In past few decades “…Sephardic Jews have re-asserted themselves with considerable success,” writes George Robinson, and “that trend is nowhere more evident than in the continued growth of the New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival.” Noting how the 19th NYSJFF’s films speak to the ubiquity and geographic diversity of Sephardim, Robinson looks at three individuals/films: Pramila (Esther Victoria Abraham) in Beqassor, Layla Mourad in Shore of Love, and Carvalho’s Journey, a documentary about pioneering daguerreotypist Solomon Nunes Carvalho.
Two Jewish silver screen stars appeared in films at the 19th NYSJFF: Bollywood pioneer Pramila (left) and the legendary Egyptian singer Layla Mourad (right)
Ema Shah, the multi-talented Kuwaiti performer whose interfaith approach to music and civil society activism have made her one of the Arab world’s most courageous celebrities advancing Jewish-Arab relations, was honored with the Pomegranate Award at the Opening of the American Sephardi Federation’s 19th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival (NYSJFF) on 10 March 2016. Ema performed songs by the Algerian-born Jewish star Enrico Macias, Israeli-Yemenite legend Ofra Haza, and herself, as well as Hava Nagila (in Hebrew and French) and a moving vocalization of the theme from Schindler’s List. Opening Night was presented in conjunction with the American Islamic Congress and Association Mimouna. Diplomats from Morocco, Portugal, Japan, and Sweden were in attendance.
Annika Hernroth-Rothstein, a blue-eyed Jewish journalist from Sweden, recently visited the Jews of Iran and found synagogue life there─“the children running rampant, ignoring the older mens’ condemning stares”─to be strangely familiar. The Islamist regime’s hospitality, however, includes: “[an] assigned government handler.” Turning the tables on her expectations, Hernroth-Rothstein’s discovers a close-knit community that is legally “separate but equal, free yet contained and the regime lets them know this with their perennial outburst of Holocaust denial and unbridled anti-Zionism. Much like the country in which they reside, they are a community full of contradictions and with beauty and darkness in equal measure.”
Mondays, starting March 21st at 7:30PM Center for Jewish History 15 West 16th Street, New York City
According to the nusach of the Moroccan Jews
Presented by the hazzan and payytan, R’Avraham Amar
The American Sephardi Federation is pleased to announce a new class exploring the Baqashot (‘Songs of Seeking’ in Edwin Seroussi’s wonderful translation), a musical tradition whose roots are in Andalusian Spain. R’Amar, a student of R’David Buzaglo, considered the greatest Hebrew liturgical poet of the 20th century, will guide students through the theory and practice of the Baqashot:
1). Their purpose, when and how they are used in the liturgy--how they are attached to weekly parshiyot (Shabbat Torah readings)
2). The musical maqamim (Arabic melodic mode) used in the singing of the Baqashot
3). The great composers of this traditional art form
Students will be instructed in the chanting of each of the baqashot according to the weekly parshiyot and maqam.
Please click here to RSVP for the sessions
Cost: $20 for four classes
Special Announcement
Sephardic Birthright Trip Summer 2016
Sephardic Communities in New York, Miami, and Seattle, are joining together to create a Sephardic Birthright Israel Trip this Summer from August 7th to August 17th! If you've never been on Birthright before and want to go to Israel for free, this is your chance! For 10 days, you'll be able to travel around the country with amazing people with Sephardic, Greek, and Turkish backgrounds, all while exploring everything Israel has to offer. You'll be able to ride camels in the desert, raft down the Jordan River, explore the Old City in Jerusalem, and a whole lot more.
The trip is totally free and anyone between the ages of 18 and 26 who hasn't been on a Birthright Israel trip before is eligible. What's more, we are working on creating an extended portion of the Trip to Greece! Even if you've been to Israel before on a non-birthright trip you may still be eligible.
If you or someone you know is interested, please register today at https://www.israelfreespirit.com/app and use the organizational referral code "Sephardic Trip." Registration takes less than 10 minutes and no final commitment is necessary. You can also email the organizers to find out more info at sephardicisraeltrip@gmail.com
Note: ASF is not organizing this trip, although individual members of our Young Leadership Board are participating
The American Sephardi Federation invites you to experience
THEPOMEGRANATECARD
Your Cardholder Benefits Include:
Subscription to the print edition of The Sephardi Report, a magazine that shines a light on contemporary Sephardi creativity and excellence in the arts, scholarship, entrepreneurship, rabbinic thought, and philanthropy
Contact us by email or phone (917.606.8266) to sponsor future issues of the Sephardi World Weekly in honor or memory of loved ones.
Come visit ASF’s Leon Levy Gallery at Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th Street) to view our new exhibition: “Baghdadis & The Bene Israel in Bollywood & Beyond: Indian Jews in the Movies”
on display now through March 2016
Click here for viewing hours and additional information
Thank you for opting (on our websites, at an event, or by email) to receive American Sephardi Federation Programming Updates and Publications. We apologize if this message was sent in error.
The American Sephardi Federation's Sephardi House is located at the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th St., New York, New York, 10011).
