Rabbi Marc Angel, "Folk Wisdom and Intellectual Wisdom: A Study in Sephardic Culture"
David Shasha
Rabbi Marc Angel: The Self-Hating Sephardi Loved by Modern Orthodox Ashkenazim
Like many in the Ashkenazi-controlled Jewish institutional world, Rabbi Marc Angel is a relentless self-promoter and schnorring hyper-fundraiser, whose specific aim is to build his insular Washington Heights brand of Sephardischkeit, which exists in abject subservience to the White Jewish Supremacy that he serves so dutifully:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/PA5SHFRQUII/m/P9BtjwJBBAAJ
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DPCfokksdzUO2iAO1GD-u8B2iNzhnJYmMjlYrC3EtIo/edit
We have seen how Angel has stood with an Anti-Semite Catholic against Muslim-Jewish Convivencia, in the Islamophobic spirit:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/ObDY4xAMOIo/m/9rsI0cIpAgAJ
He also defended the Ashkenazim against Sephardi elitism in early New York history, in a 1975 debate with Malcolm Stern:
Here is my discussion of that bizarre debate:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V-uAEYS_aBAnDNMDPwvzIUFn9hbTy6n5jVknqrDTUN8/edit
Taking the side of the Ashkenazim against the Sephardim is very much in keeping with Angel’s very accommodating Uncle Tom attitude.
As illustration of the problem Angel is so diligently avoiding, I have presented two examples of how the White Jewish Supremacy has sought to eviscerate the Sephardic heritage in a way that directly connects to his failed leadership.
There is the demeaning racism of Haym Soloveitchik, the son of Angel’s Rav Muvhak, who has adopted his father’s contempt for Sephardim and the Sephardic heritage of Jewish Humanism, as he confidently wrote us out of the Modern Jewish narrative in his ubiquitous article “Rupture and Reconstruction”:
https://groups.google.com/g/Davidshasha/c/m_-3ihCSZeU
Then, of course, there is the way in which Sephardic Sages have been routinely erased from Modern Jewish Philosophy:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mjPboUYJIFK3e5HeU0xUzvMcdlpcLxoQdRwqFI3guuw/edit
In this critical spirit, I approached Angel many years ago, submitting to him my article “A Broken Frame: Sephardi Occlusion and the Repairing of Jewish Dysfunction,” for publication in his very inaptly-named journal Conversations:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZZLhopNWNnqMb0GW2OQGcripP8SnZojsmxamctBLDzU/edit
After he emphatically rejected the article without any substantive comment, I submitted it to Tikkun magazine:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TjFku-0Z8bD2BD4QuDxv6OWK5Lubd8Uj/view?ths=true
The same rejectionist attitude is reflected in his 1996 article on Sephardi “Folk” wisdom which he just re-posted to his Jewish Ideas website:
https://www.jewishideas.org/article/folk-wisdom-and-intellectual-wisdom-study-sephardic-culture
The complete article follows this note.
You will immediately notice how the article is written in the narcoleptic Fred Rogers spirit that Angel has adopted in not dealing with Ashkenazi racism against us.
Indeed, he even cites one of the most egregious attacks on the Sephardic heritage in its relation to the Ashkenazi culture ever written; Ismar Schorsch’s notorious “The Myth of Sephardic Supremacy”:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KRFGgsRwnK3cKuhu8M4QkutjaPHCSXqX/view?ths=true
The article’s title tells the whole story, but not for Angel!
Unbelievably, he cites a quotation from Moritz Kayserling which Schorsch ultimately dismisses in his deeply offensive article.
Indeed, many Ashkenazim in the wake of Emancipation and in the midst of the Jewish Enlightenment, Haskalah, found in the Sephardic heritage a very important model of acculturation, as the scholar Shmuel Feiner wrote in his illuminating article “From Renaissance to Revolution: The Eighteenth Century in Jewish History,” included in the excellent volume Sepharad in Ashkenaz: Medieval Knowledge and Eighteenth-Century Enlightened Jewish Discourse:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/5d1U21j1rGY/m/1FV5yv51BQAJ
The Arab-Muslim acculturation is something that Angel denies in his many Zionist-inspired attacks on Convivencia, and in the article under consideration here.
But more than this is his refusal to engage Schorch’s argument that this Ashkenazi Haskalah love of Sephardim and Sephardic culture is a MYTH.
