Research Guides: Judaic Studies: Ladino / Sephardim

Dictionaries & glossaries

English

Diksionario de Djudeo-Espanyol a Inglez by Orgun i Tinoco
Diksionario de Ladinokomunita (PDF online).
Judezmo (Judeo Castilian) dictionary by Thomas Immanuel Barton (Toivi Cook)
Publication Date: 2008

Edited by Byron Dwight Koch; illustrated and edited by Paul Dwight Cook.
Ladino-English, English-Ladino Concise Encyclopedic Dictionary by Elli Kohen; Dahlia V. Kohen-Gordon
Publication Date: 2000
Lexicon of the Hebrew and Aramaic Elements in Modern Judezmo by David Bunis
Publication Date: 1993
Sephardic folk dictionary : English to Ladino, Ladino to English by Albert Morris Passy
Publication Date: 1994

A collection of the most used words from the everyday speech and correspondence of the American descendants of Sephardic Jews. In the Special Collections Jewish Heritage Collection. Gift of Victor Perera.

French and German

Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol by Joseph Nehama, avec la collaboration de Jesús Cantera
Publication Date: 1977. Published by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and Instituto Benito Arias Montano.

Also available online, open access, at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/dictionnaire-du-judeo-espagnol-pdfdrive-1/mode/2up

Also available online, open access, on the Internet Archive.

Dictionnaire français--judéo-espagnol by Klara Perahya; Elie Parahya
Publication Date: 1998

Préface, Haïm-Vidal Sephiha.
Dictionnaire illustré du judéo-espagnol de Turquie: judéo-espagnol-français, français-judéo-espagnol by Isacco Hazan
Publication Date: 2013
Dictionary of spoken Judeo-Spanish/French/German by Samuel Romano
Publication Date: 1995

A photocopy of the original manuscript, with a foreword by David M. Bunis. With an introduction on phonetics and word formation.

Spanish

Diccionario básico ladino-español by Pascual Pascual Recuero
Publication Date: 1977
Glosario de términos y expresiones sexuales en judeoespañol by Michael Studemund-Halévy
In the article "Afilu ke es haham se le menea: Placer sexual y juegos de palabras en judeoespañol". The glossary is on pages 244-276. Published in: Lexicología y lexicografía judeoespañolas. Edited by Winfried Busse y Michael Studemund-Halévy, 2011, pages 221-276.

Hebrew

Diccionario ladino-hebreo by Moshe Lazar
Publication Date: 1976

Ladino-Español glossary available on pages xxiii-lxxii. Hebrew title: Milon ladino-ʻivri: ʻim glosar ladino-sefaradi. Published by the Ben Zvi Institute.
Diksionario amplio Djudeo-Espanyol-Ebreo : lashon me-Aspamia by Avner Perets, Gladis Pimyentah
Publication Date: 2007
Diksionario Ladino (Djudeo-Espanyol) - Ebreo, Ebreo - Ladino (Djudeo-Espanyol) by Matilda Koén-Sarano; Limor Arzi
Publication Date: 2009
Milim ʻIvriyot bi-Sefaradit-Yehudit: (be-dibur, bi-khetav, be-imrah uve-fitgam) by Daṿid Benvenishti
Publication Date: 1984

Title on verso of title page: Hebrew words in Judeo-Spanish.
Śiḥon ʻivri-ladino = שיחון עברי־לאדינו by Matilda Koén-Sarano
Publication Date: 2019
Trezoro de la lengua Djudeoespanyola-Ladino durante todas las epokas by Avner Perets
Online resource, U-M credentials required to access. Ladino (Judeo-Spanish)-Hebrew & Hebrew-Ladino dictionary. Includes about 50,000 entries from the dictionary "Lashon me-Aspamia" and hundreds of new entries and additional content. Launched in 2012. Hebrew: title: אוצר הלשון הספניולית (לדינו) לדורותיה : מילון מקיף היסטורי
אוצר דברי לשון הקדש : או, דיקסײונארײו די לה לינגואה סאנטה by Schauffler, William G. (William Gottlieb), 1798-1883
Publication Date: 1855

Published in Istanbul.

Turkish

Judeo Espanyol - Türkçe, Türkçe - Judeo Espanyol: diksyonaryo = sözlük by Klara Perahya
Publication Date: 1997

Haketia

Glosario de haquetía y ladino-judezmo: sucinta explicación de los dialectos polisémicos by Tomás Ramírez Ortiz
Publication Date: 2009

Prólogo de Leo Aflalo.

Textbooks & manuals

Beginner's Ladino with Online Audio by Alla Markova
Publication Date: 2018

13 lessons designed with the beginning student in mind, intended for both classroom use and self-study. Includes Ladino-English and English-Ladino glossaries, a key to the exercises, and a list of websites in or about Ladino.
Guide to Reading and Writing Judezmo by David M. Bunis
Publication Date: 1975

PDF online, open access. Published by Adelantre! The Judezmo Society.
Judezmo: an introduction to the language of the Sephardic Jews of the Ottoman Empire by David M. Bunis
Publication Date: 1999

For Hebrew speakers.
Kurso de Djudeo-Espanyol (Ladino) para prinsipiantes by Matilda Koén-Sarano; Gloria Ascher
Beer Sheva, Israel : J.R. Elyachar Center, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 2002. Title in English: Course in Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) for beginners.

