Capelouto and Co.

Capeloutos, Capiloutos, Francos, Pihas, Alhadeffs, Galantis, Benators, Benatars, Levys, Arogetis, and more. Sephardic Jews hailing from Rhodes and Turkey, see our family tree and see if you fall in over on Ancestry.

Hop over to Ancestry and click on Sarah Capelouto Family Tree here!

Ancestry tree

This collection includes recipes from the Or VeShalom Sisterhood Cookbook. Many of these recipes were entered by our family members in the community (see their names below some of the dishes). I remember my grandma Rachel Franco cooking us burekas, biscochos, and of course her famous cheese crackers. 

The selection is from Sephardim & a History of Congregation Or VeShalom by Sol Beton about the Jewish community in Rhodes, where many of our ancestors came from. It includes a very special plaque from Rhodes commemorating the family names of those who perished in the Holocaust, and you will see many of the American Sephardic Jewish family names there.

Click here for another great article called "The Settlement of Rhodian and Other Sephardic Jews in Montgomery and Atlanta in the Twentieth Century"

Here is another article on "The Migration of Rhodian Jews to Africa and the Americas from 1900-1914," which is around the time many of our ancestors moved to Sephardic communities in America such as Montgomery, Birmingham, Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles and also elsewhere in the world such as Buenos Aires, Zimbabwe, Zaire, and Israel.

Lastly, don't forget to check out the Rhodes Jewish museum and the Jewish Community of Rhodes.

Personal images of some of our relative's gravesites at Greenwood Cemetery in Atlanta, Georgia (1173 Cascade Cir SW, Atlanta, GA 30311).

Spanish citizenship is currently being offered to descendants of Sephardic Jews! The process will be open until 2018. The process is complicated, but there have been many guides to help. Below I have posted some general FAQs from the different websites, also listed below. Also I have included an informational powerpoint given by a lawyer specializing in this new law at Or VeShalom.

Or VeShalom in Atlanta is also helping by offering the official Sephardic Temple documentation required by Spain. For more information on this, go here.

Frequently asked questions about obtaining Spanish citizenship:

What does Sephardi mean? Sefarad, in Hebrew, means Spain, therefore, Sephardic means Spanish. The term Sephardi refers to those Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula until 1492 and to their descendants.

Who can apply for Spanish citizenship as a result of the Citizenship Law for Sephardi Jews? Any person who can prove his/her condition of Sephardi and a special link to Spain, even if they do not have a legal residence in our country.

Can a non-Jewish person apply? Yes, he/she can. 

Do I need a lawyer or an agent? No, you do not. The applicant can apply personally. However, there are several departments specializing in these types of procedures that can help you.

Which are the steps that I need to follow in order to submit my application ? The procedure to grant Spanish citizenship will be online. The processing of the application shall go through five different stages or steps:

First: Submission of the application and the documentation through the electronic platform that the Ministry of Justice will provide for this purpose.
Second: The Ministry of Justice shall send the application to the General Council of Notaries, which will provide the applicant with a reference number for his/her file and the Notary Public before whom he/she needs to appear in Spain, according to the preferences indicated in the request.
Third: Once the Notary Public has studied the documents and he/she considers that the condition of Sephardi of Spanish ancestry and the special link to Spain of the applicant are justified, he/she shall agree with the applicant to meet and draw up an affidavit. The original documents provided online by the applicant with his/her application shall be attached to the affidavit.
Fourth: Having received the electronic copy of the affidavit, the General Directorate for Registries and Notaries Public shall compulsorily request reports to the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of the Presidency and shall decide on the application submitted by the applicant stating the reasons for the decision. The General Directorate for Registries and Notaries Public shall send a copy of the decision to the Spanish Consulate competent for the registration of the birth.
Fifth: The applicant shall appear before the Spanish Consulate in his/her place of residence within one year from the day following the date on which the decision was notified. The applicant shall request to the Consulate the registration of the Spanish citizenship. He/she shall provide a new criminal record certificate and shall carry out the procedures and statements necessary to receive a Spanish passport.

Which documents prove my condition of Sephardi of Spanish ancestry? In order to prove the condition of Sephardi of Spanish ancestry, the following documents (which will be assessed together) can be submitted.

a) Certificate issued by the President of the Permanent Commission of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE).
b) Certificate issued by the President or someone, in similar position, of the Jewish Community of the area of residence or city of birth of the applicant.
c) Certificate of the competent rabbi authority, legally recognized in the country of origin or usual residence of the applicant.

