People Group Profiles

“All nations will come and worship before you."

- Revelations 15:4

Jew, Spanish of United States


People Group Info

Total Population: 310

ROP3 Code: 115653
IMB Affinity Group: North African and Middle Eastern Peoples
Affinity Bloc: Jews
People Cluster: Jews
Language: Ladino - (lad)
Religion: Ethnic Religions - Judaism
Country of Origin: Spain

Photo courtesy of Joshua Project.
By Anonymous

Majority Located Where

  New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY - 310

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Brief Profile

The Spanish Jews are an ethno-religious people group who historically were Jews residing in Spain. They speak Hadani and English.

Historians believe at least 200,000 Jews lived in Spain before the monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand ordered them to convert to the Catholic faith or leave the country, on pain of death in the 1400s.These Spanish Jews began migrating to various places.

After many centuries of migrations, a remnant of Spanish Jews still distinctly exist in the United States.

The Spanish synagogues of the United States conserve varying degrees of Sephardic tradition. Sephardic Jews are the Jews of Spain, Portugal, North Africa and the Middle East and their descendants. The adjective "Sephardic" and corresponding nouns Sephardi (singular) and Sephardim (plural) are derived from the Hebrew word "Sepharad," which refers to Spain.

Sephardic Jews are often subdivided into Sephardim, from Spain and Portugal, and Mizrachim, from the Northern Africa and the Middle East. The word "Mizrachi" comes from the Hebrew word for Eastern. There is much overlap between the Sephardim and Mizrachim. Until the 1400s, the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa and the Middle East were all controlled by Muslims, who generally allowed Jews to move freely throughout the region. It was under this relatively benevolent rule that Sephardic Judaism developed. When the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, many of them were absorbed into existing Mizrachi communities in Northern Africa and the Middle East.

Most of the early Jewish settlers of North America were Sephardic. The first Jewish congregation in North America, Shearith Israel, founded in what is now New York in 1684, was Sephardic and is still active. Philadelphia's first Jewish congregation, Congregation Mikveh Israel, founded in 1740, was also a Sephardic one, and is also still active.

Prayer Points

Pray Spanish Jews will encounter evangelical Christians who are mature in their faith and able clearly to explain why the Messiah, Jesus Christ, make a difference in their daily lives by accomplishing the task he was sent to do.

Pray evangelical will spend enough time with Jewish people to understand their ethno-religious background.


Learning Resources

Learn more about "Learning Paths"
Online Courses for embracing, encountering and engaging diaspora people. Work at your own pace. Begin anytime and complete the course according to your schedule. Interactive, Hands-On Application.

Learn more about "Reaching the Nations"
This book delineates five disciplines Christians should develop in order to effectively reach the nations. More specifically, it will guide Christians to develop an engagement strategy in their locale.

World Religions - Beliefs Overview
An overview of major world religions and cults - their beliefs and practices.


Other Resources

Prayer Guide for Unreached Peoples
A 30 day guide to pray for unreached people groups.

Prayer Guide using the GOSPELS acronym
A prayer guide that utilizes the acronym GOSPELS to pray for workers among diaspora.

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Country City Metro Area Name State / Prov. Baseline Population
United StatesNYNew York-Newark-Jersey CityNY310