After reviewing the robust evidence for Ashkenazi Sephardism, Schorsch ends the article with a truly delirious attack on Sephardic culture as not being Jewish, but being Greek and Arab:
What should be equally evident by now is that the
ultimate power and appeal of the Sephardic mystique in the age of emancipation
derived from its Greek core. In 1847 Luzzatto had admonished Steinschneider, at
the outset of his scholarly career, not "to glorify and flaunt those Jews
whose being was not truly Jewish but Greek or Arabic". But the temptation
was reinforced by need. Islamic civilisation had fertilised Judaism with the
philosophy and science of the Hellenic world and that link was vital to the
process of Westernising Judaism in the nineteenth century. The Sephardic
mystique not only provided emancipated Jews with a source of pride and an
instrument of rebellion, but also enabled them to recover a classical heritage
in common with German culture. On one level, it was the Jewish equivalent of
what one historian has called "the tyranny of Greece over Germany". If our analysis has proven anything, it is
that a literate German Jew was as likely to venerate the Sephardim as a Wilhelm
von Humboldt the Greeks.
"Our study of Greek history is therefore a matter
quite different from our other historical studies. For us, the Greeks step out
of the circle of history . . . Knowledge of the Greeks is not merely pleasant,
useful or necessary for us — no, in the Greeks alone we find the ideal of that which
we ourselves should like to be and produce."
Substitute the word "Sephardim" for
"Greeks" and the tribute could have come from any number of the
people discussed in this chapter.
But on a deeper level, the resemblance rested on
identity, for in Spain Islamic
culture as conduit infused Judaism with a large dose of Greek rationalism. In
1841 at the end of a majestic survey of Jewish contributions to geographical
literature, Zunz elaborated on the Greek role in Jewish history. "Three
times did
Jews encounter the Hellenic spirit, the emancipator of nations." Besides
the
experience of his own day and the confrontation in the Greco-Roman world,
Zunz spoke of the encounter under Islam.
"When in the eighth century, the victorious Arabs were subdued by the
books of the
conquered, Syrian and Arabic authors introduced for a second time Greek
knowledge among the Jews of Muslim countries: astronomy, philosophy, medicine,
and by degrees geography. German and French Jews, in contrast, partook of the
darkness of the Middle Ages, although they still retained advantages over the
Christians, not only by virtue of a more ancient cultivation, but also by the
gradual introduction and influence of the Hebrew-Arabic literature."
Paradoxically, the contact with Islam had made Judaism part of the Western world.
Indeed, we have heard this Ashkenazi racist lament before, in the work of Samson Raphael Hirsch:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1osm0botpWsc_L-yS0ZvOOD-FPmIY75vb7T83BjQI9wE/edit
In his first book, the Orthodox apologia The Nineteen Letters of Ben Uziel, this is how Hirsch put it:
This great man, Maimonides, to whom, and to whom alone, we owe the preservation of practical Judaism to our time, is responsible, because he sought to reconcile Judaism with the difficulties which confronted it from without, instead of developing it creatively from within, for all the good and the evil which bless and afflict the heritage of the father. His peculiar mental tendency was Arabic-Greek, and his conception of the purpose of life the same. He entered into Judaism from without, bringing with him opinions of whose truth he had convinced himself from extraneous sources and — be reconciled. For him, too, self-perfection through the knowledge of truth was the highest aim, the practical he deemed subordinate. For him knowledge of God was the end, not the means; hence he devoted his intellectual powers to speculations upon the essence of Deity, and sought to bind Judaism to the results of his speculative investigations as to postulates of science or faith. The Mizvoth became for him merely ladders, necessary only to conduct to knowledge or to protect against error, this latter often only the temporary and limited error of polytheism. Mishpatim became only rules of prudence, Mitzvoth as well; Chukkim rules of health, teaching right feeling, defending against the transitory errors of the time ; Both ordinances, designed to promote philosophical or other concepts; all this having no foundation in the eternal essence of things, not resulting from their eternal demand on me, or from my eternal purpose and task, no eternal symbolizing of an un- changeable idea, and not inclusive enough to form a basis for the totality of the commandments.
The canard was repeated by Joseph B. Soloveitchik in his book The Halakhic Mind:
In his article, Angel goes to great lengths to show how the Sephardim had good manners and worked diligently not to offend anyone.
