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30 July 2021 

In Honor of the 22nd Anniversary of the Enthronement of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, King of Morocco.

 Click here to dedicate a future issue in honor or memory of a loved one.

Thank you to 
Sephardi World Weekly Patrons Professor Rifka Cook,  Maria Gabriela Borrego Medina, Rachel Amar, Deborah Arellano, and Distinguished ASF Vice President Gwen Zuares!
Become a Patron today!


During Passover, Iranian regime-backed Houthis expelled almost all of Yemen’s last Jews. They continue to illegally imprison Levi Salem Musa Marhabi. Don’t turn away. Don’t close your eyes. Don’t let another group of Jews become forgotten refugees. Join the ASF’s campaign to #FreeLeviMarhabi.
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Israeli tourists arrive at the Marrakech-Menara International Airport on the first direct commercial flight between Israel and Morocco, on 25 July, 2021
(Photo courtesy of Fadel Senna/AFP)
Direct Israel-Morocco flights launched, months after ties normalized
Kaouthar Oudrhiri, The Times of Israel 

Two separate Israeli carriers now offer direct flights from Israel to Morocco, one of the first fruits of Israel’s normalization agreement with the Northwest African monarchy. The first flight, Sunday, was a cause for celebration. Israeli passengers arriving in Marrakesh, “were met with dates, cakes, and mint tea, at a welcoming ceremony organized in their honor.” Meanwhile, direct flights will strengthen the already deep cultural affinity that many Moroccan Jews in the Moroccan diaspora, including the nearly one million Moroccan Jewish-Israelis, feel with Morocco. As Pinhas Moyal said at the airport, “‘I am originally from Marrakesh. I’ve come back here around 30 times, but this time, the trip has a special flavor — it’s as if it were the first time!’” 

Reva LeAfrica (“Quarter to Africa”)
(Screenshot courtesy of Haim Yafim Barbalat/The Jerusalem Post)

 
Elyasaf Bashari, the oud player and vocalist for Reva LeAfrica (“Quarter to Africa”), has a playful term for the band’s mix of Israeli Mizrahi music, Arabic music, funk, and even jazz, “We call it ‘Afrarab.’” Watch as Reva LeAfrica brings its unique sound to Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda outdoor market, making an uproariously joyous noise with an enthusiastic cross-section of Israeli society. Note: Avishai Cohen, one of Israel’s jazz lions, on upright bass.  
Spain Pledged Citizenship to Sephardic Jews. Now They Feel Betrayed
Nicholas Casey, The New York Times 

In 2015, the Spanish government promised citizenship to the descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled during the inquisition. However, more than 3,000 applications have been rejected in recent months, “raising questions about how serious the country is about its promise of reparations to correct one of the darkest chapters of its history.” María Sánchez, for instance, can identify Spanish-Jewish ancestors, “‘who settled in New Mexico in the 1500s.’” But her application too was rejected. Sánchez’s conclusion? “‘I had to sit down for a minute and think: ‘Well, who am I then?’... Where is my background?... I have a strong Sephardic background. I can say I am a Jew. This is me.’” 

Join the ASF for an exclusive briefing “
Broken Promises:
The Dismantling of the Spanish Law of Return
” on 5 August at 1PM EDT and please add your name to our #SpainPromsies campaign demanding Spain’s government uphold the rule of law by honoring its promises to descendants of Inquisition survivors. 

María Sánchez, this week at her home in Albuquerque, with documents she had gathered for her reparations application 
(Photo courtesy of
Sharon Chischilly/The New York Times)
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities:

Special offer to watch the award-winning documentary about fashion designer Elie Tahari directed & produced by David Serero

“The United States of Elie Tahari”

Click here to watch the movie!
Use promo code: ASFTAHARI for a discount on rentals

(Available for 30 days only)

Discover the unique story of Elie Tahari, a Persian Sephardic Jew who moved to Israel as a refugee and lived in one of the Ma’Baarot, moved to New York in the 1970s with less than $100, and built a Billion-dollar fashion empire. Only three fashions companies survived more than four decades, achieved billions of dollars in gross, and are still run by their owners: Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, and Elie Tahari.  Tahari received the Oded Halahmy-sculpted ASF Pomegranate Award for Lifetime Achievement for a Fashion Designer at the 23rd NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival.

