10 November 2017 In honor of Audrey Azoulay, France’s Minister of Culture (2016-2017), on her election to succeed Irina Bokova as UNESCO’s Director-General
During the recent Festival des Andalousies Atlantiques in Essaouira, Morocco, Rabbi Haim Louk performed with the Mohamed Larbi Temsamani Orchestra. This kind of cultural fusion is typical for the festival, which consciously presents Moroccan tolerance and pluralism as a model for Middle Eastern coexistence. “‘This festival is something totally unusual… There is such… ignorance… we need to send from this city a wake-up call,’” says Festival founder André Azoulay, the Senior Advisor to Morocco’s King Mohammad VI and recipient of ASF’s 2017 Pomegranate Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Kamal Hachkar receiving ASF’s 2015 Pomegranate Award for Film from international superstar and 2014 Pomegranate Award Honoree for Lifetime Achievement Enrico Macias, ASF President David Dangoor, and Executive Director Jason Guberman at the 18th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival, 12 March 2015 (Photo courtesy of HuffPost Maroc)
Moroccan filmmaker Kamal Hachkar talks about his award-winning documentary, Tinghir-Jerusalem, and the relationship between Jews and Muslims in Morocco.
The old Jewish quarter of Marrakech, Morocco, is seeing an upsurge of tourism, including many Moroccan-Jews from Israel. The government has invested $20 million in restoring the quarter, with street names appearing in Hebrew. In the words of one Moroccan-Jew from the Israeli city of Ashdod, “‘Israelis who come here for the first time find the spirit of tolerance here almost unbelievable.’”
Paper submission deadline:
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Conference:
June 3-6, 2018
United Nations and Center for Jewish History
E’eleh BeTamar, an organization dedicated to sharing the rich cultural, spiritual, and scholarly history of the Jews of Yemen, is announcing a scholarly and cultural conference in conjunction with the American Sephardi Federation and the Institute of Semitic Studies, Princeton, NJ.
A limited number of scholarships and travel grants are available.
Please click here for information about suggested topics and how to apply for grants
Sunday, November 19
7:00 p.m.
Leo & Julia Forchheimer Auditorium
Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
The Algemeiner Editor’s Club and the American Sephardi Federation cordially invites you to join us for a discussion and exclusive book signing with Jere Van Dyk, former CBS journalist and captive of the Taliban. The conversation -- which will be moderated by Algemeiner Editor-in-Chief Dovid Efune -- is titled: From Daniel Pearl to Steven Sotloff: Jews and Political Kidnapping.
Van Dyk is one of the most celebrated journalists covering the Middle East, and his new book THE TRADE: My Journey Into the Labyrinth of Political Kidnapping adds to his list of already impressive credentials. His unheralded knowledge positions him as an authority to discuss breaking news in relation to Middle Eastern geopolitics as well as his own experience being held hostage by jihadists and the ever-evolving business of political kidnapping.
The discussion will be followed by a Q & A session and a book signing. VIP entry to the event includes access to an exclusive reception preceding the talk and a signed copy of the book.
Limited seats are available, reservation required. Please click here to purchase tickets
Sunday, December 3
8:00 p.m.
Leo & Julia Forchheimer Auditorium Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
The American Sephardi Federation proudly presents The Jew of Malta, by Christopher Marlowe, performed in a staged-reading version, adapted by and starring David Serero as Barabas and featuring Sephardi songs sung by the baritone opera star. Other cast members include: Ron Barba (Ferneze), Christopher Romero Wilson (Ithamore), Andreas Pliatsikas (Calymath), Nathan Louis Oesterle (Jew/ Merchant / Friar Jacomo), and Shawn Chang (Piano).
Please click here or call (800) 838-3006 to purchase tickets
Wednesday, December 13
7:30 p.m.
Kovno Room Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
Please join us to celebrate the new publication; Myopia: A Memoir.
Phyllis Skoy’s first novel, What Survives, takes place in Turkey. Mark Aronson is an American Jew who is a professor of art history in Istanbul. He meets the protagonist of the novel, Adalet, and a relationship grows between them. Adalet is a young Turkish Muslim. Mark's father’s side of the family is Sephardic which is why Mark is so at home in Turkey. He is raised in the Sephardic culture even though he grows up in New York City and his mother is Ashkenazi. At this time, Istanbul is a flourishing international city with inhabitants from all over the world.
