View source for Sepharad

{{Short description|Hebrew name for Spain}}
{{About||the Nusach Sepharad|Nusach Sefard|Sephardim|Sephardi Jews}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2023}}

'''Sepharad''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|ɛ|f|ər|æ|d}} {{respell|SEF|ər|ad}}<ref>H. B. Hackett (ed.) ''Dr. William Smith's Dictionary of the Bible'', 1877</ref> or {{IPAc-en|s|ə|ˈ|f|ɛər|ə|d}} {{respell|sə|FAIR|əd}};<ref>''The Bible dictionary'', Cassell Petter & Galpin, 1875</ref><ref>William Smith (ed.) ''A Dictionary of the Bible'', 1863</ref> {{Langx|he|סְפָרַד|Səp̄āraḏ}}, {{IPA|he|sfaˈʁad|label=Israeli pronunciation:}}; also ''Sfard'', ''Spharad'', ''Sefarad'', or ''Sephared'') is the [[Hebrew-language]] name for the [[Iberian Peninsula]], referring to the regions of present-day [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]]. By the 9th century, the term had come to denote this geographic area in Jewish usage.<ref>{{Citation |last=Gerber |first=Jane S. |title=The Jews of Muslim Spain |date=2021 |work=The Cambridge History of Judaism: Volume 5: Jews in the Medieval Islamic World |volume=5 |pages=170 |editor-last=Lieberman |editor-first=Phillip I. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-judaism/jews-of-muslim-spain/E9F1E53E1E65B34A8ACBB9A8BD967B68 |access-date=2025-07-13 |series=The Cambridge History of Judaism |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-51717-1}}</ref> The designation [[Sephardic Jews]] refers to Jews whose ancestors lived in the Iberian Peninsula and were [[Expulsion of Jews from Spain|forcibly expelled beginning in 1492]]. In [[modern Hebrew]], ''Sepharad'' primarily refers to Spain.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sephardim |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/sephardim |access-date=2021-05-11 |website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}}</ref>

The term ''Sepharad'' appears in the Biblical [[Book of Obadiah]] as the name of some now-unidentified location that was a destination of Jews exiled from Jerusalem. The [[Targum Jonathan]] is the earliest known source of the interpretation of the name as referring to Spain; it translates ''Sepharad'' into Aramaic as [[Hispania|Ispamia]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Vernet Pons|first=Mariona|journal=Journal of Semitic Studies|volume=LIX|date=2014|pages=297–313|issue=1 Autumn|title=The Origin of the Name ''Sepharad'': A New Interpretation}}</ref>

==Version comparisons==
* [http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/16182/jewish/Chapter-1.htm Obadiah 1:20 (trans. Judaica Press)]: "And this exiled host of the children of Israel who are [with] the Canaanites as far as Zarephath and the exile of Jerusalem which is in Sepharad shall inherit the cities of the southland"
* [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Bible/Obadiah1.html Obadiah 1:20 (NKJV)]: "And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel, that are among the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath, and the captivity of Jerusalem, that is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the South."
* [http://bible.cc/obadiah/1-20.htm Obadiah 1:20 (Vulgate)]: "et transmigratio exercitus huius filiorum Israhel omnia Chananeorum usque ad Saraptham et transmigratio Hierusalem quae in Bosforo est possidebit civitates austri".
* [https://www.ewtn.com/library/SCRIPTUR/abdias.txt Abdias 1:20 (Douay-Rheims)]: "And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel, all the places of the Chanaanites even to Sarepta: and the captivity of Jerusalem that is in Bosphorus, shall possess the cities of the south."
*[[Jerusalem Bible]] (1966): "... and the exiles from Jerusalem now in Sepharad will occupy the towns of the Negeb." An editors' note in the Jerusalem Bible argues that "Sepharad is unknown".<ref>Jerusalem Bible (1966), Footnote aa at Obadiah 1:20</ref>

==See also==
* [[Sephardic law and customs]]
* [[Tzarfat]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|Sepharad}}
* [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/sephardim Judaism: Sephardim], [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/  Jewish Virtual Library]
* [http://www.sephardicstudies.org/intro.html Sephardim], [http://www.sephardicstudies.org/intro.html Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture]
* [http://www.rootsofsefarad.com/jews-in-spain Roots of Sefarad], [http://www.rootsofsefarad.com/jews-in-spain Jewish Heritage in Spain and Portugal (travel agency)]
* [http://sefarad.revistas.csic.es Sefarad], Journal on Hebraic, Sephardim and Middle East Studies, [http://www.filol.csic.es ILC], [[Spanish National Research Council|CSIC]] (scientific articles in Spanish, English and other languages)

{{Sephardi Jews topics}}

[[Category:Hebrew Bible places]]
[[Category:Hebrew words and phrases]]
[[Category:Jewish Portuguese history]]
[[Category:Jewish Spanish history]]
[[Category:Judaism in Spain]]
[[Category:Sephardi Jews topics]]
[[Category:Historical regions]]