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World Hotels - Jews of Spain: A History of the Sephardic Experience
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List Price: $21.50
Our Price: $20.43
Your Save: $ 1.07 ( 5% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Free Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 946
EAN: 9780029115749
ISBN: 0029115744
Label: Free Press
Manufacturer: Free Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: 1994-01-31
Publisher: Free Press
Release Date: 1970-05-21
Studio: Free Press
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Editorial Reviews:
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The history of the Jews of Spain is a remarkable story that begins in the remote past and continues today. For more than a thousand years, Sepharad (the Hebrew word for Spain) was home to a large Jewish community noted for its richness and virtuosity. Summarily expelled in 1492 and forced into exile, their tragedy of expulsion marked the end of one critical phase of their history and the beginning of another. Indeed, in defiance of all logic and expectation, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain became an occasion for renewed creativity. Nor have five hundred years of wandering extinguished the identity of the Sephardic Jews, or diminished the proud memory of the dazzling civilization which they created on Spanish soil.This book is intended to serve as an introduction and scholarly guide to that history.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: A great introduction to the history of a great nation
Comment: I came to this volume as part of a project to further my education about Islam and its relationship with the rest of the world, which had led me to an interest in the Golden Age of ha Sefarad, and to inform myself further about Judaism, about which I have had too little information to understand its relationship with the world at all. This book serves both purposes beautifully. While serious in tone, it is very readable indeed and provides what I would judge to be a good, neutral perspective. My purpose and conclusions are probably different to those of a student of Sephardic studies, who will probably already be intimately aware of the tenets of Judaism and less interested in the comparative lessons I draw between Islam and Christendom. (As the astute student will immediately grasp, I am one of what I might lightly refer to as the goyish diaspora.)
The book provides insights on Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Spain and the Jewish Diaspora more generally. I recommend it highly to the serious reader and less so for the seeker after simplistic propaganda formulations. It does not pull punches about the treatment of Jews by the two major rival religions, but I find it fair and carefully-researched.
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Summary: Important and informative
Comment: Much has been written about the Jews of Spain and much of it idealizes the experience and pretends that Al-Andalus, or Islamic Spain was a utopia for Jews. Among these fantasy books are God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215 and The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain. However this book, which is scholarly and informative gives a much deeper understanding. It is more than a history of the Sephardim of Spain, it is a history of the Sephardim and their 'experience'.
This amazing experience began in Spain under the Visigoths and early Islamic rulers between the 8th and 11th centuries. But then a great decline set in after the Almohad(Almohades) invasion. Around 1060 and after Jews began being persecuted by fanatical Islamic despots. Pogroms were unleashed and Jewish geniouses such as Maimonidies had to flee. Some Jews even fled to Christian Spain.
After 1492 and the expulsion of the Jews by the Catholic kings Ferdinand and Isabella the Sephardim wandered throughout the Islamic world and Christina Europe. The found homes in Amsterdam, the new world and the Ottoman empire where their Ladino language lives on to this day. The Sephardim that converted to Christianity were brutally persecuted in the inquistion, but their descendants to this day live throughout the Latin world.
A fascinating book.
Seth J. Frantzman
Customer Rating:
Summary: The best book of Sephardic Jewish History
Comment: This is a wonderful book. It is well written, objective, and there is a lot of interesting information. I've had this book for several years and I learn something new each time I read it. I've read many books about Sephardic history and it is by far my favorite. It's the book that inspired me to learn more and even study in Israel.
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Summary: Excellent summary of Sephardic History, well told and well paced.
Comment: I knew little of Sephardic Jews, but a trip to Spain prompted me to buy this book. It is a sad, but amazing story and fills me with great respect for these people and their ancestors. Jane Gerber seems pretty objective, but clearly cares deeply for her subject. I found myself wanting to learn more, but fear that other books might be too academic.
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Summary: An ideal read on the history of the Sephardic Jews
Comment: I greatly enjoyed Jane Gerber's "The Jews of Spain, A History of the Sephardic Experience." The book provides a historical summary of the Sephardic Jews, starting from their origins in fifth century Spain under the Visigoths and Romans up until the effects of the Holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel.
From my own perspective as an Ashkenazi Jew who is interested in culture more than religion, I have had a hard time figuring out exactly what "Sephardic" means. Traveling to Amsterdam and Newport, RI, I had seen big synagogues dedicated specifically as "Sephardic", I certainly knew the terms "Ashkenazi" and "Sephardic", but that was about it.
Honestly, I am still a little bit let down in that this book didn't delve more deeply into my question, what was the difference between the two groups?, though Gerber did do a great job of explaining the history behind the Sephards, who they were, where they came from, and how things stand now after the Holocaust and the effects of mass immigrations to Israel.
Given the above, the book provides a fantastic overview of 1500 years of history. I greatly appreciated reading about the era from 800 till 1600, during the "Golden Era" in Andalusian Spain under Muslim rule and the exile. I was also most interested in the Sephardic "situation" today. In both areas, the book was great. Clearly, information on every era of the Sephardic experience could fill a larger book, but Gerber sticks to the larger picture, liberally sprinkling primary source quotes and facts.
One criticism I have is that she idealizes the Sephardic experience under the rule of the Muslims, on one hand telling us how successful and well treated they were, yet on the other hand, we get hints that the Sephards were harassed, relatively uneducated, and living in deprivation. Another book I just started reading paints a much bleaker picture. Additionally, at least the paper back edition omits any biographical information on the author. Who's writing this book????
Regardless, in just under 300 pages of easy and informative reading, I think Gerber does a fine job and would recommend this book to anyone looking for an introductory book on the Sephardic Jews.
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