Copy
16 February 2020

Mazal Bueno to Dr. Jane Mushabac on the success of Manhattan’s third, sold-out International Ladino Day!  
 
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!
 
Remembering Egyptian Jews’ Influence in Art and Film” 
By Es Buzz, Egyptian Streets
 
Much has been made of recent restoration of Jewish sites in Egypt, such as the Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue at Alexandria. But, as an Egyptian writer argues, “cultural heritage… goes beyond restoring synagogues… it also includes recognizing the figures and families that contributed to building Egypt’s identity over time.” Restoring the Jewish cultural heritage of Egypt thus requires recognizing the role that Jews played, for instance, in fashioning Egypt’s celebrated movie industry: “Jews were dominant in the film industry in Egypt in the 1930s and 40s, producing great actors such as Laila Mourad, Nagua Salem and Beshar Wakim, as well as other directors and producers such as the leading film distributors Zaki Bonan of Behna Films.”

Laila Mourad, beloved Egyptian screen and singing sensation
(Photo courtesy of Choisir un film
Feature: Meet Daoud Hosni, the Egyptian Karaite Jew who Composed the First Arabic Opera


Daoud Hosni with other Egyptian musicians, date unknown
(Photo courtesy of HSEJ
 
Cairo-born Daoud Hosni, aka David Hayim Halevi (1870-1937), was a Karaite Jew and celebrated master of the oud, who composed the first opera entirely performed in Arabic: “Samson and Delilah.” A star of Egyptian culture who created during that brief window of time when Egyptian society was relatively tolerant and secular, today Hosni is mostly remembered in Israel by fans of modern Egyptian music. He is buried in the Karaite section of the Bassatine Cemetery, near Cairo.

The Mountin Jews Museum is located in the fully restored Karchog Synagogue, which had suffered physical deterioration after being shuttered by the Soviets
(Photo courtesy of Caspian News

 
Historical Museum Opens in Azerbaijan’s All-Jewish Town” 
By Ilham Karimli, Caspian News
 
A new Jewish museum was recently opened in the secular, Shi’a and historically tolerant country of Azerbaijan: “On February 3, the Museum of the History and Culture of Mountain Jews opened in the all-Jewish Krasnaya Sloboda (Red Village) settlement in the northeastern Guba region of Azerbaijan.” The museum displays, “clothes, jewelry, ritual utensils, manuscripts, books, and ancient household items.” There’s also an economic angle to the museum, an angle that might further strengthen ties between Azerbaijan and the Jewish State: “[A] leading researcher… says it will help increase the influx of foreign tourists into the region…, ‘With the opening of the Museum of Mountain Jews, many more tourists from Israel will come to Azerbaijan.’”
Sephardi Gifts:
A Sephardi Life in Southeastern Europe: The Autobiography and Journals of Gabriel Arié, 1863-1939
by Aron Rodrigue, Esther Benbassa

Autobiographical texts are rare in the Balkan Sephardi world. Gabriel Arié’s writings provide a special perspective on the political, economic, and cultural changes undergone by the Eastern Sephardi community in the decades before its dissolution, in regions where it had been constituted since the expulsion from Spain in 1492. His history is a fascinating memoir of the Sephardi and Levantine bourgeoisie of the time. For his entire life, Arié―teacher, historian, community leader, and businessman―was caught between East and West. Born in a small provincial town in Ottoman Bulgaria in 1863, he witnessed the disappearance of a social and political order that had lasted for centuries and its replacement by new ideas and new ways of life, which would irreversibly transform Jewish existence.

 
Mongrels or Marvels: The Levantine Writings of Jacqueline Shohet Kahanoff
By Jacqueline Shohet Kahanoff 

The writings of Jacqueline Shohet Kahanoff (1917–1979) offer a refreshing reassessment of Arab-Jewish relations in the Middle East. A member of the bourgeois Jewish community in Cairo, Kahanoff grew up in a time of coexistence. She spent the years of World War II in New York City, where she launched her writing career with publications in prominent American journals. Kahanoff later settled in Israel, where she became a noted cultural and literary critic. Mongrels or Marvels offers Kahanoff's most influential and engaging writings, selected from essays and works of fiction that anticipate contemporary concerns about cultural integration in immigrant societies. Confronted with the breakdown of cosmopolitan Egyptian society, and the stereotypes she encountered as a Jew from the Arab world, she developed a social model, Levantinism, that embraces the idea of a pluralist, multicultural society and counters the prevailing attitudes and identity politics in the Middle East with the possibility of mutual respect and acceptance.

Levantine, a movie about Jacquelin Shohet Kahanoff life and legacy, will have its US Première at the 23rd NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival on 23rd February. Click here to reserve tickets.

