Shabbat Gathering: What's Ladino?

Gud Shabbos Khaveyrim, as is our custom, we will gather tonight at 5.45p ct to welcome Shabbat. These are the coordinates:

Zoom
Meeting ID: 883 8469 4181
Password: 822665
Phone: +1 312 626 6799

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Here we go.

When people talk about a “Jewish language” we think of Hebrew and, maybe, Yiddish. There’s a third language associated with Jews that doesn’t receive a lot of attention: Ladino. What’s that? Glad you asked.

Yiddish combines Hebrew and German and Polish and a bunch of other languages. Similarly, Ladino is a mash up of Hebrew and Spanish and Turkish and Arabic and French and even a little bit of Italian and other odd bits from here and there.

The background.

Jews had a big presence in Spain until 1492 when Queen Isabella expelled us from the country. Jews ended up heading out in every direction and landing all throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. For example, Amsterdam had a thriving Sephardic community that spoke a version of Ladino.

The thing to keep in mind is that, like Yiddish, Ladino isn’t a monolithic language. Instead, all those Jews from Spain ended up adapting their language to where they ended up. As a result, there are a myriad of different dialectics. In order to group them together, experts call the overarching language Judeo-Spanish, and Spanyol is the most common dialect. In the 16thC there were translations of part of the Talmud and several different prayerbooks and a Haggadah. Around 1739-45, a Ladino translation of the Hebrew Bible was completed. According to an article I read when I was researching this newsletter, the best known written work is Me’am Lo’ez, a book a Torah stories.

The comeback?

As there been a recent resurgence in Yiddish, Ladino is beginning to experience it’s own Renaissance. Here’s a video of some lovely Ladino music for example.

And now you know.

And may it be for all of us a blessing.

See you tonight!
Mit vareme grusn,
(With warm regards,)

All my love,
brian.

PS

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