SEFARAD

It first appeared in 1941 as the official organ of the Arias Montano Institute for Hebrew and Near Eastern Studies in Madrid and Barcelona, which since 1944 has devoted itself exclusively to Jewish studies, divided into three sections: a) Hebrew-Biblical section; b) Hebrew-Spanish section; c) Near Eastern section (auxiliary in nature). Of these, the most important is the second, which concerns itself with the literature, language, history, sciences, and arts of the Jews of Spain. It benefits from the rich collection of Jewish manuscripts at the Escorial and from archaeological discoveries, and has conducted personal excavations of Jewish necropolises. Among non-Jewish journals, it is the only one almost exclusively dedicated to studying an important period in the millennial history of the chosen people and stands as the antithesis of Spanish Orientalism with regard to the ancient East.