Mazal Tov to Rachel Heisler on Wednesday’s successful “Spirit of Innovation” Gala to benefit the Soroka Medical Center at the Pierre Hotel, New York. Soroka has for decades faithfully served southern Israel, home to many Sephardic communities. Amongst the honorees was the talented Sephardic artist and friend of the ASF, Orna Simkhai (Shema Or), who received the Inspired Leadership Award.
The University of Arkansas recently hosted a conference devoted to the “Jewish Contributions to Middle East Music.” In this podcast, two scholars, Jonathan Glasser of William and Mary and Chris Silver of McGill (who also founded the indispensable Jewish Maghrib Jukebox and Gharamophone), explain what inspired them to explore the rich and dynamic world of North African Jewish music. Unsurprisingly, both of their stories begin in the open environs of Morocco.
“Cheikh” Raymond Leyris, a Malouf master, leader of a renowned Jewish-Muslim Andalusian ensemble, father-in-law of Enrico Macias, and owner of the Disques Raymond Record Store at Constantine, Algeria, was assassinated on 22 June 1961 (Photo courtesy of Institut Européen des Musiques Juives)
Passover is a few weeks away and it’s time to start getting ready. In this song, Sephardic singer Sarah Aroeste (who performed at the 1st edition of the ASF’s American Sephardi Music Festival) pokes fun at Passover politics and in praise of the comparatively permissive Sephardi culinary customs that make the eight-day festival more, well, digestible: “Rice is fine, so hold your chopstick/… Don’t let the Matzah sit like a brick/ ‘cause on Pesach, you’re Sephardic!”
The Israeli-born, Brooklyn-based jazz-star and ASF Pomegranate Award recipient Itamar Borochov once observed that everyone in Israel is “Mizrahi,” because in Israel, the air is made of Hummus. Dallas chef Eldad Jacobson knows the deep socio-cultural truth behind Borochov’s jest. His mother’s Jerusalem neighbors were Yemenite, and when Jacobson visits Israel, he always returns with two kilos of Hawaij, the traditionally Yemenite spice that is part of the Israeli palate: “I use it for soup, stews, and all kinds of meat dishes, and sometimes even for vegetable dishes." [With recipe].
On March 27th 2018 the Lower Manhattan Historical Society in partnership with The American Sephardi Federation, the Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York, Temple of Universal Judaism, and Jewish Learning Experience secured the approval of Manhattan Community Board No. 1 for renaming the section of South William Street between Mill Lane and Broad Street as “Mill Street Synagogue/Seixas Way.” With the enthusiastic support of Council Member for the 1st District Margaret S. Chin, the New York City Council formally approved the proposal on 20 December 2018 and submitted the “Local Law” to the Mayor for his signature.
16 April - Georgian Jews Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York City
Please register here
or call: 1.800.838.3006 Light dinner reflecting the cuisine of Bukharian, Georgian, and Kavkazi Jews will be served
Back by popular demand, the American Sephardi Federation’s Young Sephardi Scholars Series is excited to once again host a 3-part learning and cultural series about the Russian-speaking Jewish (RSJ) communities of the Greater Sephardic world. The cultures and histories of Bukharian, Georgian, and Kavkazi (Mountain) Jews are situated at the fascinating, yet lesser known, intersection of RSJ, Sephardic and Mizrahi life. Led by Ruben Shimonov, this multimedia learning series will provide a unique opportunity to explore the multilayered and rich stories of the three communities.
Co-sponsored by JDC Entwine. This project was created as part of the COJECO BluePrint Fellowship, supported by COJECO and Genesis Philanthropy Group.
Ruben Shimonov is a Jewish educator, community builder, and social innovator based in New York City. His multilayered identity as an immigrant, Bukharian, Sephardic, Mizrahi, and Russian-speaking Jew continuously informs his commitment to the cultural and global diversity of the Jewish people. Ruben has previously brought this passion to his work at Queens College Hillel as Director of Cross-Community Engagement and Education, where he had the unique role of cultivating Sephardic-Mizrahi Jewish student life on campus. Ruben is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Sephardic-Mizrahi Q Network—a one-of-a-kind, grassroots movement that works to build a vibrant and supportive community for LGBTQ Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews. He also serves as Vice-President for Education and Community Engagement on the American Sephardi Federation's Young Leadership Board, as well as the Director of Educational Experiences and Programming for the Muslim-Jewish Solidarity Committee of New York. Ruben was recently named among The Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36” emerging Jewish communal leaders and changemakers. He is also a 2018 ASF Broome & Allen Fellow, as well as a 2018 COJECO Blueprint Fellow. His speaking engagements include presenting at the Limmud Festival in the United Kingdom, one of the largest annual Jewish learning conferences in the world.
