The Sephardim live on peaceful terms with other Jews, and are frequently intermarried with them (there is about 30% of intermarrige between Ashkenazim and Sephardim in Israel and probably to a larger extent outside Israel). They adhere to their own ritual, which differs from the Ashkenazic in detail though there is a general similarity in outline. It is important to mention that in general Sephardim and Ashkenazim consider themselves to be from the very same origin and to have much in common. They also share a genetic similarity and reject, mostly, the notion of \"Jewish ethnic divisions\" as they see themselves as belonging to the same ethnic group, with sub-groups distinguished by custom rather than by ethnicity.

Wherever the Sephardic Jews settled they grouped themselves according to the country or district from which they had come, and organized separate communities with legally enacted statutes. In Constantinople and Thessaloniki, for example, there were not only Castilian, Aragonian, Catalonian, and Portuguese congregations, but also Toledo, Cordoba, Evora, and Lisbon congregations, in addition to the native Romaniotes. In Rome there were Castilian, Mallorcan, Portuguese, Sicilian, Sevillian and Catalan congregations, prior to the merger of all these congregations (and Rome\'s Ashkenazic and Bené Roma congregations) in 1910. In Morocco, Sephardim considered themselves superior, in a way, to Berber Jews. Under the common pressure of the Islamic society, the Berbers merged with the Sephardim by naming their children with Sephardic names.

One example is the \"Belmonte Jews\" in Portugal. A whole community survived in secrecy for hundreds of years by maintaining a tradition of intermarriage and by hiding all the external signs of their faith. The Jewish community in Belmonte goes back to the 12th Century and they were only discovered in the 20th Century. Their rich Sephardic tradition of Crypto-Judaism is unique. Only recently did they contact other Jews and part of them now profess Orthodox Judaism, although many still retain their centuries-old traditions.

Among the Sephardim were many who were the descendants, or heads, of wealthy families and who, as Marranos, had occupied prominent positions in the countries they had left. Some had been state officials, others had held positions of dignity within the Church; many had been the heads of large banking-houses and mercantile establishments, and some were physicians or scholars who had officiated as teachers in high schools. Their Spanish or Portuguese was a lingua franca that enabled Sephardim from different countries to engage in commerce and diplomacy.

The Sephardim rarely engaged in finance (also called chaffering) occupations nor in usury, and they did not often mingle with lower social classes. With their social equals they associated freely, without regard to religion. They were received at the courts of sultans, kings, and princes, and often were employed as ambassadors, envoys, or agents. The number of Sephardim who have rendered important services to different countries is considerable, from Samuel Abravanel (financial councilor to the viceroy of Naples) to Benjamin Disraeli. Among other names mentioned are those of Belmonte, Nasi, Francisco Pacheco, Palache, Pimentel, Azevedo, Sasportas, Salvador, Costa, Curiel, Cansino, Schonenberg, Toledo, Toledano, Pereira and Teixeira (notice that many of these surnames are not Jewish in origin).

The Sephardim have distinguished themselves as physicians and statesmen, and have won the favor of rulers and princes, in both the Christian and the Islamic world. That the Sephardim were selected for prominent positions in every country in which they settled was due to the fact that Spanish had become a world-language through the expansion of Spain.

For a long time the Sephardim took an active part in Spanish literature; they wrote in prose and in rhyme, and were the authors of theological, philosophical, belletristic (aesthetic rather than content based writing), pedagogic (teaching), and mathematical works. The rabbis, who, in common with all the Sephardim, emphasized a pure and euphonious pronunciation of Hebrew, delivered their sermons in Spanish or in Portuguese. Several of these sermons have appeared in print. Their thirst for knowledge, together with the fact that they associated freely with the outer world, led the Sephardim to establish new educational systems wherever they settled; they founded schools in which the Spanish language was the medium of instruction. Theatre in Istanbul was in Judæo-Spanish since it was forbidden to Muslims.

