Classical Sephardic Judaism

The Golden Age. Under Muslim rule, Jews of the Middle East and Spain lived within a flourishing Arabic speaking civilization. Jewish scholars wrote philosophy and science in Arabic (often in Hebrew letters) and Torah commentary and poetry in Hebrew. Hebrew poets in Spain borrowed Arabic meters and themes, such as wine, love, and nature, and wove them together with the language of the Bible. Many sages were also physicians, statesmen, and scientists.

A guiding idea. Maimonides taught that one should “hear the truth from whoever utters it,” and that the study of nature and the cosmos is itself a path to knowing God. Scholar Zvi Zohar describes a lasting Sephardic ideal of joining Jewish learning with broader human knowledge, including science, philosophy, and the arts.

Law for real life. In this view, later Sephardic and Mizrahi rabbis were known for rulings that weighed the needs of the community and the dignity of each person, and for treating Jews of every level of observance as full members of one community. Their communities generally did not divide into separate denominations. To learn more about how this shapes Jewish identity today, see the companion explainer on Masorti Judaism in this series.

One view among several

“Classical Sephardic Judaism” is a modern label, and scholars debate how distinct the tradition really is. Professor Zvi Zohar of the Shalom Hartman Institute finds that nineteenth and twentieth century Sephardic rabbis ruled noticeably differently from their Ashkenazi counterparts, while noting that the contrast may reflect how each community met modernity. Dr. Ariel Picard has warned against a “romanticized view” of Sephardic rabbis and against sharp Sephardic versus Ashkenazi divisions. Customs also varied widely from Morocco to Iraq to Turkey, so no single description fits every community.

Saadia Gaon (882 to 942)

Born in Egypt, Saadia moved to Babylonia and led the great academy of Sura. He translated much of the Bible into Arabic and wrote The Book of Beliefs and Opinions (935), which sought to show that reason and revelation agree.

Shmuel HaNagid (993 to 1055 or 1056)

Born in Córdoba, he rose to become vizier of the Muslim kingdom of Granada, directing its diplomacy and armies, while also serving as nagid, head of its Jewish community. He was a Talmud scholar and a pioneering Hebrew poet who even wrote poems about war.

Shlomo Ibn Gabirol (born about 1022)

A poet of both sacred and secular verse, and a philosopher in the Neoplatonic tradition. Christian scholars in Europe knew his philosophy in Latin under the name “Avicebron.”

Yehuda HaLevi (about 1075 to 1141)

Physician, philosopher, and one of the greatest Hebrew poets. His Kuzari, written in Arabic, is a dialogue between a Jewish sage and the king of the Khazars. His “Songs of Zion,” still read on Tisha B'Av, voice his longing for the Land of Israel. Late in life he left Spain for the Holy Land. He is thought to have died soon after, though legend says he reached Jerusalem.

Maimonides, the Rambam (1138 to 1204)

Born in Córdoba, his family fled persecution under the Almohads, living in Fez and the Land of Israel before settling in Fustat (Old Cairo). He served as a physician to the royal court and wrote a commentary on the Mishnah in Arabic, the Mishneh Torah, a complete code of Jewish law in Hebrew, and the Guide of the Perplexed, on Torah, science, and philosophy.

Rabbi Yosef Karo (1488 to 1575)

Expelled from Spain as a small child, Karo grew up in the Ottoman Empire and settled in Safed in the 1530s, a center of Jewish mysticism. There he completed the Shulhan Arukh, “the Set Table,” a code of practical Jewish law. From 1569 it was printed with the Ashkenazi glosses of Rabbi Moshe Isserles on the same page, and together they became a foundational code for observant Jews.

The Ben Ish Hai (1835 to 1909)

Rabbi Yosef Hayyim of Baghdad combined practical law with mystical teaching in his sermons, and he wrote a guide to Jewish law for women in Judeo Arabic. His authority reached Iraq, India, Persia, and the Land of Israel. Educator Tamar Zaken highlights his ruling that even used clothing can merit a blessing of joy, protecting the dignity of the poor.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (1920 to 2013)

Born in Baghdad, he came to Jerusalem at age four and served as Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983. Known for generally lenient rulings, he recognized Ethiopia's Beta Israel as Jews and freed about 1,000 women whose husbands went missing in the 1973 war to remarry. He was also the spiritual leader of the Shas political party, and his efforts to unify Sephardic practice sometimes set aside local customs.

Rabbi Marc D. Angel, rabbi emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel, the historic Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of New York, founded the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals in 2007. He describes classical Sephardic Judaism as intellectually vibrant, compassionate, and inclusive. He urges rabbis to begin with the real human situation, then turn to the classical texts, and to see all Jews as one family whatever their level of observance.

Rabbi Daniel Bouskila, of the Sephardic Educational Center, teaches the legal and philosophical writings of classic Sephardic rabbis. He points to the page of the Shulhan Arukh, where Karo's Sephardic rulings and Isserles's Ashkenazi notes sit side by side, as a model for schools: teach both traditions together, every day, as the shared heritage of all Jews.

Common misconceptions

• “Sephardic Judaism is a separate denomination.” It is a heritage and approach, not a movement. Sephardic and Ashkenazi prayer books are largely the same, and the rabbis share the same Talmud and codes.
• “Moderate means less committed.” Classical Sephardic rabbis were fully committed to Jewish law. Their flexibility came from within it.
• “The Golden Age was a time of perfect harmony.” It produced remarkable cooperation and creativity, but there were also persecutions, such as the one Maimonides' family fled.
• “Only Sephardic Jews follow these sages.” Maimonides and the Shulhan Arukh are studied by Jews everywhere.

In the public school classroom

• Teach al Andalus as a meeting place of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian learning and compare Jewish, Muslim, and Christian thinkers of the era.
• Read Yehuda HaLevi's poetry in translation as literature, alongside Arabic poetry from the same era.
• Explore Maimonides as a figure in the history of medicine and science.
• Present the sages' ideas as subjects of study; do not ask students to perform rituals or recite prayers.

In Jewish schools and communities

• Build a classroom “library of sages” using the reading list in Tamar Zaken's Distinctions article.
• Study a page of the Shulhan Arukh with Karo and Isserles side by side, as Rabbi Bouskila suggests.
• Use the Sephardi & Mizrahi Education Toolkit to weave Sephardic thinkers into the whole year.

At home and with family

• Ask relatives which rabbis and customs your family followed, and why.
• Look for family books, such as a Ben Ish Hai or a prayer book from the old country, and record their stories.
• Share a family memory with JIMENA's oral history project.

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From Distinctions, JIMENA's journal

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