Jewish Heritage Alliance, in collaboration with the American Sephardi Federation and other co-hosting Partners, presents:

Sefarad: The Untold Story That Changed the World

A 3-part series exploring History, Memory, and Legacy

Sunday, 1 August at 1:00PM EDT
Sign-up Now!
(Free Admission, registration required) 



“The Sefardic experience is more than merely recounting a history; this is a far-reaching segment of Jewish and world history spanning centuries with profound consequences still unfolding in present day. Yet despite its historic importance, many in the Jewish and Latino communities have yet to learn the relevance and impact of these events.

Part I / Aug 01: In the Beginning: From King Solomon to the Ends of the Earth. The history of Sefarad evokes both great achievements and the depths of despair. This presentation will take us from the early arrival of the Jews to the Iberian Peninsula, through the “Golden Age”, a time of intellectual, social, and financial achievements, to the dark periods of riots, massacres, forced conversions, Inquisition, leading to expulsion and thus creating the Sefarad diaspora that changed the course of history.

Join Dr. Isaac Amon, JHA’s Director of Research & Project Development on a fascinating journey spanning time and space to the origins, experiences, and legacy of Sefarad, the Jews of the Iberian Peninsula, today’s Spain and Portugal.

Dr. Michelle Green Willner, a dramatic and evocative award-winning composer, conductor and educator is our special guest who will share with us a part of her moving musical arrangement “A Letter Fell Out of the Sky”, a two-movement piece commemorating the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.”

The American Sephardi Federation presents:

Broken Promises:
The Dismantling of the Spanish Law of Return


Following-up on the New York Times’ exposé, join the American Sephardi Federation for an exclusive briefing on the situation in Spain as the ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) bureaucratically dismantles the Sephardic citizenship law, betraying Spain’s promise to atone for the Alhambra Decree and the horrors of the Inquisition. 

Thursday, 5 August at 1PM EDT 
Complimentary RSVP




Sign-up Now!

Tens of thousands of Inquisition survivor descendants are now being cynically rejected or even cruelly having their citizenship revoked, after investing years of time and money to comply with Spain’s rigorous application process. The Spanish government’s illegal actions are a fresh insult to historical injury, especially for the Anusim (Crypto-Jews), those who are no longer Jewish on account of the forced conversion and centuries of persecution endured by their ancestors.

This is a matter of life and death for Venezuelan Sephardic refugees in Spain, who have already been threatened with deportation.


Join the ASF for a timely discussion with those directly involved and please add your name to our #SpainPromsies campaign demanding Spain’s government uphold the rule of law by honoring its promises to descendants of Inquisition survivors. 

An integral partner of and based at New York’s Center for Jewish History, the American Sephardi Federation represents Greater Sephardic voices in Jewish communal and diplomatic affairs as a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and World Jewish Congress.

Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum presents:

Greek Jewish Block Party

“Join us to celebrate our Romaniote and Sephardic heritage and reconnect with our community.
Enjoy delicious food, live music, Greek dancing, and kids activities.”


Sunday, 15 August  12:00-4:00PM EDT
Free Admission 
All public health guidelines will be followed


280 Broome Street
(Between Allen & Eldridge St.)
Lower East Side, NYC




The American Sephardi Federation is a proud Community Partner of the Greek Jewish Festival

The Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood Presents

2021 Sephardic Birthright Trip

“Registration is now open for this year’s Sephardic Birthright Trip! 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. The trip is totally FREE and anyone between the ages of 18 and 28 who hasn't been on a Birthright Israel trip before is eligible. Even if you’ve been to Israel before on a non-birthright trip, you may still be eligible. The trip will follow all related COVID-19 Health Guidance as required by the US Centers for Disease Control and the Israel Ministry of Health.”
 
You can sign up now at sephardicbrotherhood.com/birthright. Registration takes less than 10 minutes and no final commitment is necessary. When registering, make sure to write “Sephardic Israel” as your “referred by” group and Amazing Israel as your trip provider.


August 22 - September 1 2021


Sign-up for the trip now!



Note: While not an ASF program, the ASF is proud of the ASF Young Leaders involved in organizing this trip.

The American Sephardi Federation presents:

Sephardic Culinary History with Chef & Scholar Hélène Jawhara-Piñer

Final, twelfth episode of the show: 
Fruits & Spiced Round Challah for Rosh HaShana

Get ready to cook Sephardic history!


Sunday, 29 August @ 7AM PDT ◊ 10AM EDT ◊ 3PM London ◊ 5PM Jerusalem ◊ 6PM Dubai



Sign-up Now!

Pre-order your copy of “Sephardi: Cooking the History.
Recipes of the Jews of Spain and the Diaspora, from the 13th Century Onwards”

(recently ranked “#1 New Release in Spanish Cooking, Food & Wine” on Amazon).