In Portugal the Sephardim were given important roles in the sociopolitical sphere and enjoyed a certain amount of protection from the Crown (e.g. Yahia Ben Yahia, first \"Rabino Maior\" of Portugal and supervisor of the public revenue of the first King of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques). Even with the increasing pressure from the Catholic Church this state of affairs remained more or less constant and the number of Jews in Portugal grew with those running from Spain. This changed with the marriage of D. Manuel I of Portugal with the daughter of the Catholic Monarchs of the newly born Spain. In 1497 the Decree ordering the expulsion or forced conversion of all the Jews was passed, and the Sephardim either fled or went into secrecy under the guise of \"Cristãos Novos\", i.e. New Christians (this Decree was symbolically revoked in 1996 by the Portuguese Parliament). Those who fled to Genoa were only allowed to land provided they received baptism. Those who were fortunate enough to reach the Ottoman Empire had a better fate: the Sultan Bayezid II sarcastically sent his thanks to Ferdinand for sending him some of his best subjects, thus \"impoverising his own lands while enriching his (Bayezid\'s)\". Jews arriving in the Ottoman Empire were mostly resettled in and around Selanik (Thessaloniki in Greek) and to some extent in Istanbul and İzmir. This was followed by a great massacre of Jews in the city of Lisbon in 1506 and the establishment of the Portuguese Inquisition in 1536. This caused the flight of the Portuguese Jewish community, which continued until the extinction of the Courts of Inquisition in 1821; by then there were very few Jews in Portugal.

In Amsterdam, where Jews were especially prominent in the seventeenth century on account of their number, wealth, education, and influence, they established poetical academies after Spanish models; two of these were the Academia de los Sitibundos and the Academia de los Floridos. In the same city they also organized the first Jewish educational institution, with graduate classes in which, in addition to Talmudic studies, instruction was given in the Hebrew language. The most important synagogue, or Esnoga, as it is usually called amongst Spanish and Portuguese Jews, is the Amsterdam Esnoga — usually considered the “mother synagogue”, and the historical centre of the Amsterdam minhag.

A sizeable Sephardic community had settled in Morocco and other Northern African countries, which were colonized by France in the 19th century. Jews in Algeria were given French citizenship in 1870 by the décret Crémieux (previously Jews and Muslims could apply for French citizenship, but had to renounce the use of traditional religious courts and laws, which many did not want to do). When France withdrew from Algeria in 1962, the local Jewish communities largely relocated to France. There are some tensions between some of those communities and the earlier French Jewish population (who were mostly Ashkenazi Jews), and with Arabic-Muslim communities.

Today, the Sephardim have preserved the romances and the ancient melodies and songs of Spain and Portugal, as well as a large number of old Portuguese and Spanish proverbs. A number of children\'s plays, like, for example, El Castillo, are still popular among them, and they still manifest a fondness for the dishes peculiar to Iberia, such as the pastel, or pastelico, a sort of meat-pie, and the pan de España, or pan de León. At their festivals they follow the Spanish custom of distributing dulces, or dolces, a confection wrapped in paper bearing a picture of the magen David (six pointed star). Amada.

In Mexico, the Sephardim community numbers approximately 5,500 and they originated mainly from Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria. In 1942 the Cologio Hebreo Tarbut was founded in collaboration with the Ashkenazi family and instruction was in Yiddish. In 1944 the Sephardim community established a separate \"Colegio Hebreo Sefaradí Tarbut\" with 90 students where instruction was in Hebrew and complemented with classes on Jewish customs. By 1950 there were 500 students. In 1968 a group of young Sephardims created the group Tnuat Noar Jinujit Dor Jadash in support for the creation of the state of Israel. In 1972 the Majazike Tora institute is created aiming to prepare young male Jews for their Bar Mitzva (History of the Sephardim Community in Mexico).

With the victory of Tariq ibn Ziyad in 711, the lives of the Sephardim changed dramatically. In spite of the stigma attached to being dhimmis (non-Muslim members of monotheistic faiths), the coming of the Moors was by-and-large welcomed by the Jews of Iberia.

Both Muslim and Christian sources tell us that Jews provided valuable aid to the invaders. Once captured, the defense of Cordoba was left in the hands of Jews, and Granada, Malaga, Seville, and Toledo were left to a mixed army of Jews and Moors. Although in some towns Jews may have been helpful to Muslim success, they were of limited impact overall. Claims of the fall of Iberia as being due in large part to Jewish perfidy are exaggerated.