This, of course, is the opposite of the Ashkenazi tradition which is deeply contentious and which utilizes polemic and personal invective to assert its beliefs and values, as I showed in my Huffington Post article “Killing Off Rational Judaism: The Maimonidean Controversy”:
https://groups.google.com/g/Davidshasha/c/CdlYQW4spL0
I recently had occasion to re-post that article, along with the late Jose Faur’s classic study “Anti-Maimonidean Demons”:
https://groups.google.com/g/Davidshasha/c/JS9cf_kRCzg
The reason for my re-postings was the excellent piece by Gregg Stern on the Maimonidean allegory controversy in Languedoc:
https://groups.google.com/g/Davidshasha/c/N-uVMiV12G4
The Stern article is significant, because it shows us how the magical-occult TOSFOS irrationalism began to permeate the Catalonian community through the agency of Moses Nahmanides after his migration, physical and mental, to the Franco-German Rhineland:
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/nahmanides
Regarding this point, the Angel article pointedly extols the Anti-Maimonidean mysticism of the Ashkenazim, which was eventually adopted by the Sephardim:
Another element in the quality of inwardness is the awareness of holiness. Even simple and relatively uneducated Sephardim recognized the dimension of holiness in life. This very recognition has led to an inner spiritual humility, a sense of connection with the Eternal God.
On the folk level, this recognition of holiness was manifested in various ways. It was a wide-spread practice to read from the Zohar, the classic book of kabbalah. The Zohar was read with great devotion even by those who could not understand the words, nor even pronounce them correctly. Rabbi Hayyim Yosef David Azulai, a great 18th century Sephardic sage, praised the value of reading the Zohar even by people who could not read it properly. The very reading of this holy text was a way of deepening a person's awareness of the holy (Azulai 1879: 6).
In many communities, it was customary to kiss the hand of the rabbi as a sign of respect. In turn, the rabbi would offer his blessing. This custom reflects respect for what the rabbi represents i.e. Torah, God, holiness. Reverence shown to the rabbi was symbolic of reverence felt toward all that is sacred in Judaism. The outward fulfillment of this custom inculcated an inward respect for holiness.
On the intellectual level, this thirst for holiness showed itself in a number of ways. The great scholars of halakha saw in their study a direct link between themselves and the will of God. Rabbi Yosef Karo, author of the classic Shulhan Arukh, reported receiving angelic messages, prodding him to utilize his talents to study and teach halakha.
Throughout the generations, Sephardic intellectuals produced significant works of Jewish ethics and moral guidance. Among the classic authors in this genre were such figures as Rabbis Eliezer Azicri, Eliyahu de Vidas, Hayyim Yosef David Azulai, Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto, Eliyahu ha-Cohen, and Eliezer Papo. A chief characteristic of this moral literature is its stress on spiritual inwardness.
Completely ignoring the penetrating insights of Faur, who spent a good deal of his career attacking Ashkenazi Anti-Maimonidean irrationalism, Angel chooses to connect this magical “Folk” wisdom to the larger intellectual program of the Sephardim, but displays little of the actual tradition in the discussion:
On the intellectual level, this thirst for holiness showed itself in a number of ways. The great scholars of halakha saw in their study a direct link between themselves and the will of God. Rabbi Yosef Karo, author of the classic Shulhan Arukh, reported receiving angelic messages, prodding him to utilize his talents to study and teach halakha.
Throughout the generations, Sephardic intellectuals produced significant works of Jewish ethics and moral guidance. Among the classic authors in this genre were such figures as Rabbis Eliezer Azicri, Eliyahu de Vidas, Hayyim Yosef David Azulai, Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto, Eliyahu ha-Cohen, and Eliezer Papo. A chief characteristic of this moral literature is its stress on spiritual inwardness.
Indeed, this impoverished discussion of Sephardic intellectualism lacks any substance, or any actual engagement with the issues raised by Hirsch, Soloveitchik, and Schorsch in their relentless dismissal of the Sephardic heritage as being “not Jewish.”
Angel’s argument does not provide fulsome examples of the true intellectual masterpieces of the classical Sephardic literary heritage, which I have done in my annotated reading list on our tradition:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bKBTQSn0dytn4AefatM1wTgG22DTMaz3sVCuYIxiJEY/edit
Indeed, he prefers instead to hone in laser-like on the mystical tradition which came from those Franco-German Anti-Maimonideans:
One of the concepts in kabbalah and ethical literature is known as hitbodedut-- 'meditation'. This principle teaches that an individual must intellectually and spiritually isolate himself periodically, in order to focus completely on the ultimate truths. If the kabbalistic elite were able to master this practice, the masses were at least able to appreciate its value.