 
“Like” ASF on Facebook to keep up-to-date on our projects, programs, and publications, as well as to share your thoughts
Upcoming Events or Opportunities:


The American Sephardi Federation presents:

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

Dedicated to Ike, Molly, & Steven Elias

23 February-2 March 2020
Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York City


Pomegranate Award Honorees, Special Filmmaker Appearances, &
7 NY, 2 US, and 2 World Première Films!


Passes & Special Nights Schedule Sponsorship Opportunities
 

Schedule at a Glance
 

Sunday, 23 February
1:00PM: Levantine (U.S. Première)
3:00PM: Ma’Abarot
6:00PM: Opening Night with Moroccan After Party
Red Fields (NY Première)

Monday, 24 February
1:00PM: Stockholm
5:00PM: Say Amen (NY Première) 
7:00PM: Greek Night   
Life Will Smile (NY Première)
Romaniotes: The Greek Jews of Ioannina

Tuesday, 25 February
12:00PM: Shalom Italia
2:00PM: The Hug of Destiny (World Première) 
6:00PM: The Last Jew in the Village (U.S. Première)
8:00PM: Portuguese Night 
The Nun's Kaddish (NY Première)
Sefarad (NY Première)

Wednesday, 26 February
1:00PM: Everytime We Say Goodbye
4:00PM: The Final Hour (U.S. Première) 
7:00PM - Moroccan Night
Where Are You Going Moshé? (NY Première)

Thursday, 27 February
2:00PM: Wanderings: A Journey to Connect
7:00PM: Iraqi Closing Night 
The Wolf of Baghdad (World Première)

Saturday, 29 February
8:00PM: The Syrian Jewish Community: Coming to America (1900-1919)

Monday, 2 March
7:00PM: Mexican Night 
Leona
*At Instituto Cervantes  


Order online or by phone via Brown Paper Tickets:
1.800.838.3006

Discuss Sponsorship or Advertising: Yves@AmericanSephardi.org

Email Inquires:
info@AmericanSephardi.org



The Yeshiva University Museum in partnership with the American Sephardi Federation presents: 

Curator’s Tour:
Hey, Wow!
The Art of Oded Halahmy

 

Sunday, 1 March at 1:00PM

Please register 
here


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


On the final day of this exhibition, join curator Audra Lambert on a tour of Hey, Wow! The Art of Oded Halahmy, featuring lyrical sculptures and painted reliefs that reflect the rich, complex history of Jewish heritage in Babylonia. Celebrating the notion of homeland, Hey, Wow! explores themes originating in the eponymous popular Hebrew song originating from Iraq.



Diarna: The Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life Presents: 

Field Report:
Stories from a Diarna Researcher

 

Thursday, 5 March at 6:30PM

Please register 
here


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


Join us as we hear an update from intrepid adventurer and Diarna researcher Aaron Cederberg about his experiences documenting Jewish historical sites around the world (most recently in India and Mexico)  and conducting interviews with the last primary source generation who remember Jewish life in diverse but dwindling (or vanished) Jewish communities in the MENA region. 

Aaron Cederberg is a documentary photographer and writer who specializes in multimedia storytelling that provides humanizing insights into our world. He has worked with NGOs and non-profits, focusing on heritage preservation across the globe, and helped create long distance hiking trails in Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority Territories. Aaron founded Arc Moment (arcmoment.org), an online magazine dedicated to longform photo-essays, and currently splits his time between Jerusalem and Amman.


To learn more about Aaron visit AaronCederberg.com


The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization,
Center for Jewish History, American Jewish Historical Society, 
and the American Sephardi Federation invite you to a lively discussion on:


Midwives, Musicians, Soldiers, Rabbis:
Whose Stories Will We Tell?

Celebrating the release of 
The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, Volume 6: Confronting Modernity, 1750-1880, edited by Elisheva Carlebach.


Thursday, 12 March, 6:30-9:00PM

Please register here


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


Discussion will be led by Prof. Deborah Dash Moore, Editor-in-chief of The Posen Library, in conversation with Elisheva Carlebach, Salo Wittmayer Baron Professor of Jewish History, Culture, and Society; Director, The Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, Columbia University; Dara Horn, award-winning novelist and professor of Hebrew and Yiddish; and Sephardi-Israeli ASF Pomegranate Award Recipient for Musical Conservation and Coexistence Itamar Borochov, who will also play a duet with pianist Gadi Lehavi.
 
Followed by a festive reception with music by Cabinet of Melodies, led by Ira Khonen Temple, accordionist in Fiddler on the Roof (in Yiddish)
 


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 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.

Thank you for opting (on our websites, at an event, or by email) to receive American Sephardi Federation Programming Updates and Publications. We apologize if this message was sent in error.

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

unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 
 
Share Share
Tweet Tweet
Forward Forward
Share Share