Sepharad

Sepharad, or Sefarad, or Sfard, is a biblical place name of uncertain location. It is mentioned only once in the Bible, in the Book of Obadiah Obadiah 1:20. There are, however, Old Persian inscriptions that refer to two places called Saparda (alternative reading: Sparda): one area in Media and another in Asia Minor. It is speculated that Sepharad could have been Sardis, whose native Lydian name is Sfard.

Since the period of Roman Antiquity, after the Peshitta of the 2nd century, Spanish Jews gave the name "Sepharad" to the Iberian peninsula.^[1] The descendants of Iberian Jews refer to themselves as Sephardi Jews (Hebrew, plural: Sephardim) and identify Spain as "Sepharad" in modern Hebrew.

The Sefes the snake people, or Ophiussa the land of serpents as the western Iberian peninsula was named, could compare to the "tsefah" ^[2] the dangerous biblical snake. The "Sepharad",("tsefah" and "radah") ^[3][4] would be "snake kingdom" , still remembered in the folklore legends of the mouras.

Version comparisons [edit]

• Ovadiah 1:20 (trans. Nevi'im) "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" - Chabad.org.
• 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."
• 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.

See also [edit]

• sefes

References [edit]

1. ^ Torviso, Isidro Gonzalo Bango (2003). Remembering sepharad: Jewish culture in medieval Spain. Washington National Cathedral: State Corp. for Spanish Cultural Action Abroad. p. 10. ISBN 978-8496008274. 
2. ^ Introducción historica y crítica a la Sagrada Escritura - pg 231
3. ^ Volume 1, pg80
4. ^ radah

External links [edit]

• Sefarad, Journal on Hebraic, Sephardim and Middle East Studies, ILC, CSIC (scientific articles in Spanish, English and other languages)