the expulsion in 1492? And how many perished when fleeing? There are so many different numbers, depending on who you read. Aron Sterk? Ton Tielen? Anyone?

Would anyone here have any information or look into the origin of the sephardic last name Borda? (Seems also to be varieties of the name; Bordas, Bodenca.) Any information would be highly appreciated!

Is anyone in this group familiar with this novel,based on the life of Uriel Acosta? And if so, does anyone know of a translation to english?

This is, as many of you may already know, a statue in Palma at Mallorca depicting the cartographer Yehuda Cresques (1360-1410), also known as Jafuda Cresques, Jaume Riba and even Cresques lo Juheu. Son of the famous Abraham Cresques,also a cartographer and the author of the Catalan Atlas. My question is this: do any of you know or are interested in finding out if there is a connection to Cresques...

MADRID – A language still spoken by the descendants of Jews expelled from Spain 500 years ago is getting a helping hand from the Spanish Royal Academy to keep it alive.Ladino, a language taken abroad by Spanish Jews expelled from Spain in the late 15th century, uniquely preserves many elements of medieval Spanish, but some fear it is dying out.The Spanish Royal Academy has given it a lift by taki...

A TODOS NOSSOS IRMAOS, PREZOS PELLA INQUISICAOHere is a passage in the Yom Kippur mahzor, a misheberach "prayer for all our brethren confined by the Inquisition." The prayer incorporates a few words of Portuguese in the Hebrew - "to all our brothers arrested by the Inquisition."This particular Machzor is the Forms of Prayers According to the Custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews by Abraham de...

A TODOS NOSSOS IRMAOS, PREZOS PELLA INQUISICAOHere is a passage in the Yom Kippur mahzor, a misheberach "prayer for all our brethren confined by the Inquisition." The prayer incorporates a few words of Portuguese in the Hebrew - "to all our brothers arrested by the Inquisition."This particular Machzor is the Forms of Prayers According to the Custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews by Abraham de ...

Laura Arnold Leibman made me aware of the wonderful paintings done by Sara Texeira de Mattos , Amsterdam, (1814-1893), but I have not succeeded in finding any information about her background and development as an artist. Can anyone help?

Does anyone have any information about these two? Birthplace and year? Parents? Anything? If not, would anyone here feel the urge to see if they can come up with something? Thank you in advance! :) This what it says about them in Jewish Encyclopedia: Isaac Athias:Ḥakam of the first Portuguese-Jewish congregation in Hamburg, and after 1622 at Venice, where he died. He was a pupil of Isaac Uzziel, a...

I have no luck whatsoever in finding ancestors further back from a certain Perlina Saltoun Murad born in Cairo,Egypt 1930, deceased in Boston 1980. Would anyone here feel the urge to try if they can find a way to break through the wall that I have been banging my head on for quite some time? I am asking on behalf of my husband. Perlina is his grandmother She was buried at Sharon Memorial Park in B...

Is anyone interested in looking into this, all though it is a stretch; Could Antonio Lucio Vivaldi,yes the composer, come from a converso background? His father was Giovanni Battista Vivaldi (1655 – 1736) , a barber and violinist from Brecia,Italy. The name Battista occurs in the duchery records of Milano of jews using that name, and I believe, also in Venice.The name Battista has a strong,chris...

http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/britains-oldest-synagogue-receives-221000-lottery-windfall/

Anyone familiar with this site ?

Dear group! Me again. ;) I make this a separate post,since I want to share several photos, close ups of a familyportrait. I firstly assumed that this could very well be my fourth great grandmother born in 1768,Rebecca Ribca de Moses Tolano, but on second thoughts when studying the whole figure ,the style of her clothes come across as from an earlier time. So she could very well be her mother, Sar...

Dear group: I know this is probably a shot in the dark,but this is an original familyportrait in our possession,painted in Amsterdam. The frame is also original. Does anyone have any thoughts on the time it might have been painted,or any other information about this? (The portrait,as you can see,seems to be done with quite a stiff brush,so there is certainly not a "master " behind this work.) Th...

Could anyone help here? I am asking for a friend,where stories in the family claim that they came from conversos. She wishes to find people further back from these two or information about them that could shed a light on this question : Gerrit Adriaenszon van Geelmuyden ,1632-1701, born in Genemuiden, Zwartewaterland, Overijssel, The Netherlands - and his father Adrian van Geelmuyden,born ca. 160...

Does this look familiar to anyone in this group ? Supposidly from one of the synagogues in Amsterdam,18. century. Does anyone know what the significance of the two crosses with the crown over represents ?

Thanks for being included me in this group ! Looking forward. ;)