User:AbigailStern0702/Sephardic Judaism in the Soviet Union
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Sephardic Judaism was practiced by several different groups of ethnic Jews throughout the Soviet Union, including the Mountain Jews of the North Caucasus and Azerbaijan, the Georgian Jews, and the Bukharan Jews of Central Asia. The Sephardic rites originated in Spain, but after the expulsion of the Jewish population from Spain and Portugal at the end of the 15th century, the Sephardic Jews that did not remain in Spain primarily migrated eastward, and the rituals and traditions were adopted and practiced by many Eastern groups of Jews in the regions of the Middle East, Central Asia, and the territories of the Soviet Union later on. Despite the frequent pogroms and religious repressions that occurred during the Soviet period, much of the religious traditions remain and continue to be observed by the ethnic Jews of the Soviet Union.
The languages, practices, and characteristics of Sephardic Judaism were, and continue to be distinguished from the form of Judaism observed by Ashkenazi Jews. Throughout the years of the Soviet period and after its dissolution, conflicts prevailed between the groups of Jews that practiced each different form of Judaism, as well as a common trend of antisemitism that stemmed from the nationalism of different populations who encountered the ethnic Jewish groups.