08/28/2026
When the synagogue was forbidden, the home became the center of Jewish life. And women ran it.
After the 1492 expulsion from Spain, Sephardic women became the keepers of a culture that could have disappeared.
Thousands of families resettled in far-flung communities, and it was through songs and stories that the Judeo-Spanish women carried their culture, values and identities abroad to be passed down through the generations.
In thousands of "Converso" households - families converted to Christianity in public while practicing Judaism in secret - the stakes were even higher. Without any public spaces, the home became the spiritual center, and women stepped into roles once reserved for men. They became the teachers. The ritual slaughterers. The ones who carried the songs, the prayers, and the memory of Spain to the next generation.
Join Dr. Rivka Amado to reconstruct these hidden lives through the legends and songs they left behind, full of loyalty, earthy secularism, and a lasting longing for a lost homeland.
She also looks at what's happening now, as these families return to public synagogue life and renegotiate who holds authority between women and men.
Who in your family kept the traditions going? Tell us below.
📌 Women as Guardians of Sephardic Culture
📆 Wednesday, Sept. 2
⌚️ 7pm - 8:30pm Pacific
🌐 on Zoom
🔗 Link to register in the comments.
