Europe

The cradle of Spanish and Portuguese Jewish civilization was Western Europe.  After first emerging in KK Talmud Torah in Venice, it spread to the twin pillars of Amsterdam and London, which ultimately eclipsed the mother community in power and prestige.  From these early nodes, Western Sephardim fanned out across England, France, the Low Countries, maritime Germany, northern Italy, and the Adriatic coast of Croatia.  In many cases, they were the first Jews in their host countries, which paved the way for Ashkenazim to settle in lands formerly closed to them.  Tragically, the Continental communities were irrevocably damaged in the Holocaust, although a handful still survive as living communities today.

Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation

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  • Subtitle:  Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam
  • Author:  Miriam Bodian
  • Publisher:  Indiana University Press, 1999 – 219 pp.
  • LOC Permalink:  http://lccn.loc.gov/96048373
  • Availability:  in print – see publisher's website
  • Review:  click HERE for a short review of the book and its table of contents

The Sephardim of England

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  • Subtitle:  A History of the Spanish and Portuguese Community, 1492-1951
  • Author:  Albert Montefiore Hyamson
  • Publisher:  Methuen, 1951 – 468 pp.
  • LOC Permalink:  http://lccn.loc.gov/52001423
  • Availability:  out of print, but reprints are available from the Society of Heshaim
  • Review:  click HERE for a short review of the book and its table of contents

The Familiarity of Strangers

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  • Subtitle:  The Sephardic Diaspora, Livorno, and Cross-Cultural Trade in the Early Modern Period
  • Author:  Francesca Trivellato
  • Publisher: Yale University, 2009 – 470 pp.
  • LOC Permalink:  http://lccn.loc.gov/2008045629
  • Availability:  out of print, but used copies are affordable
  • Review:  click HERE for a short review of the book and its table of contents

The Sephardic Jews of Bordeaux

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  • Subtitle:  Assimilation and Emancipation in Revolutionary and Napoleonic France
  • Author:  Frances Malino
  • Publisher:  The University of Alabama Press, 1978 – 166 pp.
  • LOC Permalink:  http://lccn.loc.gov/77022659
  • Availability:  out of print, but used copies are affordable
  • Review:  click HERE for a short review of the book and its table of contents

The Jews of Gibraltar Under British Rule

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  • Subtitle:  [None]
  • Author:  A. B. M. Serfaty
  • Publisher:  Beanland, Malin & Co., 1933; 36 pp.
  • LOC Permalink:  [not in the Library of Congress]
  • Availability:  out of print and hard to find at any price; recommend finding in a library
  • Review:  click HERE for a short review of the book and its table of contents