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24 April 2015
In Honor of Susan and Jacob Shakarchy
Singapore, a tiny heaven for Jews” 
By Ayelet Mamo Shay, Ynet

Today, some 1,500 Jews, mostly observant and prosperous, call Singapore home. The community boasts a kosher supermarket and restaurant, two synagogues, and a mikveh. “Singapore’s residents are still grateful to Israel” for help after independence was achieved in 1965, and “Israelis are very popular in the country.”



 

Albert Einstein visited the Jewish community at Singapore in 1922 to raise funds for the building of Hebrew University. Einstein is seated to the left of Sir Menasseh Meyer, an Iraqi-Jewish entrepreneur and philanthropist (Photo courtesy of On the Page Magazine)
 

Lila Yomtoob was five years old in the first year of the Iranian hostage crisis (Photo courtesy of America 1979)
Q&A: Iranian Jewish Filmmaker Lila Yomtoob on ‘America 1979’ film
By Karmel Melamed, Jewish Journal

Lila Yomtoob is a New York based, Iranian-Jewish filmmaker who won an Emmy Award in 2006. Her latest film, “America 1979,” examines the impact of that year’s hostage crisis on Iranian immigrants living in the United States: “At a certain point, I realized that the crisis had affected me, even as a young child. It turns out that I’m not the only one who feels this way, it’s just that no one talks about it.”
 
“Keresh oir una konsejika?” (Would you like to hear a story): Djoha and the Bird
 

The legendary character Djoha is depicted here astride his donkey in Ankara, Turkey (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia by Nevit Dilman)

One day Djoha was invited by his friend, Memet, to have dinner at his house after work. Memet’s wife prepared such a delicious meal of liver and onions that Djoha asked her for the recipe so his wife could replicate the feast. Mrs. Memet gave it to him with the greatest of pleasure.
 
    On the way home Djoha stopped at the butcher to buy a kilo of liver, and then went to the market for rice and onions. With the recipe safely in his pocket, and the package containing the liver, rice, and onions in hand, he continued home. Suddenly, a very large bird grabbed the package of food and flew away. 

    Djoha, taken by surprise, began laughing and yelled after the bird: “It won’t do you any good. I have the recipe in my pocket!”


Adapted from Hank Halio’s Ladino Reveries: Tales of the Sephardic Experience in America
Last Azorean synagogue is saved from ruin, and with it a piece of Portuguese history
By Michael Holtzman, The Herald News

Ponta Delgada, Portugal, is the sister city of Fall River, Massachusetts. A little over thirty years ago, a Fall River delegation was surprised to learn about a dilapidated synagogue, Shaar HaShamayim, located in Ponta Delgada. The two towns then partnered to renovate the structure, while the synagogue’s fifty boxes of documents and parchments were handed over to two American scholars for evaluation.  

Ponta Delgada is the site of the oldest post-Inquisition synagogue (1836) in Portugal (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia by Angrense).
 
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On view through June 2015 in The David Berg Rare Book Room
Sephardic Journeys
A new exhibition at the Center for Jewish History 
15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 

The Sephardic Diaspora extends from Shiraz and São Paulo to Salonika, Seattle, and Sheepshead Bay. What unites the beautiful, complex, and diverse mosaic culture of Sephardim is a history of journeys—sometimes by choice, too frequently by force—that have driven Sephardi travelers and traders, publishers and philosophers, scientists and singers to transcend borders and barriers as they pioneered today’s globalized world.

The rare books and artifacts in this exhibit, Sephardic Journeys, reflect a rich tradition of scholarship and culture shaped by migrations, and they invite, in turn, reflection upon the physical, emotional and spiritual journeys of Jewish history.


Merchant of Venice By William Shakespeare 


June 10th, 14th, 22nd, and 24th
at the Center for Jewish History 
15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 
 

The American Sephardi Federation invites you to the world première of David Serero’s Merchant of Venice. The French-Moroccan baritone opera singer directs and stars (as Shylock) in his own Sephardi adaptation of Shakespeare's play about love, commerce, and bigotry.  Featuring a diverse cast and Sephardi music, there will be a preview matinee on June 10th, ahead of opening night on June 14th.  

Please click here to buy tickets
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 (212-548-4486) to sponsor future issues of the Sephardi World Weekly in honor or memory of loved ones. 
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The American Sephardi Federation's Sephardi House is located at the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th St., New York, NY., 10011).

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