About this event

This webinar will take us on a journey from biblical times to the lived realities faced by Jewish communities in medieval Iberia, or Sefarad. Explore how the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic teachings addressed slavery early on, the Jewish role in the Mediterranean slave trade, and the painful reality of Jews themselves being enslaved or persecuted during times of political upheaval. This program concludes with the expulsion of Spanish Jewry in 1492 and the forced conversion of Portuguese Jewry in 1497, pivotal moments that forever changed history.

About the series

This three-part series offers an in-depth look at the historical, ethical, and social dimensions of Jewish involvement in the institution of slavery.

Part I begins in biblical times, exploring evolving interpretations in Jewish law and ethics in the Torah, Talmud, and Jewish tradition.

Part II shifts focus to the transatlantic slave trade, providing a critical look at both facts and myths surrounding Jewish participation. Special attention will be given to the role of Conversos—Jews who had converted to Christianity under duress and fled the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions. They created a global network of commerce, especially in the New World.

Part III concludes with an examination of slavery in the American Jewish experience, especially from the Revolution to the Civil War.

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PROGRAM INTRODUCTION:

Mr. Michael Steinberger, Founder & CEO of JHA.

 

MODERATOR:

Dr. Isaac Amon

Dr. Isaac Amon is the Director of Academic Research at JHA and an attorney and counselor at law. He was a Legal Fellow at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Legislative Director at the Missouri Department of Corrections, and an ISIS war crimes investigator. He is an Adjunct Professor at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri and this past summer, he was a scholar in-residence at Oxford University through the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP). The proud grandson of Ashkenazi, Sefardi, and Mizrahi Jewish immigrants to the United States in the 20th century, he often speaks on the law, international criminal justice, and Jewish memory, including antisemitism, the Inquisition, and the Holocaust.

SPEAKERS:

Prof. Paul Finkelman

Dr. Paul Finkelman is a specialist in American legal history, constitutional law, and race and the law. He is the author of more than 150 scholarly articles and more than 30 books. His op-eds and shorter pieces have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, and on the Huffington Post. He was recently named the ninth most cited legal historian according to " Brian Leiter's Law School Rankings ".

He is an expert in constitutional history and constitutional law, freedom of religion, the law of slavery, civil liberties, and the American Civil War and has written extensively on Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. He was the chief expert witness in the Alabama Ten Commandments monument case and his scholarship on religious monuments in public spaces was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in Van Orden v. Perry (2005).

Rabbi Dr. Yehonatan Elazar-DeMota

Dr. Yehonatan Elazar-DeMota was born in Miami. He comes from a long line of Sepharadi families from Spain, Portugal, and North Africa, which established themselves in the Caribbean before migrating to the United States of America. He holds a M.A. in Anthropology and Religious Studies from Florida International University and a Ph.D. in International Law from the University of Amsterdam. From 2020 to 2021, he was a visiting lecturer at Universidade Lusófona Porto, at the Department of European Studies and Political Science. He was a post-doctorate research fellow in the political history and urban history departments at the University of Antwerp from 2022 until 2024. Currently, he is a distinguished research fellow at the Law and Religion department at Emory University. Apart from academia, he has served in a variety of roles in the Jewish community in America, the Caribbean, and Europe. Elazar-DeMota has published books and articles in Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew, and English on Jewish law and Western Sephardic Jewry.

PROGRAM CO-SPONSORS:
Assisting in underwriting the cost of the event are:

• University of Miami (Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies and the George Feldenkreis Program in Judaic Studies)
• Congregation Mikveh Israel by the way of the late scholar Herman Prins Salomon

 

CO-HOSTING PARTNERS:
Assisting in promoting this program are:

• Greater Miami Jewish Federation
• Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE)
• ANU Museum of the Jewish People
• European Jewish Community Centre (EJCC)
• Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO)
• Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies (SCJS)

 

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