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29 September 2017
In Memory of J.B.G., Z”L, whose meaningful, well-lived life serves as a reminder to always be grateful and zealously protect sparks of Sweetness and Light, which are, alas, too rare and fleeting.
David Dangoor: Britain has been good to us and we give back” 
By Daniel Sugarman, The Jewish Chronicle

In 1963, Naim Dangoor chose to start over from scratch in England instead of returning to his wealth in the increasingly oppressive Baathist State of Iraq, where he had co-founded Coca Cola’s franchise. Dangoor went on to build a business empire in his new land, and, “In 2015, at the age of 101, became the second oldest person to receive a knighthood.” Naim’s son, David, recently opened the Sir Naim Dangoor Centre for UK-Israel Relations at Jerusalem: “I’m conscious of the fact that it was here [in the UK] where a lot of BDS activities started… we’re well placed to try and do our little bit towards remedying that, and also to help Britain strengthen its current friendships outside the EU.”

Sir Naim and Rene Dangoor, A”H, Buckingham Palace, London, United Kingdom, 12 July 2006  
(Photo courtesy of The Scribe)
 
Distinguished ASF Board Member and Yemeni-Ethiopian Scholar Professor Ephraim Isaac and ASF Executive Director Jason Guberman present Captain Elgen M. Long with ASF’s Maimonides Friendship Award, StandWithUS-ASF “Let Our People Go!,” Museum of Jewish Heritage, 12 September 2017 
(Photo courtesy of Jewish Broadcasting Service)  
Final crewman from Operation Magic Carpet recounts heroic life-saving mission” 
By Cathryn J. Price, The Times of Israel

Retired Captain Elgen M. Long, 91, “is the last surviving Alaska Airlines crewmember who participated in… Operation Magic Carpet, the airlift that brought 50,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel between 1948 and 1950.” In recognition of Long’s role in that epic operation, the American Sephardi Federation recently presented him with its Maimonides Friendship Award at a program co-sponsored with StandWithUS and attended by Israel’s Minister of Science, Technology, and Space, Ofir Akunis. Long vividly remembers what it was like to land in Israel, “They [Yemeni Jewish refugees] climbed down the ladders and were kissing the ground. They knew they had participated in something historic, that perhaps they were fulfilling a prophecy.”
Feature of the Week: Andalusian Moroccan Kol Nidrei

 

Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel

Rabbi Eliahou Elbaz from Meknes, Morocco, sings a stirring Andalusian rendition of Kol Nidrei (lit., “All Vows”), the prayer that opens Yom Kippur services.
Shmuel Moreh, guardian of Iraq’s Jewish memory, dies” 
By Lyn Julius, Jewish News (The Times of Israel)

Born in Baghdad in 1932, Professor Shmuel Moreh made Aliyah to Israel in 1951 and went on to a distinguished career as a scholar of Arabic literature, winning the Israel Prize for Middle Eastern Studies in 1999. But Moreh wasn’t your typical academic; he also knew how to box. That skill came in handy during the Farhud, when Moreh faced off against Faisal al-Gaylani, the son of Iraq’s pro-Nazi Prime Minister: “When the boy threatened to knock his eye out with a stick, Shmuel punched Faisal and the boy went running to their Christian headmistress.” Moreh passed away on 22 September, the second day of Rosh HaShanah.

Professor Shmuel Moreh, A”H
(Photo courtesy of Ksenia Svetlova/The Jerusalem Post, 2010)
 
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Upcoming Events:

The American Sephardi Federation and New York Jewish Travel Guide proudly present: 

Jewish Heritage of Malta
An evening exploring a beautiful island's connection to Jewish history and culture


Monday, October 23
6:00 - 8:30 p.m.

Leo & Julia Forchheimer Auditorium and
Paul S. & Sylvia Steinberg Great Hall
Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
 
 
 
Evidence of Jewish history dates back to Roman times (4-5 Century) as seen at the St. Paul’s Catacomb site at Rabat, Malta, where several Jewish catacombs (pictured above) can be found alongside Christian burials.  

The contemporary Maltese Jewish community is composed of immigrants from Gibraltar, England, North Africa, Portugal, and Turkey, arriving over the course of French and British rule starting in 1798.  During the early 20th century, the islands Jews did not have a rabbi of their own and rabbis would often be flown in from Sicily to perform ceremonies.  During World War II, Malta was the only European country not requiring visas for Jews fleeing German rule. Numerous Maltese Jews, moreover, fought Germany in the British Army during the war. Today, a small but active community of under 200 Jews live on Malta with their own synagogue and rabbis.

