History of the Jews

by Paul Johnson

From the fourteenth century, however, it is more accurate to speak of Spanish or Sephardi Jews–the term is a corruption of an old name for Spain–and Ashkenazi or German Jews radiating from the Rhineland.146 The Sephardis created their own Judaeo-Spanish language, Ladino or Judezmo, once written in rabbinic cursive script, as opposed to the modern (originally Ashkenazi) Hebrew cursive. They were learned, literary, rich, immensely proud of their lineage, worldly-wise, often pleasure-loving and not over-strict, following the liberal codification of Joseph Caro. They were a bridgehead of the Latin world in Arab culture and vice versa, and transmitters of classical science and philosophy. Sephardis were brilliant craftsmen in precious metals and stones, mathematicians, makers of precision instruments, accurate maps and navigational tables. Now