Sephardic law and customs Spain or Portugal (as well as one Romaniot and one Ashkenazi synagogue). In a process lasting from the 16th through the 19th century, the native Jewish communities of most Arab and Ottoman countries adapted their pre-existing liturgies, many of which already had a family resemblance with the Sephardic, to follow the Spanish rite in as many respects as possible. Some reasons for this are: The most important theological, as opposed to practical, motive for harmonization was the Kabbalistic teachings of Isaac Luria and Ḥayim Vital. Luria himself always maintained that it was the duty of every Jew to abide by
Association of Religion Data Archives Department; membership and distributional data and historical lineages ("Family Trees") of major world religions and U.S. denominations thereof; and various learning tools. A bi-weekly journalistic article dealing with matters of religion and (usually American) public life, written by David Briggs, also appears on the ARDA website. This article is cross-posted to the Huffington Post, for which Briggs also writes. In 2015, the ARDA began providing interactive historical timelines of religion in the United States. Currently, there are three interactive timelines listed: Prominent Religious Events and People, Baptist Events and People, and Catholic Events and People. The ARDA is both affiliated