Stories By Niki Reese Eschen / Contributing Writer

The public is invited to hear Sephardic songs and poems presented by three Hancock College faculty members: Dolores Doran, Noe Chavez-Magaœa, and Sof/a Ramirez-Gelpi.

Sephardim is the name given to the Jews of Spain who lived during the Golden Age of Spain until their expulsion by the Inquisition in 1492. Fleeing all over the world, the Sephardim took with them a literary tradition of lyrical poetry put to music that became haunting melodies still sung today.

According to Ramirez-Gelpi, whose own family is Sephardic and can trace their history back hundreds of years, the Sephardim maintained a strong tradition of oral history. "I grew up listening to these poems and songs," she said.

Ramirez-Gelpi was born in Zaragoza, Spain, moving to the United States in 1985, to continue her education. She lives in San Luis Obispo with her husband.

Typical of many Sephardim, Ramirez-Gelpi has a background which encompasses different Hispanic locales. Her father was born in Puerto Rico of Spanish descendants and her mother in New York City of Cuban parents. The couple met in Puerto Rico when her mother was sent there to study. They married and moved to Spain. Ramirez-Gelpi is an American citizen who was born abroad.

"My mother/s family is the one that has kept a strong oral tradition with regards to their travels. They left Spain in 1495 and settled in Turkey, then moved to Greece, then back to Spain around the 1800s, then to Cuba, until Fidel Castro confiscated everything they had," Ramirez-Gelpi said. She went on to explain that her mother/s family ended up in New York City, where most of her family still lives. New York City was one of the first Sephardic centers in the United States and many Sephardim continue to live there.

Songs and poetry will be read or sung in the original Hebrew, Ladino (15th century Judeo-Spanish spoken by the Sephardim to this day); and in Spanish. The presentation will also include clips from documentaries about the Sephardim, and a movie; the origin of the Sephardim and how they are different from the majority of American Jews whose ancestors came from Eastern European countries.

"We will showcase four important Sephardic poets and talk about their lives and their poetry from a literary standpoint," Ramirez-Gelpi said. Works by modern Sephardic poets such as Emma Lazarus, whose famous words, … "Give me your tired, your poor …" adorn the Statue of Liberty, will also be discussed.

The works of a "surprise" Sephardic poet who lived from 1849-1887 will also be included.

Some of the topics covered in poetry and song are women, wine, love and death.

Featured historical Sephardic poets include Samuel HaNagid (born 993, died 1055 or 1056) a patron of Jewish learning in Spain. Although he wrote 22 books, none survives in its entirety. HaNagid rose from obscurity to become vizier of the ruler of Granada and was the most powerful Jew of the Middle Ages.

A linguist, scholar, diplomat, and distinguished soldier, this "courtier-rabbi" earned a reputation for his great intellect and knowledge, and for his excellent poetry, some of which was written on the battlefield.

Moses Ibn Ezra (1055 to 1135) was born to a wealthy and powerful family, prominent in the court of Granada and its Jewish community. When the city states of Andalusia fell to the Almoravide Berbers in 1090, Ibn Ezra and his family fled the city, living the rest of their lives in northern Spain. Despite his sense of cultural isolation, Ibn Ezra composed a large quantity of secular and liturgical poetry.

Solomon Ibn Gabirol (1020 to 1057 or 1058), a native of Malaga, lived in relative obscurity, suffering from a weak physique and frequent illness. Although records are not clear, he may have come under the influence of Samuel HaNagid. Ibn Gabirol arranged his thoughts in complicated poetic meters, and his work endures to this day.

Judah Halevi, considered the greatest Hebrew poet of his time, brought the Golden Age of Spain to a close in literary chronology. A few years after his death, the Almohades, a Berber dynasty, instituted religious persecutions that resulted in the abandonment of Southern Spain by the Jewish leadership.

Halevi/s life also reflected a movement away from the "courtier-rabbi" class. After a lifetime as a bon vivant, literary figure, physician, and Jewish cultural leader, he retired from the world and devoted himself to religion. On the way to Palestine, he disembarked in Alexandria, where the cultural and social life threatened to entice him back to worldly ways. He finally reached the Holy Land, dying shortly after, and leaving behind a theological treatise and "amazing quantities of secular and religious poetry," Ramirez-Gelpi said.

This evening provides an opportunity for language, music, and poetry lovers to discover a strong, but little-known part of Hispanic culture and history.

Coming up

The Community Education Department of Hancock College will host a free Writer/s Night, featuring the work of Sephardic poets at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, in the Forum (Room C-40). Call the department at 922-6966, Ext. 3209, to pre-register for Ticket #8262.

The history of the 1st American Jews

This year is the 350th anniversary of Jews in America. In September 1654, 23 Jews, continuing their flight from the Spanish Inquisition, arrived in Niew Amsterdam from Recife, Brazil.

They had fled to Recife because the Dutch colonists there were Protestants and the Inquisition was unknown in the colony. But, in 1645, the Portuguese began their successful campaign of pushing the Dutch out of Brazil. And with the Portuguese, came the Inquisition.

When the 23 fleeing Sephardic Jews came to Niew Amsterdam (which was later renamed New York), they were not welcomed by the governor, Peter Stuyvesant. However, Stuyvesant was told by the Dutch West India Company, owners of the colony, that the Jews should remain.

During the succeeding centuries, waves of other Sephardim, then German Jews, and later, the Jews of Eastern Europe, known as Ashkenazim, came to America to join millions of other immigrants in building the United States.

American Jews have distinguished themselves in fields ranging from science to sports. Yiddish (the language of the Ashkenazim) has contributed familiar terms to English, such as nosh, kibbitz, maven, bagel, klutz, and more, often through comedians from the "Borsht Belt" of hotels in the Catskill Mountains of New York.

Yet the original Jews in America, the Sephardim, although a minority in this country, continue to carry on their rich tradition, with their own language, Ladino; and their music, poetry and exquisite cuisine.

77 Adapted from various sources on the Internet

Oct. 16, 2004