In Memory of Lena Russo, A”H, one of the last of 35 Holocaust survivors from Kastoria, Greece. The pre-war community had numbered 1,000 Jews. Sent to Auschwitz, Lena recited the Shema to prove her Jewishness to the skeptical Yiddish-speaking inmates. These and other experiences from her remarkable life are immortalized in Trezoros, an exceptional documentary by Larry Confino and her son, Lawrence Russo. She received the praise of Greece’s Consul General at New York, Dr. Konstantinos Koutras, and an appreciative standing ovation from the audience for her inspiring words at the 20th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival’s screening of Trezoros.
The editing duo of Professors Aomar Boum and Sarah Abrevaya Stein have put together a book, The Holocaust and North Africa, that explores what happened to the Jews of North Africa during WWII, when colonialism and the Holocaust collided. The devastation of European Jewry has, understandably, caused scholars to often overlook the North African dimension of the Shoah. Nevertheless, “This book is an overdue and most necessary offering that should force a reconsideration of the issue.”
Sheikh Dr. Mohammed al-Issa with Malolm Hoenlein (Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations) and Dr. Robert Satloff (Executive Director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy)
(Photo courtesy of Zakaria Siraj)
Featuring remarks by then-CoP Chairman Stephen Greenberg and Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Malcolm Hoenlein, the event honored Muslims who, in the face of the absolute evil perpetrated by Nazi Germany and its allies, respected and protected Jewish minorities living amongst them as well as Jewish refugees who fled the Nazi onslaught. Rabbi Itzhak Yehoshua, Bukharian Chief Rabbi, began the program with a benediction. ASF’s Partner جمعية ميمونة Association Mimouna announced the launch of the first Holocaust curriculum in Arabic written "by Muslims for Muslims." Dr. al-Issa said: “We have to try to assert our joint values and our joint goals simply because society loves harmony. We should carry on with dialogue, and we should never listen to voices of hatred and exclusion.”
Official representatives of several Muslim-majority countries— Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Morocco—discussed how they protected Jews during the Shoah and how they are committed to Jewish-Muslim cooperation today. In the classic Sephardic tradition of tolerance and inclusion, ASF’s delegation to the event included Muslim scholars and communal leaders, including our friends from the Moroccan Americans in New York and MALA: the Muslim American Leadership Alliance.
Salomon Levy’s false identification papers enabled him to hide in Nazi-occupied Athens, Greece (Photo courtesy of Dora Levy Saltiel/US Holocaust Memorial Museum)
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s (USHMM) new “Sephardic Initiative” joined forces with The Hellenic American Women’s Council (HAWC) and other organizations in early March to present, “The Jewish Community of Greece Before the Holocaust: A Multimedia Presentation.” More than one-hundred people viewed the artifacts, photographs, and films documenting the lost world of Greek Jewry. “[T]he victims… were once someone’s grandmother, son, mother... Their stories matter and deserve to be told,” said Vicki George, Youth Director for the HAWC and the Development Coordinator at USHMM.
“The Farhoud Remembered” By Dr. Edy Cohen, The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA)
Nazi propaganda was largely responsible for instigating the Farhud (Farhoud), the two-day attack on Iraqi Jewry in June 1941. Inspiration for the Fahud can be traced to two figures, the German ambassador to Baghdad, Dr. Fritz Grobba, and the exiled mufti from Jerusalem and Nazi sympathizer and ultimately collaborator, Hajj Amin El Husseini. Husseini arrived in Baghdad in 1939 with a long track record of instigating anti-Jewish violence, “from the April 1920 Jerusalem pogrom… to the 1929 riots in which 133 Jews were murdered and hundreds injured, to the 1936-39 ‘revolt’ in which hundreds of Jews were murdered.”
Mufti Haj Amin el Husseini giving the Nazi salute to soldiers he apparently recruited,Wiener Illustierte, 12 January 1944 (Photo courtesy of MidEast Web for Coexistence)
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.
The American Sephardi Federations Institute of Jewish Experience in partnership with Association Mimouna present:
The American Sephardi Federations Institute of Jewish Experience in partnership with Association Mimouna present a three-day scholarly and cultural conference dedicated to exploring the uncommon commonalities shared by Moroccan Jews and Muslims. The Morocco Conference is bringing together 40 of the worlds leading academics and artists to explore the historical, spiritual, and cultural expressions of Morocco's culture of coexistence. Scholars, dignitaries, and communal leaders will convene to share research, knowledge, and experiences to foster enhanced understanding and engagement with Morocco's tradition of tolerance and interconnectedness as a model for other Muslim nations and, moreover, the entire world.
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
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).
