French Literature Reviews - 2026
Sephardic Identities and Modernity
History, Politics and Society
Book received; currently under review for the journal Acta Fabula.
Identités sépharades et modernité
Edited by Jean-Claude Lasry, Joseph Lévy, and Yolande Cohen.
Presses de l'Université Laval - Éditions de l'IQRC
354 pages
Quebec, 2007
ISBN: 978-2-7637-8281-2
Price: $40.00
Publisher's overview:
Proceedings of the Institut de la Culture Sépharade symposium
Edited by Jean-Claude Lasry, Joseph Lévy, and Yolande Cohen
Supervised by Judah Castiel, President of the Sephardic Culture Institute
In collaboration with Emmanuelle Assor, Coordinator of the Sephardic Culture Institute
The Jewish communities settled in the Iberian Peninsula experienced a flourishing unprecedented in Jewish history—an exceptional “golden age” whose influence continues to resonate in contemporary Jewish life.
The persecutions in Andalusia, the massacres of 1391, the expulsion of 1492, and the Inquisition neither diminished nor altered the vitality of Sephardic Judaism. Post-exilic history stands as an exemplary testament to survival and adaptation strategies in new lands, driven by a sense of initiative and openness to the world while remaining entirely faithful to the values and teachings of Judaism. Sephardic Jews have never ceased to transmit and develop an impressive heritage.
“The opportunity to exchange views on Sefarad, within an international context, is a true symptom of overcoming. Overcoming the limitations inherent in the globalization process through the parallel reaffirmation of a community like the Sephardic one, whose identity markers flourish anew in time and memory.”
Enrique Mújica Herzog, Ombudsman of Spain.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements
Foreword by the Director of Studies Emeritus at the École Pratique
des Hautes Études, Sorbonne
Gérard Nahon
Preface by the President of the Sephardic Culture Institute
Judah Castiel
Introduction by the Scientific Committee
Jean-Claude Lasry, Joseph Josy Lévy, Yolande Cohen
Symposium Program
1 - MARRANOS, JEWISH MEMORIES IN EUROPE
Rosa Asenjo, Language and Modernity in Late 19th-Century
Sephardic Literature: The Emblematic Example
of MEcAM LOcEÅ&supl; ŠIR HAŠIRIM
Joseph Josy Lévy, J.-Ignace Olazabal, The Development of
Cultural Tourism in Girona (Catalonia) as Part of the
Network of Jewish Routes in Spain
Susan Gilson Miller, The Jewish Quarters of the Mediterranean
and Their Architectural Heritage
Antoinette Molinié, A Rite of Jewish Memory in
Contemporary Spain
Pierre Lasry, Reflections on the Marranos
2 - CULTURE AND ORAL TRANSMISSIONS
Oro Anahory-Librowicz, Identity Markers of the
Sephardic Romancero
Solly Lévy, Culture and Oral Transmissions:
The Fate of Haquetía
Isaac Jack Lévy, Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt, The Celebration
of Healing Rituals: The Sephardic Prekante
Reginetta Haboucha, Textual Multilingualism and Translation Procedures:
The Case of Oral Narratives in Judeo-Spanish
3 - SEPHARDIC MIGRATIONS AND MODERNITY
Sophie Jama, The Work of Montaigne: A Contribution
of Marranism to the West
Jean-Luc Bédard, Identity Shifts and the Restructuring of Self
and Others Among Moroccan Jews in Montreal
Claude Tapia, Sephardic Migrations After World War II:
Cultural and Ideological Transformations and Modes of Adaptation
4 - ARTISTIC EXPRESSION
Serge Ouaknine, Exile, Catastrophe, and Redemption:
1492 – The Obsession with Origins
Nelly Roffé Guanich, Exile and Sephardic Literature
Avi Eilam-Amzallag, Integrating Ethnic Music
into Art Music
Judith Cohen, Judeo-Spanish Songs Return to Iberia:
Sephardic, Crypto-Jewish, Folk, and Invented Jewish Contexts
5 - RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT AND IDENTITY
Lionel Ifrah, Menasseh ben Israel, Spokesperson
for European Judaism
Jaime Benabou, The Sephardic Contribution
to Musar Literature
Julien Bauer, Ashkenazi-Sephardic Relations:
Religion Between Demographics and Politics
Dinah Sabbah, The Blessing of the Cohanim:
The Priestly Blessing
Armand Abécassis, The Return to Religion: Retreat into Identity or
Openness to the World?
Armand Abécassis, Closing Address
Jean-Claude Lasry
Co-chair, Université de Montréal
Joseph Lévy
Co-chair, Université du Québec à Montréal
Yolande Cohen
Université du Québec à Montréal
The Sephardic diaspora, originating from the Iberian Peninsula, has long been a subject of study within the humanities, particularly regarding the intersection of exile, memory, and cultural adaptation. Following the events of 1492, these communities dispersed across the Mediterranean and beyond, maintaining distinct linguistic and ritual traditions. This volume contains the proceedings of the Institut de la Culture Sépharade symposium, edited by Jean-Claude Lasry, Joseph Lévy, and Yolande Cohen. Readers interested in the sociological and cultural dimensions of Jewish history may find these collected essays relevant to their research.
The essays gathered in Identités sépharades et modernité address topics ranging from the architectural legacy of Mediterranean Jewish quarters to the integration of ethnic music into art music. The contributions examine identity markers through migration, oral transmission, and religious practice, including studies on the Romancero, the work of Montaigne, and the Sephardic experience in the aftermath of the Second World War.