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Exploring the Ladino Torah Anthology Known as the Me'am Lo'ez: Its Impact Yesterday & Its Benefit Today, Plus a Bit about Ladino & Why We'll Probably Never Know the Complete Original Content

9/9/2020

16 Comments

 
​Years ago, I started going through the Me'am Loez by borrowing volumes from a friend who owned the entire set in English translation.

The Me'am Loez is an astonishing masterpiece of Torah scholarship—written completely in Ladino.

​Initiated by Rav Yaakov Culi & first published in 1730 in Turkey, it sparked a revolution amid the deteriorating spiritual situation of Sephardi Jewry in the Mediterranean countries.


Reportedly, tens of thousands of families who'd neglected religious observance embraced full religious adherence after reading just the first volume of Me'am Lo'ez.

With the heartfelt goal of giving his fellow Jews a positive answer for the Heavenly Court on the day of death, Rav Culi reassured them that as long as they studied the Me'am Lo'ez every day, they could claim before Heaven that they had learned the whole Torah because the Me'am Lo'ez covers all aspects of Torah.

Its English translator, Rav Aryeh Kaplan, likens its restorative influence to that of Chassidus on Ashkenazi Jewry.

What is the Me'am Lo'ez and what was its power?

Ladino Power

First of all, Rav Culi decided to write in the vernacular of those times—Ladino (Judeo-Spanish).

Many Sephardi Jews of that time either did not understand Hebrew or did not understand it well, making much of Jewish scholarship inaccessible to them.

The best way to provide them with knowledge was via their spoken language of Ladino.


With a development similar to that of Yiddish, Ladino consists of a strong Spanish base with many Hebrew words mixed in & Hebrew also influences Ladino's syntax. Aramaic, Arabic, Portuguese, Turkish, and Greek loanwords also appear in Ladino.

For centuries, Ladino remained the common language for Jews of Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, the Middle East, and North Africa.

The wife of my husband's brother grew up speaking Ladino because her mother never learned Hebrew well, and Ladino was what she spoke in Spanish Morocco (Tangier). A Moroccan cousin of my husband also attended a school for religious Jewish girls in Tangier, and Ladino was the language of instruction.

Hardly anyone speaks Ladino today and the few who know Ladino or learn it do not use it as their primary language of communication.

However, a Ladino song with a wonderful melody about Avraham Avinu remains popular even today: El Rey Nimrod — King Nimrod. 

This song (including an English translation) is easily found today, and several modern singers have recorded it. I first encountered it years ago on a cassette of songs by Yehoram Gaon, and immediately fell in love with it.

A deeply religious song, it's one of the last vestiges of Ladino in popular culture.

What is the Me'am Lo'ez Exactly?

The Me'am Lo'ez is commonly referred to as a commentary on the Torah.

And it is.

But it's also much more than that.

Though written according to the chronology of the verses of Torah, the Me'am Lo'ez reads much like a novel.

And therein lies part of its great power of influence: The Me'am Lo'ez provides enjoyable & fascinating reading.

Throughout the masterpiece, Rav Culi (and the Sages who continued the Me'am Lo'ez after him; Rav Culi passed away after completing all of Beresheit & two-thirds of Shemot) brings a wealth of Torah scholarship written in a conversational manner.

In fact, reading an English translation of the Me'am Lo'ez, it's astonishing to see the breadth & depth of Rav Culi's knowledge.

Even if one studied copiously for 200 years, how could one know so much, both of well-known & copiously studied works and also little-known midrashim?

Tanach, Talmud, mussar, halacha, midrashim, Zohar — Rav Culi not only knew these works with amazing familiarity, but also knew all the commentaries associated with these works.

And although it's thought of a Sephardi work, only its halacha is specifically Sephardi (although in translation, scholars added the Ashkenazi variations in brackets).

The rest of the Me'am Lo'ez reaps from a wealth of universal scholarship: Talmud, Zohar, Midrash Rabbah, Kli Yakar, Yalkut Shimoni, Rashi, Rambam, Ramban, Ralbag, Magen Avraham, Abarbanel, Pri Chadash, and much more.

If you read the Me'am Lo'ez on any parsha or book (like, say, Shoftim/Judges), you will not only end up knowing that parsha or book well, but you will learn a lot of halacha, mussar, kabbalah, and just plain fascinating information.