Available online at the Internet Archive

Kurso de Djudeo-Espanyol (Ladino) para adelantados by Matilda Koén-Sarano; Gloria Ascher
Beer Sheva, Israel : J.R. Elyachar Center, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, 2002. Title in English: Course in Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) for advanced students.
$Cover Art$ Ladino: (Spanyolit): sefer limud le-matḥilim by Mosheh Shaul; Avner Perets
Publication Date: 1999

PDF available online.
Title in Hebrew alphabet: לאדינו (ספניולית): ספר לימוד למתחילים
Ladino language: reading, writing and speaking. by Nivi Gomel; Shmuel Refael
Publication Date: 2018

A Ladino textbook for Hebrew speakers. Title on title page verso: Ladino language: reading, writing and speaking. Hebrew title: לאדינו: ראשית קריאה, כתיבה, דיבור = Ladino: reshit ḳeriʼah, ketivah, dibur
Las Ortografias del Ladino by Ora (Rodrigue) Schwarzwald
PDF available online. Published by La Akademia Nasionala del Ladino en Israel.
Manual of Judeo-Spanish: Language and Culture by Marie-Christine Varol-Bornes
Publication Date: 2008

A manual with accompanying audio CD for learning Judeo-Spanish, the Ladino language.
The audio CD is to be used in conjunction with each lesson in the book.
Meṭodah por embezar ah esḳribir i meldar en G'udeo-Espanyol i Inglez by La Vara Sephardic Pub. Co
Publication Date: [195-?]

Available at the New York Public Library, Yeshiva University Library, and Wesleyan University Library.
Ortografía del Ladino: soluciones y evolución by Pascual Pascual Recuero
Publication Date: 1988

Available online at the Internet Archive

Primeros pasos in G'udiʾo-Espanyol by Erʾelah Gaṭenyo, Shemuʾel Refaʾel
Publication Date: 755 [1994 or 1995]

Hebrew title: פרימירוס פאסוס אין ג׳דיאו־איספאנייול
Tabelas de verbos en Djudeo-Espanyol (Ladino) by Matilda Koén-Sarano
Publication Date: 1999

Hebrew title: Ṭavlaʼot shel peʻalim bi-Sefaradit-Yehudit (Ladino).
נואיב'ו סילאבארייו איספאנייול [Nuevo silabario espanyol]
Metod pratika i moderna por el embezamiento de la lingua djudeo-espanyola. Saloniko, 1929.
Online resource, from the Sephardic Studies Collection of the University of Washington.
In rashi script.
Ḳurso av'ansado i superiyor en G'udeʾo-Espaniyol (Ladino) by Erʾelah Gaṭenyo, Shemuʾel Refaʾel
Publication Date: 1997

In Hebrew. A Ladino textbook for Hebrew speakers. Hebrew title: Sefaradit-Yehudit (Ladino) le-mitḳadmim ule-mishtalmim.

Grammars

Gramática básica de Djudeo-espanyol by Ferran Marín Ramos
Publication Date: 2014
Notas gramaticales: Djudeo-espanyol para castellanohablantes by Avram Gamliel & Rachel Bortnick
Available online, open access, on the Internet Archive.

Online resources

Annotated Diachronic Corpus of Judeo-Spanish (CoDiAJe)
A multi-genre diachronic corpus that includes text samples, classified by types, period, and geographical origins.
Annotated Oral Corpus of Judeo-Spanish (CoOrAJe)
A corpus that includes oral text samples in Judeo-Spanish, enriched with different types of annotations.
El Ponte
The Ladino Podcast about Bridging Cultures and Cultivating Connections.
eSefarad: Noticias del mundo sefaradí
Un proyecto sin fines de lucro creado por Liliana y Marcelo Benveniste, de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Guide to Reading and Writing Judezmo by David M. Bunis
Published in 1975 by Adelantre! The Judezmo Society. PDF available online.
Kantoniko (The corner of Ladino)
Provides resources about the language, the culture, and the people.
Ladino 1 (Memrise language learning app)
This course in Ladino is based on the Memrise Spanish (Spain) 1 course.
Ladino 21
Prezervando el Ladino (Djudeo-espanyol) en el Siekolo 21. Managed by Dr. Carlos Yebra López.
Ladino 101: A Beginner's Course
With Rachel Amado Bortnick. Provided by the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America.
Ladino 101: Language & Song
With Karen Sarhon. Provided by the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America - La Ermandad Sefaradi.
Ladino @ uTalk
Ladino Linguist: Begin or continue your Ladino journey today
With Bryan Kirschen, professor at Binghamton University.
Ladino Makes a Comeback
Episode 111 of the Jewish Women's Archive Podcast.
Ladino Refranes: idioms, insults and dirty words
A podcast launched by the Seattle Sephardic Network.
LadinoType (transliteration engine)
Converts Ladino text written in the Latin alphabet into Hebraic scripts, including Solitero and Rashi.
Modern Ladino Literature @ Harvard University Library
376 titles (consulted in June 2023)
Sephardic Center of Istanbul translation tool
Produced with the financial support of the European Union.
Soletreo (the Ladino cursive Alphabet) with David Bunis
From the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies (University of Washington) website.
Some Problems of Ladino/Judezmo Romanization
An article by Zachary M. Baker, Judaica Librarianship, 9/1-2 (1995)

