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26 DECEMBER 2014                                                 
In Honor of Jamil Ezra, a distinguished member of the American Sephardi Federation’s Board of Directors

Sir Sassoon Eskell, Iraq’s first Minister of Finance and “Father of the Parliament”
Iraqis hungry for knowledge on country’s displaced Jews” 
By Shukur KhilKhal, al-Monitor

The punitive policies of Iraq’s Ba’ath Party uprooted the majority of the country’s ancient Jewish community (already a shadow of its former self by the 1960s) and succeeded in erasing Jews from Iraqi history. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003, some Iraqis have begun the difficult process of discovering what they were previously forbidden to learn about: the significant cultural contributions of Iraqi Jews. 
The forgotten Jews of Sudan even researchers haven’t heard of”  
By Ofer Aderet, Haaretz

As a child growing up in Sudan, Yehoshua Levy would be hounded on the streets with calls of “Jew, go to Palestine! What are you doing here?” Nevertheless, 1,000 Jews called Sudan home, a fact largely unknown to both contemporary Sudanese and scholars of Mizrahi Jewry.



 
The Hebrew and Arabic inscribed gravestone of Yitzchak Gabra, Jewish Cemtery, Khartoum, Sudan (Photo courtesy of C. Motzen for the Diarna Geo-Museum, 2005). Click here to see exclusive footage of the cemetery
 
Special Chanukkah Feature (VIDEO): A Moroccan “Maoz Tzur Yeshuati”
 

“A Moroccan Chanukkah”  by Judy Dick
 
 Rabbi Maimon (Meni) Cohen, Rabbi Hayim Biton, and Rabbi Shimon Eluz perform a Moroccan version of “Maoz Tsur Yeshuati,” the universally popular Chanukkah piyyut (2011).

Click here to see the trailer for “Shadow in Baghdad”
 
Casting a Long Shadow” 
By Emile Cohen, The Arab Review

Duki Dror’s new documentary-style film, “Shadow in Baghdad,” thoughtfully tells the story of Linda Abdul Aziz Menuhin, whose father remained in Iraq after her emigration to Israel and was later abducted by Saddam Husseins intelligence services into the Qasr al-Nihaya (Palace of the End). With the help of an Iraqi journalist who reached out to her, Linda seeks to learn her father’s fate, but in chasing one shadow the journalist risks becoming his own.  
 
Omer Avital - a jazz bassist for all seasons (and all regions...)” 
By Jeff Krow, Audiophile Audition

On Omer Avital’s new album, New Song, the half-Yemenite, half-Moroccan Israeli jazz maestro mines the musical traditions of the Middle East and North Africa to make “world music... with strong jazz roots.” 

Click here to hear Omer Avital’s Sabah el-Kheir (Good Morning) from New Song 
Donate now and your tax-deductible contribution will help ASF “Connect, Collect, and Celebrate” Sephardi culture throughout the year with engaging programs and compelling publications.
 
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