Traditional characteristics of Hispanic Jews

These immigrants speak Jewish Spanish (Latin American), and most of them have maintained their culture and customs. In the Jewish communities in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, they are famous for their cultural and intellectual achievements. They are also obviously different from the Ashkenazi Jews in the religious customs of worship. They adhered to the Jewish tradition of Babylon, not the Jewish tradition of Palestine. There are about 700,000 Hispanic Jews in the world today (far less than German Jews), many of whom live in Israel. Hispanic Jews and German Jews each have a grand rabbi among the grand rabbis in Israel.