For 100 years, an original manuscript containing the year-round order of prayers of the Spanish & Portuguese Jews of Bordeaux went missing. But in 2016, a copy was unexpectedly found by Peter Nahon, a young linguist and lecturer at Paris-Sorbonne, who has now published a critical and annotated version. Authored by the Bordeaux ḥazanim Isaac Gaston Salzédo (1854-1906) and Abraham Castro (1820?-1881), this guide for cantors shows a remarkable resemblance with the Portuguese minhag in Amsterdam and New York. Copies may be purchased here: https://geuthner.com/livre/le-rite-portugais-a-bordeaux-d'apres-son-seder-hazanut/1131
In each issue, we hope to include a greeting from one of the S&P communities. This issue's greeting comes from Borehamwood. To anyone who’s been to Rambam Sephardi Synagogue at Yavneh College in Borehamwood, it’s clear that our vision is coming true – “To be part of a Jewish contemporary world where each of us is welcomed and feels like we're all related.” At its beginnings in 2011, my wife Michie and I met a handful of committed Sephardim who wished to start having services at Allum Hall. By 2016, the congregation moved to Yavneh College and the new premises have proven popular to draw in visitors and friends. Rambam now has over 55 member families. Having spent many years as a member at th
With the fasting of 17 of Tammuz, we mark the beginning of the three-week period in which we regret the destruction of the holy temple and the beginning of our exile -- and in the Portuguese community of Amsterdam we mark the first Shabbat with a special prayer in honor of the martyrs of the inquisition This prayer is recited a number of times through the year, and the name singled out in this specific instance is that of Abraham Athias who was publicly burned alive, together with Jacob Rodriguez and Rachel Nunez Fernandez, on July 9, 1667, by the Spanish Inquisition at Cordoba. His son Joseph was sent by his father to Hamburg to receive a proper Jewish education and eventually settled i
In advance of the upcoming Rosh Hashanah holiday, chef and food historian Hélène Jawhara-Piñer has kindly shared her latest culinary ideas from Sephardic cooking. She sent these details from Bordeaux, France, where she is currently based: As with many people, I prepare Buñuelos de manzana for Rosh Hashana. But where the majority sprinkle icing sugar over them, I use instead honey, according to Sephardi custom, as it is sweeter and even more melting, but moreover because it remains the culinary flavor of Rosh Hashana. Sufganin, isqaritin, zalābya, isfengand many others sweet dishes made with flour have always aroused discussion concerning the blessings. In his Sefer Abudraham, 14th century Ta