Sephardim: The Jews from Spain (review)

170 SHOFAR Fall 1994 Vol. 13, No. 1 Josephus a property located in the plain, he may have told himself that this was his field in Anathoth. If that were so, the remainder of the prophecy might also one day come to pass" (p. 178). Clearly this is a biography written by a distant admirer. Whereas Josephus has customarily been maligned as a charlatan enjoying his life of ease in Rome, after finagling his way from personal disaster to personal fortune, Hadas-Level suspects that in Rome he must have prayed the Psalms that he knew by heart. She writes: "In a cruel paradox, ever since Josephus had been plunged into mourning for his lost homeland he had been included in all the celebrations of that homeland's defeat ... but he managed to remain aloof from the merrymaking, which must often have pained him deeply. Like all the Jews of his class, he knew by heart the Psalm's ... Often, he must have thought, ... 'Who will bring me into the strong city? ... Wilt not thou, a God, who hast cast us off.' The Lord must have some plan for His protege" (p. 183). She answers those who, before the bench of history, would have preferred to see his life end after Jotapata, "To be a hero, he would have had to perish at Jotapata having written nothing, but then posterity would have known nothing about it. Should we regret that he was not a hero?" (p. 238). Stuart D. Robertson History and Jewish Studies Purdue University Sephardim: The Jews from Spain, by Paloma Diaz-Mas, translated by George K. Zucker. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. 235 pp. $27.50. When the modern Zionist movement began, its theorists perceived as a major problem that Jews lived in two worlds. Gordon declared that ifthe Jews want "cream," i.e., the higher culture of literature, painting, music, and the rest, then they must have their own milk, that is, Jews engaged in farming, industry, and emptying trash, since it is. from the base of the triangle of society that the impetus moves up to create the higher culture. Jews routinely lived in two worlds in the diaspora, and it would appear that they will continue to do so for quite a while or until the Lubavitcher Rebbe manages to bring Moshiach, whichever comes first. Paul Wexler's researches have clearly indicated the substantial Slavic substratum of Ashkenazic language (Yiddish and, indirectly, Modern Hebrew), an Book Reviews 171 influence which was already apparent in Ashkenazic dress and music. The Sephardim are no different. Their mores, world view, and language have been deeply influenced by the powerful Hispanic tradition. This book, written by a native Spaniard who is professor of Sephardic Studies at the Universidad del Pais Vasco, and beautifully translated by George Zucker of the University of Northern Iowa, concentrates on the Hispanic heritage of the Sephardim. As such it is a most useful addition to current books on the topic, which usually concentrate on their Jewish, rather than their Hispanic, heritage. In particular, it gives details of the history of North African Jewry and of the CapIas, in which Diaz-Mas has especial expertise, which one would be hard put to find elsewhere in convenient form in English. The book consists of six chapters, each of which is followed by a valuable recommended reading list. The first is a general description of Judaism. Chapter two is a brief history of the Sephardim. It is worth noting that the author has a highly restrictive definition of what constitutes a Sephardi, to the point that I discovered to my surprise that individuals I had always considered to be Sephardim par excellence-Moses Maimonides , Joseph Caro, Miguel de Barrios, or Emma Lazarus, to mention just a few-are not Sephardim at all. Somewhat inconsistently, she talks about some of these individuals later on as though they were Sephardim, and I guess I shall persist in myoId ways on this matter. The truth is that it is probably no easier to decide what is a Sephardi than what is a Jew. Chapter three deals with language, i.e., Judeo-Spanish. Judeo-Arabic, although spoken by many...