Discussions on the origins of our names
(Behar, Bejar, Vejar, Bejarano)

"Discusiones
sobre los orígenes de nuestros nombres"
(Behar, Bejar, Vejar, Bejarano)

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(en inglés)


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1. "the Béjar tale", Isaac Behar (France) in an e-mail from September 30, 2004;
2. "a Bejar tale ... or a Bejar option", Mario Behar – an e-mail response, Oct 1, 2004;
3. Isaac Behar's response (again by e-mail) from October 2, 2004;
4. Mario Behar – last response, October 3, 2004



Isaac Behar (France) in an e-mail from September 30, 2004

Shalom to all ... Please find here attached my contribution to our discussions in the BEHAR summit on the origin of BEHAR surname.

Isaac Behar ... Paris, France
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ATTACHMENT:

September 30, 2004
Shalom to all

Following the BEHAR summit in Béjar I wish to contribute in writing to the BEHAR summit discussions by:
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Pointing out the difference between [the] so called "Sephardic Jews" (Sephard[i] meaning Spanish) as opposed to "Ashkenazic Jews", and what I call "authentic Sephard[i]" i.e. descendants of the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492.
Looking for the roots of [the] Behar surname.

The classification between the two main branches of Judaism "Sephardic" and "Ashkenazic" Jews is, as all classifications, a simplification.

All Sephard[i] are not the descendants of the Jews expelled from Spain. (Most of the figures noted here below have been quoted from a book called "Jewish History Atlas" by Martin Gilbert, published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson (11 St. John's Hill London SW11). I purchased this book years ago in Israel and was never able to find it again.

In order to understand the Jewish history one should keep in mind several facts.
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Jews started dispersion as early as 722-586 BC, following the Assyrian and Babylon[i]an conquest[s]. They went in such towns as Alexandria (in Egypt), Elephantine (on the Nile), Damascus in Syria, but also in France and Italy.
Jews settled in, North Africa before the Arab conquest (500 BC to 750 AD). In the first century AD, the Jewish population of the Roman Empire, west of Palestine, has been estimated at over 6 million, of whom 1 Million lived in Egypt, mostly in Alexandria. In 200 BC Jews were active in converting local tribes to Judaism in present Morocco and Tunisia. A Berber tribe princess in Algeria (princess Kaha- na) fought against the Arab invasion.
By 300 AD, the Jews had settled in every part of the Roman Empire. The Berlin museum mentions the Jews among the founders of the town. They arrived with the roman legion and settled there. (NOTE by Mario Behar: The Encyclopædia Britannica and the Israeli Carta's Universal Encyclopedia state 13th century AD as the founding point in time for Berlin)
Jews were also traders in 800-900 AD, and established settlements in China and India. (This does not mean that the BIHAR region in India is the origin of the BEHAR surname). Benjamin of Tudela (1165- 1173; the years of his travelsNOTE: Mario Behar), who was probably a merchant, wherever he went, [he] tried to find out about local Jews and he left detailed descriptions of Jewish life and traditions in his book. He mentions Jewish community in Aswan (Egypt), in Arabia, in Yemen in the south of India and notes that "the inhabitants are all black and the Jews also". He reports that there are probably 3000 Jews in Ceylon.
A KHAZAR Jewish kingdom lasted from 700 to 1016 AD between Black sea and Caspian sea through conversion of the Emperor Leon IV to the Jewish religion. Caucasia[], Crimea, Volga, Kiev areas were part of the Jewish kingdom. When the KHAZAR kingdom was destroyed in 1016 by Rus- sian–Byzantine coalition, Jews dispersed into Russia, Byzantium[,] but also in the Mediterranean ports, mixing with the local population from earlier migrations.
Jewish expulsions occurred several times throughout the centuries but not simultaneously in all coun- tries, allowing Jews to find new homes temporarily. For instance in 1394 all Jews were expelled from the French kingdom. (Jews remained only in areas which, at that time, were not part of the French kingdom). Some fled from France to Spain, but a century later Spanish Jews escaped to France.
In 1492, at the time of Spanish expulsion, the Spanish Jewish population consisted approximately of 230.000 people.

