H/T Sephardic UpdateRabbi Henry Pereira Mendes BiographyI recently discovered an excellent entry on one of our great Sephardic rabbis written by another of our great Sephardic rabbis back in 1938 that has been made available for on-line downloading:http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/downloadFile.cfm?FileID=17670This short but very rich and revealing text written by Rabbi David de Sola Pool on Rabbi Henry Pereira Mendes provides a wonderful introduction to our recent history and is a panoramic view of Sephardic culture that shows its movement from Europe to America.I recommend that you print out a copy and study the many valuable details in the article.For more on the study of Sephardic culture and history I have put together a reading list that provides some of the most important books on the subject:https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/davidshasha/resources/davidshasha/MJ35YoKl4jI/Air9NGDONQsJIt is this history which has been lost to most if not all Sephardim who remain caught in a world where their identity has been reduced to ashes.For more on Rabbi Henry Pereira Mendes please see the special newsletter I prepared on his legacy and that of his friend and mentor Rabbi Sabato Morais:https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/davidshasha/mendes/davidshasha/owdIgkaZHys/yoRvE37LOI4J