Pallache family
"Pallache" – also de Palacio(s), Palache, Palaçi, Palachi, Palacci, Palaggi, al-Fallashi, and many other variations (documented below) – is the surname of a prominent, Ladino-speaking, Sephardic Jewish family from the Iberian Peninsula, who spread mostly through the Mediterranean after the Alhambra Decree of March 31, 1492, and related events. The Pallache family have had connections with Moroccans, Spanish, Netherlands and Portuguese Sephardic Jewish communities, as detailed below. The Pallaches established themselves in cities in Morocco, the Netherlands, Turkey, Egypt, and other countries from the 1500s through the 1900s. The family includes chief rabbis, rabbis, founders of synagogues and batei midrash, scientists, entrepreneurs, writers, and others. Best known to date are: Moroccan envoys and brothers Samuel Pallache (ca. 1550–1616) and Joseph Pallache, at least three grand rabbis of Izmir – Gaon. Haim Palachi (1788–1868), his sons Abraham Palacci (1809–1899) and Rahamim Nissim Palacci (1814–1907), grand rabbi of Amsterdam Isaac Juda Palache (1858–1927), American mineralogist Charles Palache (1869–1954), and Dutch linguist Juda Lion Palache (1886–1944). According to historians Mercedes García-Arenal and Gerard Wiegers, "Les Pallache étaient une famille de juifs d'origine hispanique installés à Fès depuis l'expulsion des juifs d'Espagne en 1492." ("The Pallaches were a family of Hispanic Jews who settled in Fez after the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492.") In 1480, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon established a Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition (Inquisición española). Its dual purpose was to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in Spain while replacing the Medieval Inquisition under papal control. On March 31, 1492, Isabella and Ferdinand issued the Alhambra Decree (or "Edict of Expulsion"), thereby ordering the expulsion of practicing Jews from the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, its territories, and it possessions by July 31 that year–in four months.