In the course of the article, we are blithely told that Sephardim are optimistic, good-natured, and loath to engage in confrontation.
Now there are two ways of seeing such a Sephardic ethicality:
We can praise such moral rectitude and self-respect for displaying integrity and selfless devotion to humanity.
But we can also see such humility as a way for others to take advantage of us, knowing that we will not fight back when attacked.
It is this latter position that has so endangered our tradition, and left us bereft of true moral leadership.
We can see how Angel followed the Washington Heights crowd when it came to Donald Trump:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/-g6Snpupd0A/m/95NjPMYjBAAJ
Rather than speaking out against the Modern Orthodox corruption of Jewish values in the wake of Trump’s ascendance, Angel made positive comments on the former president, as he remained utterly silent in the face of the Orange Pig’s Lysol assaults on American Democracy and Religious Freedom:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/W2F21yO7Plg/m/DLIuweZaBQAJ
But more than his refusal to speak out for Sephardim against Ashkenazi racism, and his silence on the criminal psychopath Trump, is the obsequious manner in which he has not commented on his Shearith Israel replacement, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik.
The Sephardi-hater Soloveichik, as I have repeatedly asserted, has become one of the foremost Anti-Maimonideans of our time:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_fs8wonYLfhONdKPKTgFt_aoi6GPoJ2uhDFcWOfKuTk/edit
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ytYVvsu-He-LACFKWcSsYGguR5uX33u9/view?ths=true
The Tikvah Neo-Con Straussian Soloveichik has emphatically refused the classical Sephardic heritage of Jewish Humanism, and embraced the neo-Christian atavism of the late Michael Wyschogrod:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vkNZusv09KazmHUp3BNcBGIe9TEZEMcKsZXfbBFMm4Q/edit
That is what Angel’s SI looks like these days.
In addition, Angel’s article alludes to the eminently comforting heimische folkways of his birthplace Seattle, presented with a very marked Hispanic accent:
Among the women, it was common to have visitas, little social gatherings during the course of the week. The hostess would invite some of her relatives and friends. She would prepare a good variety of baked goods and other specialties, and would serve everything on her best set of dishes. The ladies would attend, dressed in their best clothes, as though they were going to a formal party, rather than to the home of a friend or relative.
My mother explained to us the custom that when the hostess wanted the guests to leave, she offered them a certain confection made of marzipan. In popular parlance, this confection was known as the passoporto and was a signal to the guests that the party was over. This was a polite and respectful way to deal with a difficult social situation.
As we have seen multiple times, the Seattle Sephardic community is now represented by Angel ally Devin Naar, who has his own internal conflicts with the classical Sephardic heritage:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/bQLar9l8oZs/m/pXipTlsPBAAJ
Naar has followed Angel’s lead in denying Muslim-Jewish Convivencia:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/hTIHtWaM3xw/m/YHjH2FOyDgAJ
He counts both Alana Newhouse and Arielle Angel as his close friends:
https://jewishcurrents.org/author/devinnaar/
https://www.tabletmag.com/contributors/devin-e-naar
I am not sure if Ms. Angel is related to the rabbi, but her article on Post-Sephardim is very much in his wheelhouse:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/Q82jUjKiHMk/m/EYOCbUQAAwAJ
Naar’s University of Washington Jewish Studies program has elevated the journalist Emily Alhadeff, an Ashkenazi married to a local Sephardi:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/rlu0vCildLk/m/oKigA5pkAQAJ
For those who may not follow these things closely, Mrs. Alhadeff has her own Substack, tellingly called The Cholent!
In her latest entry she recounts the stirring story of Seattle’s Moishe House.
https://www.moishehouse.org/find-a-house/seattle/
Indeed, it is very White Jewish Supremacy:
The house, in North Seattle, started to come together when Hadas Rosenberg, 25, moved here from Chicago in August. “I heard from my friend that there was a lot of people in this area of Seattle, in the Northeast area, who were really excited about the possibility of a Moishe House,” Rosenberg explains. “I was interested. I have always loved community building.”