In spite of the restrictions placed upon the Jews as dhimmis, life under Muslim rule was one of great opportunity and Jews flourished as they did not under prior Christian Visigoths. Many Jews came to Iberia, seen as a land of tolerance and opportunity, from the Christian and Muslim worlds. Following initial Arab victories, and especially with the establishment of Umayyad rule by Abd al-Rahman I in 755, the native Jewish community was joined by Jews from the rest of Europe, as well as from Arab lands, from Morocco to Babylon. Thus the Sephardim found themselves enriched culturally, intellectually, and religiously by the commingling of diverse Jewish traditions.

Arabic culture, of course, also made a lasting impact on Sephardic cultural development. General re-evaluation of scripture was prompted by Muslim anti-Jewish polemics and the spread of rationalism, as well as the anti-Rabbanite polemics of Karaite sectarianism (which was inspired by various Muslim schismatic movements). The cultural and intellectual achievements of the Arabs, and much of the scientific and philosophical speculation of Ancient Greek culture, which had been best preserved by Arab scholars, was made available to the educated Jew. The meticulous regard which the Arabs had for grammar and style also had the effect of stimulating an interest in philological matters in general among Jews. Arabic came to be the main language of Sephardic science, philosophy, and everyday business, as had been the case with Babylonian geonim. This thorough adoption of the Arabic language also greatly facilitated the assimilation of Jews into Moorish culture, and Jewish activity in a variety of professions, including medicine, commerce, finance, and agriculture increased.

By the ninth century, some members of the Sephardic community felt confident enough to take part in proselytizing amongst Christians. Most famous were the heated correspondences sent between Bodo Eleazar, a former Christian deacon who had converted to Judaism in 838, and the Bishop of Córdoba Paulus Albarus, who had converted from Judaism to Christianity. Each man, using such epithets as \"wretched compiler\", tried to convince the other to return to his former faith, to no avail.

The Golden Age is most closely identified with the reign of Abd al-Rahman III (882-942), the first independent Caliph of Cordoba, and in particular with the career of his Jewish councilor, Hasdai ibn Shaprut (882-942). Within this context of cultural patronage, studies in Hebrew, literature, and linguistics flourished.

Hasdai benefitted world Jewry not only indirectly by creating a favorable environment for scholarly pursuits within Iberia, but also by using his influence to intervene on behalf of foreign Jews: in his letter to Byzantine Princess Helena, he requested protection for the Jews under Byzantine rule, attesting to the fair treatment of the Christians of al-Andalus, and perhaps indicating that such was contingent on the treatment of Jews abroad.

One notable contribution to Christian intellectualism is Ibn Gabirol\'s neo-Platonic Fons Vitae (\"The Source of Life\"). Thought by many to have been written by a Christian, this work was admired by Christians and studied in monasteries throughout the middle ages.

In addition to contributions of original work, the Sephardim were active as translators. Texts were translated between Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin. In translating the great works of Arabic, Hebrew, and Greek into Latin, Iberian Jews were instrumental in bringing the fields of science and philosophy, which formed much of the basis of Renaissance learning, into the rest of Europe.

In the early 11th century centralized authority based at Cordoba broke down following the Berber invasion and the ousting of the Umayyads. In its stead arose the independent taifa principalities under the rule of local Arab, Berber, or Slavonic leaders. Rather than having a stifling effect, the disintegration of the caliphate expanded the opportunities to Jewish and other professionals. The services of Jewish scientists, doctors, traders, poets, and scholars were generally valued by Christian and Muslim rulers of regional centers, especially as order was restored in recently conquered towns.

The decline of the Golden Age began before the completion of the Christian Reconquista, with the penetration and influence of the Almoravides, and then the Almohads, from North Africa. These fundamentalist sects abhorred the liberality of the Islamic culture of al-Andalus, including the position of authority which some dhimmis held over Muslims. When the Almohads gave the Jews a choice of either death or conversion to Islam, many Jews emigrated. Some, such the family of Maimonides, fled south and east to the more tolerant Muslim lands, while others went northward to settle in the growing Christian kingdoms.

Meanwhile the Reconquista continued in the north throughout the 12th century. As various Arab lands fell to the Christians, conditions for some Jews in the emerging Christian kingdoms became increasingly favorable. As had happened during the reconstruction of towns following the breakdown of authority under the Umayyads, the services of Jews were employed by the victorious Christian leaders. Sephardic knowledge of the language and culture of the enemy, their skills as diplomats and professionals, as well as their desire for relief from intolerable conditions - the very same reasons that they had proved useful to the Arabs in the early stages of the Muslim invasion - made their services very valuable.