The American Sephardi Federation invites Sephardi World Weekly readers to attend this event by our Partner, the American Jewish Historical Society:
“This talk celebrates the new groundbreaking work of two social historians of Iranian Jewish life and community in the 20th century between immigrations and diasporas in Iran, Israel, and the US, paying tribute to the work of HIAS in helping Jews immigrate and resettle in the US in the years post the 1979 revolution in Iran.
Leah Mirakhor is Lecturer in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration (ER&M) and the Program in American Studies at Yale University. Mirakhors writing has appeared in The Yale Review, The Los Angeles Times, The Los Angeles Review of Books, African American Review, The James Baldwin Review, and Studies in American Jewish Literature. Mirakhor is the author of ‘After the Revolution to the War on Terror: Iranian Jewish American Literature in the United States’, which appeared in Studies in American Jewish Literature 35.1 (2016).
Lior Sternfeld is a social historian of the modern Middle East with particular interests in Jewish (and other minorities) histories of the region. Sternfeld teaches at the Jewish Studies Program at Penn State University. Sternfelds new book, Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth Century Iran, examines the integration of the Jewish communities in Iran into the nation-building projects of the twentieth century. This book examines the development of the Iranian Jewish communities vis-à-vis ideologies and institutions such as Iranian nationalism, Zionism, and constitutionalism, among others.
AJHS has just finished [processing] the records of the organization HIAS The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the organization that helped families Iran, both Jewish and non-Jewish, immigrate and resettle in the US since the 1970s.”
Friday, 10 May at 3:00PM
Wednesday, 15 May at 8:00PM Opening Night; Followed by After Party Friday, 17 May at 3:00PM
Wednesday, 22 May at 8:00PM
Wednesday, 29 May at 8:00PM
Sunday, 2 June at 6:00PM Closing Night; Followed by After Party
Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York City
An opera by Giuseppe Verdi as adapted by and starring David Serero in the role of Nabucco. Building on the Biblical accounts of the Babylonian Exile found in Jeremiah and Daniel, Verdi's Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar) combines political and love intrigues with some of the greatest songs ever written (including Va, pensiero, The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves).
Journalist, historian, and author Marc Leepson will present a lively talk (complete with vintage images) of a little-known but important part of Sephardic Jewish-American history and American historic preservation: how U.S. Navy Commodore Uriah P. Levy and his nephew Jefferson M. Levy--who owned Monticello from 1834-1923--on two occasions repaired, restored, and preserved the Thomas Jefferson's iconic house in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The talk will include a history of the Levy-Phillips-Nunez Family, one of the most accomplished Jewish-American families of the 18th and 19th centuries. It begins with the arrival in 1733 of Dr. Samuel Nunez, a leader of a group of forty Sephardic Jews who fled Portugal and were among the founders of Savannah, Georgia. It includes the biographies of Uriah Levy (a fifth generation American, born in Philadelphia in 1792, who went on to a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy) and his nephew Jefferson Monroe Levy, who was born in New York City, and became a prominent lawyer, a hugely successful real estate and stock speculator, and a three-term member of Congress.
The heart of the story is Uriah and Jefferson Levy's stewardship of Monticello, without which the house very likely would not have survived.
Thursday, 13 June at 3:00PM
Sunday, 16 June at 6:00PM Opening Night; Followed by After Party Tuesday, 18 June at 8:00PM
Thursday, 20 June at 8:00PM
Sunday, 23 June at 6:00PM Closing Night; Followed by After Party
Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York City
Shakespeare’s classic tale of love and loss reconceived as the story of two Jewish lovers, one from a Sephardi family and one from an Ashkenazi family. Featuring Ladino and Yiddish songs. Original Jewish adaption by David Serero.
Please register here or email: info@sephardicbrotherhood.com
“Join Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America for the Birthright Israel - Sephardic Israel Trip this Summer from June 27 - July 7! For 10 days, you'll be able to travel around the country with amazing people with Sephardic, Greek, and Turkish backgrounds, all while exploring everything Israel has to offer. You'll be able to ride camels in the desert, raft down the Jordan River, explore the Old City in Jerusalem, and a whole lot more. especially for Sephardic Jews from across the United States.”
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 May
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.
Donate nowand 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).
