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24 September 2021 

In Memory of Colonel-Major Victor Ohayon, A”H, “Retired Officer of the [Kingdom of Morocco’s] Royal Armed Forces (FAR) [and] one of the most successful Moroccan doctors at the Mohammed V Military Hospital in Rabat.”

 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!

The American Sephardi Federation invites all individuals, communities, and organizations who share our vision and principles to join us on the eve of Rosh HaShanah in signing the American Sephardi Leadership Statement.
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David Menahem, East-West House, Jaffa, Israel, 18 September 2013 
(Photo courtesy of Shmulik Balmas/Youtube)
  
Sukkah ve’Lulav is a piyyut written by Moshe Ben Yahakov Adahan, an 18th century Moroccan Rabbi and Payytan. In this video, the contemporary Israeli Rabbi and Payytan, David Menahem, performs an alternatingly spirited and meditative version of the piyyut according to the traditional Iraqi melody. The performance takes place at the East-West House in Jaffa, Israel, and R’ Menahem is, fittingly enough, backed by an eight-piece band that ranges from an electric bass to four (!) Middle Eastern flutes.

(Photo courtesy of YouTube
  
Yaron Pe’er performs a Sukkot piyyut from the Afghani tradition, Yevorakh Shem Kavod (“Blessed be the Name of Glory”) by Yitzhak Ben David. Even though Ben David embedded his name as an acrostic in the beginning of each rhyme and added in the last line that he is the father of six sons, we know little else about him, including when and where he lived.

Rabbi Moshe Habusha playing the oud
(Photo courtesy of Emil Salman)
  
In honor of Sukkot, the great Iraqi-born payytan, R’Moshe Habusha, sings Yah et Sukkat David Takim (“God, raise up David’s Sukkah”), according to the traditional Babylonian melody. Sephardi World Weekly wishes our readers a joyous Sukkot, with hopes for an even more joyous Sukkot, sans Corona, next year.
Sephardi Gifts:
A Pizmonim: Sephardic-Hebrew Songs of the Middle East, Volume 1
By David Elihu Cohen

Pizmonim, a unity of poetry and song, have been an integral part of the Jewish People and may be traced in the Bible to the very beginning of our history.

The twelve selected Pizmonim contained in this booklet serve to perpetuate the Greater Sephardic culture and tradition of singing praise to the Lord on all joyous occasions.
Mystic Siren: Woman’s Voice in the Balance of Creation
By Dr. Vanessa Paloma Duncan-Elbaz (ASF Broome & Allen Fellow) 

Mystic Siren is about women’s spirituality, Jewish mysticism, and Sephardic musical and cultural traditions. Beautifully illustrated by Gloria Abella Ballen, an award-winning artist recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, Mystic Siren is a unique artistic and scholarly collaboration between a talented mother and daughter team.  

“This little book is an unusual mix of fable and spiritual wisdom that will elevate and enrich the reader, even the parent who is reading to the child.” ~David Suissa

“Vanessa Paloma... is a passionate scholar and performer of songs from the Sephardic Diaspora from North Africa to Turkey...” ~National Public Radio

“Paloma...brings this richness of heritage to her work as an author, performer, teacher and preserver of Ladino songs and music.” ~Here & There, Hadassah Magazine
 
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities:

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

New Works Wednesday with
Jane S. Gerber
and
Noam Sienna


Join Professor Jane S. Gerber and Dr. Noam Sienna as they discuss their research from the new book “Jews and Muslims in Morocco: Their Intersecting Worlds.”

