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31 May 2019 

In Memory of the victims and survivors of the Farhud, the two-day, Nazi-instigated attack on Babylonian Jewry that took place 78 years ago on 1-2 June 1941 at Baghdad, Iraq. In this Diarna interview, Ruth (née Rejwan) Pearl, the mother of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, HY”D, recounts her story of survival
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22nd Annual Sephardic Jewish Film Festival Honored Morocco on Opening Night” 
By Tom Pollitt, Inside Arabia
 
“The Moroccan community turned out in droves,” for the special Moroccan Opening Night of the 22nd NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival co-presented by the ASF and Association Mimouna. The idea for a Moroccan Opening Night began at the 20th NYSFF when Mr. André Azoulay, Senior Counselor to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, was honored with the ASF Pomegranate Award for Lifetime Achievement. This year’s Opening Night featured Maxime Karoutchi, a Jewish-Moroccan alumnus of Mr. Azoulay’s world-renowned Festival des Andalousies Atlantiques at Essaouira, who together with “[v]irtuoso Moroccan-American Oud player, Rachid Halihal,” gave a “stunning performance… during which audience members were dancing in the aisles….”
 
Maxime Karoutchi and ASF Young Leaders Founder & President Lauren Gibli, 22nd NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival, 6 March 2019 (Photo courtesy of Chrystie Sherman
Feature of the week: The Lower East Side Comes Alive with Greek Jewish Culture
 

The Greek Jewish Festival (Photo courtesy of YouTube)
 
New York’s Lower East Side recently came alive with the fifth annual Greek Jewish Festival. Hosted by Kehila Kedosha Janina, the only Romaniote Synagogue and Museum in the Western Hemisphere, and made possible by an impressive array of community sponsors (the American Sephardi Federation proudly amongst them), the Festival featured food, music, and an outdoor marketplace. This week’s video offers a brief taste of this special celebration with highlights from the 2017 festival. 

Dr. Aryeh Tepper of the American Sephardi Federation and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
(Photo courtesy of Dr. Tepper/Times of Israel
Israelis and the world of jazz get the academic treatment” 
By Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel
 
It turns out that Israeli creativity isn’t limited to hi-tech. A recent conference at Ben Gurion University explored a cultural dimension of Israeli innovation, namely, the amazing rise of Israeli jazz. Organized by the American Sephardi Federation’s Director of Publications, Dr. Aryeh Tepper, participants investigated the intersection of jazz and Sephardi identity, while the Israel-based, Brooklyn-born Sephardi jazz musician and ASF Pomegranate Award recipient, Itamar Borochov, performed an evening set dedicated to jazz and piyyut. Says Tepper: “‘Jazz… has made a wonderful entrance into the depths of Israeli life and society and that’s a beautiful thing about music in general; it’s a shortcut to the soul.’”
Her home-cooked Yemenite Jewish food is an homage to family, and now a business” 
By Alix Wall, The Jewish News of Northern California
 
Various forms of Jewish-Israeli cuisine are showing up in different cities around the globe. A recent example is Ma’lawah Bar, named after the flaky Yemenite Jewish pancake and run out of Doreet Jehassi’s Santa Clara home. Of course, food is never simply food, and when it comes to Yemenite cuisine: “Food is about being with family and friends and having that togetherness… you don’t just eat this by yourself, you eat it with a crowd of people.”
 
Ma’lawach Bar owner Doreet Jehassi with a plate of jachnun served with tomato paste and schug, Santa Clara, California
(Photo courtesy of Alix Wall/The Jewish News of Northern California
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American Sephardi Federation Presents:

NABUCCO
Opera by Giuseppe Verdi

Sunday, 2 June at 6:00PM
Closing Night; Followed by After Party

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

Reserve tickets here


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).


The American Sephardi Federation & Consulate General of Spain at New York present:

Visados para la Libertad (Visas for Freedom)

Thursday, 13 June at 7:00PM
Exhibit Opening (RSVP Required)

Please RSVP here

On view until July

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


“The history of the Holocaust is not merely one of villains and their victims. There were also those who did not want to stand idly by in the face of tragedy; driven by their conscience, they decided to take action. Among these are the heroes, those who risked, or even sacrificed, their own lives to save others. However, there is also another group of individuals, whose actions behind the scenes, albeit more modest, are no less deserving of remembrance and tribute. They took advantage of the scope of Influence offered by their position or profession to protect and help, as far as was at all possible, Jews condemned to extermination in Europe. This was the case of some Spanish Diplomats. In the aftermath of the World War II, The Spanish government would claim that the regime’s official policy was devoted to humanitarian concerns, which they either tolerated or hindered.  It was, rather, individual diplomats, those to whom this exhibition pays homage, who did what was possible, and sometimes impossible, to save Jewish lives during the Holocaust.”


The American Sephardi Federations Institute of Jewish Experience in partnership with Association Mimouna present:

The Morocco Conference
Uncommon Commonalities: Jews and Muslims of Morocco



Monday, 17 June at 7:00PM
Opening Cultural Night
Tuesday, 18 June, 9:00AM-6:00PM
Academic Sessions
Wednesday, 19 June, 9:00AM-6:00PM
Academic Sessions
Wednesday, 19 June at 7:00PM
Closing Night

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

Please register here
or call: 
1.800.838.3006


The American Sephardi Federation’s 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 world’s leading academics and artists to explore the historical, spiritual, and cultural expressions of Morocco’s exceptional 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.


American Sephardi Federation Presents:

Romeo & Juliet
Jewish Adaptation 
Starring  David Serero as Romeo.

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

Please register here


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.


Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America Presents:

Sephardic Birthright Israel Trip

26 June - 7 July, 2019

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.”

Sign up now or learn more here

Note: While not an ASF program, ASF is proud of the members of our Young Leadership Board who are involved in organizing this trip


Nosotros 2.0: Strengthening Bonds Between Jewish and Latino Communities

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 mid June

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.

 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) 548-4486

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