Bibliographies & reference

Bibliography of the Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) press = ha-ʻItonut be-Ladino; bibliografiah. Shelosh meʾot ʻitonim by Moshe David Gaon
Publication Date: 1965
Biblioteca española-portugueza-judaica by Meyer Kayserling
Publication Date: 1890

Dictionnaire Bibliographique des auteurs juifs, de leurs ouvrages espagnols et portugais et des oeuvres sur et contre les juifs et le judaïsme.
Catalogue of Judaeo-Spanish books in the Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem by Abraham Yaari
Publication Date: 1934

Hebrew title: Reshimat sifre Ladino ha-nimtsaʼim be-Vet ha-sefarim ha-leʼumi veha-universiṭaʼi bi-Yerushalayim = רשימת ספרי לאדינו הנמצאים בבית הספרים הלאומי והאוניברסיטאי בירושלים
Death of a Language: the history of Judeo-Spanish by Tracy K. Harris
Publication Date: 1994

A sociolinguistic study describing the development of Judeo-Spanish from 1492 to the present, its characteristics, survival, and decline.
Dictionary of Iberian Jewish and converso authors by Norman Roth
Publication Date: 2007
Dictionary of Jewish surnames from Italy, France and "Portuguese" communities by Alexander Beider
Publication Date: 2019

Including surnames of Jews from continental Italy, non-Ashkenazic communities in France, and Sephardic communities in Western Europe (after the 1490s) and the Americas.
Dictionary of Sephardic surnames by Guilherme Faiguenboim; Paulo Valadares; Anna Rosa Campagnano
Publication Date: 2003. A compilation of 17,000 surnames used by the Jews who lived in Spain and Portugal for 15 centuries and later spread across the world as Sephardim, marranos and conversos. Hundreds of rare photographs, family shields and illustrations. Also contains a 72-page summary of Sephardic history, and a 40-page linguistic essay about Sephardic names, with a list of the 250 most frequent surnames. Text in Portuguese and English.
Dictionnaire biographique du monde juif sépharade et méditérranéen by Joseph J. Levy, Josué Elkouby, Marc Éliany
Publication Date: 2001
El judeo-español by Haïm-Vidal Sephiha
Publication Date: 2017
El Ladino, judeo-español calco by Manuel Alvar
Publication Date: 2000
Entre dos mundos: catálogo de los impresos búlgaros en lengua sefardí (siglos XIX y XX) by Gaëlle Collin & Michael Studemund-Halevy
Publication Date: 2007
From Inquisition to E-Inquisition: A Survey of Online Sources on the Portuguese Inquisition by Liladhar R. Pendse
Online. In: Journal of Lusophone Studies 4.2 (Fall 2019), 275-286.
Guidebook for Sephardic and Oriental genealogical sources in Israel by Mathilde A. Tagger & Yitzchak Kerem
Publication Date: 2006
Guide to Ladino materials in the Harvard College Library
Publication Date: 1992

Prepared by Aron Rodrigue, with the assistance of the staff of the Judaica Division of the Harvard College Library.
Judezmo (Ladino) by David Bunis
Chapter 12 in the Handbook of Jewish Languages, edited by Lily Kahn and Aaron D. Rubin (2017), 366-451.
Ladino (and Spanish) by Aaron D. Rubin and Lily Kahn
A chapter in Jewish Languages from A to Z (2020)
Ladino books in the Library of Congress: a bibliography by Henry V. Besso
Washington, Hispanic Foundation, Reference Dept., Library of Congress, 1964.
Ladino in Print: Toward a Comprehensive Bibliography by Aviva Ben-Ur
In Jewish history Vol. 16/3 (2002), pages 309-326.
La presse judéo-espagnole mondiale by Abraham Galanté
Publication Date: 1935
Reference Sources for Sephardic Studies by Rachel Simon
Publication Date: 1995

In: Judaica Librarianship, Volume 9 Number 1–2, pp. 144–150, 160 (1995).
Refranes de los judíos sefardíes by Enrique Saporta y Beja
Publication Date: 1978
Sephardic Jews and the Spanish language by Angel Pulido; Steven Capsuto
Publication Date: 2016