Featuring guest speaker Dr. John Baldacchino (Director, University of Wisconsin-Madison Arts Institute), the program will present multimedia presentations showing Jewish heritage sites in Malta today.

 
Please click here to reserve tickets

Presented in Partnership with:
The Malta Tourism Authority
Exclusively Malta Luxury Travel, Ltd.
Corinthia Palace Hotel & Spa


   

Jewish Heritage of the Deccan Book Talk with 
Dr. George Michell, Editor 
and 
Kenneth X. Robbins, Author


Thursday, 26 October
6:30 P.M.

Oded Halahmy Gallery at ASF
Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
 
 
 
Please join us to celebrate the Deccan Heritage Foundation's new publication; Jewish Heritage of the Deccan; Mumbai, The Northern Konan, Pune.
 

Co-authored by Kenneth X. Robbins and Pushkar Sohoni, this guidebook is illustrated with splendid, newly commissioned photographs by Surendra Kumar. It is the first such publication to describe the synagogues, cemeteries, libraries, schools and research centers of the Bene Israel community and the more recent émigré Baghdadi Jews in the state of Maharashtra, India. Monuments and sites of both communities are preserved in Mumbai (Bombay) and Pune (Poona), as well as in the smaller towns in the northern Konkan region. 

Descriptions are arranged according to itineraries to encourage citizens of Mumbai and Pune, as well as visitors to these cities and the towns of the Konkan, to discover this often overlooked aspect of local history. Intended as a handy reference to the Jewish presence in Maharashtra, the volume should contribute to a better appreciation of this significant aspect of Deccan history, and hopefully to the preservation of Jewish sites and monuments for future generations.
 
DR. GEORGE MICHELL trained as an architect and studied Indian archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies at University of London. He has conducted research projects at many historical sites in India, including Hampi Vijayanagara. Among his many publications are Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates, Mughal Architecture & Gardens, Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad, Late Temple Architecture of India, and Mansions of Chettinad. He is based in London, and is a founding trustee of the Deccan Heritage Foundation in the UK.
 
KENNETH X. ROBBINS is a psychiatrist based in Washington D.C., as well as a collector of South Asian art, and historian of expatriate communities in India. He is co-editor of African Elites in India: Habshi Amarat (Ahmedabad, 2006) and Western Jews in India (New Delhi, 2013), and curator of an exhibition on Jews in India held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi, in 2017. He is also interested in Maharajas, Nawabs and Indian Princely States. 
 
ASF proudly worked with Dr. Robbins to create the traveling exhibit, “Baghdadis & the Bene Israel in Bollywood & Beyond,” which was covered by NBC News, Desi Talk (the NY Metro print edition of The New Times India), The Jewish Week, and The Jerusalem Report. The exhibit was inaugurated with a talk by India’s Consul General at New York.  


Please click here to reserve tickets

27th Conference of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies
“Crypto-Judaism in the Americas”


5-7 November 
Philadelphia, PA 
 
 
Academics, genealogists, and the interested public are invited to the 27th conference of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies, an international academic research and cultural association devoted to the history of the descendants of Jews who were persecuted in Spain and Portugal from the 15th-18th centuries.

This year’s theme, “Crypto-Judaism in the Americas,” explores crypto-Judaism from many disciplines (e.g., anthropology, history, sociology, philosophy, literature, music, art history, etc.) and from many geographic locations or time periods, especially the issue of crypto-Jewish identity, both historic and contemporary.

Keynote speaker Professor Ronnie Perelis, PhD,  of Yeshiva University, scholar of medieval and early modern Jewish history, professor of Sephardic Studies at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies of Yeshiva University, and author of Narratives from the Sephardic Atlantic: Blood and Faith, will discuss the Inquisition, crypto-Judaism, and Sephardic culture. We are further proud to present noted academic, author and specialist in Spanish language, literature and Hispanic-Judaic studies, Dr. David Gitlitz, who will present “The First Practicing Crypto-Jewish Family in Mexico.”
 

Please click here for additional information

Nosotros: Strengthening Bonds Between Jewish and Latino Communities

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

Echoes of Jewish Morocco: A Photographic Exhibit by Joshua Shamsi/Diarna Geo-Museum

Through 20 October
in ASF’s Myron Habib, A”H Memorial Display
Selma L. Batkin Mezzanine

Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011


Please click here for additional information and viewing hours

 and your tax-deductible contribution will help ASF preserve and promote the Greater Sephardi history, traditions, and culture as an integral part of the Jewish experience! 

Contact us by email or phone (917) 606-8266 to learn about giving opportunities in honor, or memory of loved ones

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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).

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