Books
Books recommended by JIMENA staff for readers, students, and educators exploring the history, literature, languages, and traditions of Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews. Browse children’s books, novels, history, Jewish languages, and Sephardic thought.
Buy BookHistory & Nonfiction
Crisis and Creativity in the Sephardic World (1391-1648)
by Benjamin GampelA history of Sephardic Jews and conversos between the 1391 riots in Spain and 1648, examining persecution, expulsion, and the cultural and religious creativity that followed.
Buy BookHistory & Nonfiction
Dictionary of Medieval Judaeo-Arabic Texts
by Joshua BlauA specialist dictionary by the linguist Joshua Blau of the Arabic vocabulary found in medieval Judeo Arabic texts, the Arabic written in Hebrew letters by Jews of the Islamic world, with definitions given in Hebrew.
Buy BookHistory & Nonfiction
Egypt from Monarchy to Republic: A Reassessment of Revolution and Change
by Shimon ShamirA collection of scholarly essays reassessing Egypt's 1952 revolution and the transition from monarchy to republic, covering politics, the economy, society, and minorities.
Buy BookChildren’s & Young Adult Books
Emma’s Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty
by Linda Glaser (Author), Claire A. Nivola (Illustrator)A picture biography of Emma Lazarus, the American poet of Sephardic descent, telling how her work with Jewish immigrants inspired The New Colossus, the poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.
Buy BookHistory & Nonfiction
Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World
by Norman StillmanA multivolume reference encyclopedia covering the history, religion, culture, and communities of Jews in Muslim lands from the rise of Islam to the present.
Buy BookHistory & Nonfiction
Entwined Homelands, Empowered Diasporas: Hispanic Moroccan Jews and Their Globalizing Community
by Aviad MorenoA history of the Hispanic Moroccan Jews of northern Morocco's former Spanish zone, following their twentieth century migrations to Venezuela, Spain, Israel, and beyond and the transnational community ties they maintained.
Buy BookHistory & Nonfiction
Esther’s Children: A portrait of Iranian Jews
by Houman SarsharA large illustrated volume of essays on Iranian Jewish history, religion, literature, art, and music from antiquity to the present, accompanied by photographs and archival images.
Buy BookHistory & Nonfiction
Exile in the Maghreb: Jews under Islam, Sources and Documents
by Paul B. Fenton; David LittmanA collection of translated sources and documents on the status and treatment of Jews in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia under Muslim rule from the medieval period to the twentieth century.
Buy BookHistory & Nonfiction
Extraterritorial Dreams: European Citizenship, Sephardi Jews, and the Ottoman Twentieth Century
by Sarah Abrevaya SteinA history of Ottoman Sephardic Jews who held or sought European citizenship and protection in the twentieth century, tracing how these legal ties shaped their fates through war and the Holocaust.
Buy BookHistory & Nonfiction
Family Papers: A Sephardic Journey Through the Twentieth Century
by Sarah Abrevaya SteinA history of the Levy family of Salonica told through their letters and papers, following relatives across the twentieth century through war, the Holocaust, and migration to many countries.
Buy BookHistory & Nonfiction
Folktales of the Jews, Volume 1: Tales from the Sephardic Dispersion
by Dan Ben-Amos, Dov Noy, Ellen FrankelAn anthology of Jewish folktales from Sephardic communities in the Balkans, Turkey, Greece, and beyond, drawn from the Israel Folktale Archives and accompanied by scholarly commentary.- Buy Book
History & Nonfiction
Folktales of the Jews, Volume 3: Tales from Arab Lands
by Dan Ben-AmosAn anthology of Jewish folktales collected in Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Tunisia, and other Arab lands, each tale accompanied by scholarly commentary on its origins and variants.