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90.000 settled in the Ottoman Empire
28.000 in Holland
20.000 in Morocco
10.000 in France
10.000 in Italy
  5.000 in America (This number reflects probably a much longer period of time, because it is inconceivable that in 1492, right after the Expulsion, or so soon after it, 5000 people, only Jews, were able to reach America. NOTE: Mario Behar)
20.000 died while seeking a new home
50.000 were baptized and remained in Spain;
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The Ottoman empire is much broader then Turkey. By 1660 over one million Jews lived in the Ottoman Empire, many had fled from Spanish and Cossa[c]k persecution, while only 90.000 fled from Spain and settled in the Ottoman Empire in 1492. It is therefore more than obvious that all Jews living in the Mediterranean sea or in the Ottoman Empire who are classified as "Sephard[i]" for simpli- fication sake, are not the descendants of the Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492.
The only proof of the Spanish origin of Jews, so called "Sephard[i]", relies in the practice of [the] old Spanish language (Ladino).
Those who have not continued to speak Ladino through the centuries, cannot be sure of their Spanish origin. It does not mean that their ancestors are not from Spain but just that no proof of their Spanish origin is available.
Every time Jews were compelled to migrate, they tried to join existing Jewish communities and if the native Jewish community was much larger than the migrating Jews, they would adopt the local habits, including the local language. This has been the case in France, in Italy and in Egypt, despite the fact that the latter was also part of the Ottoman Empire. So called Sephard[i] who have no proof that their pa- rents, grandparents or [great]-grandparents spoke Spanish cannot be sure that their ancestors came from Spain. For instance, most Spanish Jews who settled in Egypt, Morocco, France, Italy, mixed with the existing ancient Jewish population and abandoned Ladino as their common language to use the local language used by the native Jews. It is therefore impossible to know if the Jewish population that did not use Ladino came from Spain or not.


Origin of [the] BEHAR surname.

Many tales have been proposed and the one which has been privileged by our BEHAR summit in Béjar is that the BEHAR surname marks the origin of BEHAR families from the Béjar region, which belonged to the Dukes of Béjar.

This origin is highly improbable.

BEHAR families are certainly "authentic Sephard[i]", i.e. they come from Spain, having kept the Ladino lan- guage throughout the centuries.

If present BEHAR families, try to trace back their origin in early 19th century and eventually late 18th cen- tury, they always find that their family lived in a rather limited area of the Ottoman Empire, between Istanbul and the black sea in present Bulgaria. This fact was obvious in our BEHAR Summit, even if we have come from different countries.

Many "authentic Sephardic" Jews lived in Salonika and spoke Ladino, but there is no trace of BEHAR families in this town, back in the 19th century.

I was born in Egypt, so was Claudia BEHAR, but our parents or grand parents came from Bulgaria. No Behar families living in Egypt could trace their origin back in Egypt in the 19th century.

It seems obvious that [the] BEHAR surname was CREATED in [the] here-above limited area of the Otto- man Empire. When? This remains to be found [out] by searching when the surname BEHAR was first regis- tered in the Synagogue archives.

I went to So[f]ia, found the archives[,] but, not reading Hebrew, I was unable to read them.

It is highly probable that in the 15th century, Jews did not have surnames. They would call themselves Mo- she ben Isaac ben Yako[v], etc.

In France, Jews were compelled to chose a surname by a Napoleon decree in 1808 (Decree of Ba- yonne).
 
France under Napoleon rule was much more organized than the Ottoman Empire. It is therefore highly improbable that BEHAR surname was created in the limited area of the Ottoman Empire before the 19th century.

In 1492, the Jews expelled from Spain fled in different countries, each individual family seizing the available opportunities. If all BEHAR came from the Béjar region, one should expect to find this surname in the 19th century in other countries having  a high Spanish Jewish population density, like Salonika. It is not the case.

Furthermore, if the BEHAR surname was created in a given area of the Ottoman Empire, in remembrance of their Béjar origin, then they would have called themselves Bejar, pronouncing the "J" according to the La- dino pronunciation like "ijo" (son) and not as an H (hota) which was introduced later in the modern Spa- nish language.

It might be very enthusiastic to believe that the BEHAR surname indicates that we are descendants of the Jews living in the Béjar region before 1492, thus finding our deep roots, but this explanation does not resist historical facts.

If we want to trace back our origin, we should do it in Istanbul and So[f]ia by trying to determine through rabbinical archives, when the BEHAR surname appeared for the first time.

Sorry if this contribution does not support the Béjar tale.

