Books published by Gaon Web

At one time Spain was the center of Jewish life in Europe. Most European Jews were Spanish Jews. The most important scholars and yeshivas were there. But, Spain turned against its Jews, who had been there for a 1,500 years or more, even before the Muslims and before the Christians. Medieval Catholicism snuffed out the light of the Jews, leaving only the flickering flames of Jews in hiding. Eventually even they left Spain for fear of their lives, and their descendants survived, still hiding, in remote colonies in the Americas. For many in the United States, crypto-Judaism has been shrouded in memory, and for others it has become an imagined past that might have been, often with little information about the actual history or heritage. Today, in the American Southwest and in parts of Latin America there is a movement to reclaim Jewish identity, and people are describing remnants of Jewish practice in their families. That has sparked interest in learning more about Sepharad, the Spain of the Jews, and the Diaspora of Spanish Jews and their cousins, the crypto-Jews.Myths have grown around the concept of Sepharad sometimes obscuring the realities of what it was. There was a "golden age" for Jews in Spain during the early Muslim period, but as the reconquest heated up and Christian rule replaced that of Muslims, the Jewish experience turned dark until the last light of the Jews was put out in Spain.

Written from a Jewish point of view yet applicable to all faiths, this text shows the relationships between women, song, water, spirituality, and the fullness of creation. Paloma gives an in-depth analysis of the lyrics of the Spanish-Jewish song La Serena and carries the idea further to teachings about the eternal kindness of God toward all humanity. (Judaism)

Rabbi Stephen Leon has written his theological memoir about experiences with Anusim families from the Southwest of the U.S., Mexico and beyond. Since the 1980's he has been a major figure in the Borderlands region of the Rio Grande, recognizing the B'nei Anusim and their return to Judaism.

Sephardic women's writings present invaluable information about the marginalization and silencing of the Jewish experience in North Africa and France. These stories offer testaments of human experience that belongs in the diverse and hybrid collection of post-colonial stories of displaced peoples.