ASF Broome & Allen Fellow Hélène Jawhara Piñer earned her Ph.D in History, Medieval History, and the History of Food from the University of Tours, France.

Chef Hélène’s primary research interest is the medieval culinary history of Spain through interculturality with a special focus on the Sephardic culinary heritage written in Arabic. A member of the IEHCA (Institute of European History and Cultures of Food), the CESR (Centre for Advanced Studies in the Renaissance), and the CoReMa Project (Cooking Recipes of the Middle Ages), Chef Hélène has lectured at Bar-Ilan University (in collaboration with the Stali Institute and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC): “El patrimonio culinario judío de la Península Ibérica a través de un manuscrito del siglo XIII. Ejemplos de la pervivencia de recetas en la cocina de los sefardíes de España y de Marruecos,” 2018), as well as at conference of the Association Diwan (“Reflections on the Jewish heritage according to the Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ,” 2015), IEHCA of Tours (“Jews and Muslims at the Table: Between coexistence and differentiation: state of affairs and reflections on the culinary practices of Jews and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula and in Sicily from the 12th to the 15th century,” 2017), and Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies (“The hidden Jewish culinary heritage of the Iberian Peninsula through a manuscript of the 13th century. Examples of the provenance of some recipes in Venezuelan and Colombian cuisine,” 2017).

Last May, Chef Hélène hosted “Shavuot in the Sephardic Kitchen: Bread of the Seven Heavens,” one of the most popular sessions of the Great Big Jewish Food Fest. An administrator of the over 11,000 member Sephardi Cuisine! group on Facebook, her recipes have appeared in the Sephardi World WeeklySephardi Ideas MonthlyTablet MagazineThe Forward, and S&P Central’s Newsletter.

To follow Hélène on Instagram click here.


Sponsorship and Naming opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org


The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

The Persian Experience

Sign-up now!

Jews lived in the Middle East, and particularly Iran, even before the advent of Islam. Iran has a long history with varying dynasties, dynastic changes, and evolving borders and Jews have been there continuously throughout these changes. Throughout the ascent of Islam in its different forms, Jews were integrated at times more and at times less economically. There were times of intellectual and spiritual growth as well as suppression and persecution. All this will be addressed and discussed in a historical context.

The course is divided into seven units:


1. The Ancient Period – the settlement of the Jews in Iran, Acaemenid, Parthian, and Sassanian times
2. 7th to 9th Centuries – The emergence of Islam, Islam and the Jews, Dhimma, and Jewish religious streams
3. 13th to 18th centuries – Mongols, Jewish Persian poets, Safavid times
4. Mid-18th century to 19th century – Invasion, dynasties, and persecutions
5. The latter part of the 19th century – Interactions with World Jewry, legal status and conversions
6. Early 20th century – Modernization and education, constitution revolution, Zionism
7. The 20th century – Pahlavi dynasty, Revolution, Mashadis, and Migration


Dr. Daniel Tsadik
Dr. Daniel Tsadik, a former professor of Sephardic and Iranian Studies at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, has been awarded The Prime Minister’s Prize (Israel) in 2020 for the Encouragement and Empowerment of Jewish Communities in Arab Countries and Iran for The Jews of Iran and Rabbinic Literature: New Perspectives, published by Mosad Ha-Rav Kook.
Tsadik researches the modern history of Iran, Shi'ah Islam, and Iran's religious minorities. A Fulbright scholar, he earned his Ph.D from the History Department at Yale University.

Dr. David Yeroushalmy
Born in Tehran, David Yeroushalmy completed his primary and part of his secondary education at the Alliance Israelite school in Tehran. He immigrated to Israel in 1961 and upon completing his secondary education he enrolled in the Department of Middle Eastern History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Completing his B.A. in Middle Eastern Studies and in Political Science, he served in the Israeli Army as an officer. He pursued his doctoral studies at Colombia University New York, in the Department of Middle East Languages and Cultures. He specialized in Persian and Hebrew languages and literatures. D. Yeroushalmy was appointed lecturer in the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel-Aviv University, where he has been teaching Persian language and Iranian history and culture. His Book entitled The Judeo-Persian Poet Emrani and His Book of Treasure, was published by E.J. Brill Publishers, Leiden, in 1995. Dr. Yeroushalmy's current research focuses on the communal and cultural history of Iranian Jewry in the course of the nineteen-century.