Isaac BEHAR
Paris (France)






Mario Behar in an e-mail response from October 1, 2004

Dear all,

When we were organizing the Behar, Bejarano, etc. Summit there were not at all intentions to tell or prove a "Béjar tale" about our origins, and I hope this was the understanding of most participants – both, when they came to Béjar, as well as when they so delighted of the encounter left for their countries ... Our efforts were intended to explore for ourselves, and to let other people explore the "Béjar OPTION" in search of our origins ...

My basic understanding, expressed in different forms, is that:
a) Nothing is wrong, until proven such ...
b) Nothing can be classified as impossible, until facts support such a conclusion to the whole 100% ...
c) Among probabilities of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 percent (to pick an example), the greatest of them is still a valid option, until dismissed by indisputable facts ...

Science helps us very well to obtain more precise knowledge of facts, but, I think, it does not serve well when we use it to reject options only because their probability is too small, or because with our to date knowledge we don't have explanation of something for which there are hints to have happened ...

With this way of thinking, despite the fantastic presentation of our genealogist Alejandro Rubinstein during the Summit, I permit myself to disagree with his only "vexation>Vejar" explanation as a source of the Ve- jar name, which right away excludes the very plausible option of "Bejar>Vejar" transformation of the na- me given the closeness of the "B" & "V" sounds in Spanish; given the extremely small number of literate people years and centuries ago; given the fact that even well-literate people today need to think twice when spelling words with these to sounds in Spanish; given even the fact that a state officer with his power was always (not to be excluded in any country) able to impose to "weak" people a name spelling – as e.g. the immigrant history of the United States tell us – many descendants of newcomers to Ellis Island in New York can tell you such a story about the origin of the spelling of their names nowadays ...

Our historian for the Summit – Marciano de Hervás, has said he assumes to have Jewish lineage ... Why? Because, although no specific "proofs on the ground", there is no other logical explanation for the missing 2-3 generations in his family tree records except to assume that exactly because of (and due to) the turmoil, hate, and destruction in the years after 1492, and exactly because of being of Jews, these records have dis- appeared forever ...

I perfectly agree with the fact that studying the rabbinical archives in Istanbul, Sofia, and probably some other cities around there, will bring us closer to the right answer, and this is why, if future Summit happens, the most logical place seems to be precisely this region, but before I accept all conclusions in Isaac's material as reasonable, I would search for more precise answers to the following questions or statements:

1) Let's start with Moshe rabeinu (Moses) ... No scientist has provided a proof of his existence, but half or two thirds of humanity take his existence for granted ... Why? - Because the course of human history sug- gests such a person might have existed ... The same dilemma goes with Abraham - We know something about Ur Kasdim; there are remnants in Iraq of Zikurat-an-Ur, but where are the scientific proofs that such a person (Abraham) from Ur has existed and made such a history with his wanderings towards and within Eretz Israel (or in those times Canaan)?

2) What if the archives we find do not go sufficiently far back for various reasons, say: negligence of those who were supposed to write them down or maintain them; or maliciousness of Jew-haters who might have destroyed them; or simply negligence of next generations of ours who did not bother to save the archives for future generations? – Do we dismiss –only because of a lack of written archives– the option that some of us might have some connection precisely to the Jews that left Béjar in 1492?

3) Given the fact that due to the persecutions of the Jews in the 1390s in France and Spain many of them have found refuge in smaller (and for this reason safer) towns like Béjar, why can't we speculate (assume) that the Bejarano Jews have left in 1492 en masse as a group, and were among those that had the chance to benefit of the welcoming of the Ottoman Sultan? Are there facts dismissing such an option? Why not assume that this group of exiles from Béjar has set foot in Istanbul, has liked this place and its surroundings, not moved too much else around, and that no one or almost no one of them has been lured by Thesaloniki, where other Sephardim had the chance to set foot?

4) If I live in Béjar would I call myself Béjar? Most probably not. There is no reason! ... Bejarano? Why not? This is the way one would say in Spanish "I live in Béjar" or "I am from Béjar" ... If I am forced to leave a place very dear to my heart (as is the case with the "key from the house in Béjar" in David Melul's story in the booklet from the Jewish Museum in Béjar), why not call myself generations later Bejar (which can later become Behar, Vejar, Bahar, Bachar) or Bejarano - to keep this love and these nice memories alive in the family for generations to come?

5) Should the "no family names in the Ottoman Empire" make us to conclude that people did not have communal oral history, which combined with the Ladino language, and the "key from the house in Béjar" memories in David Melul's story might make these people with a great certainty believe that choosing the Bejar or Bejarano family name when they were asked (or forced) to specify one, would best describe their origins?