This book was originally published in Madrid in 1904 in a mixture of Ladino and modern Spanish by Sucesores de Rivadeneyra under the title Los israelitas españoles y el idioma castellano.
Sephardic Studies: a research bibliography incorporating Judezmo language, literature and folklore, and historical background by David M. Bunis
Publication Date: 1981
Spanish and Portuguese Jewry by Robert Singerman
Publication Date: 1993

This massive compilation represents the culmination of Robert Singerman's almost single-handed twenty-year project to bring under bibliographic control published material on one of Europe's most important centers of Jewish life and culture.
Spanish in the Bosphorus: a sociolinguistic study on the Judeo-Spanish dialect spoken in Istanbul by Rey Romero
Publication Date: 2012
Studies on Judeo-Spanish and Sephardic Culture by Derya Agis
Publication Date: 2010

The main aim and scope of this book is to introduce the readers to the Sephardic culture of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey through interdisciplinary studies on the Judeo-Spanish language.
Thesaurus of the Ladino Book 1490-1960: An Annotated Bibliography by Dov Cohen
Publication Date: 2021

Hebrew title: אוצר הספרים בלאדינו 1960-1490: ביבליוגרפיה מחקרית מוערת
Zikhron Śaloniḳi: Gedulatah ṿe-ḥurbanah shel Yerushalayim de-Balḳan by David A. Recanati
Publication Date: 1971-1985

Added title page: Zikhron Saloniki; grandeza i destruyicion de Yeruchalayim del Balkan.
Summaries in Ladino.

Recommended journals

Aki Yerushalayim: revista de las emisiones de Israel en djudeo-espaniol
Call number PC 4813 .A37
The American Sephardi
Published by the Sephardic Studies Program of Yeshiva University. 9 volumes issued between 1967-1978.
Cadernos de Estudos Sefarditas
In Portuguese. Revista científica semestral de circulação internacional com início em 2001, com trabalhos originais no âmbito da história das comunidades sefarditas de origem portuguesa.
eHumanista Conversos
A journal devoted to research on new Christians in the Iberian Peninsula and across the Spanish lands during the 14th-17th centuries. Published by the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, University of California Santa Barbara.
El prezente: studies in Sephardic Culture = איל פריזינטי
Language of articles vary by issue. Chiefly in Hebrew, Spanish, and English. English abstracts.
Ha-Lapid = O Facho = הלפיד
In Portuguese. Published by the Jewish community of Porto, Portugal, between 1927 and 1958.
Available online also via Project Ben-Yehuda.
HaLapid: The Official Publication of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies (SCJS)
The biannual publication of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies
Kaminando i avlando
Print and online.
Began in 2008. Began over with .01 (juillet/août/septembre 2012).
Ladinar: meḥḳarim ba-sifrut, ba-musiḳah uva-hisṭoryah shel dovre ha-Ladino
Additional title: Ladinar: Studies in the literature, music and the history of the Ladino speaking Sephardic Jews. Edited by Yehudit Dishon u-Shemuʾel Refaʾel. Published by the Centro Naime y Yehoshua Salti para los estudios del Ladino.
La Lettre Sépharade
La Lettre Sépharade en ligne propose la consultation de l'intégralité des 57 numéros de La Lettre Sépharade fondée et dirigée par Jean Carasso de 1992 à 2007.
Meldar: Revista internacional de estudios sefardíes
Nosotros = Ourselves : journal of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' Congregation London
U-M Library holds volumes 1-2, 6-8, 10 (1946, 1948-1949).
Peʻamim = Studies in Oriental Jewry = פעמים
A fundamental source of information on the history, cultures and folklore of the Jewish communities North Africa and the Middle East, written in Hebrew predominantly by Israeli scholars, and published by the Ben Zvi Institute (Jerusalem) since 1978. The Institute started publishing digitized issues of this journal in its website in 2011.
Sefarad
Also available online. In Spanish. Published by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.
SEFARaires
Published in Buenos Aires between 2002-2008.
Sefardica
In Spanish. Publicación del Centro de Investigación y Difusión de la Cultura Sefaradí from Buenos Aires.
Sefunot: Studies and Sources on the History of the Jewish Communities in the East
Published by the Ben-Zvi Institute.
Also available in print, call number DS 135 .L4 S45.
Sephardic Horizons
Although this journal concentrates on the ‘core’ Sephardic culture, that of the Jews who were exiled from the Iberian Peninsula, it will include not only the core culture but also that of Jews who consider themselves Sephardim in the wider sense.
The Sephardic scholar
Publication Date: 1972/73-

Journal of the American Society of Sephardic Studies. Library holds 1972/73 issue.
Studia Rosenthaliana.
The world's only scholarly journal on the history, culture and heritage of the Jews in the Netherlands. Established in 1967 by the late Dr L. Fuks and covering a variety of subjects such as the history of the Portuguese Jews in the Low Countries, topics on the local history of Jewish communities and on Jewish art in the Netherlands.

