In Memory of the 11 Jews massacred at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue last Saturday (HY”D). See the ASF’s call for all Americans to come together and reaffirm our shared values here. We wish to express our heartfelt gratitude to the first responders for their bravery, our political, law enforcement, and communal leaders for their support, as well as our Muslim and Christian friends and partners who have condemned this atrocity and pledged to redouble collaborative efforts. Some of their remarkable messages can be seen here.
Essaouira’s 15th Andalusia Atlantic Festival, dedicated to celebrating the “glorious” history of Judeo-Arabic culture, opened on October 25th. The festival aspires, however, to be more than just a paean to the past: “[O]rganizers emphasized that the Essaouira Festival seeks to project itself in a future of peace between Jews and Arabs.” This year’s artists included the Israeli Piyyut Ensemble of the Ben Zvi Institute.
Legendary Moroccan singer Haja El Hamdaouia with André Azoulay, Senior Advisor to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, Founder of Festival des Andalousies Atlantiques and many other festivals in Essaouira, and the ASF’s 2017 Pomegranate Award Recipient for Lifetime Achievement (Photo courtesy of Hespress)
The Borochov Dynasty, featuring Itamar Borochov, recipient of the ASF’s 2018 Pomegranate Award for Musical Conservation, Creativity, and Coexistence, performs a Bukhari version of the classic piyyut, Dror Yikra (“He Declares Freedom”). Dror Yikra was written by the 10th century Babylonian-Jewish poet, Dunash ibn Labrat, the man traditionally credited with introducing Arabic poetics to the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula.
In 2018, excavations revealed the Barbados Mikveh built in the 1650s and which is still being replenished with fresh spring water (Photo courtesy of Nidhe Israel Museum)
Around 300 Sephardi refugees fleeing the Portuguese arrived in Barbados in the mid-17th century. In short order they built the Nidhe Israel Synagogue, one of the oldest synagogues in the Western Hemisphere. To this day, the Sephardi imprint in Barbados remains deep: “[N]early all the people of Iberian descent in Barbados were of Sephardic Jewish ancestry. Former Barbadian Prime Minister Errol Barrow (1920-1987), the nation’s father of independence, claimed that some of his ancestors were Jewish.”
Presenters: Dora Piperno, Celeste Pavoncello Piperno, Rav Umberto Piperno
Many of us remember well the years Rav Umberto Piperno spent in New York: his enthusiasm, wisdom and tireless efforts to present the specific traditions of Italian Jews from liturgy to food and beyond. In July he is back in Manhattan to present yet another intriguing project: the revival of the dying Italian tradition of the silk tallit, the prayer shawl. An enterprise rooted in the wisdom of the past, the passion of the present and the innovation of the future.
Alessandro Cassin: The tradition of the Italian tallitot involves not only a long tradition of craftsmanship, but also a cultural history, and mercantile exchange.
Rav Piperno: Absolutely. Today it gives an added dimension to the many stories that concern the Silk Road, the fascinating network of trade routes. It was central to cultural interaction between different parts of the world comprising both a terrestrial and the maritime routes, connecting Asia with the Middle East and southern Europe.
The effort to highlight and revive the Italian Jewish tradition of the silk tallit is spearheaded by two entrepreneurs, Dora and Sofia Piperno, with rabbinical guidance and assistance.
Nosotros 2.0, which opened as a one-night pop-up exhibition on 11 October, continues in part as an exhibition in our Leon Levy Gallery.
On view until April
Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th Street
New York City
The Philos Project and American Sephardi Federation cordially invite you to “Nosotros," an exhibition composed of pieces by Latino artists celebrating the shared history and culture of Jewish and Latino communities, and expressing hope for a more positive future. Latin American artistry is rich with Sephardi and Crypto-Jewish allusions and symbols.
The exhibit is titled “Nosotros,” the Spanish word for “us,” and all of the art represents the growing relationship between the Jewish and Hispanic communities in New York and around the world. The exhibit is one of the many things Jesse Rojo, The Philos Project's Hispanic Affairs Director, is doing to bridge the gap between Hispanics and the Middle East.
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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).