Ladino the language of the Jews from Sfarad

[Sveta]

I wanted to share more about a dying language called Ladino...aka Djudeo-Espanol. It's the language of the Jews from Iberia. Not many people speak the language today. As we are aware, the catholic church tried to annihilate all Judaism from the Iberian peninsula. Expelling Jews, murdering some and forcefully converting others to christianity (called conversos) in 1492.
Those who were suspected of secretly practicing Judaism were arrested and tortured by the inquisition and killed in the Auto De Fe (which was a catholic mass celebration, where convicted Jews were paraded in front of catholic authorities (dressed in san benitos) and then taken to be burnt at the stake in the public square. Many conversos fled Spain and went to the new world where they secretly practiced Judaism while publicly acting like catholics. Forever living in fear of being caught, for the inquisiton soon followed them into the new world. The Crypto-Jews were called Marranos by the Spanish..marranos means pigs. These secret anusim kept their Jewishness secret and passed it on to their children in secret rituals. Many of their descendants today have no idea that their ancestors were Jews but have family rituals like lighting candles on Fridays etc. Rituals that they don't understand sometimes since they have no idea who their ancestors were.

Other Jews who refused to convert where either killed or expelled from Spain- and they went to Morocco, Turkey, Israel etc.. Some fled up to northern Europe and established communities in the Netherlands and other countries.

Today, their descendants are all over the world. Some are Jews while others are descendants of the Anusim/Crypto-Jews and when discovering their hidden Jewish roots, choose to convert to Judaism. But Ladino is not spoken any more by them. I want to keep the tradition of Ladino alive, as it is the language of  my ancestors. I may not know Ladino fully but I understand it and am trying to learn it.




I am sorry for those who cannot understand it.


I cannot begin to imagine the fear of living every day in secret, out of fear of being caught and killed by the inquisition.

[Zelhar]

Do you understand, ladino IsraeliHeart ?

[Sveta]

I would have to say like 85% yes. I can understand it but there are some words that I don't. It is a mixture of ancient Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew and Arameic.
I follow along until some words throw me off. I also cannot read it. It is written in Hebrew letters, much like how Yiddish is written using Hebrew letters as well.
I have a long way to go to become fluent in it. 

[Zelhar]

By the way most Jews in Morocco spoke "Morrocan" which is another hybrid language.

[Sveta]

Interesting, I will have to look that up.