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17 May 2020

This edition of the Sephardi World Weekly is sponsored by Distinguished ASF Board Member Dr. Joe Halio in Memory of Rabbi Dr. Masliah Asher (Prosper) Murciano, A”H, “who passed away peacefully at home last week at the age of 96. He was the active leader of his congregation even after the quarantine stopped synagogue services. From home, sending his prayers to our community’s Yom HaShoah on-line service, and speaking on the phone to his last day, he continued to inspire several generations of Sephardim. His teachings will continue to guide us. En pas descansa.”
 
Click here to dedicate a future issue in honor or memory of a loved one. 
ASF’s Institute of Jewish Experience and Congregation Shearith Israel: New York’s Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue Present:
“The Global Nação: Two Weeks of Western Sephardi-themed Sessions”
1st Session is Today, 17 May, at 12PM EDT: Tour of the Chatham Square Cemetery with Sexton Zachary Edinger
Sign-up now!
“The First Great Jewish Philosopher (to the Jews)” 
By David Wolpe, Mosaic Magazine
 
Rabbi Saadya Gaon (882-942) was “the godfather of Judeo-Arabic culture, the first to translate the Torah into Arabic, [and] the first to write a Hebrew grammar as well as a Hebrew dictionary.” Born and raised in Egypt, educated in the Land of Israel, and ultimately a leader in the Babylonian academies, R’ Saadya rose to prominence through his polemical power. However, he earned a place among the greats of the tradition thanks to “his commentaries, his prayer book, and his outstanding Hebrew poetry,” as well as his role as a pioneering theologian, systematically arguing that, “the truths of reason were natural allies to the truths of revealed religion.”
A page of Rabbi Saadya Geon’s Commentary on the Bible
(Photo courtesy of the Friedberg Genizah Project)
Feature: In Memory of Rabbi Dr. Masliah Asher (Prosper) Murciano, A”H 


Rabbi Dr. Murciano, A”H, Sephardic Jewish Center of Forest Hills (Photo courtesy of the Sephardic Brotherhood of America) 

Rabbi Dr. Masliah Asher (Prosper) Murciano, A”H, was a Tangier-born communal leader and rabbinical scholar, who lived a remarkable life that included formal education at the Alliance Israelite Universelle, rabbinical studies in Morocco and then the United States at Yeshiva University and the Mirrer Yeshiva, and academic research at City College, NYU, and Columbia University. For three years he officiated at Mikveh Israel: Philadelphia’s Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, as Assistant Rabbi and Hazan. R' Murciano also served as Chaplain to the Sephardic Home for the Aged, Sephardic Brotherhood, NYC’s Jacobi Hospital, and for 67 years as Rabbi of the Sephardic Jewish Center of Forest Hills. He is survived by his wife and their three children, eleven grandchildren, and thirty-four great-grandchildren, in the US and Israel.

The Sephardi World Weekly proudly presents ASF Board Member Dr. Joe Halio’s sensitive and appreciative remembrance of Rabbi Dr. Murciano. Please click here to read the remembrance.
Bonus Feature: ASF’s Sephardi Playlist No 2 


ASF’s Sephardi Playlist #2

According to a late Medieval tradition, the great Talmudic sage and mystic, R’ Shimon Bar Yohai, died on the 33rd day of the period connecting Passover and Shavuot or, as it’s popularly known, Lag Ba’Omer. It’s believed that, on his deathbed, Bar Yohai revealed his esoteric mystical teaching to his students, an esoteric teaching that found expression in the classic text of Jewish mysticism, the Zohar. Since the 16th century, Lag Ba’Omer has been celebrated at Mount Meron, where Bar Yochai is believed to be buried, with music and ecstatic dancing around bonfires.  Lag Ba’Omer began on Monday night this past week, and usually the crowds at Meron reach into the hundreds of thousands. This year, however, the novel coronavirus put a damper on festivities. But we can still celebrate with songs celebrating the fire of Bar Yohai’s life and vision.
 
1.) Itzik Eshel offers a vivacious, beat-saturated rendition of the Sephardi-Yerushalmi version of R’ Shimon Lavi’s (1486–1585) popular piyyut, Bar Yohai.

2.) The great Iraqi payytan, Moshe Habusha, recreates the Sephardi-Yerushalmi synagogue experience, with the accompaniment of a children’s choir.

3.) The Israeli jazz musician, Daniel Zamir, performs a jazz-inflected, Hassidic interpretation of the Sephardi-Jerusalem melody.

4.) Mori Yehuda Jamliel performs an A Capella version of the traditional Yemenite melodic chant. of Lavi’s Bar Yohai.

5.) The contemporary Israeli ensemble, Hibat HaPiyyut, performs a pathos-heavy interpretation of Lavi’s Bar Yohai according to the Turkish-Sephardi tradition.