Newspapers/magazines

El Amaneser
Monthly Ladino newspaper published by the Sephardic Center Istanbul.
La Djente - The People
The national magazine of the Sephardic Community in America
Historical Jewish Press (National Library of Israel)
Includes 12 newspapers in Ladino (consulted in May 2025).
Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki newspapers section
Ladino language periodicals in HathiTrust Digital Library
Two titles available: El Paradizo (Jerusalem, 1909) and El Tiempo (Constantinople). Consulted in December 2022.

Organizations

Aki Estamos - Association des Amis de la Lettre Sépharade
Est née en 1998. Dès l'origine, l'association s'est donnée pour objectif de faire vivre au présent notre culture dans une tradition d'ouverture et d'en assurer la transmission.
American Ladino League
Supports the diverse and growing community of Ladino speakers and educators in the United States.
American Sephardi Federation
A partner of the landmark Center for Jewish History, the American Sephardi Federation proudly preserves and promotes the history, traditions, and rich mosaic culture of Greater Sephardic communities as an integral part of the Jewish experience.
Autoridad Nasionala del Ladino
A national Israeli organisation created in 1997 with the goal of preserving and safeguarding Judaeo-Spanish, commonly known as Ladino.
Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece
Centre Alberto-Benveniste
Le Centre Alberto-Benveniste a été créé le 1er janvier 2002 au sein de la Section des Sciences religieuses de l’École pratique des hautes études, à l’initiative d’Esther Benbassa, directrice d’études, et grâce au soutien financier de Serge et Monique Benveniste (Lausanne & Lisbonne) qui ont souhaité ainsi honorer la mémoire
Centro de Investigación y Difusión de la Cultura Sefaradí (CIDiCSeF)
La Federación Sefaradí Latinoamericana (FESELA) entendió, en 1975, la necesidad de apoyar la creación de un brazo cultural autónomo de primer nivel internacional. Así nació en Buenos Aires el CIDiCSeF con jurisdicción en toda el área latinoamericana.
Communauté Sépharade Unifiée de Québec
Cátedra de Estudos Sefarditas Alberto Benveniste
Instituição científica acolhida na Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa que tem por objectivo a dinamização da investigação histórica em torno das comunidades sefarditas de origem portuguesa.
Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture
Resources related to Sephardic studies arranged by country of origin and created by the Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture. Image: Louis N. Levy Z"L (1918–1994)
haSepharadi
A platform dedicated to the shared and varied traditions, cultures, histories, music, and other art forms of the many unique groups within the pan-Sephardic community.
Institute of Sefardi and Anousim Studies (ISAS, Netanya Academic College)
Promotes research on the historical and contemporary development of the crypto-Jews of Iberian origin.

more... less...

The ISAS was created in response to the incredible phenomenon of the descendants of the forced converts (Anousim) in medieval Spain and Portugal awakening to their Jewish heritage. The ISAS promotes research on the historical and contemporary development of the crypto-Jews of Iberian origin.
Jewish Museum of Greece
Founded in 1977 to collect, preserve, research and exhibit the material evidence of 2,300 years of Jewish life in Greece.
Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki
Founded to honor the rich and creative Sephardic heritage as it evolved in the city after the 15th century. Through several exhibits and photos, the visitor receives information on the religious and everyday life of the Jews of Thessaloniki up to WWII.
Salti Institute for Ladino Studies (Bar-Ilan University)
The Salti International Institute for Ladino Research at Bar-Ilan University will be faithful to the cosmopolitan spirit that has characterized the world of Ladino and the people who spoke, wrote and communicated daily in Ladino language and who benefited from the expertise and wealth of cultural diversity within the countries where they lived.
Sefarađizo - Sephardic Association of Órgiva
Sefarađizo is composed of people interested in reawakening, recovering, and celebrating the culture of the Sephardim, the Hebrew people who settled the Iberian Peninsula before the Muslim conquest of 711, and were expelled after the Catholic conquest of 1492.
Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America (La Ermandad Sefaradi)
The largest Sephardic benevolent organization of its kind in the United States. Our mission is to support the financial, social, educational, and religious welfare of Sephardic families who derive their lineage from the Ladino-speaking Jewish communities of Turkey, Greece, and the Balkans.
Sephardic Studies at the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, University of Washington
Partnering with community leaders, the Sephardic Studies Program of the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Washington is a world-renowned program for the study, teaching, and perpetuation of Sephardic culture and the Ladino language.
Sephardi Federation of Palm Beach County
Founded in 1992 with the mission to preserve and promote Sephardic culture and the Ladino language, while providing educational and social activities.
Sephardi Voices UK
Was founded with the mission to record and capture the experiences of the Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews from the Middle East, North Africa and Iran who settled in the UK.
Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies
Fosters research, networking of people and ideas, and the exchange of information, among scholars and descendants of conversos, regarding the historical and contemporary developments involving crypto-Jews of Iberian origins and other hidden Jewish communities around the world.
ucLADINO
A student organization at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) dedicated to the learning of/ knowledge about the Judeo-Spanish language(s).
Vidas Largas: association pour la préservation du judéo-espagnol
Fondée en 1979 par le Professeur Haïm Vidal Sephiha (z"l).
Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi
The institutional memorial to Izhak Ben-Zvi, the second president of Israel. It is devoted to research and education in two areas: the history of Eretz Israel, and of the Jewish communities in the East.

