More in ‘Sephardic’

CNN Meets the Ex-Crypto-Jews of Crown Heights

But doesn’t call them ‘Sephardic’
By Marissa Brostoff | 3:59 PM Sep 24, 2009

CNN.com has a story on Moshe and Chanaleah Nunez, Latin American-born Jews who are now part of the ultra-Orthodox Chabad community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Moshe (born in Guadalajara, Mexico) and Chanaleah (born in Panama) both grew up in Christian homes—those aren’t their given names—and later determined that their respective ancestors were crypto-Jews who had ...

Who Is First Hispanic Justice?

Sotomayor or Cardozo?
By Michael Weiss | 2:00 PM Jul 14, 2009

When Sonia Sotomayor was named as President Barack Obama’s first appointee to the United States Supreme Court back in May, every major newspaper declared her the first “Hispanic” justice to reside on that esteemed bench. As Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings got underway before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, the New York Times again recycled a ...

Music

The Stage of History

Jordi Savall believes the music of the Sephardic diaspora can help save the world
By Hadara Graubart | 1:17 PM Feb 17, 2009

At New York City’s Lincoln Center, major renovations are underway. The most recent of these to be completed is Alice Tully Hall, housed in the Julliard School. According to the New Yorker, the new design “shows how much richness and complexity can be teased out of the modernist vocabulary in the right hands.” Spanish musician ...

Audio 

Ritual & Observance

Ocho Kandelikas

From the archives: Flory Jagoda's popular holiday song has its roots in a Bosnian village
By Vox Tablet | 12:00 PM Dec 10, 2008

Among the small but respectable repertoire of songs available for Hanukkah celebrations, ranging from “Rock of Ages” to “The Dreidl Song,” is the lesser known, but also popular, children’s counting song, “Ocho Kandelikas.”
Written in Ladino (or Judeo-Spanish, as some call it), the song sounds as if it had been passed down over many generations. In ...