The Sephardic Studies Digital Collection
The Sephardic Studies Digital Collection (SSDC) at the University of Washington serves as a bulwark against the loss of culture, language, and history. As the world’s first major digital repository of sources pertaining to the largely invisible yet historically significant Sephardic Jews of the Mediterranean world, the SSDC includes key books, archival documents, and audio recordings that illuminate the history, culture, literature, politics, customs, music, and cuisine of Sephardic Jews all expressed in their own language, Ladino. The artifacts offer Mediterranean views of major political, cultural, social, and economic transformations from the 17th to the 20th centuries articulated in a Spanish-based language utilized by Jews living in the Muslim world. In short, these texts challenge us to reconsider popular and scholarly assumptions about the relations between Jews and Islam as well as Europe, the Middle East, and the United States—past and present.
The SSDC also includes over 140 recordings of songs from the Benmayor Collection of Sephardic Ballads and other Lore. Professor Benmayor began recording these songs in 1972, for her PhD dissertation, and she published her findings in the book Romances Judeo-Espanoles de Orient [Judeo-Spanish Ballads from the Eastern Tradition]. These songs, known as romansas, were sung by Sephardic Jews who were born and raised in the former Ottoman Empire, mainly from Rhodes, Marmara and Tekirdag, all of whom immigrated to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century.
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The Benmayor Collection of Sephardic Ballads and Other Lore
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Over 140 recordings of Sephardic Jews who were born and raised in the former Ottoman Empire and who immigrated to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, collected by Professor Rina Benmayor beginning in 1972.
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Ballads of Classical Antiquity »
Ballads that derive from classical Roman and Greek history and legends.
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Biblical Ballads »
Ballads that tell a story from the Bible, using the romance form.
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Carolingian Ballads »
Ballads that derive from French medieval epic poems and legends of the reign of Charlemagne.
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Coplas »
Traditional Spanish four-verse poems.
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Folkcures & Traditions »
Traditional rituals for trauma and warding off the evil eye.
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Folktales »
Consejikas de Johá, or humorous trickster tales derived from the Turkish Nasreddin Hodja, who in Ladino became known as Johá.
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Historical Ballads »
Ballads that narrate historical events of national significance, including epics of the Reconquest and border conflicts between Christians and Moors.
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Lyric Songs »
Popular love songs that express human emotions but are not ballads in structure or form, and do not narrate a story.
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Novelesque Ballads
Ballads that narrate fictional stories about love, murder, incest and other misfortunes, often with women in leading roles. Also includes fantastical stories of animals and humans.
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Religious Songs »
Songs with religious themes that are not in ballad form.
Spanish and Portuguese Citizenship for Sephardi Jewish Descendants: An Oral History Collection (2017-2022).
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Spanish and Portuguese Citizenship for Sephardi Jewish Descendants is an oral history collection that brings together some 60 interviews with people of Sephardi descent who have applied for or received Spanish or Portuguese citizenship under those countries’ 2015 special nationality laws.
About the 2015 Spanish and Portuguese citizenship laws
In 2015, both Portugal and Spain passed laws enabling descendants of Sephardi Jews to obtain full Spanish or Portuguese nationality. While the opportunity in Spain came with an expiration date (2019), and Portugal has imposed a greater burden of proof along the way, the laws have been hailed as historic and unique in offering reconciliation and symbolic reparation through citizenship for persecutions committed more than half a millennium ago.
While Spain has had special legal dispensations for Sephardi Jews for over a century, its 2015 law offered equal and non-residential dual citizenship for the first time. For Portugal, the law was novel, though it was preceded by other official acts of apology and recognition of Jewish history. To date, more than 300,000 people have applied from all over the world. The full impact of the nationality opportunities on Spain, Portugal, and Sephardi Jewish communities and descendants remains to be seen. However, many lives are already being fully or partially shaped by the prospect of (and, sometimes, exclusion from) these new citizenships. The narrators in this oral history collection illuminate many of the motivations and consequences of their citizenship applications as they share their ideas, experiences, and feelings about them.
About the oral history collection
Conceived by Drs. Rina Benmayor and Dalia Kandiyoti, the collection consists of conversational interviews conducted and recorded remotely with applicants from fourteen countries, spread over four continents. Narrators range in age from their 20s to their 80s and include “normative” Sephardi Jews, descendants of conversos and dönmes (Sabbateans), and those whose families lost connections to Judaism or their Sephardi heritage over time. A few who were eligible for citizenship, but ultimately chose not to apply, are also included in the project.
The interviews are approximately one hour in length and cover topics such as family background and Sephardi ancestry; the significance of cultural belonging; reasons for applying and interviewees’ experience with the process; their thoughts and feelings about the new citizenship opportunities and rights; and more. The majority of interviews are in English, but there are also several in Turkish, Spanish, or Portuguese (with translations provided). Some narrators have chosen pseudonyms for reasons of privacy or safety with regard to their current or potential citizenships.
About the Sephardic Studies Digital Collection
The Sephardic Studies Digital Collection (SSDC) at the University of Washington is one of the most expansive and fastest growing repositories of source materials pertaining to the Sephardic Jewish experience recorded in the Ladino language. The SSDC showcases a wide array of published and unpublished materials, including novels, prayer books, bibles, manuscripts, letters, newspapers, magazines, songbooks, poetry, theater scripts, marriage contracts, photographs, postcards, and books on religion, history, grammar and more. The languages contained in these documents also include Hebrew, Aramaic, Turkish, Arabic, Yiddish, French, English, Greek and Italian. Most of the artifacts originated in the former Ottoman Empire, while others were published in Vienna, Livorno, Seattle, New York, Baghdad, and Amsterdam.
Until now, the written record of the experiences, anxieties and aspirations of Sephardic Jews remain dispersed and largely shrouded in mystery. Assembled from the bookshelves, closets and basements of residents and institutions in the greater Seattle region, and increasingly elsewhere in the country and abroad, the SDCC constitutes one of the largest digital Ladino repositories in the United States with over 400 published works in Ladino that have already been digitized. The collection sheds light on the lesser known history and culture of Sephardic Jewsand has sparked renewed interest among scholars, educators, librarians, artists, cultural activists and community members alike.
As the SSDC continues to expand, new acquisitions are constantly made and new contributions are always welcomed. Learn more about the Sephardic Studies Digital Collection here.
A special debt of gratitude is owed to:
Sephardic Studies Founders Circle members: The Isaac Alhadeff Foundation, Eli and Rebecca Almo, Joel and Maureen Benoliel, Richard and Barrie Galanti, Harley and Lela Franco, and Marty and Sharon Lott
The Stroum Center for Jewish Studies
The Digital Strategies Office of the University of Washington Libraries
The Washington State Jewish Historical Society
Numerous community partners and supporters