In its heyday, a bride's family purchased a set of the Me'am Lo'ez for the groom, much like the bride's side purchases a set of the Talmud for the groom today.

And much like today's Jewish man commits himself the the program of Daf Yomi (a page of Talmud per day), Jewish men were also expected to learn a portion of the Me'am Lo'ez every day.

Those who could not afford a set of their own or who could not read attended public readings in synagogues.

(Readings, both public & private, plus discussions, enabled women to also learn the content of the Me'am Lo'ez.)

And the reading of the original Me'am Lo'ez is where we struggle today.

The Story of the Hebrew & English Translations

The Me'am Lo'ez was originally printed using Hebrew letters.

Like Yiddish, Ladino was originally written with Hebrew letters.

And the script used was similar to Rashi-script.

Who knows Rashi-script today?

Only frum people, and not all frum people can read it. And it's not as easy to read as regular Hebrew script.

Furthermore, as noted above, hardly any Ladino-speakers remain to understand, let alone translate the Me'am Lo'ez.

You also need to be a real Torah scholar in order to both understand & explain the concepts elucidated in the Me'am Lo'ez.

​Fortunately, such a person was found in Yerushalayim in the late Sixties: Rav Shmuel Yerushalmi.

Interestingly, it was an Ashkenazi Jew, Rav Chanoch Eliezer Wagshal, who initiated the first Hebrew translation project.

After hearing Sephardi Sages discuss the Me'am Lo'ez & seeing Sephardi shopkeepers learn from it during pauses in sales, Rav Wagshal decided (with the support of another Ashkenazi Jew, Rav Asher Zelig Margolius) to seek its translation into Hebrew.

Actually, even before these Ashkenazi rabbanim sought to produce a Hebrew translation, the greatest Sephardi Sages of that time already spoke with Rav Margolius about a Hebrew translation to prevent the Me'am Lo'ez from being completely lost to the Jewish people.

A decade later, Rav Wagshal approached Rav Aryeh Kaplan with the goal of translating it into English.

Despite Rav Kaplan's Ashkenazi-sounding surname, Rav Kaplan's family originates from the Spanish city of Carmona and Rav Kaplan's grandfather was fluent in Ladino. Though he taught Ladino to Rav Aryeh Kaplan, it happened early in his youth and much had been forgotten.

Not to mention, many Ladino words known among Sephardi Jews of the 18th Century failed to remain in use over the centuries.

​For these reasons, Rav Kaplan reluctantly conceded to utilizing Rav Shmuel Yerushalmi's excellent Hebrew translation (rather than translating exclusively & directly from the original Ladino), though his English translation also follows & utilizes the original Ladino. 

(The above information is found in the Translator's Preface to the English translation of Beresheit-Noach in Volume 1 of the Me'am Lo'ez.)

However...

Neither the Hebrew nor the English translations reflect a complete translation of the Me'am Lo'ez.

Especially in the books following the Chumash, it's questionable how closely the Hebrew translation follows the original Ladino.

Certainly, both translations are fascinating & enriching masterpieces, which retain much of the original content of the Ladino Me'am Lo'ez.

However, the Hebrew translation of Beresheit/Genesis omits several paragraphs dealing with Kabbalistic interpretations.

However, Rav Kaplan restored some of them into the English translation.

On the other hand, the English translation omits some scientific discussion.

​Rav Culi made those scientific interpretations according to the most brilliant knowledge of the 18th Century, but at the time of Rav Kaplan's translation, those same interpretations were outdated and Rav Kaplan feared they might diminish appreciation of the Me'am Lo'ez in full.

(I couldn't help wondering about this, knowing how science ebbs & flows throughout time. I remember reading another translation of a book about Jews in Yemen, with the translator's apologetic disclaimer regarding certain natural medical practices of that time as being what they considered helpful back then — only for such techniques to make a comeback in our times, with evidence to back up their efficacy.)

Note: Like Rav Yaakov Culi, Rav Aryeh Kaplan passed away before completing the English translation, and so the English translation was completed by others.

Reading the above brought me to the sad realization that the best a non-Ladino speaker could do is read both the English & the Hebrew translation, but even then, you still won't get the full original, whether the supposedly outdated science or the deep Kabbalistic interpretations or other deviations.