What Survives is one of a three-part series. This book takes place in the recent present. The book Ms. Skoy is currently writing focuses on the coming of the Republic of Turkey and the character of Fatma, from the first book. In the third novel, Ms. Skoy hopes to write about the terrible events in Turkey and the Erdogan government through the same characters as appear in her first novel.
In her recently published memoir, Myopia, we learn about the life of the novelist.
PHYLLIS M. SKOY lives with her husband and Australian cattle dog in Placitas, New Mexico where she settled after living on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for many years. She currently maintains a small private practice in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy in Albuquerque.
Reservations required
Please click here to learn more and reserve tickets
Sunday, January 28, 2018
2:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Leo & Julia Forchheimer Auditorium and
The Paul S. and Sylvia Steinberg Great Hall Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
Join the American Sephardi Federation for a festival of stories and songs celebrating Ladino, the remarkable language also known as Judeo-Spanish.
Dr. Jane Mushabac will perform excerpts from her highly acclaimed 2016 novel, rich with Ladino expressions: His Hundred Years, A Tale. Also hear wonderful singer/accordionist Jane Carver; renowned Sephardic thought leaders, Rabbi Marc Angel and Rabbi Nissim Elnecavé; and a musical finale by the illustrious Trio Sefardi, with Howard Bass, Tina Chancey, and Susan Gaeta, who has toured with the legendary Flory Jagoda.
In 2013 Yitzhak Navon, Israel’s 5th President and Director of the National Authority for Ladino, endorsed the idea of International Ladino Day. Since then, celebrations have been held in Jerusalem, Seattle, Istanbul, Madrid, Dallas, and Forest Hills. This will be the first festival in Manhattan!
Ladino is a bridge between cultures—it’s a Spanish language that includes words in Hebrew, Turkish, Arabic, and more. It was the mother tongue of Jews in the Ottoman Empire for 500 years. In the early 20th century, about half a million people spoke Ladino. Now there are 50,000-100,000 speakers. The international resurgence of interest in Ladino and its culture is seen in distinguished university programs, publications, and events of many kinds.
Co-presented by The American Jewish Historical Society and American Sephardi Federation
Light refreshments will be served.
Please click here or call (800) 838-3006 to purchase tickets
Through December 2017
in ASF’s Leon Levy Gallery Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
The Philos Project and American Sephardi Federation cordially invite you to “Nosotros," an art exhibit featuring the work of two renowned Latino artists, Angel Urrely (Cuba) and Carlos Ayala (Puerto Rico)--as a symbolic recognition and “step forward” to improving Jewish-Latino relations. We thank the Dominican artist, Juan Bravo, for exhibiting his pieces for the exhibit’s Opening Night. Each piece reflects the shared roots of Jewish and Latino communities and expresses hope for a more positive future from the perspective of each respective artist.
Each artist has displayed their works in hundreds of exhibits in both the US and Latin America, having many of them included in some of the most coveted collections in the world. We are very excited to bring them and their works to celebrate the importance of uniting us (or Nosotros), the Jewish and Latino communities, and having this art displayed in a very powerful way at the American Sephardi Federation at the Center for Jewish History. Artists:
Angel Urrely is to the point. This son of Cuba does not beat around the bush. At least not for what the brush comes to reveal—his theory is clear and sharp. Each frame creates a specific, assertive and brutal connection. The reading of his work is—from the perspective of the viewer—very simple, to the point that if you assume an interpretation of what you are reading, believe me: Urrely is addressing exactly what you are thinking. Urrely has something to tell you and will let you know one way or another.
Carlos Ayala presents himself as the “Benjamin” of the tribes, the youngest of them all. This son of Puerto Rico presupposes that his youth may seem an obstacle to you, so he shows you his clutched fists from the introduction. This young man is fierce. Carlos shows us the deepest pains experienced by man, and brings them to an entertained, distracted and ill-bred public. He does not sit down to dream on the Caribbean coast and wait for boats loaded with promises. He does not have the time for it, but rather wants to remind you that even at the best moments pain is present. And at any moment it can befall us.
We look forward to having you join us!
Please click here for additional information and viewing hours
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The American Sephardi Federation is located at the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th Street, New York, New York, 10011).
