Hola, amigas i amigos, semana kalma i buena. This is Barbara, your guide to the latest cultural news from the Spanish-speaking world. Today, I’d like to share some news from the world of Ladino language (Judeo-Spanish) and Sephardi culture.
Yiddish at Ladino Day
On January 21st, 2024 the American Sephardi Federation hosted the 7th Annual New York Ladino Day. The gathering is meant to share Sephardic traditions, songs, and stories. Some Yiddish speakers seemed to find the event זייער אינטרעסאנט! (very interesting!), too. A short video sketches how Yiddish speakers experienced the event and how they celebrated the day together with the Sephardi community and some of its well-known members, like Rachel Amado Bortnick, founder of the online platform Ladinokomunita, Elizabeth Graver, author of the groundbreaking 2023 Sephardic novel Kantika, and long celebrated for her prize-winning fiction, Sarah Aroeste, singer/songwriter, and Susan Barocas, food writer/story-teller.
Here’s the video. It is in Yiddish and has English subtitles.
I guess the symbolic visit also aims to convey the unity of different Jewish traditions in this unfortunate time of rising antisemitism.
A Ladino book project: Las romansas de la Ratona Savia
Events like the Annual New York Ladino Day are usually attended by grown-ups. However, they all know that the survival of their beloved Ladino language relies on how far their children and grandchildren will pick up the language. Therefore, there are several endeavours to translate children’s books into Ladino so that kids not just learn a few familiar phrases and lullabies, but learn to read the language as well. The translation of Paloma Días-Mas’s book Romances de la rata sabia (2020, Ballads of the Wise Rat) can be seen in this context. Paloma Días-Mas not only writes fiction but is also a professor of Spanish Sephardic literature and a member of the Real Academia de la Lengua Española. I wrote about her in Tertulia, vol. 9. The Spanish version of the book was translated by a group of Ladino speakers from around the world into what will be titled Las Romansas de la Ratona Savia.
To be able to publish a bilingual edition with the original illustrations by Concha Pasamar, the community is raising 15’000 USD. If you wish to contribute to this beautiful project, you can do so via PayPal. In the US, the donation is tax-deductible
Ladino Summer School in Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem offers an intensive 3-week Ladino course this summer. It is intended to introduce students to the Ladino language and the rich culture created by its speakers who today mostly live in Israel and Turkey. A prior background in Ladino is required for the advanced level. However, if you attend the elementary level no prior knowledge of the language is necessary. The program sounds very attractive because it not only contains the usual language and conversation program but also includes an introduction to Solitreo and Rashi, the scripts of Ladino which were based on the Hebrew alphabet. I struggle a lot with these transcriptions because I find the cursive scripts very hard to read. Modern Ladino is mostly transcribed with the Latin alphabet, which makes it easier for (West) Europeans to read the language. Furthermore, the course includes visits to Sephardi landmarks in Jerusalem and talks with Ladino speakers. Despite the attractiveness, the program is possibly not for the faint-hearted considering the war in Israel/Palestine. I would love to attend but I am inclined to wait another year until the security situation has somehow settled. Ke venga la pas, inshalla.
While not being able to go to Jerusalem anytime soon, I learn a lot about its glory and bloody history by listening to Simon Sebag Montefiore’s «biography» of the city. It’s a terrific yet gruesome narrative, which I avoid listening to before going to bed.
This is all for today. Just to let you know: I sometimes also post stuff in German on my Tertulia webpage. So, if you can read German, look at my webpage and subscribe there, too. Thank you!