In case you were wondering, it is located right near the local Schneersohn-Christ House:
The house sits within the North Seattle eruv and is within walking distance to Chabad, Modern Orthodox, and Conservative synagogues. In a month’s time, they have held a range of programs, including “Cocoa, Crepes, and Canned Goods,” an oneg Shabbat, and a talk and discussion on the birth of religious Zionism. “Another exciting thing for us was that the people who came to our second event were all new faces,” says Rosenberg. “I think that’s a really exciting start for us to already be meeting so many people.”
I was struck by the participation of Orr Toledano, a software developer from Sacramento:
Rosenberg, who works in sales for a tutoring company, met Hillel (Hilly) Steinmetz, a 26-year-old master’s student in computational linguistics at UW originally from Montreal, and Orr Toledano, 24, a software developer originally from Sacramento, at North Seattle’s Mercaz community.
It is true White Jewish Supremacy Intersectionality, of the sort that Angel would very much approve of:
“We hope that this Moishe House will stay longer than any of our terms staying in the house, because it’s something that I think the community was very much craving,” says Toledano. “But also, we’re accessible to people of all different levels of religion, all different races, backgrounds, ethnicities, sexual identities, gender identities, you know, that we build this open space for all types of Jews. I think that is what we’re really hoping will carry on.”
Aside from Toledano, every name mentioned in the article is Ashkenazi; as are the leaders of the various Seattle Jewish institutions involved in the young Hipster community.
It leads us to ask that very worrying question: Who is making the Bourekas there?
https://mag.jewishinseattle.org/eat-and-drink/2015/08/rachels-pumpkin-borekas
https://jewishstudies.washington.edu/sephardic-studies/rhodes-boreka-recipe-saved/
Such White Jewish Supremacy Intersectionality works to the disadvantage of the Sephardim, as we continue to see our intellectual-literary heritage be erased from the Jewish discourse by ill-mannered and aggressive Ashkenazim.
Alhadeff, as we saw in SHU 1020, has attacked the New Racial Consciousness and WOKE culture, in the acrid Tikvah spirit of Bari Weiss:
https://groups.google.com/g/davidshasha/c/km-APSNnvv8/m/iHR1-fifAAAJ
Here are the links to those articles:
https://thecholent.substack.com/p/the-challenge-of-dei-crt-justice
https://thecholent.substack.com/p/the-challenges-of-creating-a-jewish
In true Tikvah fashion, she has also praised Sephardi-hater Dara “Dead Jews” Horn, because that is what you do these days if you want to rise in the Neo-Con Jewish hierarchy:
https://thecholent.substack.com/p/why-people-love-dead-jews
Just for good measure, she attacked Ethnic Studies in the toxic JIMENA spirit:
https://thecholent.substack.com/p/the-trouble-with-ethnic-studies
That is what Angel’s Seattle looks like these days.
He has also watched silently as not only SI has been given over to Ashkenazi Sephardi-haters, but as the Tikvah ASF and JIMENA have followed suit:
https://groups.google.com/g/Davidshasha/c/Aik3N12jrfo
https://groups.google.com/g/Davidshasha/c/oUhqdKyoyew
As we can see from his proud recycling of the limp article, Angel is not at all concerned with Sephardic continuity and with fighting those racist Ashkenazim who are ensuring that our young people know nothing about it – other than how innocuously “wonderful” and “beautiful” it is.
It is clear to anyone with a functioning brain that the Sephardic heritage today is in deep peril, and it is Self-Haters like Marc Angel who have sought to create a Convivencia with the Ashkenazim in order to make it palatable and inoffensive to the White Jewish Supremacy that now controls the Jewish world.
If you can’t beat ‘em, then most certainly you should join ‘em!
Fred Rogers would most certainly have approved.
David Shasha
Folk Wisdom and Intellectual Wisdom: A Study in Sephardic Culture
By: Rabbi Marc D. Angel
Professor Sephiha has made monumental contributions to the study of Judeo-Spanish civilization. It is a pleasure to dedicate this essay to him, in recognition of his singular accomplishments.
When thinking about Judeo-Spanish culture, many people naturally tend to focus on the folk elements. Indeed, the Judeo-Spanish tradition is rich in folk traditions, as manifested in proverbs, stories, songs, and customs.
Folk tradition, by definition, is the domain of the common people. It reflects their wit and wisdom, their way of comprehending life. But along with the folk culture, the Sephardim maintained a vital intellectual life. An intellectual elite produced a sophisticated literature which reflected the best thinking of the best educated members of the community. In order to understand Sephardic culture, one must be attuned to the contributions both of the folk and of the elite.
