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8 November 2019

In Memory of Ezra K. Zilkha, A”H, a well-respected and renowned financier with tremendous geopolitical savvy, philanthropist, and scion of an illustrious Babylonian Jewish family that pioneered international banking and commerce. New York became a lesser place with his passing. He was uniquely and highly respected, beloved and well-known in so many circles, including business, politics, the arts, and for the disabled. The Zilkha family patriarch, Khedouri Zilkha, arrived to NYC in 1941, fleeing the possible arrival of Rommel into Cairo; he had been a target for the Nazis. Ezra was 16 when he came to NYC with his parents. After WWII the Zilkha Bank established its headquarters in NYC ahead of the expropriation of its branches in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt by Arab nationalist regimes. Ezra Zilkha, while lifetime head of Zilkha and Sons, also served on the boards of many leading companies (CIGNA, Handy & Harmon) and became a generous benefactor of many important institutions, including Princeton University (where he established the Khedouri A. Zilkha Professorship of Jewish Civilization in the Near East), Wesleyan University (which houses the Zilkha Gallery), Shearith Israel: The Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue, and The American Sephardi Federation. He was a trustee of The International Center for the Disabled, The American Society of the French Legion of Honor, a trustee emeritus of Wesleyan University, and an honorary trustee of the Brookings Institution. He was also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  Ezra Zilkha is the author (with Ken Emerson) of From Baghdad to the Board Room: My Family’s Odyssey and was interviewed by Tamar Morad as part of her book with Robert and Dennis Shasha on Iraq’s Last Jews: Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylon (the interview can be listened to here). His wife of 67 years, the former Cecile Iny, A”H, passed in 2017. Mr. Zilkha passed away quietly at his home in NYC on 2 October 2019 at the age of 94. They are greatly missed by so many dear friends here in the U.S. and in Europe. They are survived by three children as well as a large and loving family.

Click here to dedicate a future issue in honor or memory of a loved one. 
The Sephardi World Weekly is made possible by generous readers like you. Now there is a new way to show your support. Become a Patron of the Sephardi World Weekly via Patreon and your name will appear in each edition along with timely, thought-provoking articles on Greater Sephardi history, the arts, and current affairs. Thanking you in advance! And thank you to Sephardi World Weekly Patrons Maria Gabriela Borrego Medina and Gwen Zuares!
Jewish astronaut snaps space pics of Israel, salutes late father” 
The Times of Israel
 
Dr. Jessica Meir recently became the 15th woman (and 14th American woman) to successfully spacewalk and, along with a teammate, was also part of the first all-female spacewalk. Inspired by her Baghdad-born Iraqi-Jewish father’s journey—which took him from Iraq to pre-State Israel at age six to escape anti-Semitism, then to Beirut and Sweden for medical training with time in-between serving in Israel’s War of Independence, before settling in the United States—Meir, on her own cosmic trip, recently tweeted stunning pictures of Israel as seen from space.
 
Picture of Israel from the International Space Station
(Photo courtesy of @Astro_Jessica

 
Special Feature: “BEYOND A YEAR IN SPACE | Meet Astronaut Jessica Meir” 

 

Dr. Jessica Meir
(Photo courtesy of The Biologist

PBS introduces us to one of the forty-five active astronauts in the United States, Dr. Jessica Meir. Trained as a biological scientist and now one of two women in NASA’s space-walking team, Meir recently sent pictures of Israel from space in honor of the journey her Iraqi-Jewish father took from Baghdad to Israel, before settling in America.

Ceen Gabbai, Baghdad, Iraq
(Photo courtesy of Ceen Gabbai), 
Here’s what it’s like to grow up as a Jew in Iraq” 
By Ben Sales, JTA
 
Growing-up Jewish in Saddam Husssein’s Iraq, Ceen Gabbai’s family tried to hide “their Judaism from friends and neighbors, letting others believe they were Christian or agnostic,” but still had to “move five times because of anti-Semitic harassment.” While “Iraqis purport to be opposed to Zionism but tolerant of Jews, [Gabbai] never felt accepted for who she was. Teachers would give her a hard time in class despite her good grades. One even gave her a copy of ‘Mein Kampf,’ Adolf Hitler’s manifesto.” “‘It was hard being Jewish because I felt like, if you’re Jewish, you don’t really have anywhere to belong to…. Wherever you go, people ask you to leave. If you’re in the Middle East, people ask you to leave. In America, you have anti-Semitism….” Gabbai was eventually granted asylum in the United States. Today she is part of the Syrian Sephardic Jewish Community in Brooklyn and is trying to find a purpose to her unique story, especially through art. 
A Babylonian treasure: How dozens of pictures of Iraqi Jews came home” 
By Yaniv Pohoryles, Ynet
 
Good things can happen when social media and heritage preservation come together. Like in the following story: an elderly woman found pictures on a Tel Aviv street corner belonging to a recently deceased woman. After passing on the photos to the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in central Israel, the Center eventually posted the pictures on Facebook and Instagram. The response was, “amazing.” The photos made their way to Eva Gabay, who recognized a picture of herself as a one-year old child: “‘I really appreciate my parent's efforts to bring this picture to Israel despite all the hardships, it truly is a wonderful childhood memory….’”
 
