Salti Institute for Ladino Studies

The spirit of Ladino and its heritage:

The Salti International Institute for Ladino Research  at Bar-Ilan University will be faithful to the cosmopolitan spirit that has characterized the world of Ladino and the people who spoke, wrote and communicated daily in Ladino language and who benefited from the expertise and wealth of cultural diversity within the countries where they lived.

To practice and deepen this research,  inspire understanding and tolerance of cultural and religious diversity, a diversity  that characterized the people who spoke this language  for generations. The Institute will be home to those who love brotherhood, friendship, dialogue and peace and to those who wish to approach the various factions among the Jewish people and the non-Jewish world.

Since Ladino was rooted in the international environment and functioned with tolerance and mutual understanding, the  International Ladino Research Institute will aim to re-create that atmosphere and to bring this spirit to people in Israel and abroad.

Research projects:

The Salti International Institute for Ladino Research will be responsible for the  programming and implementation of research projects with an interdisciplinary vision of Ladino, while incorporating the broadest possible range of researchers from universities in Israel and abroad.

Ladino and Haketia:

The institute’s aim will be to encourage and stimulate research in the field of Ladino as it developed in the former Ottoman Empire among Jews expelled from Spain and established in the North African countries (and who spoke Haketia). In that context the Institute will aim at establishing a research chair for Haketia and its culture. In this way the special historic relationship among all the Jews of Sephardic (Spanish) origin will be emphasized.