Editing Sephardic Jews (section)

=== After the Reconquista ===
{{Main|Expulsion of Jews from Spain}}
Among the Sephardim were many who were the descendants, or heads, of wealthy families and who, as ''[[Marranos]]'', had occupied prominent positions in the countries they had left. Some had been stated officials, others had held positions of dignity within the Church; many had been the heads of large banking-houses and mercantile establishments, and some were physicians or scholars who had officiated as teachers in high schools.
Their Spanish or [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] was a [[lingua franca]] that enabled Sephardim from different countries to engage in commerce and diplomacy.

With their social equals they associated freely, without regard to religion and more likely with regard to equivalent or comparative education, for they were generally well read, which became a tradition and expectation. They were received at the courts of sultans, kings, and princes, and often were employed as ambassadors, envoys, or agents. The number of Sephardim who have rendered important services to different countries is considerable as [[Samuel Abravanel]] (or "Abrabanel"—financial councilor to the viceroy of [[Naples]]) or [[Moses Curiel]] (or "Jeromino Nunes da Costa"-serving as Agent to the Crown of Portugal in the [[United Provinces (Low Countries)|United Provinces]]).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Israel |first1=Jonathan I |date=1987 |title=Duarte Nunes da Costa (Jacob Curiel), of Hamburg, Sephardi Nobleman and Communal Leader (1585-1664) |journal=Studia Rosenthaliana |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=14–34 |jstor=41481641 |id={{INIST|12056558}}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Biale |first=David |author1-link=David Biale |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UUUZ1fVWdvQC&q=geronimo+nunes+da+costa&pg=PA650 |title=Cultures of the Jews: A New History |date=2012-08-29 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-48346-1 |language=en |access-date=20 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415224628/https://books.google.com/books?id=UUUZ1fVWdvQC&q=geronimo+nunes+da+costa&pg=PA650 |archive-date=15 April 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> Among other names mentioned are those of Belmonte, [[Joseph Nasi|Nasi]], [[Francisco Pacheco]], Blas, [[Pedro de Herrera]], [[Palache]], [[Pimentel (surname)|Pimentel]], [[Azevedo]], Sagaste, [[Joseph Salvador|Salvador]], [[Sasportas]], [[Costa (surname)|Costa]], [[Curiel family|Curiel]], [[Cansino]], [[Schönenberg (surname)|Schönenberg]], Sapoznik (Zapatero), [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], Miranda, [[Toledano]], [[Pereira (surname)|Pereira]], and [[Teixeira]].

The Sephardim distinguished themselves as physicians and statesmen, and won the favor of rulers and princes, in both the Christian and the Islamic world. That the Sephardim were selected for prominent positions in every country where they settled was only in part due to the fact that Spanish had become a world-language through the expansion of Spain into the world-spanning Spanish Empire—the cosmopolitan cultural background after long associations with Islamic scholars of the Sephardic families also made them extremely well educated for the [[historical era|times]], even well into the [[Age of Enlightenment|European Enlightenment]].

For a long time, the Sephardim took an active part in [[Spanish literature]]; they wrote in prose and in rhyme, and were the authors of theological, philosophical, [[wikt:belletristic|belletristic]] (aesthetic rather than content-based writing), pedagogic (teaching), and mathematical works. The rabbis, who, in common with all the Sephardim, emphasized a pure and euphonious pronunciation of Hebrew, delivered their sermons in Spanish or in Portuguese. Several of these sermons have appeared in print. Their thirst for knowledge, together with the fact that they associated freely with the outer world, led the Sephardim to establish new educational systems. Wherever they settled, they founded schools that used Spanish as the medium of instruction.
Theatre in Constantinople was in Judæo-Spanish since it was forbidden to Muslims.

[[File:Massacre de lisboa.jpg|thumb|A representation of the 1506 [[Lisbon Massacre|Jewish Massacre]] in Lisbon.|alt=]]
In Portugal, the Sephardim were given important roles in the sociopolitical sphere and enjoyed a certain amount of protection from the Crown (e.g. [[Yahia Ben Yahia]], first "Rabino Maior" of Portugal and supervisor of the public revenue of the first King of Portugal, [[Don (honorific)|D.]] [[Afonso Henriques]]). Even with the increasing pressure from the Catholic Church, this state of affairs remained more or less constant and the number of Jews in Portugal grew with those fleeing from Spain. This changed with the marriage of D. [[Manuel I of Portugal]] with the daughter of the [[Catholic Monarchs]] of the newly born Spain. In 1497 the Decree ordering the expulsion or forced conversion of all the Jews was passed, and the Sephardim either fled or went into secrecy under the guise of "Cristãos Novos", i.e. [[New Christians]] (this Decree was symbolically revoked in 1996 by the [[Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)|Portuguese Parliament]]). Those who fled to [[Republic of Genoa|Genoa]] were only allowed to land provided they received baptism. Those who were fortunate enough to reach the [[Ottoman Empire]] had a better fate: the Sultan [[Bayezid II]] sarcastically{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} sent his thanks to Ferdinand for sending him some of his best subjects, thus "impoverishing his own lands while enriching his (Bayezid's)". Jews arriving in the Ottoman Empire were mostly resettled in and around [[Thessalonica]] and to some extent in [[Constantinople]] and [[İzmir]]. This was followed by a [[Marrano#Massacre at Lisbon|great massacre of Jews in the city of]] [[Lisbon]] in 1506 and the establishment of the [[Portuguese Inquisition]] in 1536. This caused the flight of the Portuguese Jewish community, which continued until the extinction of the Courts of Inquisition in 1821; by then there were very few Jews in Portugal.

In [[Amsterdam]], where Jews were especially prominent in the 17th century on account of their number, wealth, education, and influence, they established poetical academies after Spanish models; two of these were the ''Academia de Los Sitibundos'' and the ''Academia de Los Floridos''. In the same city they also organized the first Jewish educational institution, with graduate classes in which, in addition to [[Talmud]]ic studies, the instruction was given in the [[Hebrew language]]. The most important synagogue, or [[Synagogue|Esnoga]], as it is usually called amongst Spanish and Portuguese Jews, is the [[Amsterdam Esnoga]]—usually considered the "mother synagogue", and the historical center of the Amsterdam [[minhag]].

A sizable Sephardic community had settled in [[Morocco]] and other [[North Africa|Northern African]] countries, which were colonized by France in the 19th century. Jews in Algeria were given French citizenship in 1870 by the ''décret Crémieux'' (previously Jews and Muslims could apply for French citizenship, but had to renounce the use of traditional religious courts and laws, which many did not want to do). When France withdrew from [[Algeria]] in 1962, the local Jewish communities largely relocated to France. There are some tensions between some of those communities and the earlier French Jewish population (who were mostly [[Ashkenazi Jews]]), and with Arabic-Muslim communities.