Since the 1970s, important bibliographies on the Sephardic exiles have been published. These are basically bibliographies of regions where Sephardim settled. Hayyim Cohen and Zvi Yehuda compiled a major annotated bibliography on the Jews in the Middle East:
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| Cohen, Hayyim J. & Zvi Yehuda, Asian and African
Jews in the Middle East, 1860-1971: Annotated Bibliography, Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi
Institute, 1976 |
This is a useful bibliography of monographs and articles covering the period starting with the major reforms in the Ottoman Empire and the enhanced Western influence, including the work of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in the region. It is divided into two major parts: the first is on Asian and African Jews in Israel and the second on Jews in Middle Eastern Muslim countries. Each part is subdivided by topic.
The first part includes general works, sociological studies, demography, health, economy, education, youth, women status, culture, religion and customs, political activity, etc. The second part includes the following subjects for each country as available: general works, travels, demography, health, economy, education, women status, culture, literature; religion and customs, Jewish organizations, political activity, Zionism, 'Aliyah, Jewish Diaspora of that country and bibliography. The table of contents cites each subdivision in each part (i.e., general, then by country); to reach specific subject one has to scan through the section. Each section opens with a Hebrew part: first alphabetically by author followed by unsigned works by date of publication; the same structure is repeated in the mixed English-French part. It has indexes of places and authors (in both alphabets).
Each entry is followed by a short annotation in brackets (in Hebrew in the Hebrew parts and in English in the rest). Most of the entries are in Hebrew but numerous are in English, French, and German. They include books and articles that were checked by the compilers and are located in various libraries in Jerusalem. Excluded are articles not in the list of periodicals cited in the bibliography as well as unsigned articles from certain periodicals which deal with specific communities; these periodicals are, however, recommended for use by scholars studying these regions. The periodicals which were scanned are wide ranging indeed: from scholarly ones and those focusing on Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jews to some which seldom appear in similar bibliographies (e.g., ha-Refu'ah, Telamim [of Tenu'at ha-Moshavim], Devar ha-Po'elet) thus including aspects rarely cited. This is indeed a major bibliography on Middle Eastern Jews, because others cover a shorter period and include Jews of North Africa.
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Several important bibliographies on the Jews of North Africa, some including also the Middle East, were compiled by Robert Attal, the librarian at the Ben Zvi Institute in Jerusalem–a research center which specializes in Sephardim and Jews under Islam and has a very large collection of manuscripts, books, and periodicals on the subject.
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| Attal, Robert, Yahadut Tsefon Afrikah:
Bibliyografyah, Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 1973 |
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| Attal, Robert & Yosef Tobi, Yehude ha-Mizrah
u-Tsefon-Afrikah: Bibliyografyah Mu'eret, 734-736 (1974-1976), Sefunot 16 (1980): 401-495 |
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| Attal, Robert, Yehude ha-Mizrah u-Tsefon-Afrikah :
Bibliyografyah Mu'eret, 737-739 (1977-1979) : 'Im Hashlamot 734-736 (1974-1976),
Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 1986 |
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| Attal, Robert, Les Juifs d'Afrique du Nord:
Bibliographie, Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 1993 |
The structure of most of these bibliographies is similar. They are divided into general sources on the region followed by sections on each country; some include regions outside the Middle East and North Africa. Those on the Middle East and North Africa are further subdivided by forms indicated at the beginning (e.g., reference works, literature, halakhah, published primary sources, language, arts, popular literature, etc.). Within each section works are listed alphabetically by author and then by title for anonymous works, starting with works in the Hebrew alphabet and followed by the Roman alphabet. The author index is also divided into Hebrew and Roman character ones.
The 1973 work, with 5741 entries and the 1993 work, with 10062 entries, are arranged only by region and country, but their indexes help to locate specific materials. The 1973 work has a named persons, places, and subject indexes with each entry number preceded by a letter indicating to which section it belongs (e.g., L=Libya, M=Morocco). The 1993 work has an author and subject indexes in Hebrew and Roman scripts. The subject indexes include in the bottom of each page the range of entry numbers for each country in order to facilitate the location of materials relevant to a specific country. These arrangements are somewhat cumbersome, forcing one to go back and forth between the index and the bibliography–and one might decide to scan certain parts from beginning to end. The 1980 work does not have a subject index. The topical subdivision for each section facilitates location of specific topics within geographical boundaries, but it makes the work look quite split-up. These bibliographies include a wealth of material and are indispensable for research on Judaism and Jews in the Middle East and North Africa.
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A more selective bibliography is:
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| Deshen, Shlomo A., Yehudim ba-Mizrah: Bibliyografyah
Sotsyologit Nivheret. Tel-Aviv: Universitat Tel-Aviv, 1978 |
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A bibliography on the Jews of Greece is another product of Attal:
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| Attal, Robert, Yahadut Yavan: mi-Gerush
Sefarad ve-'ad Yamenu: Bibliyografyah. Jerusalem: Ben-Zvi Institute, 1984 |
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The bibliography has 2297 entries and is primarily an alphabetic list (by author and then by anonymous titles) first in Hebrew and then in languages in Roman script. It includes an appendix with references to Greek communities in the periodicals El Tiempo and La Epocca. The indexes are for subjects, books, places and persons (by alphabet).
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A bibliography on Italian Jewry is:
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| Luzzato, Aldo & Moshe Moldavi a cura de Daniele Carpi
Bibliotheca Italo-ebraica: Bibliografia per la storia degli Ebrei in Italia,
1964-1973, Roma: Carucci, 1981 |
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| Luzzato, Aldo, Biblioteca Italo-ebraica:
Bibliografia per la storia degli Ebrei in Italia, 1974-1985, Milano: Franco Angeli, 1989 |
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These bibliographies hold 2528 and 2396 entries respectively covering publications in Italian, Hebrew and some other languages. Entries are arranged alphabetically by author or anonymous titles. There are indexes for places, persons, and subjects.
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