However, the Jews from the Muslim south were not entirely secure in their northward migrations. Old prejudices were compounded by newer ones. Suspicions of complicity with the Muslims were alive and well as Jews immigrated, speaking Arabic. However, many of the newly-arrived Jews of the north prospered during the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. The majority of Latin documentation regarding Jews during this period refers to their landed property, fields, and vineyards.

In many ways life had come full circle for the Sephardim of al-Andalus. As conditions became more oppressive during the 12th and 13th centuries, Jews again looked to an outside culture for relief. Christian leaders of reconquered cities granted them extensive autonomy, and Jewish scholarship recovered somewhat and developed as communities grew in size and importance. However, the Reconquista Jews never reached the same heights as had those of the Golden Age.

A location named “Sepharad” is mentioned in the Tanakh in the book of Obadiah were the prophet refers to exiles that came to Spain from Jerusalem. According to the Sephardic tradition , the first Jews Spain arrived from Jerusalem, which was what Obadiah (6th century) referred to. These “Sephardim” as they were called, flourished under Muslim rule in 711, an era which was coined the “Golden Age.” The Jews while keeping their strong Jewish identity, took advantage of their religious freedom, producing famous scholars, poets, physicians and courtiers of the highest degree.

After the Christian Reconquista and later with the introduction of the Inquisition and the infamous “auto de fae”, things took a turn for the worst. Religious persecution was everywhere until 1492, when faced with the choice of conversion or expulsion, the Sephardim finally where exiled once more. While some choose to outwardly convert, the vast majority left to establish communities in Europe, North Africa and elsewhere.

In the year 1654, 23 refugees landed on the shores of New York. The refugees initially intended to head to Amsterdam, but where thwarted by pirates and later rescued by a French ship, ending their journey in what was the New Amsterdam. These Sephardim coming from Brazil, were for a while faced with hostility from an anti-Semitic governor before they accomplished to set up businesses and establish North America’s first Jewish community and synagogue, Congregation Shearith Israel.

VISIT: WWW.SEPHARDICDATING.COM

By Moshe Frances

The Sephardic singles community has something new to look forward to. This past Purim SephardicDating.com was launched to cater to Sephardic singles from around the world. SephardicDating.com offers an alternative and a relief to those singles out there who wish to take initiative in their dating lives. Much like other known dating sites, such as Jdate.com, Frumster.com etc,

SephardicDating.com offers very similar and exciting features, such as messaging, chatting and so on while introducing new and technologically advanced features. This wonderful new dating service is free to use (for a limited time) and managed by a team of people who volunteer their time for technical support. Unlike sephardiclink.com, which is a matchmaking service, SephardicDating.com allows members to post personal profiles and view and contact other members in hope of finding their match. An especially useful feature on this site is its advanced search option which allows a member to target a specific member with the same ethnic backgrounds SephardicDating.com is an especially valuable commodity to the Sephardic community as a whole and has already begun to attract new members globally. According to its founder and director, Moshe Frances, “Sephardic Dating™ has taken revolutionary leaps in Jewish dating because it combines the effectiveness of online matchmaking with the uniqueness of reaching the global Sephardic singles community.”

SephardicDating.com consists of members of both traditional and observant backgrounds and has already attracted members from around the world. It hopes to revolutionize the way singles interact while strengthening the Sephardic communities.

Sephardic Jews are the Jews of Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Middle East. Sephardic Jews are often subdivided into Sephardim (from Spain and Portugal) and Mizrahim (from the Northern Africa and the Middle East), although in contemporary times, many people do not distinquish between Sephardim and Mizrahim.

The word \"Ashkenazic\" is derived from the Hebrew word for “Germany”. Ashkenazi Jews originate from Eastern European Jews of France, Germany etc. The word \"Sephardic\" is derived from the Hebrew word for Spain. The word \"Mizrachi\" is derived from the Hebrew word for Eastern. The Book of Obadia makes reference to Sephard as those who refugees who were exiled from Israel.