(Also, I found it intriguing that Rav Culi had no problem including certain Kabbalistic interpretations for the most ignorant of his time, but both Rav Yerushalmi & Rav Kaplan concluded that at least some of them are not appropriate for us, even we frummies. How times have changed...the 18-century am haaretz could apparently handle what the the 20th-century educated frummie could not)

However, with all the Spanish comprising Ladino, couldn't one of the many frum Spanish-Hebrew-speaking rabbis of today produce at least a full Hebrew translation—and really, there are even rabbis who know Spanish, Hebrew, and English too.

Can't we have a complete translation of the original in both Hebrew & English?

Furthermore, how about a transliteration of the original Rashi-script to the Latin-based script used by all Spanish-speakers today? Wouldn't that make the original Me'am Lo'ez accessible to at least Spanish-speaking Jewry today (plus make it a lot easier for non-native-Spanish-speakers to work it out)?

The Obstacles Standing before Transliteration & New Translations

As stated above, you really need a full-fledged Torah scholar to translate the 3 million words of the Me'am Lo'ez. 

While this whittles down quite a bit the number of available candidates for the task, they certainly exist.

The problem is that with Rav Yerushalmi's skillful translation, there isn't much impetus to re-invent the wheel.

Just to figure out the omitted sections—sections which really might not be appropriate for the average reader today—and other deviations from the original?

No, it's an overwhelming task for such minor reasons.

Ditto with an English translation, even though we have rabbis knowledgeable in Spanish & English.

And what about a transliteration? Shouldn't that be easy enough if Ladino is anyway based on Spanish?

Well, actually, no...

Why not?

Because...

Disclaimer: Different regions of Spanish-speakers pronounce the same words differently. I chose one & lack the knowledge to include all the variations. In fact, I never learned Spanish; I only tried to learn some to understand the original Ladino of the Me'am Lo'ez. Anyway, please keep the above in mind if you're used to a different pronunciation.

It seems that Ladino adopted a—let's call it phonetic, maybe?—pronunciation of Spanish words.

For example, the Spanish word for "people" is gente.

Gente is pronounced "hen-teh."

However, in the original Me'am Lo'ez, gente is spelled:
ג'ינטי
In English transliteration, that's probably pronounced "zheenty" — which is how one might pronounce gente without knowing the rules of Spanish.

(Imagine the "zh" pronounced like the "s" in "pleasure." It's a j-z sound not found in English, but common in European languages.)

​On the other hand, it depends how the tet-yud ending are voweled. Is there a chirik (ee) under the yud or a tzereh (eh)? It doesn't say.

But even if the Ladino-speakers pronounced it with a tzereh under the yud, making the pronunciation "zheenteh," it still isn't how the Spanish gente is pronounced. 

Yet it would make sense to transliterate ג'ינטי as gente.

But in doing so, you would lose the original Ladino pronunciation.

Once you do that (and if you do that throughout), it's not really Ladino anymore.

Likewise, the Spanish que (than, that) is pronounced "keh."

Ladino spells it קי.

Is that pronounced "keh" or "kee"?

I'm not sure, but if it's "kee," then you couldn't spell it que, right?

Other words like ella (her), which is pronounced "eyah" or "ayah," are spelled phonetically in Hebrew-scripted Ladino: אייא

​Likewise, there are words like:
פרוב'יג'ו
This was likely pronounced "pro-vee-zho."

It only takes a bit of research & guessing to figure out this is the Spanish provencho — pronounced "pro-beh-cho." (It means "advantage" or "benefit.")

​But again, how would you spell it according to the Spanish alphabet?

So that's a major complication in coming up with a good Spanish transliteration.

And just for kicks, here is a phrase from the original Ladino Me'am Lo'ez:
נו טיינין הצלחה קי פלאנטאן ארב'וליס אי נו טיינין פרוב'יג'ו די אייוס
And here in Spanish-English transliteration:
"...no tienen hatzlacha keh plantan arvolis e no tienen proveezho de eyos..."

In real Spanish, it would go something like this:
"...no tienen hatslaja que plantan arboles y no tienen provencho de ellos..."

If you know Hebrew, you probably caught the insertion of hatzlacha/success.

(I'm not sure how you transliterate hatzlacha in Spanish; thanks to Hava for her suggestion in the comments.)
​
In English translation:
"...they don't have success with planting trees and they don't benefit from them..."