6.) “The Ya’ala Ensemble” creates music that’s heavy on Eastern instruments and deeply-rooted musical traditions but with a robust, contemporary Israeli spirit. Here’s their recently released and original composition in praise of Bar Yohai.

Hayat al-Fahad, a veteran Kuwaiti actress, portrays the Ramadan serial’s character Umm Haroun, who is based on real-life Jewish Bahraini “Mother to All” Umm Jaan
(Photo courtesy of Al Arabiya) 
 
“Jewish Characters Star in Saudi TV Show, Igniting an Arab Debate” 
By Ben Hubbard, The New York Times
 
Jews have constituted an integral part of the mosaic of Middle Eastern identities throughout history, but this basic fact was denied for decades by pan-Arabist rulers, Arab Nationalist regimes, and Islamist movements. Now, however, a popular Saudi program being broadcast during Ramadan is breaking ground by featuring Jewish characters who are native to the region. In the words of Abdulmohsen al-Nemr, the program's lead actor, “The show hasn’t changed anything in history… Jews used to be in the Gulf. They have their cemeteries, their homes.”
 
Editor’s Note: Last week’s SWW misspelled the name of our friend Karmel Melamed, an exceptional journalist covering Iranian Jewish issues. We regret the error. 
Sephardi Gifts:
Jewish Vestiges in Portugal: Travels of a Painter / Vestigos Hebraicos em Portugal: Viagem de uma Pintora 
By Laura Cesana (Portuguese and English Edition)

Jewish Vestiges in Portugal concerns a project from the painter Laura Cesana regarding the Jewish influence on Civilization, precisely in Portugal. The author’s drawings, paintings, engravings, photographs of places and objects are a very sensitive account of a five-year search. The book opens doors to Jewish landmarks in a way not found in the meager guidebooks that tourists usually resort to when they visit Portugal.

“The artist Laura Cesana presents a rare depiction of the heritage of Portuguese Jewry through history, culture, and art. She also remembered to include brief depictions of Portuguese Jewish settlements in Brazil, Amsterdam, and New York. Laura Cesana is unique in that she commemorated little-known segments of Sephardic Portuguese Jewry not only through historical and ethnographic notations, but via original paintings. It is thought-provoking, informative, but yet equally removed, hidden, and discrete. The book should be a part of anyone’s library who takes an interest in Portuguese Jewry”  ~excerpt from the review by Yitzchak Kerem, Editor of Sapharad.
 
The Hebrew Portuguese Nations in Antwerp and London at the Time of Charles V and Henry VIII: New Documents and Interpretations
By Aron Di Leone Leoni

The Hebrew Portuguese Nations in Antwerp and London at the Time of Charles V and Henry VIII, based on documents (which appear in the appendix on pp. 129-238), reconstructs the activities of Conversos who fled the Portuguese Inquisition to Antwerp and to London. These “Portuguese Nations” established the Sedakah Rescue Organization to help smuggle fellow Conversos from Lisbon to Antwerp and over the Alps to Italy or to the Ottoman Empire.

England served only as a temporary refuge for Conversos who were persecuted in the Low Countries. However, they were generally (despite occasional persecution) allowed to remain in Antwerp due to the policies of Emperor Charles V and local authorities, both of whom were guided by economic considerations. This book disputes the view that Charles was responsible for bringing the Inquisition to the Netherlands and stresses that the Emperor used civil, not ecclesiastical institutions, to attain his goal, which in the case of the Conversos (as opposed to the Protestants) was enrichment rather than the persecution of heresy.

The Rescue Organization, headed among others by Diogo Mendes (Benveniste), helped Conversos reach, among other places, Ferrara, where Duke Ercole II of Este provided them with good conditions, including the right to practice Judaism, in return for their role in developing the local economy.
 
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities:

The American Sephardi Federation and the Great Big Jewish Food Fest presents:

Shavuot in the Sephardic Kitchen:
Bread of the Seven Heavens

Thursday, 21 May at 5:30PM EDT 
Sign-up Now!
Complimentary RSVP

Join ASF Broom and Allen Fellow, chef, and scholar Dr. Hélène Jawhara-Piñer for a cooking demonstration of her own twist on Sephardic Shavuot bread with herbs and cheese. She will explore the Jewish symbolism imbued in the shape and flavors of the bread and their connection to the upcoming holiday.