The folk wisdom and the intellectual wisdom of the Sephardim derive from the same roots. While differing in expression, they articulate many similar ideas. A culture is a living organism. It is to be expected that all who are part of it - whether tending more to the folk or to the intellectuals – will share in the culture's general worldview.
In this essay, I will consider three themes in Sephardic culture, seeing how they reflect themselves in the folk wisdom and intellectual wisdom of our people.
1. Inwardness
A dominant feature in Sephardic culture is the respect for inwardness. A strong inner life is expected to develop self-confidence and self-respect; these lead to self-reliance. On the folk level, this value expresses itself in a number of proverbs:
"Consejo de tu companiero toma y el de tu corason non dexes. " (Take the advice of your companion—but do not leave behind that of your heart.)
"Poco que sea, mio que sea." (Let it be small, but let it be mine.)
"El diamente briya, pero al fin y at cavo es una piedra. " (A diamond glitters, but ultimately it is only a rock.)
These popular sentiments found expression in the Me 'am Lo'ez, the classic Judeo-Spanish biblical anthology initiated by Rabbi Yaacov Huli. In recounting the story of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, the Me 'am Lo 'ez cites a relevant rabbinic teaching. When Moses first received the Ten Commandments, he ascended Mount Sinai alone. The people of Israel were gathered around the mountain. The revelation was accompanied by thunder, lightning and the sound of the ram’s horn. This was a highly dramatic event. Yet, when Moses came down the mountain and found the Israelites dancing around the golden calf, he threw the tablets of the law from his hands, and they were shattered. Moses then ascended the mountain a second time. On this occasion, there was no public fanfare, no miraculous sounds and lights. God told Moses that he himself would have to carve out the stone on which the Ten Commandments were to be inscribed. This second set of the Ten Commandments, which Moses received alone and through his own labor, was preserved. The first tablets which were given with much dramatic flare were destroyed, while the second tablets, which were given privately and quietly, survived. From this, the Me 'am Lo 'ez teaches that the private exertions of an individual are greater and more effective than things done with much publicity and sensationalism. This lesson underscores the need for each person to have self-respect and self-reliance (Me 'am Lo'ez on Exodus 34: 1–3).
This idea also is developed in the teachings of Rabbi Yitzhak Luria of sixteenth century Safed. A central theme in his kabbalistic system was tikun 'correction'. Each Jew participates in the correction of the world by liberating sparks of holiness and lessening the forces of impurity. By performing the commandments of the Torah, Jews thus play a major role in preserving the cosmos. Regardless of one's degree of wealth or wisdom or social status, one is able to participate in the correction of the universe. This idea, widely adopted among Sephardim, inculcates a sense of self-worth and personal responsibility.[1]
Another element in the quality of inwardness is the awareness of holiness. Even simple and relatively uneducated Sephardim recognized the dimension of holiness in life. This very recognition has led to an inner spiritual humility, a sense of connection with the Eternal God.
On the folk level, this recognition of holiness was manifested in various ways. It was a wide-spread practice to read from the Zohar, the classic book of kabbalah. The Zohar was read with great devotion even by those who could not understand the words, nor even pronounce them correctly. Rabbi Hayyim Yosef David Azulai, a great 18th century Sephardic sage, praised the value of reading the Zohar even by people who could not read it properly. The very reading of this holy text was a way of deepening a person's awareness of the holy (Azulai 1879: 6).
In many communities, it was customary to kiss the hand of the rabbi as a sign of respect. In turn, the rabbi would offer his blessing. This custom reflects respect for what the rabbi represents i.e. Torah, God, holiness. Reverence shown to the rabbi was symbolic of reverence felt toward all that is sacred in Judaism. The outward fulfillment of this custom inculcated an inward respect for holiness.
On the intellectual level, this thirst for holiness showed itself in a number of ways. The great scholars of halakha saw in their study a direct link between themselves and the will of God. Rabbi Yosef Karo, author of the classic Shulhan Arukh, reported receiving angelic messages, prodding him to utilize his talents to study and teach halakha.
Throughout the generations, Sephardic intellectuals produced significant works of Jewish ethics and moral guidance. Among the classic authors in this genre were such figures as Rabbis Eliezer Azicri, Eliyahu de Vidas, Hayyim Yosef David Azulai, Moshe Hayyim Luzzatto, Eliyahu ha-Cohen, and Eliezer Papo. A chief characteristic of this moral literature is its stress on spiritual inwardness.