 
Eva Gabay holding her baby portrait
(Photo courtesy of Ilan Gabay/Ynet
Sephardi Gifts:
The Star and Baghdad Scimitar; A Lost Song by the Rivers of Babylon
A historical novel by Tova Murad Sadka 

Widad, a Jewish singer with a golden voice, captured the heart of Muslim Iraq from the forties through the seventies. While her Jewish community, ancient and prosperous, was being persecuted and chased out of the country, she had to choose between joining her fellow Jews or remaining in Iraq, her cherished birthplace.

Widad began her singing career at the age of seventeen and became the protégée of the Muslim ruling elite. The king, the regent, and the ministers were her devoted fans. Her exposure and connections led to romantic involvements, but her Jewish roots stood in the way. 

The story portrays the Jewish community, its culture, and its relationship to the Arabs and to Israel. It also depicts the Muslim community within the social and political struggle of the time. Though the story is fictional, it is based on actual historical events and is inspired by the life of a famous Iraqi Jewish singer whose contribution to the local music has yet to be matched.
The Last Tango in Baghdad 
by Albert Khabbaza

The Last Tango in Baghdad is an inspirational memoir depicting a painstakingly true tale of a fascinating life lived in turbulent times and countries of the Middle East. This story, so reminiscent of the experiences of Jews in the past, is extraordinary. Readers are delighted by the humorous and saddened by the terrible injustices Dr. Khabbaza encountered throughout his life.

Providing some background and an understanding of the culture, the author examines the political facts and reveals in detail the events that shaped his life. Reading this book will inspire you and entertain you as well. It is highly recommended for all non-specialist general readers for its revealing content and valuable insight.

 
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities:


The American Sephardi Federation and the Embassy of Kosvo present:

The Righteous Gypsy 
Screening

Monday, 18 November
3:00PM and 8:00PM


Please register here

Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York City


The Righteous Gypsy: directed by Jakov & Dominik Sedlar, Pravednica Ciganka

A short film that tells the story of the only Gypsy woman honored by Israel as Righteous Among the Nations.


ASF Institute of Jewish Experience and מרכז דהאן - Dahan Center present:

The End of Jewish Communal Life in the Arab Lands
International Conference

Monday, 2 December at 9:30AM-5:00PM

Please register here
Conference Timeline

Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York City


For thousands of years Jews have lived across North Africa and the Middle East. Despite the long history, 1948-1967 marked the end of these Jewish communities across most of the region. The Dahan Center, together with the American Sephardi Federation and Yeshiva University, seeks to explore this history through research and personal anecdotes.

Join us as we host international scholars, as well as local students, to share stories of the rich life that once was and the events across the region that caused the majority of Jews to leave.

Among our distinguished speakers will be Rabbi Elie Abadie, Dr. Samuel Torjman Thomas, and multidisciplinary artist Ms. Dana Avrish!

The conference is organized in collaboration with Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ministry for Social Equality.


The American Sephardi Federation with the Jewish Community of Urmia, Iran and participants from Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey present:

International Nash-Didan (Judeo-Aramaic) Day 

Sunday, 15 December at 7:00PM

Please register here

Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York City


The first of its kind to take place outside of Israel, an evening featuring an international team of scholars exploring the history, culture, language, and traditions of the Nash Didan, the Aramaic speaking Jewish communities of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan.


Centro Primo Levi and the Rhodes Jewish Historical Foundation in partnership with Kehila Kedosha Janina and the American Sephardi Federation present:

Los Corassones Avlan*
The Hearts Speak
*from a Sephardi saying

Conversations on Jewish Life on the Island of Rhodes
A multimedia pop-up installation


On view 29 October through 24 November, 2019

Opening hours: 
Sunday through Thursday: 1:00PM to 9:00PM
Friday: 1:00PM to 4:00PM
Saturday: 5:00PM to 10:30PM 

Bourekas, sweets, coffee and tea will be served during opening hours

West Village
148 West 4th Street
New York City


Los Corassones Avlan is dedicated to centuries of Jewish life in Rhodes. It expands the ideas of the Rome Lab, a 2017 installation created by Centro Primo Levi and the Jewish Museum of Rome, which challenged traditional museum narratives by playing on the tension between personal memory, official history and ongoing research debates.

