After Expulsion

Honorable Mention for the 2014 Jordan Schnitzer book award in Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History presented by the Association for Jewish Studies

On August 3, 1492, the same day that Columbus set sail

from Spain, the long and glorious history of that nation’s

Jewish community officially came to a close. The expulsion

of Europe’s last major Jewish community ended more than

a thousand years of unparalleled prosperity, cultural vitality

and intellectual productivity. Yet, the crisis of 1492 also gave

rise to a dynamic and resilient diaspora society spanning

East and West.

After Expulsion traces the various paths of migration and resettlement

of Sephardic Jews and Conversos over the course

of the tumultuous sixteenth century. Pivotally, the volume

argues that the exiles did not become “Sephardic Jews”

overnight. Only in the second and third generation did these

disparate groups coalesce and adopt a “Sephardic Jewish”

identity.

After Expulsion presents a new and fascinating portrait of

Jewish society in transition from the medieval to the early

modern period, a portrait that challenges many longstanding

assumptions about the differences between Europe and the

Middle East.