Each person has the possibility of improving himself spiritually. One may not be able to control the world, or his society, or even his own family: but he does have the possibility of learning to control himself. The ethical literature emphasizes the need for each individual to be strong from within.
One of the concepts in kabbalah and ethical literature is known as hitbodedut-- 'meditation'. This principle teaches that an individual must intellectually and spiritually isolate himself periodically, in order to focus completely on the ultimate truths. If the kabbalistic elite were able to master this practice, the masses were at least able to appreciate its value.
The folk wisdom and intellectual wisdom of the Sephardim were interrelated, each influencing the other, and both reflecting shared ideas and values.
2. Optimism, Joy in Life
The Sephardic spirit is generally optimistic, valuing the joy of life. On the folk level, this shows itself in the many celebrations held among Sephardic families, for almost any occasion. These celebrations include a wonderful variety of foods, fragrances, songs, dances. The Sephardic aesthetic sense appreciates a variety of colors. Even in food presentation, Sephardim utilize many vegetables of different colors.
The Sephardic attitude is reflected in an incident which occurred in the latter part of the eighteenth century. An Ashkenazic rabbi, Simhah ben Joshua of Zalozhtsy, made a pilgrimage to Israel. Many Sephardic Jews were on the same ship with him. The trip took place during the month of Ellul, just prior to Rosh Hashanah. This, of course, is the month when Jews recite selihot, special prayers seeking repentance for our sins. The month of Ellul is devoted to serious thought, prayers, and acts of repentance. The Ashkenazic rabbi noted, apparently with surprise, that the pious Sephardim awoke each morning before daybreak in order to chant the selihot prayers. Yet, "during the day, they eat and rejoice and are happy at heart" (Eisenstein 1969: 241). Even during this relatively serious season, the religious Sephardic Jews maintained the spirit of optimism and celebration.
This attitude is also evident in the synagogue melodies for the High Holy Days. In general, the music is upbeat and optimistic. The services almost totally lack music which sounds melancholy or tearful.
This attitude of optimism is reflected in an important work by Rabbi Eliyahu ha-Cohen of eighteenth century Izmir. In his book, Midrash Talpiot, Rabbi ha-Cohen explains a Talmudic passage which lauds two jokesters who were said to have been granted eternal reward in the world to come. Rabbi haCohen wrote:
"Anyone who is happy all his days thereby indicates the greatness of his trust in God. This is why they (the jokesters) were always happy .... This quality (of accepting life with happiness) is enough to give a person merit to have a place in the world to come; for great is trust (in the Lord), even if a person is not perfect in all other moral perfections" (Ha-Cohen 1860: 73a).
3. Gracefulness, Good Manners
Many customs and practices underscore the importance of gracefulness and good manners. When a man is called to the Torah during synagogue services, his younger relatives stand in his honor. Youngsters kiss the hand of their parents and grandparents as a sign of respect. In return, they are given words of blessing. It is not polite for younger people to look directly into the eyes of older people. Rather, the younger person should keep his eyes lowered, as a sign of respect.
Among the women, it was common to have visitas, little social gatherings during the course of the week. The hostess would invite some of her relatives and friends. She would prepare a good variety of baked goods and other specialties, and would serve everything on her best set of dishes. The ladies would attend, dressed in their best clothes, as though they were going to a formal party, rather than to the home of a friend or relative.
My mother explained to us the custom that when the hostess wanted the guests to leave, she offered them a certain confection made of marzipan. In popular parlance, this confection was known as the passoporto and was a signal to the guests that the party was over. This was a polite and respectful way to deal with a difficult social situation.
On the intellectual level, the importance of good manners and gracefulness was emphasized in works of Jewish law and especially in works of Jewish ethical behavior. A classic sixteenth century work, Regimiento de La Vida by Rabbi Moshe Almosnino, gives specific rules of etiquette which must govern one's life. Good manners were not seen as a superficial frill, but as a basic component of proper living.
The Sephardic model was idealized among nineteenth century German Jewish intellectuals.[2] Moritz Kayserling asserted that the religious behavior of Sephardim
was always so pure, so free of all hypocrisy, remaining forever one and the same, far removed from all incursions of vapid rationalizing, because it emerged united with science, which in turn kept it from ever losing its way. We must constantly acknowledge the benefit that wherever Spanish and Portuguese Jews settled, they spread culture, knowledge and solid learning.