If you know Spanish & Hebrew, plus you can read Rashi-script, then feel free to try reading the original Me'am Lo'ez here:
https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=22704&st=&pgnum=1&hilite=

From Loss to Acceptance

Anyway, I came to the heart-sinking realization that the original Me'am Lo'ez will never be realized in complete translation.

As a complete body of work and one of the most brilliant & encompassing works of Torah scholarship since the Talmud, it's lost to us (though in translation, we retain the majority of it).​

I mourned that fact for a bit, then realized that if Hashem wished us to have a complete translation of the Me'am Lo'ez in at least Hebrew, then we would have it.

Ladino-proficient Torah Sages with the skill necessary to translate into Hebrew existed in the centuries since the publication of the Me'am Lo'ez.

Yet it never happened until 1967.

​And whether it was for the English-speaking audience or the Hebrew-speaking audience, knowledgeable rabbis agreed that at least some parts of it must be omitted.

So I took comfort in the fact that we received exactly what Hashem wanted us to receive from the Me'am Lo'ez.

And regardless of any omissions, the translations of the Me'am Lo'ez provide us with a wealth of Torah knowledge & compelling reading for our times—and refreshing sustenance for our souls.
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16 Comments
Hava link
9/9/2020 20:38:12

MR, thank you very much for this!

In Spanish, hatzlacha = hatzlaja or maybe hatslaja

J is used for the het and the khaf.

I think you'll get a kick out of my name in Spanish: Java.

I learned with Spanish-speaking young women (some got married while I was there) and older women as well, for approximately a year BC-19. (before covid...)

Also, I think קי is pronounced kee. The meanings of כי and que are very similar. In fact, כי in the sense of "because" means porque.

If I remember correctly! I haven't been keeping up with my Spanish so much until I finish with Hebrew. Then I'll go back to Spanish. I had gotten very fluent, more than ever (5 years of school between HS and college; some work-related time in Puerto Rico and Spain) because of the class.

Reply
Myrtle Rising
9/9/2020 21:38:27

Shalom, Java! ;-)

Thanks for your input!

I thought I'd seen bracha spelled as braxa by Jewish Spanish-speakers, which is why I used that odd-looking "x".

Now that you mention the similarities between the Hebrew כי and the Spanish que, I wonder why Ladino uses davka the Spanish form קי rather than the Hebrew כי. Maybe they really did pronounce it as "keh" and that's how they differentiated between the two?

That's really interesting about all your Spanish experience. You probably understand the lyrics in the song "El Rey Nimrod," yeah?

Ladino is lovely language & it's too bad it isn't in use anymore.

Reply
"Java" link
10/9/2020 23:16:00

I listened to El Rey Nimrod this morning - and it made me cry. I do understand maybe more than half of it just from speaking Spanish and Hebrew. I'll have to listen again and see how that goes.

Myrtle Rising
11/9/2020 01:14:38

Shalom, "Java,"

I read that the current tune and lyrics go back to 1890 in Tangier, but the original piyut it's based on (La vocación de Avraham) goes back much further.

It's amazing that both the lyrics & melody lasted with such popularity,for so long. It's such a compelling song. I understand why you cried.

Myrtle Rising
10/9/2020 11:26:25

Thanks again for your suggestion, Hava. It has been corrected with attribution in that section of the post.

Reply
Miriam
9/9/2020 22:00:40

Wow, that was very informative. I have an obsession with the Me'am Lo'ez and really want to get a hold of a set. One morning I woke up and remembered my intense dream about my young daughter who had just woken up and was telling me excitedly about a chapter of the Me'am Lo'ez that was very important and she was reciting it as if she always studied it. She said chapter 13, I think, but I don't know from which book and either way, in real life she never heard of the Me'am Lo'ez. I know the dream means something but I don't know what. This same daughter had received major dreams about Moshiach so I take her dreams seriously but this was just a glimpse and no real information this time. Still, I am constantly finding bits of pieces of fascinating Torah that is translated from the Me'am Lo'ez and it really creates a longing in me to study it.

Reply
Myrtle Rising
9/9/2020 22:52:43

That's fascinating, Miriam! Sounds like you have a very spiritually sensitive child. A special neshamah, for sure. Just curious...did you notice in what language she was reciting it?

I only ordered 3 volumes, one of which was Beresheit-Noach and only goes to Chapter 11, or else I would check out Chapter 13 for you. (The other volumes are Shoftim & Melachim I.)