Wednesday, 6 October

@ 9AM PDT ◊ 12PM EDT ◊ 5PM London ◊ 7PM Jerusalem ◊ 8PM Dubai

Sign-up Now!
(Free Admission, registration required) 



About Jews and Muslims in Morocco:
Multiple traditions of Jewish origins in Morocco emphasize the distinctiveness of Moroccan Jewry as indigenous to the area, rooted in its earliest settlements and possessing deep connections and associations with the historic peoples of the region. The creative interaction of Moroccan Jewry with the Arab and Berber cultures was noted in the Jews’ use of Morocco’s multiple languages and dialects, characteristic poetry, and musical works as well as their shared magical rites and popular texts and proverbs. In Jews and Muslims in Morocco: Their Intersecting Worlds historians, anthropologists, musicologists, Rabbinic scholars, Arabists, and linguists analyze this culture, in all its complexity and hybridity. The volume’s collection of essays span political and social interactions throughout history, cultural commonalities, traditions, and halakhic developments. As Jewish life in Morocco has dwindled, much of what is left are traditions maintained in Moroccan ex-pat communities, and memories of those who stayed and those who left. The volume concludes with shared memories from the perspective of a Jewish intellectual from Morocco, a Moroccan Muslim scholar, an analysis of a visual memoir painted by the nineteenth-century artist, Eugène Delacroix, and a photo essay of the vanished world of Jewish life in Morocco.

Purchase the book here!

About the speakers:
Jane S. Gerber is Professor Emerita of History and director of the Institute for Sephardic Studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Dr. Noam Sienna is a scholar of Jewish culture and history, a Jewish educator, and a Hebrew calligrapher and book artist.

Sponsorship opportunities available:

info@americansephardi.org

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

Mizrahi Dance Series with Jackie Barzvi

Join the ASF Institute of Jewish Experience and Jackie Barzvi, creator of the Mizrachi Dance Archive, for a three-part series highlighting the history and movements of Mizrahi dance! Jackie will focus on three different Mizrahi styles: Moroccan, Bukharian, and Yemenite dances.

Each session will be both a lecture and dance class, and participants will learn about the history of each community, gain insight into how dance was included in their traditions, listen to Jewish music from each region, practice traditional movements, and so much more!
The workshops will be held via Zoom and all are welcomed.
No previous dance experience required.


On Sundays
10 October
17 October
24 October

@ 9AM PDT ◊ 12PM EDT ◊ 5PM London ◊ 7PM Jerusalem ◊ 8PM Dubai

Sign-up Now!



About Jackie Barzvi:
Jackie Barzvi is a professional raqs sharqi (belly dance) performer and instructor. She recently created the first ever Mizrachi Dance Archive to highlight specific Jewish dances from the Middle East and North African regions. Jackie was also the IACT Israel Programs Coordinator at Northeastern University Hillel in Boston, and has led over a dozen organized trips to Israel. Jackie is passionate about helping others find their unique Jewish identity and creating environments where people can dance, connect, and build community. To learn more about her work visit the archive at mizrachidancearchive.com

Sponsorship opportunities available:

info@americansephardi.org

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

New Works Wednesday with
Bart Wallet
and
David Wertheim


Join us for a New Works Wednesday with Bart Wallet and David Wertheim, two editors of the new book “Reappraising the History of the Jews in the Netherlands.”

Wednesday, 13 October

@ 9AM PDT ◊ 12PM EDT ◊ 5PM London ◊ 7PM Jerusalem ◊ 8PM Dubai

Sign-up Now!
(Free Admission, registration required) 



About the book:
The two decades since the last authoritative general history of Dutch Jews was published have seen such substantial developments in historical understanding that a new assessment has become an imperative. This volume offers an indispensable survey from a contemporary viewpoint that reflects the new preoccupations of European historiography and allows the history of Dutch Jewry to be more integrated with that of other European Jewish histories. Historians from both older and newer generations shed significant light on all eras, providing fresh detail that reflects changed emphases and perspectives.

In addition to such traditional subjects as the Jewish community’s relationship with the wider society and its internal structure, its leaders, and its international affiliations, new topics explored include the socio-economic aspects of Dutch Jewish life seen in the context of the integration of minorities more widely; a reassessment of the Holocaust years and consideration of the place of Holocaust memorialization in community life; and the impact of multiculturalist currents on Jews and Jewish politics. Memory studies, diaspora studies, and postcolonial studies all play their part in providing the fullest possible picture.
Available at liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk

About the editors:
Bart T. Wallet is Professor of Jewish History at the University of Amsterdam.
David J. Wertheim is the director of the Menasseh ben Israel Institute for Jewish Social and Cultural Studies, Amsterdam.

