Foundations of Sephardic Spirituality
The Inner Life of Jews of the Ottoman Empire
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- $23.99
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- $23.99
Publisher Description
After the Sabbatai Sevi debacle, the Jews of the Ottoman Empire were reduced economically and politically. They were described as having been subjected to constant degradation by the Muslim population, and to anti-Jewish actions by the Christians of the Empire. To outside observers, the Sephardim appeared to be impoverished, powerless, impassive, and abjectly humiliated. Yet the self-perception of the Jews of the Ottoman Empire was radically different. They viewed themselves as descendants of Spanish Jewish nobility and maintained a rich inner life with absolute faith in God and their redemption by the Messiah. How did this oppressed and despised community maintain such a powerful sense of dignity and self-respect? In this fascinating work, Rabbi Marc D. Angel explores the teachings, values, attitudes, and cultural patterns that characterized Judeo-Spanish life over the generations and how the Sephardim maintained a strong sense of pride and dignity, even when they lived in difficult political, economic, and social conditions. Along with presenting the historical framework and folklore of Jewish life in the Ottoman Empire, Rabbi Angel focuses on what you can learn from the Sephardic sages and from their folk wisdom that can help you live a stronger, deeper spiritual life.
In this fascinating work, Rabbi Marc D. Angel explores the teachings, values, attitudes, and cultural patterns that characterized Judeo-Spanish life over the generations and how the Sephardim maintained a strong sense of pride and dignity, even when they lived in difficult political, economic, and social conditions.
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Despite the esoteric title, this exploration of Judeo-Spanish communities is more than a scholarly treatise. Angel, rabbi of Shearith Israel, the Spanish-Portuguese synagogue in New York, grew up in Seattle with Turkish-born grandparents who spoke Ladino (a form of medieval Spanish). He documents the historical foundations, cultural values and religious underpinnings of his own Sephardic roots. In the early 20th century, the Ottoman Empire was home to more than 400,000 Jews, making it the fifth-largest Jewish community in the world. Because these Sephardim felt little need to integrate into the larger culture, they maintained a language that dated back to the expulsion from Spain in 1492. They suffered abject poverty, discrimination, humiliation and political weakness. However, because of both internal attitudes and external factors, their self-perception was bolstered with faith in God, a belief in their own rich heritage and in their place in the world to come. Angel sprinkles his readable narratives with scholarly citations as well as superstitions, rituals, Ladino folklore, songs and sayings. This valuable historic journey demonstrates the "triumph of the human spirit," resolute in its optimism and dignity.
