Who was Meyer Kayserling? Historian of Spanish and Portuguese Jewry

A brief note on this important 19th century German-Jewish scholar. Research undertaken in preparation for the great Kosher River Cruise journey to the Douro River in summer 2024, for more information please visit
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[@11UncleBooker22]

Thank you, Dr. Abramson.

[@misslittleteeth]

I’m from the northeast of Brazil, and I’ve always been fascinated by history.
I had heard before that we had Jewish connections but I honestly didn’t make much of it because I thought it was something related to the christian bible.
I did a DNA test a few years ago which had very interesting results, so I began to build my family tree, and it indeed links me back to Jewish conversos.
I’m happy to say we survived, but we forgot about our Jewish roots, which actually makes me sad even though I’m not a religious person.
Thank you Dr. Henry I have been enjoying immensely to learn about the history of my ancestors through your channel.

[@EdMcF1]

I had always assumed that you were a rabbi, you have the manner of a great teacher after all.

[@MitzvosGolem1]

תודה רבה שלום 👍
,
Many Jews fled to Turkieye and Morocco Brasil ..
Excellent

[@m.a.p.g.]

Thanks!

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Thank you for supporting the research!

[@EdMcF1]

There is a village of Carção in north-east Portugal near the Douro, which has a menorah on its coat of arms. It reportedly had two halves, one 'Jewish' and the other Christian and they got along fine for centuries so it seems. The alheira ('garlicky') chicken sausage in a horseshoe shape is a feature of local cuisine. It was made apparently ostentatiously by crypto-Jews to show that they ate pork like all good Christians, but they filled it with chicken instead. I read that when the ruse became well-known, the alheira was adopted as part of the local cuisine and they did not mind at all. The term 'Marrano' is used in Mozart's opera Don Giovanni (set in Seville) by the Don to refer to his servant Leporello when he is eating food he's not meant to (it was written by Lorenzo da Ponte, a Venetian converso).

[@henriettaabeyta1457]

Thanks Henry this secret would fit my Grandpa's side. Amaruca y Iberia, Para Siempre Familia, Viva Mi Paises/ America and Spain, Forever Family, Long Live My Countries, Amar tu Tambien Kimi / Love You Too Egypt💛.........

[@williamcohen3772]

Chag Sameach Hillel, I want to purchase The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus but don't know which edition I should buy. Do you have any recommendations? Perhaps that could be a worthwhile video to make- which books you recommend, from Cecil Roth to the Koren Talmud Bavli.

[@zdzislawmeglicki2262]

I would expect that in order to write about the history of Sephardic Jews one would have to immerse himself in countless documents on this matter stored in libraries of Spain and Portugal, first and foremost, but also in Brazil and Turkey, where Ladino speaking communities exist to this day. Had Meyer Kayserling travelled this much though? Had he ever visited Spain and Portugal in person? What were his primary sources? It's the most interesting topic, perhaps even ripe for new in-depth research.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

He was actually one of the pioneering researchers to work with Portuguese sources on this topic: although he wrote in German, he includes many documents in the original languages in the appendix.

[@zdzislawmeglicki2262]

@@HenryAbramsonPhD His entry in Wikipedia is quite poor. One of the paragraphs is inexplicably in German. It would be good to update it.

[@karlschreiber9286]

I could nt live these two identities anymore, though I m baptised. You gave me that idea of these cryptojewes and for this reason You are a kind of Rabbi to me Henry. But even somebody can imagine how hard it is to convert with more than 60 years to judaism ? In fact its really impossible. But our home can t be stolen by people. It is in Gods hand to come home.