6) Why should spelling of a name in a less literate society be given priority over pronunciation of a name? In such a case, as is in [] the history of creating scripture, the latter (and from there the form of writing a word) is the one that in general adapts itself to pronunciation, not vice versa ... In addition to this, in the time people in the Ottoman Empire might have started getting family names, Turkish language was being present- ed in writing by Arabic (or close to Arabic) characters - not in Latin characters, so the problem of "j" pro- nounced as in "ijo" in Ladino (or "Jacques" in French) or as in "José" in Spanish would not exist as a prob- lem ... And more in this discussion: A historian has to say how far back this city's name has been translite- rated as Béjar; and a linguist has to say how far back in Spanish the "j" has been "jota" ("hota" for English readers) and when (and if) it has been pronounced as in "ijo" in Ladino ...

7) With the lack of firm scientific proof or negation, in evaluation of certainties and uncertainties the trick is to find out which of them either alone or combined with others makes more sense ... Just to throw one ad- ditional curious fact: Purely by chance, as a result of a chance, after a search in an electronic (computer) Map of the World, I found a province and its principal town in Algeria - next to the border with Morocco, written as Bechar. Is it pronounced "Beshar" (for English readers) – as would be the French pronunciation (Algeria has been a French colony) or otherwise – depending on the Arabic transliteration, I don't know ... Is it connected to us – the Behars, Bejaranos, etc.? As is the answer for the state of Bihar in India, I think, most probably not, but still, why not close to the name of the City of Béjar - given the geographical close- ness between them ...

Back in Béjar, at "Cubino", Richard Behar tossed to me the idea for all of us - Behars, Bejaranos, etc., to give blood (once we were together) which could be used to verify our (he was hoping common) DNA, and the rest of the blood donated as a gesture from all visiting Behars, Bejaranos, etc. ... If only there was a DNA-verifiable remnant from those pre-Expulsion or during-Expulsion times [residents of Béjar], this might be very compelling to bring to reality idea ...

But back to a more "real life" state of mind, despite all the uncertainties in the "Mario Behar – City of Bé- jar" connection, I can't help but feel the warmth in my heart that there is one city in Spain (and I al- ready know it) whose name Béjar people pronounce exactly the way I have heard my family name pronounced along my entire life ...









Isaac Behar in an e-mail response from October 2, 2004

October 1[2 ?], 2004
Shalom to all

Just a few words to avoid any misunderstanding.

My tentative "contribution" was not meant to be a criticism. I congratulated Mario and his father Iako for their initiative to bring us together, and I think that the town of Béjar was the only possible place to hold this first meeting of Behar' families dispersed all over the world, for two main reasons:

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the symbolism of the resemblance in the names,

the fact that all BEHAR do come from Spain as confirmed by the survival of Ladino in the BEHAR families throughout the centuries.

The first meeting had to be in Spain[,] and, within Spain, Béjar city was the ideal place.

On reception of the letter on BEHAR summit I visited the web site and confirmed immediately I would attend this meeting. I have been very enthusiastic in meeting so many BEHAR coming from so many places in the world and I have approved Richard's suggestion to compare our DNA. I would be extremely happy if these tests show we all had common ancestors. ... I have never had any information on the children of my grand father's first marriage, and would love to find decedents.

Coming back to the origin of the name BEHAR, my children and grand children often asked me what was the origin of the surname BEHAR. I answered that some people say it is a modification of Bokhor, "the eld- est" but I did not believe in this explanation, because we should then find BEHAR in other areas.

When I went to Bulgaria I found the area very mountainous and I wondered if the origin could not be Heb- rew "Be Har" (from the mountain) but on a second thought, I did not keep this explanation. The Behar spoke Ladino, would they choose for surname a Hebrew name rather than a Ladino name ?

One of my children told me that someone had suggested that the name came from Arabic. In Arabic "BAHR" means "sea", and "Bahar" means "Sailor". I rejected this explanation because our ancestors who lived in [T]urkey and Bulgaria had no reason to create their surname from an Arabic word. In the website I noticed a possible explanation from Turkish (Hebrew – Correction NOTE: Mario Behar), BAHAR meaning "chosen". This explanation was much more logical because the BEHAR lived in Turkey but, their is always a "but", the majority of the descend[a]nts should write their name BAHAR, while only few of the BEHAR write their name with an "a".

