Welcome to the documentary Heart and Soul from the BBC World Service.

I'm Michael Goldfarb and I'm standing by the statue of the great medieval Jewish

philosopher Moses Mymonides in Cordoba Spain, me and dozens

of tourists. A thousand years ago this city was one of the great centers of learning on the

face of the earth.

Cordoba was the heart of the Moorish kingdom of Al-Andalus.

Here Jews and Muslims lived and worked together.

Then 500 years ago, the Jews were expelled by the Catholic king and queen of Spain, Ferdinand and

Isabella. The word for Spain in Hebrew is Separad and people who trace their ancestry

to Separad are called Sephardic Jews.

A quick word of explanation.

There are two branches of Judaism,

Sephardic and Ashkenaz.

Ashkenaz is Hebrew for Germany,

and I am an Ashkenazic Jew. Growing up I knew there was this other

branch but now I'm on a journey to Zavarad to find out more. Here's what I learned about Sephardic Judaism in Hebrew school.

Sephardic liturgy is not the same as Ashkenazic liturgy, and Sephardam pronounced Hebrew differently.

Ashkenazic Jews pronounce the V sound.

Sephardic Jews change V to B. Critically, they take the S and say T. I grew up saying

Shabbas for the Sabbath. Sephardic Jews say Shabbat. That's it. But there must be more to the difference than just pronunciation.

The Sephardim never lost the intense connection to Andalusia.

Professor Francis Molino, Wesley College.

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