Tag Archives: Sephardic Jews

The Last Jew of the Week: Samuel the Prince

Dear Friends,

After nearly 14 years of Jew of the Week, I’ve decided to hang up the skates and focus on other projects. It’s been a wonderful journey, and I thank all of you for the kind support, feedback, and suggestions – whether you’ve been subscribed from the very beginning or just joined recently. I will continue posting on my other blog, and YouTube channel. In the coming months, I hope to put together an anthology of some of the best and most inspiring Jew of the Week posts in book form. The website www.JewOfTheWeek.com will remain online as a valuable database of some 800 short biographies of great Jewish figures in history. Best wishes and please keep in touch!

Sincerely,
Efraim Palvanov

The “Prince” of Spanish Jewry

Shmuel haLevi ben Yosef, aka Ismail ibn Naghrillah (993-1056) was born in Merida, Spain which was then under Muslim Arab rule. He studied to become a rabbi and was fluent in multiple languages including Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin. To make a living he became a spice merchant, and eventually moved to Granada and set up shop near the palace of the king. One of his customers there was the king’s chief secretary, Abu al-Kasim ibn al-Arif. Eventually, he hired Shmuel as an advisor, and later promoted him to tax collector. Shmuel showed his genius quickly and became very influential in the royal court. When the king passed away, Shmuel helped Badis ibn Habus ascend to the throne. In turn, Badis appointed Shmuel grand vizier and commander of the military. This made Shmuel the highest-ranking Jew in all of Spain. (He was a rare exception to the Pact of Umar which forbid a non-Muslim from holding office.) Shmuel served as grand vizier and prime minister for the rest of his life, holding the office for some three decades. He was the military commander for seventeen years, and his greatest moment came when he commanded the victory against the combined armies of Seville, Malaga, and the Berbers in 1047. He became known as Shmuel haNagid, “the Prince” or “the Ruler”. At the same time, he was the chief rabbi and leading authority on Jewish law for all of Spain. He established a prestigious yeshiva which would train many great Sephardic rabbis, including the father of the Rambam. He was a prolific writer and poet, uniquely combing Arabic poetic styles with Biblical Hebrew. Among his many works are a textbook on Hebrew grammar, and a primer on Talmud study called Mevo haTalmud. When he passed away, his son Joseph took over his position. (Tragically, jealous rivals assassinated him, then launched a pogrom slaughtering many Jews in what became known as the Granada Massacre of 1066.) Shmuel haNagid is regarded as a key figure in the “Golden Age” of Spanish Jewry, the most influential Jew in Spanish history, as well as a model for peaceful coexistence between Jews and Muslims. Kfar haNagid in Israel is named after him.

The Very First Jew of the Week: Haym Solomon

Some Final Inspiring Jewish Words of the Week

In any situation, I ask myself what can be done. Whatever can be done, I do. What cannot be done, I do not worry about.
– Rabbi Simcha Wasserman (1898-1992)

Even in the smallest of insects, God’s unfathomable wisdom is apparent.
– Rabbi Yehuda haLevi (1075-1141), Kuzari 

Humour is the Jewish way of defeating hate. What you can laugh at, you cannot be held captive by.
– Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks (1948-2020)

To be a miracle worker is no big deal—anybody of standing can overturn heaven and earth. But to be a Jew—now that’s difficult!
– Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak of Peshischa (“The Holy Yid”, 1766-1813)

In faith, we firmly believe that what seems impossible is indeed possible.
– Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh (b. 1944) 

Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.
– Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972)

Sometimes things happen about which the leaders of the generation remain silent. This does not mean that nothing is to be done… On the contrary: when aware that you are able to do something about it, you are obligated to do so.
– Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (“The Lubavitcher Rebbe”, 1902-1994)

