Spain's embrace of Sephardic Jews in contrast to rejection of gypsies

 Gypsies in France

Among the good news stories of 2013, still part of the news of 2014,  was an expansion of the announcement that had taken place in 2012, as Spain welcomed back the Sephardic Jews after 500 years.  That good news about Spain offered the potential to examine long-held prejudices and renew hope for caring for people who long ago either left voluntarily or were banished because of their beliefs.  That welcome, however, of the Sephardic Jews is in stark contrast to the gypsies, whose return to their countries of origin have been met with distrust, banishment or segregation.

A common definition of the word "Sephardic" has referenced people who were exiled from countries along North African, the Balkans, Italy, Syria and Palestine, many of whom fled to Holland, Brazil, New York, Mexico, and the the Caribbean. Sephardim of the Iberian Peninsula, which is now Portugal and Spain, which fused Hebrew and Spanish into its own language, one called Ladino.  Yet there is academic debate about this definition of "Sephardic Jew.

Some scholars see these people as principally coming from the Iberian Peninsula, while still others reference the Middle East or combine both areas along with North Africa.

On the other hand, a broader definition defines the people as "For Jews, what is most important as a distinguishing characteristic is not the specific culture acquired in any particular country of exile by any particular Jewish population but the broader issues of halakhah and mishpat (Jewish law), community organization, and cultural patterns from food to synagogue rituals. In these respects, the Sephardi world is one, from the Atlantic to the Indian Oceans, significantly influenced by its location within Islamic civilization."

This broader meaning gets at the history along with the modern definitions that outline culture as one of the principal characteristics of a specific group of people, in this case the Sephardic Jews, along with the broad areas of settlements.

Will these people be embraced by Spain?  What is particularly noteworthy is the fact that the popular ruling party in Spain is not only in favor of bringing these people back to Spain but  a bill submitted proposes to allow Sephardic Jews to become naturalized regardless of where they had resided before returning to Spain and not requiring they relinquish the citizenship they might already have.

This welcome mat is in direct contrast to those countries who look at patterns of differences, as with the gypsies, who also have been dismissed by their countries when they sought to settle in their countries of origin.  The pattern of rejection of the gypsies is a reflection of Europe's past, when the Church rejected them when they asked to become Christians, as they continue to be rejected by modern Christians.  For them the welcome mat is turned to the backside, in the mud and poverty in which many are forced to dwell.   Both the Sephardic Jews and the gypsies were victims of the holocaust.  But whereas the Jews receive a welcome and a sympathetic respect for their suffering, gypsies are among the most rejected groups in Spain.