Literature

In Search of a Lost Ladino by Marcel Cohen; Raphael Rubinstein (Translator)
Publication Date: 2006

Translated from the Ladino and introduced by Raphael Rubinstein. This poignant and richly textured memoir was originally written in Judeo-Spanish, the language of the Jews of the Ottoman Empire and of Marcel Cohen's own childhood; it was later translated by the author himself into French.
A Jewish Voice from Ottoman Salonica by Aron Rodrigue (Editor); Sarah Abrevaya Stein (Editor); Isaac Jerusalmi (Translator)
Publication Date: 2012

This book presents for the first time the complete text of the earliest known Ladino-language memoir, transliterated from the original script, translated into English, and introduced and explicated by the editors.
Konstantinopol Djudyo : una koleksyon de konsejas i fotografias = Jewish Constantinople : a collection of stories and photographs by Roz Kohen
Publication Date: 2015

Text in Judeo Spanish and its translation in English.
La creación literaria en lengua sefardí by Elena Romero
Publication Date: 1992
Mujeres sefardíes lectoras y escritoras, siglos XIX-XXI by / Paloma Díaz-Mas y Elisa Martín Ortega (eds.).
Publication Date: 2016

"Este libro es el primero que se dedica monográficamente a la actividad de las mujeres sefardíes como lectoras y como escritoras en judeoespañol desde finales del siglo XIX hasta la actualidad"--Back cover.
The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature by Ilan Stavans (Editor)
Publication Date: 2005

Contains fiction, memoirs, essays, and poetry from 28 writers who span more than 150 years. Included are, among others, Emma Lazarus's legendary poem "The New Colossus," inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty; the hypnotizing prose of Greece-born, Switzerland-based Albert Cohen; Nobel--Prize winner Elias Canetti's ruminations on Europe before World War II; Albert Memmi's identity quest as an Arab Jew in France; Primo Levi's testimony on the Holocaust; and A. B. Yehoshua's epic stories set in Israel today.
Sephardic-American Voices: two hundred years of a literary legacy by Diane Matza (Editor)
Publication Date: 1997

This collection of stories, poems, and plays by American Jews of Sephardic descent gives voice to a culture previously unheard in a literary canon with a predominantly Eastern European and Ashkenazic accent. Representing only five percent of US Jewish immigrants, Sephardim have necessarily existed on the margins of Jewish and American life.
Sephardic and Mizraḥi Literature by Nancy E. Berg
Publication Date: 2017

Chapter 25 of The Cambridge History of Judaism, Part III - Jewish Cultures, National and Transnational.
The Sephardic tradition; Ladino and Spanish-Jewish literature.
Publication Date: 1972

Selected and edited by Moshe Lazar. Texts translated by David Herman
Una lengua llamada patria: el judeoespañol en la literatura sefardí contemporánea by Alessia Cassani; Michael Studemund-Halévy
Publication Date: 2019

Contiene seis ensayos dedicados a autores sefardíes contemporáneos diferentes en cuanto a género literario (prosa ficcional, prosa no ficcional, poesía), a estilo y a procedencia geográfica, pero todos unidos por el uso en sus obras del judeoespañol o Ladino (en sus distintas variantes).
Voices from Jewish Salonika: Selections from the Judezmo satirical series Tio Ezrá i su mujer Benuta and Tio Bohor i su mujer Djamila by David M. Bunis
Publication Date: 1999

Special collections @ U-M

Biblioteca nueva sefarad
A monographic series published in Barcelona by Ameller Ediciones and Riopiedras Ediciones.
12 catalog results, updated March 2021.
Image: Un Marido entre dos mužeres : novela anónima en ladino. Call number 868 M333 1978.
Harvard College Library Hebraica
Includes several materials in Ladino. In microfiche format.

See also:
- Hebrew books from the Harvard College Library: index to the microfiche collection
- Guide to Ladino materials in the Harvard College Library

Jewish Salonica Postcard Collection at the U-M LIbrary
29 items cataloged (updated in August 2025).
In the picture: Les siècles se rencontrant: Juives: La mère et la fille DS 135 .G72 M47 C67 1917

See also: a series of twelve blog posts on the Jewish Salonica Postcard Collection for Beyond the Reading Room

"Sephardic Jewry" subseries in the Joseph T. and Marie F. Adler collection of Holocaust and Judaica materials
Archival collection, consists mainly of newspapers clippings.
Sephardic Editions, 1550-1820 Online
This selection comprises the most influential works written or printed by the Iberian Jews in the major centers of the Western Sephardi Diaspora (e.g., the Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, England).
Victor Perera Papers
Victor Haim Perera (1934-2003) was a son of Sephardic parents from Jerusalem who moved to Guatemala City, where he was born and raised. They moved to New York City when he was twelve years-old. An author, journalist, and scholar, Perera received a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan and taught literature and journalism at the University of California at Santa Cruz and Berkeley. Perera's writings focused on Sephardic Jewry and on Latin America (particularly the Maya Indians). His personal archive and library were donated to the University of Michigan in 2002.

