07 April 2017 The American Sephardi Federation thanks our friend, Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, for fulfilling his promise to us in September to honor Aristides de Sousa Mendes with the Grand Cross of the Order of Liberty
Mr. André Azoulay, Counsellor to King Mohammed VI of Morocco, was awarded the American Sephardi Federation’s Pomegranate Award for Lifetime on March 30th, Opening Night of ASF’s 20th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival. Mr. Azoulay celebrated the award by declaring: “What country other than Morocco could have gathered in the heart of New York a full house to celebrate the exceptional closeness between Islam and Judaism, of which my country is the most emblematic flag bearer in the Mediterranean.”
Moroccan Royal Counsellor André Azoulay accepting ASF’s Pomegranate Award for Lifetime Achievement, Opening Night of the 20th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival, Center for Jewish History, 30 March 2017
(Photo courtesy of Chrystie Sherman)
Book cover: Narratives from the Sephardic Atlantic: Blood and Faith by Ronnie Perelis
Dr. Ronnie Perelis is the Isaac Abraham and Jelena (Rachel) Alcalay Professor of Sephardic Studies at Yeshiva University. His recently published book, Narratives from the Sephardic Atlantic: Blood and Faith, traces the travels and spiritual transformations of three Crypto-Jews in 16th and 17th century Spanish- and Portuguese-controlled lands and, in the process, illustrates a theme that Perelis emphasizes to his students: “When you’re talking about the history of North American Judaism, those first Jews aren’t based in Philadelphia or South Carolina—they’re in the Caribbean, and they’re speaking Spanish and Portuguese.”
Get ready for Passover with the legendary Moroccan-Israeli vocalist and payytan Jo Amar, as he sings the Pesach Haggadah according to the sweetly melodious and joyful Moroccan tradition (occasionally narrated, by Amar, in French).
The Babylonian-Jewish dialect of Arabic started disappearing when the Jews began to leave Iraq en masse in the middle of the 20th century. Today, the language is being kept alive in the Israeli town of Or Yehuda by Oded Amit, 70, who, among other things, teaches 3rd-generation Iraqi Jews to understand the meaning of grandma’s heart-felt curses: “If you compliment someone, it’s like you attracted the evil eye to him. When you curse him, you drive away the evil eye.”
Sephardic Communities in New York, Miami, and Seattle, are joining together to create a Sephardic Birthright Israel Trip this Summer from August 7th to August 17th! If you've never been on Birthright before and want to go to Israel for free, this is your chance! For 10 days, you'll be able to travel around the country with amazing people with Sephardic, Greek, and Turkish backgrounds, all while exploring everything Israel has to offer. You'll be able to ride camels in the desert, raft down the Jordan River, explore the Old City in Jerusalem, and a whole lot more.
The trip is totally free and anyone between the ages of 18 and 26 who hasn't been on a Birthright Israel trip before is eligible. What's more, we are working on creating an extended portion of the Trip to Greece! Even if you've been to Israel before on a non-birthright trip you may still be eligible.
Register HERE today and be sure to select the "Sephardic Experience" Trip. Registration takes less than 10 minutes and no final commitment is necessary. If you have any question, be sure to email us at info@sephardicbrotherhood.com and be sure to check out some of the amazing pictures from last year's trip and our promo video made by one of our very own trip participants!
Note: While not an ASF program, ASF is proud of the members of our Young Leadership Board who are involved in organizing this trip
When Baghdadi Jews Baruch and Ellen Bekhor (née Cohen) succumbed to the camera’s gaze for their denaturalization pictures in 1951, they became stateless. Ellen was in her eighth month of pregnancy. Permitted to bring no more than a few kilos of belongings out of Iraq, Ellen carried their wedding picture and ketubah in her pocketbook. Laissez-Passer, Royaume D’Irak by Leslie Starobin (2016)
Through April 2017
in ASF’s Myron Habib Memorial Display
Center for Jewish History 15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
The American Sephardi Federation proudly presents excerpts from The Last Address, a multi-year, photo-montage series and oral history and book project by award-winning artist Leslie Starobin that explores the enduring texture of memory and culture in the lives of Greater Sephardic families from dispersed Jewish communities in Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Iran, and Lebanon.
Leslie Starobin is a Boston-area photographer and montage artist. Her work is in the permanent collections of many academic (Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University) and public (Jewish Museum, MoMA) museums. Starobin is the recipient of numerous grants, including from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England Foundation of the Arts/Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. Most recently, she received two Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Grants for this series, The Last Address.
Her exhibition in ASF’s Myron Habib Memorial Display is sponsored in part by CELTSS: The Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching, Scholarship and Service at Framingham State University in Massachusetts, where Starobin is a Professor of Communication Arts.
Please click here for additional information and viewing hours
Through June 2017 Center for Jewish History 15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
The American Sephardi Federation, Portuguese Consulate of New York, the Sousa Mendes Foundation, and the Municipality of Almeida, Portugal proudly present an exhibition in the Leon Levy Gallery honoring Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the courageous and creative Portuguese diplomat who saved Salvador Dali, the authors of Curious George, and thousands of other Holocaust refugees.
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 St., New York, New York, 10011).