Hélène Jawhara-Piñer, a Ph.D in History, Medieval History, and the History of Food from the University of Tours, France, is a member of the IEHCA (Institute of European History and Cultures of Food), the CESR (Centre for Advanced Studies in the Renaissance), and the CoReMa Project (Cooking Recipes of the Middle Ages). Her primary research interest is the medieval culinary history of Spain through interculturality with a special focus on the Sephardic culinary heritage written in Arabic. She has lectured at Bar-Ilan University (in collaboration with the Stali Institute and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC): “El patrimonio culinario judío de la Península Ibérica a través de un manuscrito del siglo XIII. Ejemplos de la pervivencia de recetas en la cocina de los sefardíes de España y de Marruecos,” 2018), as well as at conference of the Association Diwan (“Reflections on the Jewish heritage according to the Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ,” 2015), IEHCA of Tours (“Jews and Muslims at the Table: Between coexistence and differentiation: state of affairs and reflections on the culinary practices of Jews and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula and in Sicily from the 12th to the 15th century,” 2017), and Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies (“The hidden Jewish culinary heritage of the Iberian Peninsula through a manuscript of the 13th century. Examples of the provenance of some recipes in Venezuelan and Colombian cuisine,” 2017). Her recipes have appeared in the Sephardi World Weekly, Tablet Magazine, The Forward, and S&P Central’s Newsletter. Dr. Jawhara-Piñer is currently writing a book on the Jewish culinary history of Spain.

The Great Big Jewish Food Fest engages taste buds and hands, minds and hearts through presentations by leading chefs and scholars, with cooking workshops and demonstrations, happy hours and Shabbat gatherings. Come explore the many opportunities and register to connect, learn, and be entertained and inspired.

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

Values and Consequences in the Halakhic Process: A Sephardi Perspective

By Bar-Ilan University Professor Zvi Zohar

On Mondays
18, 25 May
&
1 June at 12PM EDT

Sign-up Now!
(Pay via PayPal by Credit or Debit Card)
*Registration required for each date

Join us this month for ASF IJE Live, our exclusive events exploring the beauty, depth, diversity, & vitality of the Jewish experience.

Sign-up for the Global Nação, Professor Zvi Zohar’s Sephardi Halakha, the Yemenite Tradition, the Syrian-Jewish Community, and more!

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

Global Nação: 
Two Weeks of Western Sephardi-themed Sessions

Join us for a series focused on the Western Sephardi (Spanish and Portuguese) traditions in their historical and modern-day contexts. Sessions will explore the history, religious leaders, customs, liturgy, literature, arts, and material culture.
(Registration required for each date)

Sunday, 17 May at 12PM EDT
Virtually tour the Chatham Street Cemetery with Congregation Shearith Israel’s Sexton Zachary Edinger
Sign-up Now!

Sunday, 19 May at 12PM EDT
Western Sephardi cantorial practices
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Thursday 21 May at 12PM EDT 
Global Nação conference may have been postponed, but we're still giving you a glimpse into the world of Western Sephardim through an academic perspective
Sign-up Now!

Sunday 24 May at 10AM EDT 
Just before Shavuot, we gather for a reading of the Azharot, as is customary in Sephardi communities
Sign-up Now!

Tuesday 26 May at 12PM EDT 
A Tour of Western Sephardi Synagogues from Jamaica, Bayonne, Philadelphia, Montreal, and New York with S&P Central’s Joshua Mendes
Sign-up Now!

The ASF’s Institute of Jewish Experience & E’eleh BeTamar present:

Series with Rabbi Dr. Ratzon Arussi
*Lectures will be conducted in Hebrew
(Registration required for each date)

Tuesday 19 May at 10AM EDT 
(17:00 Jerusalem)
תנועות המשיחיות בתימן
Sign-up Now!

Tuesday 26 May at 10AM EDT 
(17:00 Jerusalem)
מנהגי שבועות בקרבת יהודי תימן
מרדכי יצהרי
Sign-up Now!




Rabbi Dr. Ratzon Arussi is a City Rabbi of of Kiryat Ono and a member of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate Council, founder and chairman of Halichot Am Yisrael, a movement bringing people closer to Judaism through Torah lessons, Yarchei Kalla (Torah conventions in the months of Adar and Elul), and other activities.

Dr. Arussi has a Ph.D. in law from Tel Aviv University, and lectures on Jewish law at Bar-Ilan University. He heads Kiryat Ono’s rabbinical court for monetary law. Following the passing of Rabbi Yosef Kapach, some see Rabbi Arussi as the role model for practical implementation of Maimonides’ teachings.

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

Barak Oded on the uniqueness of Yemenite song and prayers

(Pay via PayPal by Credit or Debit Card)
*Registration required for each date 


Musical Source of the Yemenite Tefillah and its Distinction from Other Groups 

Sunday 31 May at 12PM EDT
(19:00 Jerusalem)
Sign-up Now!


Yemenite Men and their Music 

Sunday 7 June at 12PM EDT
(19:00 Jerusalem)
Sign-up Now!


Yemenite Women and their Music 

Sunday 14 June at 12PM EDT
(19:00 Jerusalem)
Sign-up Now!

