Nineteen Jews were airlifted out of war-torn Yemen to Israel, leaving approximately fifty Jews in the country. The new immigrants brought a 500-600 year-old Torah scroll with them, a tangible reminder that the ancient and rich Jewish culture that was created in Yemen is beginning a new chapter in the reborn Jewish state.
Members of the Basij, a militia controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, hold aloft pictures of Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamenei, Hizballah flags, and anti-Jewish posters, which included threats to destroy the shrine, Esther and Mordechai, Hamadan, Iran, 2011 (Photo courtesy of Asr-e Iran)
Just off Imam Khomieni square in Hamadan, Iran, is a pilgrimage site venerated by many Iranians as the burial shrine of biblical luminaries Esther and Mordechai. These heroes of the holiday of Purim—who according to tradition saved the Jews of the Persian Empire from genocide—are memorialized in a remarkable site that was renovated in the 1970s. Little known outside of Iran, secrecy, indeed a double secret, shrouds the shrine.
Click here to watch a special installment of Diarna’s Insights, a video series spotlighting interesting Jewish historical sites across the Middle East and North Africa. This video features an interview with the site’s architect (Yassi Gabbay), a tour of a 3-D reconstruction, post-renovation photos smuggled out of Iran, as well as recently discovered archival photographs and drawings.
Ayelet Tsabari (Photo courtesy of Elsin Davidi/TLV1)
What do you call an Israeli literary movement that aims for the masses and makes room for Mizrahi voices? Ars Poetica, of course. Except that in playing “on the word ‘Ars’─ Arabic for ‘pimp,’ and a derogatory name for Mizrahi men in Israel─” the young poets behind the movement are redefining the boundaries of Israeli literature and culture. According to Ayelet Tsabari: “It’s both the best party in town and the most significant cultural phenomenon in Israel today.”
Rabbi Daniel Bouskila, Director of the Sephardi Educational Center and contributor toSephardi Ideas Monthly and The Sephardi Report, wonders why Sephardi congregations aren’t living up to their spiritual potential: “The Sephardic cantorial traditions (known as Maqqamim) offer some of the most beautiful, inspirational and uplifting tunes for the prayers and Torah readings… But… a [large] number of Sephardic synagogues are dragging their feet, struggling to maintain their congregants’ interest.”
New World Haggadah: A Passover Story for a Diverse America
Sunday, March 27 at 2:30PM Center for Jewish History 15 West 16th Street, New York City
Each generation looks at Passover with fresh eyes. Ilan Stavans, one of today's foremost interpreters of Jewish and Latino cultures, has edited a new Haggadah that fits the needs of our age. It reflects the journey of Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 to the new World and looks at how the narrative of the exile from Egypt has been embraced in Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, and among Latinos and Jews in the United States from the 19th century through the Civil Rights Era and on to our time. Join us at this book launch to celebrate a Passover story that befits our cosmopolitan city and country.
Portugal, The Last Hope: Sousa Mendes’ Visas for Freedom
Thursday, April 7 at 6:00PM Center for Jewish History 15 West 16th Street, New York City
Portugal was the “last hope” for those trying to escape Nazi oppression. Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese Consul-General in Bordeaux, France, courageously rescued thousands of refugees, many of them Jews, in the spring of 1940 by issuing visas contrary to the strict orders of his government.
A new exhibition in the American Sephardi Federation's Leon Levy Gallery, “Portugal, The Last Hope,” commemorates the 50th anniversary of Aristides de Sousa Mendes being posthumously named Righteous Among Nations by Yad Vahsem.
Join the American Sephardi Federation, Portuguese Consulate of New York, the Sousa Mendes Foundation, and the Municipality of Almeida, Portugal, for a reception on April 7th inaugurating the exhibit, which will run through Friday, September 9, 2016.
Co-sponsors include The Aristides Sousa Mendes Virtual Museum, American Jewish Historical Society, Centro de Portugal Office of Tourism, Leo Baeck Institute, Luso-Americain Foundation, and International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation.
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).