In Israel, half of all Jews are Mizrahim, Most of the rest are Ashkenazic, descended from Jews who came to the Holy Land (then controlled by the Ottoman Turks) instead of the United States in the late 1800s, or from Holocaust survivors, or from other immigrants who came at various times.

Most American Jews today are Ashkenazic, descended from Jews who emigrated from Germany and Eastern Europe from the mid 1800s to the early 1900s, although most of the early Jewish settlers of this country were Sephardic.

The early Jewish settlers were the Sephardim, who landed on the shores of New York in 1654., The Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue was founded in what is now New York in 1684, was Sephardic and is still active. The first Jewish congregation in the city of Philadelphia, Mikveh Israel, founded in 1740, was also a Sephardic one, and is also still active. The Touro synagogue is the longest standing synagogue in the country. The oldest synagogues in the U.S are Sephardic.

The beliefs of Sephardic Judaism are basically in accord with those of though Sephardic interpretations of halakha (Jewish Law) are very different than Ashkenazi ones. There are those Sephardim that may eat rice, corn, peanuts and beans during Passover, while Ashkenazic Jews avoid them on the most part. Although some individual Sephardic Jews are less observant than others, and some individuals do not agree with all of the beliefs of traditional Judaism, there is no formal, organized differentiation into movements as there is in Ashkenazic Judaism, such as Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism, Modern orthodoxy etc.

Historically, Sephardic Jews have been more integrated into the local non-Jewish culture than Ashkenazic Jews. In the Christian lands where Ashkenazic Judaism flourished, the tension between Christians and Jews was great, and Jews tended to be isolated from their non-Jewish neighbors, either voluntarily or involuntarily. In the Islamic lands where Sephardic Judaism developed, there was less segregation and oppression. Sephardic Jewish thought and culture was strongly influenced by Arabic and Greek philosophy and science.

Yiddish, which many people think of as the international language of Judaism, is really the language of Ashkenazic Jews. Sephardic Jews have their own international language: Ladino, which was based on Spanish and Hebrew in the same way that Yiddish was based on German and Hebrew.

Sephardic Jews hold the correct pronunciation of the Hebrew language. In Israel, some Ashkenazim are adopting Sephardic pronunciation now because it is the pronunciation that was adoped into the dictionary. Sephardic differ with Ashkenazim on a variety of topics, such as the Tefilla, and halakha in general Sephardic Jews also have different holiday customs and different traditional foods.

VISIT: WWW.SEPHARDICDATING.COM

Who are the Sephardim? That is a complex question, as the definition of Sephardim has changed over the years. In contemporary times, both Mizrakhim and Sephardim have identified themselves as a Sephardi. Sephardic Jews have a long and proud history. Sephardim in general, are very proud of who they are and differ greatly with the Ashkenzi Jews. Everything about Sephardim can be said to be unique.

For instance, Sephardic cooking is a large part of their culture. Sephardim tend to center their life around Sephardic synagogues. Why have they not assimilated like the Ashkenazim? The answer is for many reasons. For one, Sephardim have always been more devoted to Judaism and have lived in tight-knit communities. Their assimilation and intermarriage rate is very low in the U.S. Sephardic Genealogy can be traced today rather simply over the internet. There are some that claim Columbus to have Sephardic blood.

The issue of Jewish dating today is a very serious topic. More and more, we are finding Jewish online dating to be very popular. There are numerous sites that feature Jewish dating to find “jewish love” or jewish soul mates”. However, most of these sites are catered toward Ashkenazim. Today, a new and popular website for Sephardim has been established. The site, called, Sephardic Dating, is a wonderful dating site for Sephardic Singles who would like to marry other Sephardim and keep their Jewish traditions alive.

The use of a shadchan today is becoming less and less popular, as these Jewish dating website and finding popularity and ease by Jewish singles. There is much discussion about finding your bashert today (jewish soul mate), although the topic is debated.

Jewish singles are having a hard time today in finding their match. Jewish communities in general have not given enough attention to the Jewish singles problem. Therefore, both Ashkenazim and Sephardim have turned to the internet as an alternative to find jewish dating and specifically Sephardic dating. Its not just about the Sephardic date, but about jewish dating in general that has take tremendous leaps in changing the way jewish singles interact.

To find out more, visit WWW.SEPHARDICDATING.COM