Ladino Language - Religious Use

Religious Use

The Jewish community of Bosnia-Herzegovina in Sarajevo and the Jewish community of Belgrade still chant part of the Sabbath Prayers (Mizmor David) in Ladino. The Sephardic Synagogue Ezra Bessaroth in Seattle, Washington (US) was formed by Jews from Turkey and the Island of Rhodes, and they use Ladino in some portions of their Shabbat services. The Siddur is called Zehut Yosef and was written by Hazzan Isaac Azose.

At Congregation Etz Ahaim (a Sephardic congregation started by Jews from Salonika in New Brunswick, N.J.) in Highland Park, New Jersey a reader chants the Aramaic prayer B'rich Shemay in Ladino before taking out the Torah on Shabbat; it is known as Bendichu su Nombre. Additionally, at the end of Shabbat services the entire congregation sings the well-known Hebrew song Ein Kelohainu as Non Como Muestro Dio in Ladino.

The late Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan translated some scholarly religious Ladino texts into Hebrew or English, or both.