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A Historical Map
The Western Sephardic Descent
One branch of the long tree of Jewish liturgy runs straight to Poughkeepsie. From the rite of medieval Sepharad, carried by exiles to Amsterdam and London, then across the Atlantic to New York and Philadelphia, and finally up the Hudson — the same book, the same melodies, congregation after congregation.
Medieval · Sepharad
The Iberian Rite
The Spanish & Portuguese liturgy of medieval Iberia, carried out by exiles and conversos.
Amsterdam · 1639 / 1675
The Esnoga
Portuguese Israelite Community of Amsterdam — the mother synagogue of the rite.
London · 1701
Bevis Marks
Spanish & Portuguese Jews’ Congregation, with its successor at Lauderdale Road, Maida Vale.
New York · 1654 / 1730
Shearith Israel
The Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue — the oldest Jewish congregation in North America.
Philadelphia · 1740
Mikveh Israel
Congregation Mikveh Israel — the rite in the early American republic.
Poughkeepsie · today
Kehillah Kedoshah Zikhron Zvi
The youngest leaf on the Western Sephardic branch — the rite of Amsterdam, London, and New York, in the Hudson Valley.
The whole tree
The Western Sephardic branch above is one line among many. The full historical map traces three millennia of Jewish liturgical influence and variation.
A Historical Map of Jewish Liturgical Influence and Variation © Aharon Varady for the Open Siddur Project; outlined boxes after Joseph Heinemann’s map of Jewish liturgical rites (Hebrew University, 1966). Shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
May the Sovereign of the Universe bless them, grant them merit, and hear the voice of their prayer. May you be redeemed and delivered from every distress and affliction. May God plant among you love and family unity, peace and fellowship, and remove baseless hatred from your midst, and fulfill in you the verse that is written: “May ADONAI, God of your ancestors, increase you a thousandfold, and bless you as God has promised you.” And so may it be God’s will, and let us say AMEN.
