After Expulsion

Honorable Mention for the 2014 Jordan Schnitzer book award in Medieval and Early Modern Jewish History presented by the Association for Jewish Studies On August 3, 1492, the same day that Columbus set sailfrom Spain, the long and glorious history of that nation’sJewish community officially came to a close. The expulsionof Europe’s last major Jewish community ended more thana thousand years of unparalleled prosperity, cultural vitalityand intellectual productivity. Yet, the crisis of 1492 also gaverise to a dynamic and resilient diaspora society spanningEast and West. After Expulsion traces the various paths of migration and resettlementof Sephardic Jews and Conversos over the courseof the tumultuous sixteenth century. Pivotally, the volumeargues that the exiles did not become “Sephardic Jews”overnight. Only in the second and third generation did thesedisparate groups coalesce and adopt a “Sephardic Jewish”identity. After Expulsion presents a new and fascinating portrait ofJewish society in transition from the medieval to the earlymodern period, a portrait that challenges many longstandingassumptions about the differences between Europe and theMiddle East.