ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week’s trivia question: Where are the Jews in Melilla originally from? And why did they go to Melilla?
Melilla is a Spanish city on the northern coast of Africa. It has a large Jewish population who speak their own variety of Haketia, a Judeo-Spanish language spoken in Morocco. David Benhamu was born there in 1983 and now lives in Tel Aviv, where he works at the Spanish embassy. He grew up speaking Haketia and is currently working on his PhD in linguistics, for which he is analyzing the particular variety of the language spoken in Melilla, and how it differs from other varieties spoken in other parts of North Africa.
Mr. Benhamu spoke with us about Melilla’s Jewish community and their language.