Eduard Gans believed that Sephardim "are marked by less discrepancy in morality, purer speech, greater order in the synagogue, and in fact better taste".
Indeed, as a general rule it can be stated that Sephardim did lay stress on aesthetic considerations and orderliness. They have always taken pride in the beauty of their synagogues. Even the simplest and poorest synagogues are maintained with devotion; they are neat, clean, and pleasing to behold.
Concern for etiquette and aesthetics reflects the deeper concern for self-respect and respect of others. And, of course, it reflects respect for God.
This general tendency underlies the notion that Jews must function as ethical human beings, models of excellence who can be emulated by others. This idea found full expression in the writings of Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh, one of the important Sephardic intellectuals of the nineteenth century. In one of his books, In Ethical Paths, Rabbi Benamozegh demonstrates the profundity of the Jewish ethical system. In his work, Israel and Humanity, he thoughtfully argues on behalf of the universalism of Judaism. The ultimate teachings of the Torah are relevant to all peoples, not only to the Jews.
Rabbi Benzion Uziel, in his various writings, also articulates the ethical teachings of Judaism. All human beings, whether Jewish or not, are created in the image of God, and are therefore entitled to respect and dignity. Jewish teachings imbue the Jewish people with a strong ethical sense, enabling them to inspire others similarly to strive to live their lives on a high ethical plane.
Another related idea is the Sephardic discomfort with ideological confrontations. The natural tendency has been to try to maintain harmony, peacefulness and balance.
Sephardim, whether belonging to the world of intellectuals or the world of the folk, have tended to see the Sephardic approach to life as being imbued with compassion and tolerance. Rabbi Michael Molho, in his study of the customs and practices of the Sephardim of Salonika, has noted that Sephardic religious life shuns extremism and showy displays of religious observance (Molho 1950: 155).
This Sephardic attitude led to the maintenance of cohesive, traditional communities. At a time when the Enlightenment and Emancipation were tearing the fabric of Jewish life in Europe, the Sephardim maintained themselves as islands of respectful traditionalism. Whereas Ashkenazic Jewry divided itself into ideological movements -- Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and others—Sephardim rejected this approach. Rather, they stressed the importance of maintaining a united community, avoiding ideological confrontation and divisiveness. For the sake of keeping harmony and balance in the community, individuals recognized the need to reject ideological factionalism.
The above examples illustrate how basic ideas imbued the masses of Sephardim as well as the intellectual elite. They cannot be understood as peripheral ideas held only by one group or the other. Rather, they can be seen to be basic ingredients in Sephardic culture as a whole. These attitudes and ideas, which have been fostered by our ancestors for generations, are still vitally relevant to us and to future generations. Our task is to understand Sephardic culture at its best and to convey its message to Sephardim and non-Sephardim alike.
Bibliography:
Angel, Marc D. (1991): Voices In Exile: A Study in Sephardic Intellectual History. Hoboken, New Jersey.
Azulai, Hayyim Y. D. (1879): Avodat ha-Kodesh [Holy Service]. Warsaw.
Eisenstein. J. D. (1969): Ozar ha-Masaot [Anthology of Travel Accountsl. Tel Aviv.
Ha-Cohen. Eliyahu (1869): Midrash Talpiot [Collection of rabbinic homilies and
interpretations]. Tchernowitz.
Molho. Michael (1950): Usos y costumbres de los Sefardies de Salonika. Madrid.
C.S.I.C. Instituto "Arias Montano.”
Scholem. Gershom (1964): On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism. New York.
Schorsch. Ismar (1989): "The Myth of Sephardic Supremacy.” Yearbook of the Leo Baeck Institute 34: 47–66.
Notes
[1] See my discussion in Angel, Voices in Exile, 110–116. See also Scholem, On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism, 116f. (Move all notes to endnotes)
[2] This information is drawn from an article by Schorsh, "The Myth of Sephardic Supremacy,” pp. 52 and 63. (move to endnote)
Rabbi Marc D. Angel is Founder and Director of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. This article is included in issue 12 of Conversations, the journal of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals.
This article originally appeared in “Sephardica: Hommage a Haim Vidal Sephiha,” Peter Lang Publishers, Berne, 1996, re-posted to Jewish Ideas website, November 14, 2021