I don't know what you can access or your finances, but Jewish bookstores can usually order it by the volume; it's published through Moznaim. Also Amazon sells them.

I can't afford the entire set myself, but Beresheit-Noach (Volume 1) is absolutely fascinating, so if you can manage just that somehow, I highly recommend it.

The other thing is to buy the volume that covers the books and/or events you always wanted to know more about, like Shoftim, Megillat Esther, or specific parshas, etc.

You didn't ask me for this, but I really identify with your longing & obsession (which is why I felt so sad about not being able to access the original in full), so there you go.

(And seriously? Just the Me'am Lo'ez on Beresheit on its own is jaw-dropping. Based on the little I perceive about you from your comments, it's right up your alley.)

Reply
Miriam
27/9/2020 02:01:12

I forgot to reply to you but I wanted to let you know that just this week I pulled out the one Me'am Loez book I received from someone secondhand and started reading it. It was the Exodus book of the plagues in Mitzrayim. Just wow. So incredibly fascinating and so many things I never knew even though I have learned so many years about it and many mifarshim. I told my husband all of the things I learned and he too had never heard any of it. Not sure why I had that particular sefer on my shelf but I think it is important to read it now as the geula will mimic the leaving of Egypt and knowing all of these details is great! Bereshit is my favorite parsha (and my birthday parsha) and I would love to get that one next. Noach is my second favorite :)

Btw, in the dream that I wrote, I think my daughter was speaking in Hebrew as she is fluent in it as well as English. I think Spanish would have stuck out for me when remembering the dream and I don't remember that although I didn't understand at all what she was saying and I do understand enough Hebrew. It definitely wasn't English because I would have been able to remember some of that and only her comment explaining what she was saying was in English.

Myrtle Rising
27/9/2020 12:34:33

That's fantastic that you've access to davka that volume of Me'am Lo'ez, Miriam, with all the plagues in Mitzrayim & the "Geula-mirror" reflected in those parshas.

In the introduction to the English translation, Rav Aryeh Kaplan explained that Rav Culi had access to a wealth of midrashim, including midrashim hardly known to anyone else.

Thanks for explaining more about your experience with your daughter—the whole thing is fascinating.

If you can get the first volume of Me'am Lo'ez, it covers all of Beresheit & Noach in one book of 509 pages (so that's all you need to buy to get those 2 parshas: one book).

I forgot to say that its publisher, Moznaim, officially calls it "Genesis I," if that helps to know for ordering it.

That first volume also contains Rav Aryeh Kaplan's introduction, which explains the history of the Me'am Lo'ez, its impact on Sephardi Jewry, and how both the Hebrew & the English translations came about.

You clearly have a birthday coming up, so I hope you'll accept an early "mazal tov—until 120!"

elisheva
10/9/2020 13:57:37

Very interesting and a propos for me. B"D this year I undertook to go through the whole of Nach, bekiyut, Be"D am hoping to finish by Hoshana Raba, and am looking for my next learning goal. I read in Hebrew and Spanish, but to do so in Rashi script, and probably with many unfamiliar words and concepts would be quite a challenge.

About buying the set, and sifrei kodesh in general, this is a test of emuna, (for myself included). Hakol katzuv metishrei letishrei chutz mtishrei, with tishrei being the reshsei teivot of taf - talmud torah, shin shabat veyamim tovim, reish rosh chodesh, yud maaser" Be"D she nizkeh ....

As for the translation, it is possible as you said to review all three versions, and provide a new version without doing all the work from scratch. Probably needs a team of people.

Also, I would like to ask your thoughts on Torah learning in general. Be"D I am trying to get organised and intentional in my learning (not just reading random things, listening to random shiurim, and would appreciate your thoughts on planning a comprehensive programme of learning, And any thoughts on how to actually remember what one learns would be appreciated.

Reply
Myrtle Rising
10/9/2020 14:45:20

A big yashar koach on going through Nach bekiyut, Elisheva. Here's wishing you complete it with bracha & hatzlacha by Hoshana Rabbah.

Regarding a comprehensive program of learning: I'm not sure what more I could add because it sounds like you've already made for yourself a successful program.

