Condolences to the Kingdom of Morocco’s Director General Abdellatif Hammouchi (National Police Directorate, the General Directorate for National Security, and General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance) on the passing of his Mother, may her memory be for a blessing.
Best wishes to Lauren Gibli, President of the ASF Young Leaders, on her marriage! “Mazal Tov! Mabrouk! B’Simon Tov!”~Distinguished ASF Board Member Norris Wolff
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.
Are Syrian Jews Arabs? A little order. First, “Syria was called Syria by Aramaic-speaking Christians prior to it becoming linguistically Arabicized.” In addition, “The vast majority of speakers of Arabic… are not Arabs.” What’s more, “There used to be at least three different liturgical-linguistic-cultural Jewish communities, none of whom ever considered themselves to fit under a general rubric of ‘Syrian Jews.’” Conclusion? “Syrian” Jews – whether from Damascus, Aleppo or Qamishli—aren’t really Syrian, nor are they Arab. It’s a helpful reminder that Middle Eastern identity remains local, and the terms that we throw around sometimes obscure as much as they reveal.
Who could close their ears to Daniel Sa’adon giving voice to Yehuda HaLevi’s poetic channeling of Lamentation 3:56
The 1st day of the Hebrew month of Elul fell this year on Monday, August 9th. Beginning on the 2nd day of Elul, Sephardi communities around the world begin singing piyyutim that constitute the cycle of Selichot, penitential prayers leading up to Rosh HaShana and the High Holidays. Starting this week, and running through Yom Kippur, Sephardi World Weekly will feature different payytanim and singers offering their unique interpretations to different Selichot. This week we’re giving the stage to Daniel Sa’adon and his spirited and heartfelt medley of traditional Elul melodies.
The annual “Greek Jewish Festival” hosted by lower Manhattan’s Kehila Kedosha Janina is a “Block Party” this year. Says Community Director Andrew Marcus (who happens to be an ASF Young Leader & ASF Broome & Allen Fellow): “‘While it won’t be as big as our usual festivals, we felt that it was important to bring together our community after being apart for so long.’” So this Sunday, August 15, from noon-4:00pm, you can hang out with the community representing, “the sole Romaniote synagogue in the Western Hemisphere.” The event will feature, “eating, dancing, and gathering.” And in case you’re wondering: Romaniote? “Romaniote Jews are a unique community of Greek-speaking Jews whose history dates back… to the time of Alexander the Great.”
The Aristocrat: The Life and Legacy of Hillel Menashe Sutton By Abraham Sutton
With this memoir, a tribute to the memory of his father, Abraham (Al) Sutton presents a brief synopsis of the history of the Jewish community of Aleppo, Syria, up to and through its diasporas to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, New York, New Orleans, and Deal, New Jersey. All this in a thin volume generously laced with photographs. Al Sutton lost his father when he was only eleven years old. He thought he knew him; but one day he discovered that there had been a eulogy by a renowned kabbalist. He eventually found the text; what he discovered in the process provides the foundation of The Aristocrat. The book is interesting, fast moving, and sparkles with little glimpses of everyday life in a land (Aleppo) that was continuously inhabited by Jewish people from Biblical times until the late 20th century. There are also scenes of Israel during the War of Independence, and Syrian Jewish life in the United States. Author’s notes, bibliography.
The Synagogues of Greece: A Study of Synagogues in Macedonia and Thrace By Elias V. Messinas
Published by the American Sephardi Federation, this is an English edition of Elias V. Messinas’ study The Synagogues of Greece: A Study of Synagogues in Macedonia and Thrace based on his 1999 doctoral dissertation and subsequent work on documentation and protection of Jewish heritage sites in Greece.
The book provides two main themes. First, it is a detailed history of the the synagogues of northern Greece (Macedonia and Thrace), mostly a legacy of the Ottoman period. Messinas has dug deep to collect information on all identifiable synagogues, some known only by name. He traces the history of these institutions and structures and places them in their urban context from the 15th through the 20th centuries - so there is much of value here for student’s of Jewish settlements and Jewish quarters. Almost all of these buildings are gone. Many were destroyed in the great fire that swept Salonika in 1917. Those that were rebuilt were destroyed in the Holocaust or in the years following, when the once large Jewish communities of Northern Greece were reduced to tiny numbers. In the 1990s, Messinas was able to document several extant synagogues—albeit surviving in ruined condition—and document them with measured drawings and photos before they were demolished.
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
(Part 2)
A 3-part series exploring History, Memory, and Legacy
Sunday, 22 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 II / Aug 22: Challenging Religious Authority: The Birth of Heresy and the Inquisition. The Inquisition is infamous in popular culture for the severity of its tortures and persecution of heretics. In Spain and Portugal, this powerful tribunal sanctioned by the Catholic Church became obsessed with the phenomenon of “Judaizing” (Jews who were forcibly converted to Christianity but who secretly tried to keep the Laws of Moses). This webinar will examine the Iberian Inquisition and its relentless pursuit of Crypto-Judaism for three and a half centuries on five continents, reshaping the world of Sefarad.
Welcome Remarks:
Jason Guberman is a social entrepreneur who specializes in building broad coalitions and melding intellectual and technical innovation. Jason is the American Sephardi Federation’s Executive Director, founding Executive Director of Digital Heritage Mapping, and coordinator of DHM’s flagship initiative, the Diarna Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life, which was a 2017 cover story in Newsweek and profiled in the June 2020 issue of the Smithsonian Magazine.
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.”
Musical Guest: Al’Fado is a fresh Israeli-Portuguese ensemble based in the rich music scene of Lisbon. It focuses on music originating from the Iberian Peninsula, through the cultures of the medieval-times Hebrew communities and the chant in an ancient dialect of Spanish mixed with Portuguese and Hebrew called Ladino. The program will feature their musical video Rikordus di mi Nona that was written by the late Flory Jagoda, of blessed memory, a Ladino legend that survived the two world wars and settled in America where she became a world-renowned figure of the Sephardic culture. Al’Fado’s lead singer, Gal, had the opportunity to meet her and obtained her permission to recreate the song which describes her childhood memories in the former Yugoslavia.
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
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).
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.
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
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.
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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).