See also: "The Victor Perera Papers: The Archive of a Twentieth Century Sephardic-American Writer," Judaica Librarianship, 21 (2020), 5-29.

Other special collections

Abraham Galanté Collection
Includes drafts, articles, notes and newspaper clippings of Galanté related to the history of the Jews in Turkey and Rhodes.
Arthur Carlos de Barros Basto Collection (Ohio State University Library)
A collection of pamphlets published or related to Captain Arthur Carlos de Barros Basto (1887-1961), alias Abraham Israel Ben-Rosh, a Jewish leader of 20th century Portugal. The majority of these pamphlets were published by Barros Basto under the auspices of the Instituto Teológico Israelita (Yeshibah Rosh-Pinah) and the Comunidade Israelita do Porto.
Bibliotheca Sefarad
Una biblioteca privada de referencias bibliográficas sobre cultura judía y especializada en Judaísmo e Inquisición en España.
Bloom Southwest Jewish Archives at the University of Arizona Library
A research collection dedicated to collecting and recording the dramatic history of pioneer Jews in the Desert Southwest, covering Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas. It is a repository for major collections of primary materials on Jewish families from these areas -- including the Fred and Harriet Rochlin Collection and Rabbi Floyd Fierman Collection.
David Fintz Altabé Papers
Located at the American Sephardi Federation, Center for Jewish History. Contains the work of Sephardic scholar and poet David Fintz Altabé. The bulk of this collection consists of lectures and several poems, in addition to a newspaper clipping.
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Bension Collection of Sephardic Manuscripts
Eastern Mediterranean Judeo-Spanish Songs from the EMI Archive Trust
Published by the Jewish Music Research Centre, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Study and commentaries by Rivka Havassy and Edwin Seroussi.
Ergas family collection (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
A folder of correspondence sent from Albert Ergas in Thessaloniki, Greece, to his brother, Jack Ergas, in New York City, between 1945-1946. In the letters, written in Ladino, Mr. Ergas describes the family's experiences during the Holocaust which most of the family spent in hiding, the economic and emotional situation of the Jews in post-war Greece, and the family's business and property.
Ets Haim / Livraria Montezinos' online manuscripts (Amsterdam)
Holds images and descriptions of the 560 Jewish manuscripts (47,000 folios) from Ets Haim’s holdings.
From Mauritstad to New Amsterdam: mapping early Jewish presence in the Americas
Presents maps from the seventeenth century which correspond with the first Jewish communities in the Americas.

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Lecture by Harrie Teunissen, presents maps from the seventeenth century which correspond with the first Jewish communities in the Americas. These Dutch maps hardly give direct information about Jewish presence. Nonetheless, with their help Teunissen sketches the role of Jews in the early Dutch expansion to the West, discusses their share in the slave trade, and analyses the religious tolerance of Jews by the Dutch colonial regimes.
Jewish Atlantic World
This collection began when Laura A. Leibman was doing research for Messianism, Secrecy, and Mysticism: A New Interpretation of Early American Jewish Life (2012).
The Jewish Expulsion From Spain and the Sephardic Diaspora (National Library of Israel)
Jews and the Americas (John Carter Brown Library's exhibition)
Exhibition prepared by Dennis Landis, Curator of European Books.

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http://brown.edu/Facilities/John_Carter_Brown_Library/exhibitions/judaica/images/small/08984-265s.jpg
JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa
JIMENA was created in 2002 by former Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa who desired to share their personal stories and rich culture with college students, policy makers and North American Jewish communal and lay leaders throughout North America.
Judeo-Spanish Manuscripts in the British Library's Hebrew Collection
Article by Ilana Tahan. Published in European Judaism: A Journal for the New Europe
Vol. 43, No. 2, The State of Ladino Studies I (Autumn 2010), pages 134-152.
Kol haKEHILA
The site for the study and preservation of Greek Jewish monuments.
Routes of Sefarad - Caminos de Sefarad
An interactive multimedia experience to discover and get involved with the Sephardic heritage. The footprints of the Jewish community in Spain span more than a thousand years.
Selanik/Salonica/Thessaloniki postcard collection (Duke University Library)
This new addition to Duke University Library’s already extensive International Postcard Collection consists of 208 images documenting the famous Aegean Sea port-city from the late 19th to the early 20th-centuries.
Sephardic Jewish Diaspora (Osher Map Library, University of Southern Maine)
Sephardic Studies at Yeshiva University
Sephardic Studies Collection at the University of Washington
One of most expansive and fastest growing repositories of source materials pertaining to the Sephardic Jewish experience. The Collection showcases a wide array of published and unpublished materials, including novels, prayer books, bibles, manuscripts, and letters, as well as audio.
Stanford University Sephardic Studies Project
38 catalog results (consulted in September 2021)
Thessalonikē (Greece) at the New York Public Library Digital Collections
7 catalog results, consulted in May 2021.
UCLA Sephardic Archive Initiative
Aims to reverse the historic neglect of the Sephardi past by gathering material sources related to Los Angeles’ diverse Sephardi heritage, cataloguing these sources in tandem with UCLA Library and Special Collections, and digitizing selections of these sources.
William Milwitzky Ladino Collection
Housed at YIVO, this collection includes classic religious texts, such as the Me'am Lo'ez commentary; Ladino translations of foreign novels and dramas; and curiosities such as a Ladino Singer Sewing manual.
100 years of Sephardic life in Los Angeles
A project that aims to showcase the vibrancy of Sephardic culture in the City of Angels and to shed light on its astonishing diversity past and present.

