Mediterranean Jews, Sephardim, Ladino language and culture: A comparative study on Nasreddin Hodja and Djoha

The Jews who spread to the Mediterranean basin and continental Europe are fundamentally divided into two groups regarding the religious traditions, cultures, and customs they have created. While Ashkenazi Jews were described as the Jews, those who mainly lived in Eastern Europe, Sephardic Jews, as the word Sephardi means "Spain" in the Hebrew language, describes the Jews of Spanish origin. This group embodies a group of Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 and took refuge in the Ottoman Empire. With the migration from the west to the east of the Mediterranean Sea, the Sephardic Jews brought their Iberian language, later called Ladino, to the Ottoman lands. There is no doubt that Djoha is a comic figure who has an important place in the oral tradition of Ladino literature. The stories of Djoha, which were told and transmitted in the same geography as Nasreddin Hodja, contain many elements of Nasreddin Hodja and the Turkish-Islamic culture. A comparative study is conducted on Pertev Naili Boratav's Nasreddin Hodja and Matilda Koen-Sarano's Djoha Ke Dize? and the transformation of Nasreddin Hodja in Djoha stories is revealed.