The Yemenites were a fixed community in the southern Arabian peninsula for 3,000 years. Barak Oded is a musicologist who specializes in Yemenite songs of all types, as well as the language and tunes involved in the context of other Jewish communities. In these sessions, Barak will show the uniqueness of Yemenite song and prayers as they were distinct from other communities. Prayers were chanted, there wasn't and still isn't music and song in liturgical services. Men would sing songs based on Jewish texts, and in Hebrew, while women would sing in Arabic about daily life.

Samples of each of these categories will be presented throughout these presentations.

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

The Muslim World’s Reaction to the Six Day War

By Bar-Ilan University Lecturer Dr. Mordechai Kedar 

Tuesday 2 June at 10AM EDT
Sign-up Now!
(Pay via PayPal by Credit or Debit Card)


The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

The Crypto Experience
The Global History of Secret Jews

An online course presented in 10 minute episodes.
Learn at your own pace.

Please sign-up now!
Total cost of the course is $75.00

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience is proud to present “The Crypto Experience,” an online course on Crypto-Jews. It is part of a series of online courses on a variety of topics that make up the robust Jewish experience.

For hundreds of years there have been descendants of Crpto-Jews, who have covertly kept some of their traditions while maintaining a very different public persona. It is a question of identity, be it Huegenot, Catholic, Sephardi, or Mashadi. Professing one faith on the outside and another on the inside speaks to our quest for defining identity today.

These questions of identity that we think are so new and so relevant are really rather old questions under different circumstances. In this course Dr. Hilda Nissimi (Bar Ilan University) presents an overview of crypto societies historically and in the context of today. She challenges the participants to ask themselves difficult questions like: What defines identity? If I project this outer self, how do I keep my real me? Who is the real me? Am I the me before the expression of an outer facade? Is it a new me?

The course discusses these questions as they pertain to Jews, specifically. What does it mean to be a Jew? What do I have to keep if I want to call myself a Jew? Am I allowed to change? Am I the person to decide? Who will decide? How can anyone decide under such circumstances?

In order to understand this in historic and cultural contexts, world-renowned scholars and experts in the field have joined Dr. Nissimi and will be presenting the challenges facing a range of crypto societies: 

Huegenots – Dr. Hilda Nissimi
Spanish-Portuguese Crypto Society – Dr. Ronnie Perelis (Yeshiva University)
Bildi’in of Morocco – Professor Paul Fenton (Sorbonne Université, Paris) 
Mashhadi Jews of Iran – Dr. Hilda Nissimi
Tracing Jewish Roots – Genie and Michael Milgrom
Growing Up Mashhadi– Reuben Ebrahimoff


For more information and other ASF IJE online course offerings visit: https://courses.instituteofjewishexperience.org/


The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

The Greek Experience
Explore the world of Greek Jewry from the ancient Romaniote to the Sephardim and others who made it to and through Greece.

An online course presented in 10 minute episodes.
Learn at your own pace.

Please sign-up now!
Total cost of the course is $75.00

Jews have been in Greece since before the Temple was destroyed. They were in Greece upon the founding of the Greek Orthodox Church. Community members, known as Romaniote, made their way through Venice, Byzantium, Spain, across the Ottoman Empire, and beyond.
 
Dr. Yitzchak Kerem provides an overview of the unique languages, liturgical nuances, and communal life of Jews across Greece. Dr Kerem spent significant time living in Greece and researching Greek and Sephardic history. Photographs, maps, and personal accounts provide course participants with a full picture of the unique nature of the Jews of Greece and its surroundings.
 
In the course, participants will look at major influential points in Greek Jewish history. They will explore The Golden Age of Salonika, a time when Greece’s northern city was a hub of Jewish scholarship. Kerem introduces the tension arising in the Greek Jewish community because of Shabtai Tzvi and the Sabbateanism movement that brought with it false messianism and conversion to Islam, at least outwardly.
 
The course looks at when the Alliance Israélite Universelle moved in and the Sephardic culture in Greece developed a rich secular culture with its own novels, theater, and music. 
 
This is part of the greater Jewish heritage and history that is often overlooked. ASF IJE online courses will bring to life all parts of the greater Jewish Experience.

For more information and other ASF IJE online course offerings visit: https://courses.instituteofjewishexperience.org/

 and your generous tax-deductible contribution will empower the ASF to fight for Jewish unity and champion the Sephardi voice in Jewish communal affairs at home and abroad, as well as in our programs, publications, and projects. 

Contact us by email to learn about giving opportunities in honor or memory of loved ones
Copyright © 2020 American Sephardi Federation, All rights reserved.

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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).

www.AmericanSephardi.org | info@AmericanSephardi.org | (212) 294-8350

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