Conceived as an old funhouse, made up of objects, projection and rotating soundscapes, the new installation will juxtapose ambiguities, uncertainties and discontinuities onto linear representations of the past. It will invite the public to imagine a world that was profoundly different from ours and to question stereotypes and prepackaged depictions of other cultures that increasingly restrict the way in which we experience the present.

The project will be installed in a 19th century carriage house on West 4th street that shares the courtyard with the historic night bar named after Antoine Saint-Exupéry’s novel Vol de Nuit. The bar was once a popular eatery and cabaret called The Samovar, which the photographer Jessie Tarbox Beals seized in one of her legendary images of lower Manhattan and where Al Jolson is believed to have performed in his early career.

During the month of November, the carriage house, which is usually closed, will become home to the exhibition and to roundtables, readings, talks, film and music presentations, where the public will experience the little-known story and traditions of the “Rodeslis,” the Jewish community living on the island of Rhodes for an unknown number of centuries until its destruction in 1944.

*Centro Primo Levi’s public program is made possible in part through the generous support of the Viterbi family. The Rhodes installation was made possible through the generous support of Peter and Mary Kalikow and Bruce Slovin.

The American Sephardi Federation Presents:

The New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival’s (NYSJFF)
23rd Anniversary Edition


SAVE THE DATE
18-27 February 2020!
Please click here to reserve your Festival Passes now!


The American Sephardi Federation/ASF Young Leaders are partnering with Germany Close Up for the first-ever trip for Sephardi young professionals to Germany!

Dates:  4-12 May, 2020

Total cost: $900
(includes airfare, hotels, sightseeing, and meals)

Explore:

• Berlin, Hamburg, and United Germany!

• The Holocaust and the Nazi Era (including a visit to a former Concentration Camp)

• Germany's current politics and its relationship with the US and Israel - including a meeting with German Federal Officials!

• Jewish Life in Berlin, past and present, and Sephardi communities in Germany


Please click here to apply
Applications Close on 25 November!

~If you have any questions about the application or trip,
please contact
ASF Young Leaders ~


Travel to Germany with the American Sephardi Federation - ASF Young Leaders and Germany Close Up this spring! This will be Germany Close Up’s first-ever partnership with a Sephardic group – join us and make history! This trip has been tailor-made just for us to connect with our past.  We’ll interface with what remains of the Portuguese Jewish community in Hamburg, dive into artifacts of the Turkish Jewish community in Berlin, and explore other Sephardic histories on our journey.  We will find out how Germany is relevant to a more diverse Jewish story – including Sephardic Jews!

About Germany Close Up:
Founded in 2007, Germany Close Up introduces young Jewish professionals to modern Germany.  The Germany Close Up experience is administered by the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace, the New Synagogue Berlin Centrum Judaicum Foundation, and the German government’s Transatlantic Plan.



The American Sephardi Federation is proud to partner with Combat Anti-Semitism on its Venture Creative Contest - Round 1. The Contest’s Art Award is named in honor of Emma Lazarus, the Sephardi American patriot, poet, playwright, critic, journalist, campaigner against anti-Semitism, and champion of Zion.

Venture Creative Contest – Round 1

Anti-Semitism is once again on the rise, just 75 years after the Holocaust. This irrational hatred of Jews and the world’s only Jewish State harms both innocent victims and perpetrators infected by bigotry. The resurgence of anti-Semitism poses a challenge to all people of conscience:
How can we work together to stop anti-Semitism?

This contest is crowd-sourcing new solutions to help end “the world’s oldest hatred.” The contest is sponsored by the CombatAntiSemitism.org Coalition.

People of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities are encouraged to participate by creatively addressing one of the categories. 


Round 1 Deadline: 1 December 2019
Future Rounds Coming Soon

Please click here to submit your contest entry 

Contest Rules – Contest Judges – FAQ – Contact

Specific contest awards co-sponsored by Coalition Members, including:

American Sephardi Association logo
Israel on Campus Coalition logoGaliaArtists


The Philos Project and the American Sephardi Federation present:

Nosotros 3.0: Strengthening Bonds Between Jewish and Latino Communities

On view until May 2020

Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York City


The Philos Project and the American Sephardi Federation cordially invite you to the third edition of our Latin American classic art exhibit: Nosotros 2019. 

This years exhibit explores the Judtice of Zionism through the lens of Jewish and Latino national liberation struggles for independence from European colonialism. A new collection of art pieces will be revealed, including pieces from master artists Norma Lithgow and Deyvi Pérez. It will be a night of celebration of the shared history and culture of the Jewish and Latin communities.

 and your tax-deductible contribution will help ASF preserve and promote the Greater Sephardi history, traditions, and culture as an integral part of the Jewish experience! 

Contact us by email to learn about giving opportunities in honor or memory of loved ones

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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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