US Condemns Iranian Anti-Semitism, Yasmin Levy’s Deep Ladino Roots, & the Best Tunisian Tuna Sandwich

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12 June 2020

In Memory of Persian Jewish entrepreneur Albert Danialpour, HY”D, who was summarily executed by the Khomeinist regime four decades ago on 5 June, becoming the second innocent individual from the ancient Jewish community in Iran to be targeted. All of his considerable wealth was expropriated by the regime and his family was left destitute before escaping to the United States

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Do not miss Barak Oded on Yemenite Men & Women and their Music.
Yemenite song and prayers 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 in Hebrew, while women would sing in Arabic about daily life.

Sunday, 14 June at 12PM EDT
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“Family of Jewish businessman executed by the Iranian regime speaks out, 40 years later”
By Karmel Melamed, The Forward

In 1980, the Khomeinist regime murdered Albert Danielpour, a Jewish business and communal leader, on trumped-up charges. Danielpour’s wife and children found refuge in the United States during the 1990s, and they recently decided to talk about the murder for the first time: “They want to set the record straight about the brutality of the current Iranian regime that executed their husband and father for no reason.” It’s not easy. Danielpour’s daughter, Sahar Samadi, shares, “‘It does not get better over time… I still have a hard time explaining this nightmare to my own children today.’”

Albert Danielpour, HY”D

Feature of the week: ASF’s Sephardi Playlist No. 5: Yasmin Levy's Deep Ladino Roots

ASF’s Sephardi Playlist #5

Kohava Levy is a Ladino singer-songwriter and poet. Her late husband, Yitzhak Isaac Levy, not only composed in Ladino, he was also was also a hazzan (cantor) and musicologist. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kohava and Yitzhak had a daughter, Yasmin, who has become an internationally-famous, Israel-based singer-songwriter of Ladino music, adding sounds from around the world, from Flamenco to Western folk-rock to Persian classical music, to her beautiful family inheritance. Here are five songs performed by the incomparable Yasmin Levy, as well as five minutes from, “ Ladino - 500 Years Young,” an Israeli film featuring Levy on the fate, and future, of Ladino.

1.) Yasmine Levy adds her distinctively Ladino passion to Leonard Cohen’s classic folk-rock anthem, “Hallelujah”.

2.) “Naci En Alamo” is a Gypsy lament which everyone in the Mediterranean basin seems to know, and sing. In the words of André Aciman, “Arabs sing it, Jews sing it. Turks sing it and Greeks sing it. Without knowing it, perhaps maybe singers have figured out the secret of Convivencia long before historians and politicians.” Here’s Levy’s wonderful version.

3.) Levy sings, “Imre Kero,” a love song to Jerusalem, on Dutch television, “I want to go to Jerusalem, to eat its fruits, to drink its waters”.

4.) An excerpt from the Israeli film, “Ladino - 500 Years Young,” including a delightful scene of Yasmin and her talented, accomplished and loving mother, Kohava, singing together, at home, in the intimate surroundings of the family kitchen.

5.) Yasmin Levy’s offers a pathos-filled performance of “Alegría” live on BBC.

6.) Levy performs, “Una noche Mas,” with the Israeli Philharmonic Orhcestra.

Morgan Ortegus, the US State Department’s Spokesperson, made the announcement in a tweet
(Photo courtesy of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

“US condemns Islamic Republic for execution of Iranian Jew in 1980”
By Benjamin Weinthal, The Jerusalem Post

Taking aim at the Islamist regime in Tehran, the US State Department took Iran to task this week for the 1980 murder of Albert Danielpour, “‘40 years ago, the Iranian regime tortured and executed Jewish community leader Albert Danielpour. They made up several charges fueled by anti-Semitism. The regime has executed hundreds of Iranians because of their beliefs.’"

“The Best Tunisian Tuna Sandwich”
By Sharon Gomperts and Rachel Emquies Sheff, The Jewish Journal

Sharon Gomperts and Rachel Emquies Sheff are the self-proclaimed, “Sephardic Spice Girls,” enthusiastic devotees of Greater Sephardi cuisine. For their most recent recipe, they visited Juan les-Pins, a beach town on the French Riviera that boasts 20 kosher restaurants and, “the fabulous Tunisian tuna sandwich.” You ready? “Imagine a crusty demi baguette smeared with rusty red harissa, layered with flakes of tuna, slices of egg and potato, salty black olives and bright yellow preserved lemons, then topped with diced red onions, cherry tomatoes and crispy green cucumber slices. Every crunchy mouthful excites the taste buds with its perfect combination of spicy, sweet, salty and umami flavor.”

