Sepharad

“Sepharad” (an unknown place mentioned in the Tanakh) is the name Jews came to use for the Iberian peninsula. Hence, “Sephardi” refers to Jews whose families lived in or can be traced back to Iberian Jews, who were expelled from Spanish lands in 1492 and then Portugal in 1497. After the expulsion, Sephardi Jews continued to maintain a powerful identity in the lands where they made their new homes, from the Ottoman Empire (primarily Turkey and Greece) to Amsterdam and elsewhere. Eventually, “Sephardi” came to be used loosely for the “other” Jews, Jews who are not Ashkenazi. But this is inaccurate. Many non-Ashkenazi Jews to this day are descended from Jews living in Arab and Muslim lands, who never had any connection to Iberia.