I did not know the existence of the Béjar town and the Béjar area, before receiving the invitation to join the summit, and I was very enthusiastic, because I thought we had finally found the roots of our surname which seemed plausible since we definitely come from Spain.

But once again, I felt that facts did not match with the hypothesis. On my return I told my children and grand Children that I felt the origin of BEHAR surname remains a mystery.

As I said in starting this Mail, my tentative "contribution" was not a criticism but was meant, as Mario said, to be part of "Our efforts intended to explore for ourselves, and to let other people explore the 'Béjar OPTION' in search of our origins". It is only by exploring the different possible avenues and by debating, that we might have a chance to find the origin of our common surname.

The "Bejarano" explanation proposed by Mario "I am from Béjar" seems a very attractive explanation. The pronunciation of the Ladino "J" is kept, and the surname makes sense in Ladino. If BEHAR, BAHAR and Bejarano have the same origin, then we should try to understand how the surname Bejarano switch- ed to BEHAR, and the first point in our search should be to learn where the Bejarano lived in the 19th cen- tury.

Being a scientist by education, I should say that if 2/3, and even if 99.99% believe in a given hypothesis or theory, it does not mean that the hypothesis or theory is THE TRUTH. Actually, science developed be- cause minorities questioned the opinion of the majority, and worked hard to bring up facts and ar- guments in favor of the new hypothesis or theory.

I rely on all the BEHAR to try to find out the origin of our common surname, t[h]rough analyzing and de- bating on the different possible options but each one of us is obviously free to select the option that suits him best.

As far as I am concerned, I have not yet found an explanation that takes in account all existing facts. May be such an explanation will appear in a near future and may be not.

I wish to thank again Mario and Iako for having brought us together in Béjar and look forward for other such meetings.

Sincerely

Isaac from Paris (France)









Mario Behar – last e-mail response from October 3, 2004

Cher Isaac,

I am very glad to have read your second message, as it did clarify many things to me ...

I would like also to take the opportunity and make one clarification about the contents of the webpage deal- ing [with] the "Origins of our names" ( http://www.geocities.com/mbehar.geo/origins-of-our-names.html ) ... There is a slight confusion (not in the website) about the 'Bahar' pronunciation ... We have to be aware that there is 'Bahar' pronunciation & spelling with Latin letters, but there is also a 'Bahar' pronunciation with the Hebrew spelling (בחר) ... The former combination is the one related to the explanation about Turkey, which was contributed by Moiz Behar, but was actually explaining how Behar has transformed in Turkish to Ba- har – which according to Moiz means 'spring' ... The meaning 'chosen' is in Hebrew because this is what the verb made of these three letters - Beth-Chet-Resh, means - to choose ...

My personal case is an ideal example how dangerous it is to make ancestry conclusions using literary spell- ing connections ... When I first stepped in Israel in 1973 I knew practically nothing from Hebrew, and with my poor knowledge I decided to spell my name with these three Hebrew letters, still pronouncing it Behar. (You know probably that in Hebrew you can put symbols for different vowels below the consonants). The logic behind this choice of mine was that the other letter pronounced as "H" is used also for "K". Back than I didn't know that there are also other rules that govern letter combination pronunciation, and that the most common spelling in Hebrew (again not known to me back then) for Behar would never be mistaken for Be- kar ... This is the way (בחר) I spelled my name when I went to live in Israel from 1992 to 1996, and I was in a minority. The majority of Behars in Israel spell their names with 'Beth'-'Khaf'-'Resh' (בכר). There is also a third (the least popular) spelling: Beth-Hey-Resh (בהר) that Albert Behar (from the Summit) is using that means exactly 'BeHar' (on the Hill) ...

The other thing I wanted to comment was also the 'Bejarano-Behar' connection ... I hope you see that I am trying to use here more logic than precise scientific proof ... I don't see any reasonable transformation from Bejarano to Bejar (Behar). I would assume that Bejarano has "more ancient" local Spanish origins brought to our days through a chain of generations being the first ones contemporary to the Expul- sion and before ... [With regard to the Bejar (Behar) names,] it seems to me more logical to assume that[,] much later when already forced to assume second (family) name[,] people (those primarily in the Ottoman Empire, as you specify) have chosen to express somehow their "good memories" (trans- ferred orally generation after generation) about their ancestor's city of origin Bejar ...

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... A bientôt ... Shalom ve-Chag Sukkot Sameach ... mario






Web Design: Mario Behar  ...  NY, 2005





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