Film & Theater

Adio kerida (Goodbye dear love) by Ruth Behar
A personal journey about the search for identity and memory among Sephardic Jews with roots in Cuba. Anthropologist Ruth Behar returns to her native Cuba in search of the country's remaining Sephardic Jews and her family's ties to them. 82 minutes. Available online (U-M credentials required).
The Key from Spain: the songs and stories of Flory Jagoda by Mischa Livingstone and Ankica Petrovic
Available on DVD and online streaming. A documentary released in 2000 about the singer, musician, composer, mentor and performer Flory Jagoda (née Papo), born in Sarajevo, Bosnia, in 1923. 40 minutes.

See also the entry on Flory Jagoda at the the Encyclopedia of Jewish Women

Un Otro Ermano by Jane Mushabac and Leah Varsano
With English Subtitles. A new play written in Ladino premiered in 2021, as part of New York Ladino Day 2021: Adelantre/ Onward! The actors are Bob Freud, Jane Mushabac, Robin Perros, and Leah Varsano.
Salomonico by Alfred Steinhardt
The story of Salomonico, a Salonican Jew who works in the Tel Aviv Port and tries to defend his house and his life. 1972, 103 minutes.
Saved by language by Bryan Kirschen and Susanna Zaraysky
This documentary tells the story of Moris Albahari, a Sephardic Jew from Sarajevo born in 1930. Moris spoke his mother tongue, Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), to survive the Holocaust. Sephardic and Bosnian music are weaved into Moris's story along the backdrop of multi-religious and multilingual Sarajevo, his little Jerusalem. 53 minutes. Also available on YouTube.
In Search of Ladino by David Perlov
This unique cinematic piece about language, memory and identity follows Ladino speakers-their culture, their memories and their hopes for the future of their mother tongue. Released in 1981, In Search of Ladino is a forgotten landmark of Holocaust cinematography, one of the first films to show Ladino speaking Holocaust survivors in Israel and to document their testimonies and songs.

Available online at the Israel Film Archive website

Song of the Sephardi by David Raphael
73 minutes.
Trees cry for rain: a sephardic journey (Arvoles lloran por luvias) by Bonnie Burt
The life of Rachel Amado Bortnick, one of the last generation of native speakers of Ladino (Judeo-Spanish), is explored through songs, photographs, cooking and stories. 32 minutes.

Read more about this film at the University of Washington's Stroum Center of Jewish Studies website

El último sefardí by Miguel Angel Nieto
A documentary on the expulsion of about 170,000 Jews who refused to be baptized from Spain by Catholic King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492. It focuses on a young rabbi by the name of Eliezer Papo, considered by many to be the last Sephardic Jew. 80 minutes. Also available on YouTube.
U-M Language Resource Center (LRC)
4 DVDs available (consulted in June 2022).

Subject Headings

The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) below are linked to the U-M Library catalog (number of catalog results in parenthesis updated in September 2023).

Christian converts from Judaism (203 titles)
Crypto-Jews (303 titles)
Inquisition (2,875 titles)
Jewish converts from Christianity (40 titles)
Jews -- Portugal (22 titles)
Jews -- Spain (56 titles)
Ladino language (147 titles)
Ladino literature (122 titles)
Ladino philology (12 titles)
Marranos (11 titles)
Proverbs, Ladino (24 titles)
Sephardim (895 titles)
Sephardic cooking (19 titles)
Sephardim in literature
Songs, Ladino (55 titles)

Last Updated: Oct 24, 2025 3:46 PM

Subjects: Humanities, International Studies, Social Sciences

Tags: Antisemitism, Black Studies, comics, Conversos, food studies, hebrew, holocaust, humor, israel, jewish, Jewish Studies, Jews, Judaic, judaica, judaism, judenfrage, Judeo-Spanish, Ladino, sefaradi, Sefardi, Sephardic, Sephardim, women, yiddish

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