15. “Sephardic Jews and the Spanish Language,” a book by Ángel Pulido
Between Wanderings, 2016. 338 pp. Translated from Spanish and Ladino to English by Steven Capsuto.
In 1903, four centuries after Spain expelled the Jews, a Spanish senator launched a campaign to have his country reopen relations with their descendants, the Sephardic Jews. To promote the campaign, he wrote this classic book, now available in a new annotated translation.
Eager to let Jews speak for themselves, he devoted a third of the book to photos and letters from Sephardim in different countries, describing their communities, synagogues, schools, families, literature and aspirations. They also wrote to him about Ladino—the Judeo-Spanish language that many of them still used at home and in worship. The book documents Sephardic life at a turning point: the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, when many young Sephardim were starting to reject the Spanish language that their ancestors had passed down from generation to generation since 1492. Senator Pulido’s writings, lectures, and organizing earned him the nickname “the Apostle of the Sephardic Jews.” His books on this topic continue to be cited frequently by scholars of Sephardic history.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Ángel Pulido Fernández (1852-1932) was an eminent Spanish physician, senator, forensic anthropologist, journalist and author. He championed causes ranging from human rights to public health, from social justice to religious tolerance, and from child safety to services for the blind. Besides cofounding the Madrid Press Association, he was, at various times, chairman of the Madrid Board of Physicians, director of Spain’s Department of Health, head of the Madrid School of Midwifery, secretary of the Madrid Anthropology Museum, and president of the Spanish Child Protection Council.
From the 1900s to 1920s, this member of Parliament successfully campaigned for Spain to reestablish ties with its exiled Jewish offspring: the Sephardic Jews, whose ancestors the country had banished four centuries earlier. He lectured extensively on the topic and helped create organizations to promote friendship with Sephardim and make it easier for Jews to immigrate to Spain. His other Sephardic-themed books include Españoles sin patria y la raza sefardí (Spaniards without a country and the Sephardic race, 1905) and Mica: homenaje a la mujer hebrea (Mica: An homage to the Jewish woman, 1923).