Jew of the Week: Adolphe Crémieux

The French Abraham Lincoln

Isaac-Jacob Adolphe Crémieux (1796-1880) was born in Nimes, France to a wealthy Sephardic Jewish family. He became a lawyer and, following the Second French Revolution of 1830, moved to Paris to enter politics. In 1848, he was appointed minister of justice. One of his first acts was to abolish slavery in all French colonies, for which he has been called “the French Abraham Lincoln”. Crémieux was made a life senator in 1875. Meanwhile, he was always a passionate defender and advocate for the rights of Jews. In 1834, Crémieux became vice-president of the Central Consistory of the Jews of France, a role he held for the rest of his life. In 1860 he was co-founder of the Alliance Israelite Universelle, with a mission to protect Jewish rights and Jewish communities around the world, and a special mission to help impoverished Sephardic and Mizrachi Jewish communities across the Ottoman Empire. Crémieux served as president of the Alliance for nearly two decades. The Alliance was most famous for its top-notch schools (meant for Jews but open to all people), the first opening in Morocco in 1862, the second in Baghdad in 1864, and then a school in Jerusalem in 1868. Ironically, Haj Amin Al-Husseini, founder of the Palestinian Arab resistance (and terrorism) movement—a Nazi sympathizer and good friend of Adolf Hitler—studied at the Jerusalem Alliance school in his youth! In 1870, with permission from the Ottoman government, the Alliance started a network of agricultural schools in the Holy Land, going on to play an instrumental role in the Zionist movement and the establishment of the State of Israel. By 1900, the Alliance ran 101 schools with over 26,000 students across the Middle East and North Africa. Crémieux was famous for defending Jews around the world. When the Jews of Saratov, Russia were accused of a blood libel in 1866, he travelled to St. Petersburg to defend them, and won the case. In 1870, his “Crémieux Decree” finally granted citizenship to all Jews in Algeria. Today, there are streets named after him in Paris, Tel-Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem.

Haj Amin al-Husseini meets with Adolf Hitler in Germany, 1941.

From Gaza Mosque to IDF Soldier

Why the Dome of the Rock is the Perfect Monument to Islam

The Spiritual Significance of the Coming Solar Eclipse

Words of the Week

Human life is undoubtedly a supreme value in Judaism, as expressed both in Halacha and the prophetic ethic. This refers not only to Jews, but to all men created in the image of God.
– Rabbi Shlomo Goren

Jew of the Week: Segundo Villaneuva

Prophet of the Andes

Segundo Zerubbabel Tzidkiya Villaneuva (1927-2008) was born in a small village in the Andes Mountains of Peru to a Catholic family. When he was 21, his father was murdered and Villaneuva discovered a Bible while going through his father’s things. He started reading the Bible and going to church regularly. However, as he went deeper into his studies, he found no good answers to his questions. He was puzzled by Christian observance of the Sabbath on Sunday instead of Saturday, as the Torah clearly commands. Villaneuva soon became a Seventh-Day Adventist. But the problems and inconsistencies persisted. He learned Hebrew and began reading Scripture in the original language. He then discovered that Christians had mistranslated the Torah to suit their needs, and twisted what the Tanakh really said about the concept of Mashiach, the messiah. After many years, Villaneuva decided to convert to Judaism. He started his own congregation with a group of like-minded individuals, called Bnei Moshe. The movement grew to some 500 individuals, many of whom also found out that they actually had Jewish ancestors—Sephardic Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity during the Inquisition (called Anusim or Conversos). It took many years, but in August of 1989 a delegation of Israeli rabbis came to Peru and converted Villaneuva and 160 others. Villanueva took on the Hebrew name “Zerubbabel Tzidkiya”. The following year, he made aliyah with a large group of Bnei Moshe. This motivated two more groups of Peruvians to convert to Judaism and make aliyah, including the Bnei Abraham and the Inca Jews. Villaneuva’s story inspired countless others in Latin America to convert to Judaism or explore their Sephardic Jewish ancestry. It is estimated that there are now some 60 communities in 14 countries across Latin America that have returned to Judaism. Villaneuva passed away in Israel and was buried on the Mount of Olives. He has been called “The Prophet of the Andes”.

Video: A Kabbalistic History of the World

Words of the Week

The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews. Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people, and… no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel, the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees… Other nations, when victorious on the battlefield, dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious, it must sue for peace.
– Eric Hoffer