By Sarina Roffé People often ask me to define the term “Sephardic Jew.” The answer is complicated. No, it does not mean “from Spain,” although that is the commonly understood definition. It also does not mean anyone who is not Ashkenazi. For example, Jews who migrated to Italy during the time of Judah Maccabee or as slaves under Julius Caesar do not think of themselves as Sephardic. Neither do Greek or Persian Jews. Do they use Sephardic liturgy? Yes. Sephardic texts? Yes. Common religious customs? Yes. But these groups do not think of themselves as Sephardim. So who is a Sephardic Jew? According to references in Genesis 10:3 and Obadiah 1:20, the lands called Sepharad were in areas north of the Holy Land, and were not necessarily in Spain and the Iberian Peninsula. If you define a Sephardic Jew as...

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