27 October 2017 The American Sephardi Federation joins our partner Association Mimouna in mourning the loss of the rabbi to Casablanca’s Jewish community, Moshe Ohayon, A"H, who faithfully served the Moroccan Jewish community for decades.
Why do some families in the deep south of the Italian peninsula have a tradition of blowing a “shofar-like instrument” on Dec. 31st? Because, for b’nei anusim (the descendants of Jews forcibly converted to Christianity), “Fear is a minestra, a soup that cooks slowly. Stories of persecution, arrests and public burnings percolate through these mountains — so much so that if one were to ask about a family’s Jewish heritage, the downcast eyes and blank expressions say it all.”
Riti e Constumi degli Ebrei: Confutatii (1752) by Paolo (né Moses) Sebastiano (1671-1738). As a priest and professor of Hebrew and Holy Scriptures at the University of Florence, he published works that popularized claims of deicide, usury, blood libel, and endorsed forced conversations for the “unrepentant.”
(Part of Sephardic Journeys, a Center for Jewish History/David Berg Rare Book Room with American Sephardi Federation exhibit, which is now part of Google’s Cultural Institute)
Ashley Perry, Director General of the Knesset Caucus for the Reconnection with the Descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Communities
(Photo courtesy of nameyourroots.com)
In this fascinating, nine-minute presentation from 2015, Ashley Perry, head of Reconectar, an organization that reconnects descendants of crypto-Jews with the Jewish People, explains the importance of bringing the story of crypto-Jews to “the normative Jewish community and… the Jewish leadership,” as well as reaching out to the descendants of crypto-Jews themselves.
The autobiographical manuscripts of the converso Luis de Carvajal the Younger, circa 1595, who, like other members of his family, was tortured and burned at the stake by the Inquisition (Photo courtesy of the Government of Mexico/The Times of Israel)
An estimated 100 million people around the globe descend from crypto-Jews. According to a prominent activist, connecting the descendants of crypto-Jews to their Jewish identity is “the challenge of the Jewish people in the 21st century… there is nothing else that even comes close to the potential of tens of millions of people who want to reconnect to the Jewish people.”
In the spirit of our recent statement “affirm[ing] the freedom of thought and expression as well as the value of open and diverse dialogue that BDS bigots and bullies seek to shut down,” The American Sephardi Federation invites Sephardi World Weekly readers to attend this event by our Partner, the American Jewish Historical Society, and join the conversation with controversial Israeli artist Meir (Miro) Gal on a topic of great interest to our constituency.
Indeed, ASF Pomegranate Award Recipient at the 18th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival, contributor to The Sephardi Report, and the first Sephardi Israel Prize Laureate, Moroccan/Algerian-Israeli poet Erez Bitton, was honored by ASF for his artistic excellence and life-long struggle to give voice to the Sephardi-Israeli experience in the face of marginalization, discrimination, and ignorance.
At this time, as the radical recommendations to Israel’s Education Ministry by Bitton’s eponymous committee are beginning to change the conversation and curriculum in Israeli schools, we look forward to a spirited discussion.
9 Out of 400 at 20: Meir Gal and Ortal Ben Dayan in Conversation American Jewish Historical Society Wednesday, November 1 7:00 p.m.
Kovno Room Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
“Join Meir (Miro) Gal and Ortal Ben Dayan to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Meir Gal’s widely acclaimed ‘9 Out of 400: the West and the Rest.’ Gal, an NYC based artist and SVA faculty, has created the groundbreaking artwork in 1997, resolutely helping a renewed struggle to radically change the politics of education in the Israeli school system. Gal’s work inspired many Mizrahi artists and activists to continue the work of previous generations in the long struggle to change the politics of historiography, memory, and self-representation. In 1997, in a text that accompanies the artwork, Gal wrote that ‘The book shown in the photograph is the official textbook of the history of the Jewish people in recent generations that was used by high school students (including myself) in the 1970’s. The nine pages I’m holding are the only pages in the book that discuss non-European Jewish history’. Thirteen years later, Tel Aviv based Ortal Ben Dayan created the memorable ‘6 Out of 511 Mizrahi Artists according to Zalmona: a Tribute to Meir Gal’. This action is only one chapter in Ben Dayan's ongoing critical work as a public intellectual, artist, and designer. Gal and Ben Dayan will discuss their histories, issues concerning the labeling of political art, is there indeed a genre of ‘Mizrahi art’, and identities in shifting transatlantic and diasporic contexts.”
November 5-7 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.”
Tuesday, November 7
7:30 p.m.
Leo & Julia Forchheimer Auditorium
Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
At a time when the freedom of the Kurdish people is imperiled, the American Sephardi Federation is hosting a two-part program.
First, researchers from the Diarna Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life will present a virtual guided tour of Jewish historical sites in Iraqi-Kurdistan, ranging from synagogues and communal caves to the purported shrines of Biblical prophets and the tomb of the first woman rabbi.
Afterward, ASF Board Member Jamil Ezra, a native of Baghdad, will share his inspiring story of fleeing 1970s Baathist Iraq with the help of the Kurdish fighters known as Peshmurga, who included a young Masoud Barzani. Now President of the Kurdish Regional Government, Barzani personally drove Jamil to freedom.
The Diarna virtual guided journey to Jewish-Iraqi Kurdistan is the product of nine years of research and multiple research expeditions.
Just before the rise of ISIS, a team of researchers from Diarna journeyed to Iraqi-Kurdistan to document the last remnants of Jewish life, more than fifty years after the community disbanded. Warmly greeted by Kurds who fondly remembered their Jewish neighbors and Peshmurga who invited them for tea at a checkpoint, the Diarna researchers discovered hidden Jewish history in caves and behind crumbling walls. Learn about fascinating sites in Amediye, Akre, al-Qoosh, Betanur, Kirkuk, and elsewhere.
More recently, as detailed in Newsweek’s March 3, 2017 cover story, a Diarna researcher survived an ISIS chemical attack at Sinjar as work continues to discover and document the area's rich Jewish history.
Reservation required. Please click here to reserve tickets
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, 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).
