I read a lot of books on the history of S&P communities (especially Amsterdam), many of the writers have a low opinion on the Jewish knowledge of the founders. "They were conversos, and therefor they knew nothing about Judaism..."This is surprising, as they had been conversos only for a few generations. Even today, after centuries of crypto-Judaism, Iberian anusim have kept relatively many Jewish customs.The Sephardic Yesiboth in Amsterdam had a good reputation, also Ashkenazim came to study there, as there own schools weren't nearly as good. Off course, many of the Hakhamim weren't themselves conversos.I can understand this attitude from historians, as this is not really within their field, but I have also heard Rabbis say things like "Spinoza went the way he did because his teachers were ignorant of Judaism".If/when we start the weekly "medras" in Jerusalem, I want to invite Hakham Yoseph Faur to give a lecture on this subject, he is probably the greatest expert on S&P Hakhamim/intellectual tradition alive today.