In cases b) and c), the applicant can request a certificate of the FCJE proving the condition of authority of the person issuing the certificates within the foreign Jewish community or:
Copy of the original Articles of Association of the foreign religious entity.
Certificate of the foreign entity including the names of the people appointed as legal representatives.
Certificate, or document, showing proof that the foreign entity is legally recognized in the country of origin.
And certificate issued by the legal representative of such entity showing proof that the signatory rabbi actually and currently holds such position according to the requirements established by the articles of association.
The documents shall be submitted in Spanish language, or translated into Spanish by a sworn translator. Additionally, the documents shall be authorized by a Notary of the country of origin, and apostilled or legalized as appropriate.

Other documentation:
– Proof of use of Ladino or “Haketia” as family language.
-The “ketubah” (marriage certificate) stating that the marriage took place following Castilian traditions.
-A reasoned report issued by an entity with proven competence showing proof that the applicant’s surnames are of Sephardic descent.
- Any other document proving that the applicant is a Sephardi of Spanish ancestry.

Which documents prove my special link to Spain? In order to prove a special link to Spain, the following documents (which will be assessed together) can be submitted.

a) Certificates of having studied Spanish History or Culture, issued by public institutions –or officially recognized private institutions.
b) Proof of knowledge of the Ladino or “Haketia” languages.
c) Proof of inclusion of the applicant and his/her first-degree ascendants in the list of Sephardic families protected by the Spanish government, as referred to in the Spanish Decree-Law of 29 December 1948 –related to Egypt and Greece–, or in the list of those who gained naturalization by the Spanish Royal Decree of 20 December 1924.
d) Blood relationship between the applicant and someone included in any of the lists mentioned in paragraph c) above.
e) Proof of engagement in charitable, cultural or economic activities on behalf of Spanish people or institutions, or within Spanish territory; certificates of having organized or taken part in conferences in the applicant’s country of origin, or residence, on issues related to Spanish culture; certificates of having studied in Spain; proof of businesses or purchases of goods and assets in Spain, among others.
f) Proof of engagement in activities in support of institutions devoted to the study, conservation and dissemination of Sephardic culture.
g) Any other circumstances unequivocally proving the applicant’s special link to Spain.

Links for more information:

Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain

Seattle Sephardic Network

Or VeShalom is the community's main synagogue and gathering place. The history of this congregation is intimately tied to the history of Atlanta's Sephardic Jews. A full history of this congregation can be found through the publication Sephardim & A History of Congregation Or VeShalom, published by the synagogue in 1981 and written by Sol Beton, a prominent member of the community. To download and read this book, click the link below (large file size!).

Sephardim & A History of Congregation Or VeShalom

Below I have included two selections about OVS. The first written by Sol Beton in 1979 in the Atlanta Historical Journal entitled "Sephardim-Atlanta." This includes a very exciting OVS census of members from 1934 which you can find many of our relatives names in! The second actually comes from the annual Rhodes Jewish History museum magazine, where they detail the visit of the ancient Sephardic torah to our community in 2004.

A large portion of the Sephardic Jews who came from Greece and Turkey settled in Seattle, where they began two Sephardic temples: Congregations Ezra Bessaroth and Bikur Holim.

Seattle's University of Washington also has a large Jewish studies department and digital library of Sephardic language. You can read about that in the Seattle Times here and access library of Sephardic studies by clicking the description below:

The Sephardic Studies Collection at the University of Washington is one of most expansive and fastest growing repositories of source materials pertaining to the Sephardic Jewish experience. The Collection showcases a wide array of published and unpublished materials, including novels, prayer books, bibles, manuscripts, and letters, as well as audio.

The Seattle community has a large network, the Seattle Sephardic Network, similar to ours in Atlanta. Click to learn more.

Lastly, I have included a great story below from one of the University of Washington Jewish scholars wrote about her great great grandmother Rebecca Alhadeff writing letters in Ladino from Rhodes prior to the Holocaust.

Below I have included an article on the history of Jews in Montgomery, AL from the Institute of Southern Jewish Life.

Below is the story of Ruben Owen of Seattle and his three sons journeying through the South to discover the different Jewish communities and their own family history there.

Ruben Owen is the son of Beulah Franco Owen. Beulah was the sister of Olga Franco. Olga who was the mother of Corrine Franco Capilouto.