Tunisian Tuna Sandwich
(Photo courtesy of The Jewish Journal)

Sephardi Gifts:

Neim Zemirot: 102 selections of Sephardic Jewish Music
(Book & Cassettes, exclusively available at the ASF’s Sephardi Shop)
By Dina Sabbah

Dina Sabbah, who holds a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of Montreal, was born in Morocco, and studied in Tel-Aviv and Paris. A teacher of Jewish studies and music, Dr. Sabbah founded “Zimryia", a gathering of all the choirs of Jewish schools of Montreal, and conducted “Kinor,” The Centre Communautaire Juif Choir.

Publication of this collection of Sephardic Jewish songs was sponsored by the Communauté Sépharade du Québec to encourage the perpetuation of the Sephardic legacy amongst the Greater Montreal community.

Iraq's Last Jews: Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylon
Edited by Tamar Morad, Dennis Shasha, and Robert Shasha

Iraq's Last Jews, a National Jewish Book Award Finalist, is a collection of first-person accounts about the once-vibrant, 2,500 year-old Babylonian Jewish community and its disappearance in the middle of the 20th century. This book tells the story of the last generation of Iraqi Jews, who both reminisce about their birth country and describe the persecution that drove them out, the result of Nazi influences, growing Arab nationalism, and anger over the re-birth of the State of Israel.

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Upcoming Events or Opportunities:

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

Barak Oded on the uniqueness of Yemenite song and prayers

Yemenite Men & Women and their Music

Sunday, 14 June at 12PM EDT
(19:00 Jerusalem)
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(Pay via PayPal by Credit or Debit Card)

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 the presentation.

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

The Music of North Africa

Musical Life in Devotional Texts

By ASF Broom & Allen Fellow, ethnomusicologist and multi-instrumentalist Dr. Samuel Torjman Thomas

Wednesday, 17 June at 10AM EDT

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(Pay via PayPal by Credit or Debit Card)

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

The Music of North Africa

Sephardi Judeo-Espagnole:
Threads Across the Strait

By ASF Broom & Allen Fellow, researcher, writer, and performer Dr. Vanessa Paloma Elbaz

Wednesday, 24 June at 10AM EDT

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(Pay via PayPal by Credit or Debit Card)

ASF IJE Travels in Jewish History... from home presents:

Journey to Yemen
A trip in time and space powered by Diarna Geo-Museum Tours.

Join us as we visit Yemen and learn about its millennia old Jewish community, visit major places of settlement and famous sites, and learn some unique aspects of this isolated yet historically well-connected community.

Tour departs promptly on Monday, 29 June at 1PM EDT

Sign-up Now!
(Pay via PayPal by Credit or Debit Card)

No Passport, Airfare, or Quarantines!

Feedback on Previous ASF IJE Travels in Jewish History:

>>“Your online programming is STELLAR!!! It’s part of my quarantine ‘must haves’!!! Thank you and many blessings!!!”

>>“Totally engrossing program … thank you”

>>“I loved the Egypt Tour, as it personally connected me, truly, authentically to the spirit of the ASF, which I sorely miss.
It was also so satisfying to be connected (via Zoom) to all the scholars
across many lands and learn new things.”

>>“Thank you so much for a truly enjoyable and educational trip to the Jewish sites of Egypt! I visit[ed] Cairo in 2009 and am so happy to have had the opportunity to ‘return’ to Egypt today! Kol ha’kavod v’todah rabah for the wonderful presentation!”

>>“I just wanted to say how informative and impressive it was.... It was also reassuring in these incredible ‘science fiction times’, that we had a chance to band together and share our resources, and keep optimistic.”

>>“Thanks so much. Truly fascinating, we really enjoyed it. We have signed up for more information so hopefully we will be able to join further tours.”

Sponsorship Opportunities:

Possible future tour destinations include: Iran, Morocco, Syria, Kurdistan, and Tunisia.

Naming opportunities available.

Please click here to sponsor a tour today!
(Donations are tax-deductible)

On an ASF IJE Travels in Jewish History tour, you will... explore the Middle Eastern and North African heartlands of Jewish history with live Diarna Geo-Museum guides and historians, meet special guests, see historical sites that are off the beaten path or even inaccessible to visitors, hear fascinating stories, and reconnect with your roots.

At this terrible and turbulent time, we are here to serve the community, preserving and promoting our Greater Sephardic history, traditions, and rich mosaic culture.

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

The Music of North Africa

Modern and Contemporary Judeo-Arabic Song and Performance

By ASF Broom & Allen Fellows Dr. Vanessa Paloma Elbaz & Dr. Samuel Torjman Thomas

Wednesday, 1 July at 10AM EDT

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(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/

Donate now 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.

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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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