Sephardim

[suh-fahr-dim, -fahr-deem]

plural noun, singular Se·phar·di [suh-fahr-dee, suh-fahr-dee] /səˈfɑr di, sə fɑrˈdi/.

Jews of Spain and Portugal or their descendants, distinguished from the Ashkenazim and other Jewish communities chiefly by their liturgy, religious customs, and pronunciation of Hebrew: after expulsion from Spain and Portugal in 1492, established communities in North Africa, the Balkans, Western Europe, and elsewhere.

Origin of Sephardim

1850–55; < Modern Hebrew Səphāraddīm, plural of Səphāraddī, equivalent to < Hebrew Səphāradh (region mentioned in Bible (Obadiah 20) and assumed to be Spain) + -ī suffix of appurtenance

Related formsSe·phar·dic, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sephardic

Contemporary Examples of sephardic

Jews of Sephardic origin were protected by a law of 1924 that granted them Spanish citizenship.
The Week in Death: Suzanne Gelleri Dear
The Telegraph
December 15, 2013
Yosef was a leader in religious outreach, and brought thousands of Sephardic Jews back into the religious fold.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Israel’s Pragmatic Kingmaker
Jay Michaelson
October 8, 2013
To millions of Sephardic and Mizrachi Jews around the world, he was a hero.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Israel’s Pragmatic Kingmaker
Jay Michaelson
October 8, 2013
Her words were warmly received by the Speaker of the Knesset, a politician from Shas, the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox party.
Religion And State In Ruth Calderon's Knesset Speech
Zachary Braiterman
February 15, 2013
The decisive faction here might be the Shas party, which represents the large Sephardic population.
Israel’s Religious Zionist Vs. Ultra-Orthodox Rift
Rabbi Daniel Landes
February 7, 2013

Historical Examples of sephardic

A Sephardic Jew lived and moved and had his being "by permission of the Mahamad."
The King of Schnorrers
Israel Zangwill
His daughter was to be married under the Sephardic canopy, and no jot of synagogual honour was to be bated the bridegroom.
The King of Schnorrers
Israel Zangwill
But the very enormity of the misery they endured387 raised the dignity of the Sephardic Jews to a height bordering on pride.
History of the Jews, Vol. IV (of VI)
Heinrich Graetz
These Jews, true to their religious instincts, built synagogues wherever they settled and were called Sephardic Congregations.
On the Trail of The Immigrant
Edward A. Steiner
The Sephardic Jews in all these respects occupied a superior position, and they merited the partiality shown to them.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 15, Slice 4
Various

Word Origin and History for sephardic

Sephardim

plural of Sephardi "a Spanish or Portuguese Jew" (1851), from Modern Hebrew Sepharaddim "Spaniards, Jews of Spain," from Sepharad, name of a country mentioned only in Obad. v:20, probably meaning "Asia Minor" or a part of it (Lydia, Phrygia), but identified by the rabbis after the Jonathan Targum as "Spain." Related: Sephardic.