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20 FEBRUARY 2015                                                 
In Honor of Anwar Suliman, for his years of service on ASF’s Board of Directors
The Last of the Arab Jews” 
By Lucette Lagnado, Wall Street Journal

The Jewish community of Djerba, Tunisia, is growing in size, an accomplishment community members ascribe to the protection of the government, and God. But the community’s deeply-rooted traditionalism is now facing a new challenge: a push from within for women’s education.

 

El Ghriba Synagogue, Djerba, Tunisia (Photo courtesy of Diarna: Geo-Museum

King Frederick IV (depicted here by Hyacinthe Rigaud) “would not go to any of the Roman Catholic Churches, but went to the [Sephardi] Synagogue” at Livorno, in 1709, according to Edward Wright’s Some observations made in travelling: through France, Italy, &c.
From medieval mintmasters to nuclear physicists: The history of Denmark’s Jews”  
By Elon Gilad, Haaretz

The roots of the Jewish community of Copenhagen, Denmark─terrorized last week by an Islamist gunmen─go back to the 17th century, “when King Christian IV appointed a Sephardic Jew from Hamburg named Samuel Yakhiya as mintmaster.” Later in the century, “Benjamin Mussafia, author of an important Talmudic dictionary, was appointed court physician and over the next century Sephardi Jews began to play an increasingly important role in the Danish economy and society.”
 
Special Announcment: ASF’s 18th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival 
 

Click here to watch the trailer for Opening Night's film, El Gusto
 
ASF’s Film Festival (12-19 March) Celebrates Sephardi Communities Around the World, Investigates Anti-Semitism in France and Argentina, includes Opening Night Performance by International Recording Star Enrico Macias. 

The complete list of selected films with dates, times, ticket, donor & sponsorship information can be found here

Contemporary voices steeped in history, tradition and current events will be showcased throughout this weeklong series of events.
Report: Islamists Seize Ezra’s Tomb in Iraq”  
By Staff, Israel Hayom

According to reports in al-Arabi and other Arabic online fora,  the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which previously obliterated the traditional Tomb of Jonah in northern Iraq, has now seized the purported Shrine of Ezra, and turned it into their headquarters south of Baghdad. 
 
Traditional Tomb of Ezra, al-ʻUzair, Iraq 

Shattered gravestone, Ma’alla Street Cemetery, Aden, Yemen (Photo courtesy of Ben Ragsdale/Diarna Geo-Museum)
 
Persecution Defines Life for Yemen’s Remaining Jews”  
By Rod Nordland, New York Times

What’s life like for Jews living in Yemen? A Western journalist accompanying a Yemenite Jew was accosted in the market by a local dealer. “What are you doing with that dirty Jew?” the dealer asked, “Why are you friendly with him?” When the local translator interjected, “He’s a human being, after all,” the dealer replied, “No, he’s not, God has damned him.”
 
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ASF is now on Facebook! “Like” our page to keep up-to-date on projects, programs, and publications, as well as to share your thoughts
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. 
 


Contact us by email or phone (212-294-8350) to sponsor future issues of the Sephardi World Weekly in honor or memory of loved ones. 
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