Posts by Raif Melhado
265 posts
Hard to say according to the other-than-Amsterdam pronunciation in our Minhag: Migbangot.
Does any of the synagogues in Melilla belong to our minhag?
One of my favorite booksellers has Jonathan Israel’s “Diasporas Within a Diaspora” for sale for only $80. I was initially asking him about it for me when I got back home and remembered I already had it. These are normally priced at Brill’s astronomical rates. $80 will be hard to beat, and I’d feel great about helping to complete a sale that I backed out of:https://www.ebay.com/itm/374455729265?...
Book review (2nd part in comments)“Once We We’re Slaves”Laura Arnold Leibmanhttps://www.amazon.com/Once-Were-Slaves-Extraordinary-Multi-Racial/dp/0197530478This book follows the lives of Sarah Brandon Moses and Isaac Lopez Brandon, siblings born on Barbados in the late 1790s. They were the “reputed children” of a Jew, Abraham Rodrigues Brandon, and Sarah Esther Lopez Gill, a multiracial Barbadian...
Well this is a sumptuously illustrated romp through Jamaican and Jewish history. It’s a fat tome for the home bookcase, but wow! Well worth it.For context, this is the Jamaican Jewish painter whose portrait of the Rev. Isaac Lopez is a favorite in our discussions of silk Talletot.
In another group someone is asking what the bride is called in ketubbot when it is her second marriage. Ton, could you post a few for us to look at?
Do we have a special name for the Shabbat between Kippur and Sukkot?
Joshua de Sola Mendes - you’re in a PJ library book!Now we can just unpack the plausibility of some of the things in the description.
In the Livornese “export” siddurim that were produced for the Eastern rites, there is a Simhat Torah song that builds up the alphabet forwards and backwards. 20 years ago I learned the melody from a recording that I heard of only half the song. But, as it is somewhat intricate as it progresses, I don’t entirely have the ending in my pocket. Anyone know of a recording of it?Alef beth gimel dalet ...
Gotta hand it to R. Leon Elmaleh of KKMI - this is pretty cool!
For today’s reading (such as is possible with four small children), I took up “Del Fuego: Sephardim and the Holocaust.” Brr…
A few years ago, I bought a copy of Henry S. Morais’s “The Jews of Philadelphia” (1898). Then this year, in a very rare find, I bought a beat-up copy that was signed by the author, and had it rebound. As a result, I find myself with an extra copy of a rare book that someone in this group may want.I’m happy to let it go for what I paid for it. In full disclosure, this book is in the public domai...
With a heavy heart and all my love to the Saul family, I am sorry to announce the passing of Fortune Gaguine Saul on the 28th of Tamuz at the age of 97.Fortune was the youngest daughter of Rabbi Shemtob Gaguine, author of the Keter Shem Tob. With her passing, she closes an important chapter of his living memory. She was also a phenomenon unto herself, commanding the respect and devotion of her man...
Was the first name “Marco” ever popular among our men? Either in 14th-15th century Iberia or in the WS diaspora? I have seen several PJ library books about us that give their male characters this name.
Oh yeah, that’s our number!
Over Shabbat, I got the chance to read the first four articles in Gerbers "Jews in the Caribbean."My first reaction is that if the rest of the book is as fun as the first part, this will be a great read. It really tries to come at the subject from a wide range of perspectives: from the Metropoles and the colonies, from communal history to historiography, from established scholars and people new t...
The editors of the “Vilna Shas” (1880-1886) thank an Italian copyist, Angelo di Capua, for transcribing old manuscripts from Sephardi and Italian scripts to a form that Ashkenazim could read.Does anyone have any information about his life? Or his photograph?
I’m getting back to Ben-Ur’s excellent book on the Jews of Suriname after reading the first half about a month ago. Many of her observations seem shrewd, and she adds a lot to the literature on this subject. Still, I found this comment somewhat implausible - am I missing something?She is discussing four ketubbot in which the bride and/or groom are called “meshuhreret” and “meshuhrar,” indicating...
So excited - back from the bindery. From 1894 and 1898, but now you can handle them as if they are brand new.
Anyone know where there is a recorded melody for Ruth in Judeo-Spanish? Acknowledging that this is off-topic but people here may know the answer:
Wow Stanford University Press is having an 80% off sale on select titles. There are a handful of interest to this group, like Bregoli’s “Mediterranean Enlightenment” which can be had hardcover for only $14, or Schrier’s “Merchants of Oran” which is less than $6 hardcover. I just tried it and it totally works. Just click the filter icon and there are about 50 titles in the sale.
Ugh just saw a gorgeous S&P Sefer for sale in the old style of writing. Too bad I’m a simple high school teacher and couldn’t hope to have $17K sitting around for a whim. I’d start an Atlanta S&P service in a heartbeat.
Food for thought based on the recent discussions of slaveholding among our people: there were several colonial era synagogues in the US: Shearith Israel, Yeshuat Israel, Mickve Israel, Mikveh Israel, Beth Elohim, and Beth Shalome. (Remind me if I forgot any.) Many built their first buildings with the help of donations from around the Caribbean Sephardi world, which must have included some funds...
I got a rare chance to do some reading over Shabbat, and devoured the first two chapters of Aviva Ben-Ur’s “Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society: Suriname in the Atlantic World, 1651-1825.” Take-always so far:1) This is my favorite kind of history, in which previously “received” beliefs about the factual past of a community are questioned and reevaluated, upending some of them. Ben-Ur even puts so...
For those among us who (like me, alas) have no Portuguese due to our many wanderings in other language communities, this looks like fun. Snagged it for under $10 with shipping in the “Seforim” group.