Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • The Christian Science Monitor

    The rabbi and the rapper: what they see in old Ladino love songs

    Jan 11, 2018 4 minutes
    Rabbi Simon Benzaquen (l.), who grew up in a rabbinical family in Spanish Morocco, and Alex Hernandez, a Mexican-born rapper and convert to Judaism, in Jerusalem. Together they are the musical duo Los Seranos, and they sing and rap in an old Spanish dialect, Ladino.

    The Orthodox rabbi from Seattle and the rapper from Mexico believe they have stumbled upon a secret.

    Romansas, songs of love and other subjects the Jews from Spain and Portugal carried with them and continued to sing for five centuries after their expulsion from Iberia, are not stories of human romance, but are metaphors for the tragedy of forced exile.

    “A whole people who suffered so much after an expulsion, and you are telling me they don’t want to vent a little bit?” fumes Rabbi Simon Benzaquen. “Where did they do that? They put it in the songs.”

    “If you read these  they read like a fight between man and woman who fight

    A painful historyLadino’s roots

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from The Christian Science Monitor

    The Christian Science Monitor3 min read
    NBA Playoffs Without Curry? James? Durant? A New Guard Rises In Basketball.
    LeBron James’ basketball career has always been paradoxical with respect to time, whether it was his rise through the NBA ranks as a teenager, or how he remains one of the game’s great players upon the completion of his 21st season. The way that camp
    The Christian Science Monitor3 min read
    Housing Projects: Paris Curates Its Streets, And Navajo Homes Get Addresses
    Rural communities often rely on step-by-step, descriptive addresses to access services. But this can lead to logistical snafus, such as emergency vehicles’ delayed response. Using Google’s open-source Plus Codes, the Rural Utah Project has helped reg
    The Christian Science Monitor2 min readAmerican Government
    Why 'Two Montana Guys' Are Duking It Out In The Senate
    About 45 minutes into our Monitor Breakfast on May 2 with Sen. Steve Daines, I finally asked him the question: “So how's your relationship with Jon Tester these days, given that you're trying to get him fired?” Senators Daines and Tester of Montana a

    Related Books & Audiobooks