But if you wanted to learn, say, the Pele Yoetz (just an example), you could set yourself to learn a chapter a day (or every Shabbat) or however you can fit it into your schedule, and also listen to a class on that same chapter by Rabbi Noach Oelbaum on Torahanytime.com and/or Rabbi Eli Mansour here:
https://itorah.com/pele-yoetz

That's just an example, of course, without knowing what direction you'd like to take. But it sounds like you're already doing something like that anyway. Good for you.

As far as remembering what you learn: The only thing I know of is chazarah, just going over it again & again.

If it helps to know, the Kli Yakar recommends reviewing something 101 times because the angel of forgetfulness (gematria: 328) has a gematria 101 more than the angel of memory (gematria: 227), so EACH time you review something (even less than 101 times), it reduces & weakens the power of the angel of forgetfulness.

You can see his explanation here:
http://www.myrtlerising.com/blog/the-kli-yakar-parshat-vetchanan

If you wish to see it in the Hebrew original, it's his commentary on Devarim 4:9.

I personally have not knowingly reviewed anything 101 times, but just offer the idea as further information.

Anyway, each time you review helps even if you don't make it to 101, as the Kli Yakar notes.

Thanks for your comment, Elisheva.

Reply
elisheva
10/9/2020 22:11:24

Thank you for the bracha! Amen, Be"D! It was something Rav Mizrachi said in a shiur that inspired me, that with my guilty conscience for wasting so much time on nonsense. Also I think it was the Chofetz Chaim who said that anything you learn in this world is stored for you in olam haba even if you forget it (obviously it's better to remember in olam hazeh too). And Rabbi Nachman said that you should have seen everything at least once, so when you're learning something and there is a reference to another book etc, you will know what it is talking about. So I figured that I should have seen all of Nach at least once in my life.

…sounds like you've already made for yourself a successful program.
Thanks, but I would like to set serious goals in every area of Torah, even if it takes a few years, Tanach with mefarshim, halacha, haskafa etc, etc and really learn and be able to remember.

Thanks for the advice, I guess the direction is to have proper foundations in yahadut, not just haphazard browsing.

As for 101 times, maybe I'll give it a try, but it sounds really hard, and at that rate how do you get anything done? I have read about spaced repetition learning. Are you familiar with the memory curve? For optimal memorization you have to see the information a certain amount of times and at certain intervals, eg day 1, day 2, day 7, day 14 etc and at some point it enters your long term memory. Using active recall method is best.

And thanks again for your support.

Myrtle Rising
11/9/2020 01:23:53

Elisheva, I'm sure you know this already, but I have to say it anyway: The work you're doing in this area gives Hashem so much nachat, especially in these times. This also sweetens the dinim over all of us, no joke. So yashar koach & thank you.

And thanks so much for all the inspiration you quoted from tzaddikim in your first paragraph. It's genuinely helpful.

I hadn't heard of the memory curve, but it sounds like it could be very helpful. Good to know.

Thanks for sharing all this.

yaak link
10/9/2020 20:30:01

As the grandson of proud Ladino-speaking Jews, I thank you for posting about this. Unfortunately, my Ladino is limited to very few words and to saying "ya comimos" after ברכת המזון, and despite 2 years of Spanish in high-school, I am basically Spanish-illiterate.

I own a few volumes of the Me'am Lo'ez in Hebrew, but not enough.
I wish HebrewBooks would put the Hebrew version on their site. Maybe they can't for copyright reasons.

Reply
Myrtle Rising
10/9/2020 21:49:10

If it's what I think it is, I love "ya comimos."

Would you be able explain a bit more about what it is? (Only if you have the time & if it's not too much to ask, of course.)

I only heard it a couple of times (recited with lots of joy & enthusiasm, more than with the rest of the Birkat Hamazon, actually & even understandably), and received a brief explanation about it, but don't remember much.

That's so cool you have Ladino-speaking grandparents.

I think many of us have the same issue of pining for the whole set of Me'am Lo'ez.

Thanks for this, Yaak.

Reply
Myrtle Rising
13/9/2020 16:53:12

Thanks very much to the reader who sent a link to Wikipedia (why didn't I think of that?):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ya_Comimos

Apparently, the Ladino rabbanim added this because Jews in many areas did not understand Hebrew well, and this lovely section in Ladino is basically a summary of the Birkat Hamazon, so that all Ladino-speakers could fulfill their obligation with kavanah.


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