## *SEPHARDIC WORLD MEETING, 1 AUGUST 2021*## *WITH TIRTSAH LEVIE BERNFELD*## *BALKAN SEPHARDIM IN EARLY MODERN AMSTERDAM*Balkan Jewish refugees from war arriving in late 17th Century Amsterdam must have been astonished. Even though connected to the resident Portuguese Jews through ethnic‐religious bonds, they were entering an alien world.Most of the Sephardim of Amsterdam were conversos. They had been living as Catholics – outwardly at least ‐ for generations before returning to their ancestral faith. They were acquainted with the most modern European ideas, but had to be reintroduced to Judaism.Meanwhile, the eastern Sephardim from the Balkans had lived a Jewish life for generations. Most of them descended from Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 who had settled in the Ottoman Empire and North Africa. The chain of tradition in Judaism was never broken. Many had studied at famous yeshivot in the east and were well versed in Hebrew and Jewish sources, while to a certain degree they became part and parcel of the Oriental and North African culture as well.***Tirtsah Levie Bernfeld*** will talk about the experiences of the Balkan Jews upon their arrival in Amsterdam. She will focus on how the eastern Sephardim were received by the Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam and their absorption into the community.Tirtsah Levie Bernfeld, an independent scholar, lives and works in Amsterdam. She earned her PhD in Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She specializes in European Jewish History of the early modern period, concentrating in particular on social and cultural aspects of the Sephardi community of early modern Amsterdam. Her book Poverty and Welfare among the Portuguese Jews of early modern Amsterdam (Oxford: Littman 2012) won the National Jewish Book Award of 2012 in the category of Sephardic Culture.The meeting is on Sunday 1 August 2021 at 11am in LA, 2pm NYC, 7pm London, 8pm Amsterdam, and 9pm Jerusalem. Patrons can join us on Zoom. The link is shared at our Patreon page at: https://www.patreon.com/sephardi Everyone is invited to join us for free at: https://www.youtube.com/SephardicGenealogyAndHistory/ Please subscribe to the YouTube channel. It helps us a lot and reminds you when we are going live!Over the last year, Sephardic World has become the leading forum for learning about Sephardic history and genealogy. We have no commercial sponsorship or public funding. There is no charge to attend our meetings or to view our content. If you are not a patron and can afford it, please consider supporting our work: https://www.patreon.com/sephardi *Best wishes,**Ton and David**Sephardic World**Image: Collection of Hebrew poetry and riddles, copied by David Franco Mendes and Isaac Cohen Belinfante. Amsterdam, c. 1780. Collection Ets Haim, Amsterdam: EH 47 B 26.*