Sephardic Jews
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Fast Forward Spanish Cabinet Approves New Law to Allow Sephardic Jews to Claim Citizenship
After 522 years, Spain is inviting the Jews back — for real this time. Spain’s government announced in November 2012 a new law to give fast-track citizenship to Sephardic Jews. The Forward published an essay in January 2014 reporting that the government had yet to follow through on the promise. Now, Spain’s council of ministers…
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Fast Forward Portugal’s Oldest Synagogue Gets $290K Facelift in Azores
A Portuguese municipality has begun restoring the country’s oldest intact synagogue, which is situated on the island of Sao Miguel. The restoration of the Sabar Hassamain synagogue was kicked off on Monday in a ceremony conducted by Jose Manuel Bolieiro, mayor of Ponta Delgada – capital of the Azores archipelago, a region of Portugal which…
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Opinion Drawing ‘My Spanish Inquisition’
Kurt Hoffman How do you sum up 500 years of Sephardic history in just a couple of illustrations? That’s the challenge I had to answer in the pages of the Forward and on the web at forward.com. Josh Nathan-Kazis’ story tells about his attempt to make good on the Spanish government’s offer to issue passports…
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Opinion The ‘Portuguese Schindler’ and Me
Aristides Sousa Mendes is a national hero today in Portugal for bravely saving Jews fleeing the Nazis. It wasn’t always that way. When Aristides Sousa Mendes was a child, his name forced his family to leave Portugal for Africa. Today, his name is famous, and his grandfather and namesake, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, is a…
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Opinion What Defines Us as Jews? Actions — Not Ancestry.
One of my daughters recently suggested that I investigate whether I’m eligible for British citizenship. It’s not a far-fetched notion. My mother was born in England, and so were her mother, and her mother, and her mother, and probably her mother. There’s a cemetery in Leeds where many of these women are buried; my mother…
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Culture Can Sephardic Jews Go Home Again — 500 Years After the Inquisition?
Madrid — The Spanish government expelled the Jews in 1492. In 2012, they said that they wanted us back. At a press conference that November, two ministers announced that any Sephardic Jew who wanted a Spanish passport could have one. Then nothing happened. By late 2013, Spain had not given out any passports. No one…
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Opinion Why Two Chief Rabbis Is Better Than One
Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Blau speaks at a Jewish school in Berlin. / Getty Images When you package it right, even a plot against pluralism can be made to seem progressive. In Israel, government ministers spanning from left to right have advanced legislation that will end the country’s dual Chief Rabbinate, under which there are two…
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Fast Forward Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto Suspected of Bribing Senior Police Officer
(Haaretz) — The Justice Ministry department that investigates police misconduct is investigating the head of one of the police’s most prestigious units on suspicion of taking bribes from Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto and from businessmen who are disciples of the rabbi. The investigative material in the case has been given to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, as well…
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