The Romaniote Jews or the Romaniotes are a Greek-speaking ethnic Jewish community native to the Eastern Mediterranean. They are one of the oldest Jewish communities in existence and the oldest Jewish community in Europe. Their distinct language was Judaeo-Greek or Yevanic, a Greek dialect that contained Hebrew along with some Aramaic and Turkish words, but today's Romaniotes speak modern Greek or the languages of their new home countries. They derived their name from the internal name, Rhomania (Ῥωμανία), the Byzantine Empire. Large communities were located in Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Arta, Preveza, Volos, Chalcis, Chania, Thebes, Corinth, Patras, and on the islands of Corfu, Crete, Zakynthos, Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Rhodes, and Cyprus, among others. The Romaniotes have been, and remain, historically distinct from the Sephardim, some of whom settled in Ottoman Greece after the 1492 expulsion of the Jews from Spain.
Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was one of the most distinguished Jewish biblical commentators and philosophers of the Middle Ages. He was born in Tudela in northern Spain.
Sa'adiah ben Yosef Gaon (Arabic: سعيد بن يوسف الفيومي Saʻīd bin Yūsuf al-Fayyūmi; Hebrew: סעדיה בן יוסף אלפיומי גאון; alternative English Names: Rabbeinu Sa'adiah Gaon, often abbreviated RSG, Saadia b. Joseph, Saadia ben Joseph or Saadia ben Joseph of Faym or Saadia ben Joseph Al-Fayyumi; was a prominent rabbi, gaon, Jewish philosopher, and exegete who was active in the Abbasid Caliphate.
The Judeo-Arabic dialects are a continuum of specifically Jewish varieties of Arabic formerly spoken by the Jewish communities of the Middle East and North Africa. The term Judeo-Arabic can also refer to Classical Arabic written in the Hebrew script, particularly in the Middle Ages.
Judeo-Italian is an endangered Jewish language, with only about 200 speakers in Italy and 250 total speakers today. The language is one of the Italian dialects. Some words have Italian prefixes and suffixes added to Hebrew words as well as Aramaic roots.
Joseph Albo was a Jewish philosopher and rabbi who lived in Spain during the fifteenth century, known chiefly as the author of Sefer ha-Ikkarim, the classic work on the fundamentals of Judaism.
Yevanic, also known as Judæo-Greek, Romaniyot, Romaniote, and Yevanitika, is a Greek dialect formerly used by the Romaniotes and by the Constantinopolitan Karaites. The Romaniotes are a group of Greek Jews whose presence in the Levant is documented since the Byzantine period. Its linguistic lineage stems from the Jewish Koine spoken primarily by Hellenistic Jews throughout the region, and includes Hebrew and Aramaic elements. It was mutually intelligible with the Greek dialects of the Christian population. The Romaniotes used the Hebrew alphabet to write Greek and Yevanic texts. Judaeo-Greek has had in its history different spoken variants depending on different eras, geographical and sociocultural backgrounds. The oldest Modern Greek text was found in the Cairo Geniza and is actually a Jewish translation of the Book of Ecclesiastes (Kohelet).
Zarphatic, or Judeo-French, is an extinct Jewish language that was spoken by the French Jews of northern France and in parts of west-central Germany, such as Mainz, Frankfurt am Main and Aix-la-Chapelle. It was also spoken by French Jews who moved to Norman England.
Shuadit, also called Judæo-Occitan or less accurately Judæo-Provençal or Judæo-Comtadin, is the Occitan dialect historically spoken by French Jews in the South of France. Though written in Hebrew script, the dialect was mutually intelligible with the Occitan spoken by non-Jews.
Judaeo-Romance languages are Jewish languages derived from Romance languages, spoken by various Jewish communities originating in regions where Romance languages predominate, and altered to such an extent to gain recognition as languages in their own right.
The rabbinical translations of Matthew are rabbinical versions of the Gospel of Matthew that are written in Hebrew; Shem Tob's Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, the Du Tillet Matthew, and the Münster Matthew, and which were used in polemical debate with Catholics.
Joseph ben Shem-Tov ibn Shem-Tov was a prolific Judæo-Spanish writer born in Castile. He lived in various cities of Spain: Medina del Campo de Leon (1441); Alcalá de Henares (1451); and Segovia (1454).
Israel Dov Frumkin was a pioneer of Hebrew journalism, author, and builder of Jerusalem.
Shemariah ben Elijah Ikriti of Negropont was a Greek-Jewish philosopher and Biblical exegete, contemporary of Dante and Immanuel the Roman.
Judaeo-Spanish or Judeo-Spanish, also known as Ladino, is a Romance language derived from Old Spanish. Originally spoken in Spain, and then after the Edict of Expulsion spreading through the then-Ottoman Empire as well as France, Italy, the Netherlands, Morocco and England, it is today spoken mainly by Sephardic minorities in more than 30 countries, with most of the surviving speakers residing in Israel. Although it has no official status in any country, it has been acknowledged as a minority language in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, France, and Turkey. In 2017, it was formally recognised by the Royal Spanish Academy.
Sifrei Kodesh, commonly referred to as sefarim, or in its singular form, sefer, are books of Jewish religious literature and are viewed by religious Jews as sacred. These are generally works of Torah literature, i.e. Tanakh and all works that expound on it, including the Mishnah, Midrash, Talmud, and all works of halakha, Musar, Hasidism, Kabbalah, or machshavah. Historically, sifrei kodesh were generally written in Hebrew with some in Judeo-Aramaic or Arabic, although in recent years, thousands of titles in other languages, most notably English, were published.
Jewish polemics and apologetics in the Middle Ages were texts written to protect and dissuade Jewish communities from conversion to Christianity, or more rarely to Islam. The terms polemics and apologetics may be distinguished but may also be considered somewhat subjective. A smaller number of proselytizing text also exists intended to convert Christians, or more rarely Muslims, to Judaism. However, the vast majority of Jewish polemical literature was written in response to Christian polemical writings and with a permanent reference to Christian arguments.
Jewish medicine is medical practice of the Jewish people, including writing in the languages of both Hebrew and Arabic. 28% of Nobel Prize winners in medicine have been Jewish, although Jews comprise less than 0.2% of the world's population.
Israel ben Moses ha-Levi Zamosz was an eighteenth-century Talmudist, mathematician and poet.
Angelo Paggi, born Mordecai Paggi, was an Italian Jewish Hebraist, philologist and educator.
