Samuel Romanelli was a free spirit, a son of the Enlightenment, who spend most of his life travelling in search of adventure, knowledge, and patrons for his literary endeavors. By the early 1780s, Romanelli had travelled from his homeland to England and established himself among the Maskilim, or Jews of the Enlightenment, and patrons of Hebrew culture. Fluent in ten languages, he was a poet and translator of classical and contemporary literature into Hebrew, and apparently he earned a good living.

During a return voyage to Italy in 1786, he became stranded in Gibraltar for an extended...

This volume brings together a rich interdisciplinary selection of some of the best and most up-to-date research in the field of Sephardic Studies by scholars from all over the world. Covering both pre-Expulsion Iberia and the far flung Sephardi diaspora, the essays deal with social and intellectual history, literature, folklore, linguistics, musicology and art history. The volume concludes with an important discussion on education and the future of Sephardic Studies as a field. Most of the contributions in this volume are in English, and a few in French and Spanish.