North African Sephardim
North African Sephardim are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardi Jews, mostly descended from families expelled and exiled from Iberia as Jews in the 15th century following the Alhambra Decree of 1492 in Spain and the decree of 1497 in Portugal. This branch of descendants of the Jews of Iberia settled in North Africa (except Egypt, see Eastern Sephardim). Settling mostly in Morocco and Algeria, they spoke a variant of Judaeo-Spanish known as Haketia. They also spoke Judeo-Arabic in a majority of cases.
North African Sephardim settled in the areas with already established Arabic-speaking Jewish communities in North Africa and eventually merged with them to form new communities based solely on Sephardic customs. Several of the Moroccan Jews emigrated back to the Iberian Peninsula to form the core of the Gibraltar Jews.
In recent times, principally after 1948, most North African Sephardim have since relocated to Israel, and most others to France.
Relation to other Sephardi communities
The term Sephardi means "Spanish" or "Hispanic", and is derived from Sepharad, a Biblical location. The location of the biblical Sepharad is disputed, but Sepharad was identified by later Jews as Hispania, that is, the Iberian Peninsula. Sepharad still means "Spain" in modern Hebrew.
The relationship between Sephardi-descended communities is illustrated in the following diagram:
| Pre-Expulsion Sephardi Jewish Population of Iberia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spanish Alhambra Decree of 1492, Portuguese Decree of 1497 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Iberian Exile in the late 15th century | Conversion to Catholicism up to the late 15th century | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| North African Sephardim | Eastern Sephardim | Sephardic Anusim | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Those Jews fleeing from Iberia as Jews in the late 15th century at the issuance of Spain and Portugal's decrees of expulsion. Initially settled in North Africa. | Those Jews fleeing from Iberia as Jews in the late 15th century at the issuance of Spain and Portugal's decrees of expulsion. Initially settled in the Eastern Mediterranean and beyond. | Those Jews in Spain and Portugal who, in an effort to delay or avoid their expulsion (and in most cases in Portugal, in an effort by Manuel I of Portugal to prevent the Jews from choosing the option of exile), are forced or coerced to convert to Catholicism up until the late 15th century, at the expiration of the deadline for their expulsion, conversion, or execution as set out in the decrees. Became conversos/New Christians in Iberia. As Christians, were under the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church and subject to the Inquisition. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Migration of Conversos from the 16th to 18th centuries | Clandestine migration of conversos to Ibero-America and their settlement during colonization from the 16th to 18th centuries | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reversion to Judaism from the 16th to 18th centuries | Extension of the Inquisition to Ibero-America in the 16th century | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Western Sephardim | Sephardic Bnei Anusim | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The first few generations of descendants of Sephardic Anusim who migrated as conversos out of Iberia (to regions beyond the Iberian cultural sphere) between the 16th to 18th centuries where they then reverted to Judaism. Initially settled in the Netherlands, London, Italy, etc. | The later generation descendants of Sephardic Anusim who remained, as conversos, in Iberia or moved to the Iberian colonial possessions across various Latin American countries during the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Subject to the Inquisition until its abolition in the 19th century | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abolition of the Inquisition in the 19th century | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reversion to Judaism in the 20th to 21st centuries | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Neo-Western Sephardim | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The nascent and growing population of returnees to Judaism among the Sephardic Bnei Anusim population whose recent return began in the late 20th and early 21st centuries in Iberia and Ibero-America. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Language
Historically, the vernacular languages of North African Sephardim was Haketia, a Romance language also called "Ladino Occidental" (Western Ladino). It is a Judaeo-Spanish variety derived from Old Spanish, plus Hebrew and Aramaic. The language was taken North African Sephardim in the 15th century after the expulsion from Spain in 1492, where it was heavily influenced by Maghrebi Arabic.
By contrast, the languages spoken by related Sephardi communities and descendants include:
- Judaeo-Spanish, sometimes called "Ladino Oriental" (Eastern Ladino), a Romance language also derived from Old Spanish, incorporating elements from all the old Romance languages of the Iberian Peninsula, Hebrew and Aramaic. Spoken by Eastern Sephardim. Taken with Eastern Sephardim in the 15th century after the expulsion from Spain in 1492 when they settled in the Eastern Mediterranean. This dialect was further influenced by Ottoman Turkish, Levantine Arabic, Greek, Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian vocabulary in the differing lands of their exile.
- Early Modern Spanish and Early Modern Portuguese, including in a mixture of the two. Traditionally spoken or used liturgically by the ex-converso Western Sephardim. Taken with them during their later migration out of Iberia in the 16th to 18th centuries as conversos, after which they reverted to Judaism.
- Modern Spanish and Modern Portuguese varieties, traditionally spoken by the Sephardic Bnei Anusim of Iberia and Ibero-America, including some recent returnees to Judaism (Neo-Western Sephardim) in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. In most cases these varieties have incorporated loanwords from the indigenous languages of the Americas introduced following the Spanish conquest.
Surnames
North African Sephardim still also often carry common Spanish surnames, as well as other specifically Sephardic surnames from 15th century Spain with Arabic or Hebrew language origins (such as Azoulay, Abulafia, Abravanel) which have since disappeared from Spain when those that stayed behind as conversos adopted surnames that were solely Spanish in origin. Other North African Sephardim have since also translated their Hispanic surnames into local languages or have modified them to sound local.