MADRID (EJP)---Raíces (“Roots”), Spain’s Jewish cultural magazine, recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary.

Published quarterly, its articles cover all aspects of Jewish history and culture, with special emphasis on contemporary Judeo-Spanish arts, literature, history, language and thought.

In 1986 following the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel, Spain experienced a sudden rise of interest in Sephardic and general Jewish themes.

Numerous articles and books were published, with emphasis on Jewish history and Sephardic music, as Spaniards became curious about their Jewish heritage and roots.

Horacio Kohan, an Argentinian living in Madrid, had served as Israel’s press attaché with the World Tourism Organization before diplomatic relations were established.

He recognized the need for a publication dedicated to Jewish cultural life in Spain and founded Raíces, with the purpose of making Sephardic culture available to the general public.

The original editorial committee was made up of prominent Jewish intellectuals living in Spain, including Argentinian writer Abrasha Rotemberg, Jacobo Israel Garzón – currently President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain-, Holocaust survivor and poet Jaime Vándor and several others.

The magazine places its emphasis on contemporary Judaism, rather than the Biblical/historical Judaism that is more widely found in Spanish university and cultural spheres.

Raíces is the only publication in Spain that deals with these topics and one of the few in the world.

Among the authors of its articles are researchers and specialists in a wide variety of humanistic disciplines: history, literature, linguistics, social sciences, visual arts, music, theatre, philosophy, religion...

All the articles are either written especially for the magazine or are published in their first translation into Spanish.

Recent articles include: “Music in the Memoires of the Sephardis” by Pilar Romeu; “Tanks against Stones: The Image of Israel in Spain”, by Alejandro Baer; “The Talmud and Talmudic Literature, an Introduction”, by Pablo Uribe Ulloa; The Word against the Predators”, by David Grossman; and “Pirate Minyan on the Caribbean Coast”, by Adán Levy.

The magazine does not accept advertising and is supported by its more than 1200 subscribers in the Jewish communities of Spain, Portugal and North and South America, as well as other countries in Europe.

In Spain it is sold at specialized bookstores. In addition, the Spanish Ministry of Culture distributes copies to all public librarie and the Israeli Embassies do the same in Israel and to Jewish organizations in Spanish America.

The electronic edition was launched in 2001.

Sefarad Editores, which publishes Raíces, also distributes Kohan’s free Internet newsletter to over 8000 subscribers.

Carta de Sefarad (“the monthly bulletin of cultural news about Jewish Spain”) contains up-to-date information about cultural events of Jewish interest scheduled to take place throughout Spain as well as in other countries in Europe and North and South America.

For more information about Raíces or to subscribe: www.revista-raices.com

To subscribe to Carta de Sefarad: www.sefaradeditores.com/tienda/tienda.php