Ms. Lerone Edalati
Lerone Edalati is a member of the Mashadi community of New York. In addition to her role as Associate Director of Donor Relations at ISEF, she researches and records the history and current practices of the Mashadi Jews. She holds a BA from NYU in Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies, and an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from The Graduate Center, CUNY. She is a Broome & Allen Fellow at the American Sephardi Federation and is currently gathering oral histories of Iranian Jews in NY.

Dr. Hilda Nissimi
Dr. Hilda Nissimi is the chair of the Generatl History Department at Bar Ilan University. Her most current research focuses on the formation adn change of identity layers in crypto-religious communities, with a particular focus on Mashadi Jews. Her book, The Crypto-Jewish Mashadis, was published in 1985 and remains the main text on the study of that population. She has written numerous articles on identity and forced conversions.


This course is made possible with the support of The Shazar Center, Israel.

For more information and other ASF IJE online course offerings visit:
 https://courses.instituteofjewishexperience.org/



Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org


The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

The Crypto Experience
The Global History of Secret Jews

An online course presented in 10 minute episodes.
Learn at your own pace.


Please sign-up now!
Total cost of the course is $75.00

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience is proud to present “The Crypto Experience,” an online course on Crypto-Jews. It is part of a series of online courses on a variety of topics that make up the robust Jewish experience.

For hundreds of years there have been descendants of Crpto-Jews, who have covertly kept some of their traditions while maintaining a very different public persona. It is a question of identity, be it Huegenot, Catholic, Sephardi, or Mashadi. Professing one faith on the outside and another on the inside speaks to our quest for defining identity today.

These questions of identity that we think are so new and so relevant are really rather old questions under different circumstances. In this course Dr. Hilda Nissimi (Bar Ilan University) presents an overview of crypto societies historically and in the context of today. She challenges the participants to ask themselves difficult questions like: What defines identity? If I project this outer self, how do I keep my real me? Who is the real me? Am I the me before the expression of an outer facade? Is it a new me?

The course discusses these questions as they pertain to Jews, specifically. What does it mean to be a Jew? What do I have to keep if I want to call myself a Jew? Am I allowed to change? Am I the person to decide? Who will decide? How can anyone decide under such circumstances?

In order to understand this in historic and cultural contexts, world-renowned scholars and experts in the field have joined Dr. Nissimi and will be presenting the challenges facing a range of crypto societies: 

Huegenots – Dr. Hilda Nissimi
Spanish-Portuguese Crypto Society – Dr. Ronnie Perelis (Yeshiva University)
Bildi’in of Morocco – Professor Paul Fenton (Sorbonne Université, Paris) 
Mashhadi Jews of Iran – Dr. Hilda Nissimi
Tracing Jewish Roots – Genie and Michael Milgrom
Growing Up Mashhadi– Reuben Ebrahimoff


For more information and other ASF IJE online course offerings visit: https://courses.instituteofjewishexperience.org/


The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

The Greek Experience
Explore the world of Greek Jewry from the ancient Romaniote to the Sephardim and others who made it to and through Greece.

An online course presented in 10 minute episodes.
Learn at your own pace.


Please sign-up now!
Total cost of the course is $75.00

Jews have been in Greece since before the Temple was destroyed. They were in Greece upon the founding of the Greek Orthodox Church. Community members, known as Romaniote, made their way through Venice, Byzantium, Spain, across the Ottoman Empire, and beyond.
 
Dr. Yitzchak Kerem provides an overview of the unique languages, liturgical nuances, and communal life of Jews across Greece. Dr Kerem spent significant time living in Greece and researching Greek and Sephardic history. Photographs, maps, and personal accounts provide course participants with a full picture of the unique nature of the Jews of Greece and its surroundings.
 
In the course, participants will look at major influential points in Greek Jewish history. They will explore The Golden Age of Salonika, a time when Greece’s northern city was a hub of Jewish scholarship. Kerem introduces the tension arising in the Greek Jewish community because of Shabtai Tzvi and the Sabbateanism movement that brought with it false messianism and conversion to Islam, at least outwardly.
 
The course looks at when the Alliance Israélite Universelle moved in and the Sephardic culture in Greece developed a rich secular culture with its own novels, theater, and music. 
 
This is part of the greater Jewish heritage and history that is often overlooked. ASF IJE online courses will bring to life all parts of the greater Jewish Experience.

For more information and other ASF IJE online course offerings visithttps://courses.instituteofjewishexperience.org/

With your generous, tax-deductible donation, the ASF can cultivate and advocate, preserve and promote, as well as educate and empower!



Please donate now to support the American Sephardi Federation!
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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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