Sephardim and Ashkenazim communities in history; friction and cooperation.

Large concentrations of the 2 groups living in close proximity to each other was something that was pretty unusual up untill the creation of the State of Israel.

Such communities were once to be found in Amsterdam, parts of Italy and in England.

There were also smaller Sephardic communties in Eastern Europe that eventually assimilated within the dominant Ashkenazi communties in Transylvania (Particularly Dej, Carei and Cluj) and in Poland. Romania actually managed to keep intact a completely separate Sephardic community up untill the Holocaust (see Geller, Hasefardim asher b’Romania)

Friction and cooperation between the sides.

The case of Spinoza and Acosta in Amsterdam were one of the few instances where the 2 communities cooperated with each other but the general attitude was one of mutual wariness and often open hostility.

There was a strict takana in the Amsterdam Sephardic kehilla against patronizing Ashkenazi merchants for example.

So we see that there is a long history of friction as well as cooperation between the 2 streams (yes streams)of Judaism.

Your input.

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