At the beginning of the 17th century, one Sephardi Jew stood at the intersection of diplomacy, war, commerce, and memory. His father, Joseph Pallache, was a learned rabbinic figure within the Sephardi refugee community of Morocco.¹Pallache’s Judaism was forged in the open world of Sephardi exile and reconstruction. Yet it was also shaped by the enduring trauma of an empire that had expelled his people and dismantled their communities. A Jewish Diplomat in a Divided EuropeBy the early 17th century, Spain remained the dominant Catholic empire in Europe. They reveal a Sephardi response through political and strategic agency to historical trauma that is rarely emphasized in Jewish historical memory.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 15, 2026 07:38 UTC