Yom Tov Gindi remembers the terror of life in Syria before escaping to Israel: “There were tens of Mukhabarat officers watching the 2,000 Jews of Aleppo; each was responsible for a different street. Each of them recognized all the Jews on his beat….” If a Jew managed to leave the country, the rest of the family would suffer: “I remember my friend’s father coming back on a Thursday from the Mukhabarat offices after an investigation that had gone on for several days.... That Shabbat, he died of his wounds.” As for arriving in Israel: “The most touching moment in the new land was seeing a soldier enter a synagogue for prayers.... Then I knew that I was finally in a Jewish land.”
Yom Tov Gindi walks with a nephew in Syria
(Photo courtesy of Chabad)
Sir Sassoon Heskel, Iraq’s first Minister of Finance and “Father of the Parliament”
(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
In the 12 August 2016 edition of Sephardi World Weekly, we reported that Sassoon Heskel’s home, the “House of Dreams” in Baghdad, was destroyed. Now, Diarna researchers in and outside of Iraq have confirmed that a house once belonging to Sassoon Heskel was indeed destroyed, but his “House of Dreams” still stands.
ASF is partnered with Diarna on the “race against time” to document endangered Sephardi synagogues, schools, shrines, and other structures, as well as to record the memories of the last primary source generation. Please contact Diarna immediately if you or someone you know can contribute eyewitness testimony, photographs, videos, or other relevant information on these site or others.
Israeli-Indian singer Liora Isaac is synthesizing a new sound, combining the classical vocal styles and instrumentation of India with piyyutim and the contemporary beats of Israel. Watch her latest video, Ma’alah, Ma’alah, which also features Bollywood-style dancing.
Where is Jewish literature still being written in Persian? In Los Angeles, of course, where 600 members of the Persian Jewish community recently came together to celebrate the publication of Parviz Nazarian’s Persian-language memoirs. A leading businessman who grew up in poverty in Iran and was injured in Israel’s War of Independence, Nazarian went on to become one of the founders of telecommunications giant Qualcomm as well as a generous philanthropist. In the words of Nazarian’s daughter, Dora, “What stands out for me is what was most important to him throughout his life – love, forgiveness and generosity.”
Mayor Yiannis Boutaris wore a Holocaust-era Jewish Star at his inauguration to protest Golden Dawn, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2014 (Photo courtesy of The Pappas Post)
Yiannis Boutaris, the mayor of Thessaloniki (Salonica), is leading the fight against anti-Semitism in Greece. For his inauguration, the non-Jewish mayor displayed his opposition to Golden Dawn, Greece’s crudely nationalist, anti-Semitic party, by wearing a yellow patch. Now he wants to open a museum dedicated to Jewish life that once thrived in his city: “No one knows what Thessaloniki could have been if it hadn’t lost 95 percent of its Jewish community.”
August 28th at 7:00 p.m. Congregation Mikveh Israel 44 North 4th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Congregation Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia and the American Sephardi Federation are pleased to present a film showcasing the unheraldedheroism of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese Consul-General at Bordeaux, France, who courageously rescued thousands of refugees, many of them Jews, in the spring of 1940 by issuing visas contrary to the strict orders of his government.
Suggested Donation: $10.00
Please RSVP by calling (215) 922-5446 A discounted parking rate of $7.35 is available at the Wyndham Hotel from 6:00 to 9:00 PM
April 7th through September 9th Center for Jewish History 15 West 16th Street
New York City
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's Sephardi House is located at the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th St., New York, New York, 10011).