Sponsorship opportunities available:

info@americansephardi.org

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

Museum Mondays:
The Museum for Islamic Art, Jerusalem


Tour the Museums from the comfort of your own home with Nachliel Selavan, the Museum Guy.

On Mondays

18 October

The Museum for Islamic Art,Jerusalem

Sign-up Now!

8 November
 
A Hanukah Tour Through Ancient Greece - Greek Exhibits in Museums Around the World

Sign-up Now!

10 January
Tour the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in Or Yehuda 

Sign-up Now!

@ 9AM PDT ◊ 12PM EDT ◊ 5PM London ◊ 7PM Jerusalem ◊ 8PM Dubai

(Registration required for each session) 



About your tour guide:
Nachliel Selavan created and delivered an integrated learning and museum tour program for both school and adult educational settings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and has hosted similar pilot visits to a dozen museums in North America, and a few museums in Europe and in Jerusalem. He also teaches and engages audiences through virtual tours and social media. He has recently completed a year long Tanach Study podcast called Parasha Study Plus, delivering a weekly episode of Archaeology on the Parasha, and is now on his second podcast and a new video series reviewing every book in Tanach, called Archaeology Snapshot.

Sponsorship opportunities available:

info@americansephardi.org

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

The World Should Know:
First Steps in Writing Your Memoir


Each of us has a story to tell, we just need the impetus to get started!
Join award-winning author Gila Green in a hands on workshop to begin writing yours or your family’s story.

Writing a memoir is both for you and for future generations.
Begin today!


Thursday, 21 October

@ 9AM PDT ◊ 12PM EDT ◊ 5PM London ◊ 7PM Jerusalem ◊ 8PM Dubai

Sign-up Now!



About Gila Green:
Canadian author Gila Green is an Israel-based writer, editor, and EFL teacher.

Sponsorship opportunities available:

info@americansephardi.org

The American Sephardi Federation, the Jazz Leadership Project, and the Combat Antisemitism Movement present:

Combating Racism and Antisemitism Together: 
Shaping an Omni-American Future


Join artists, thinkers, and musicians who will offer perspectives on how to build a shared “Omni-American” future free of racism and antisemitism.

24-25 October 2021
(Digital Event)

SAVE THE DATE!



The term “Omni-American” is borrowed from the writings of Albert Murray, the great 20th century Black American thinker and writer who, together with his good friend and celebrated novelist, Ralph Ellison, extolled America’s pluralistic and “incontestably mulatto” culture.  By robustly critiquing racial essentialism and strongly emphasizing the power of culture instead of race, Murray and Ellison's writings strike at the root of ideologies that foster division, manipulation, and hatred, and ultimately develop into Antisemitism and Racism.

Sponsorship opportunities available:

info@americansephardi.org

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:

New Works Wednesday with
Andre Elbaz, Edwin Seroussi,
and Michal Ben Ya'akov


Join us for a discussion with three researchers featured in the book “Jews and Muslims in Morocco: Their Intersecting Worlds.”

Wednesday, 27 October

@ 9AM PDT ◊ 12PM EDT ◊ 5PM London ◊ 7PM Jerusalem ◊ 8PM Dubai

Sign-up Now!
(Free Admission, registration required) 



About the book:
Multiple traditions of Jewish origins in Morocco emphasize the distinctiveness of Moroccan Jewry as indigenous to the area, rooted in its earliest settlements and possessing deep connections and associations with the historic peoples of the region. The creative interaction of Moroccan Jewry with the Arab and Berber cultures was noted in the Jews’ use of Morocco’s multiple languages and dialects, characteristic poetry, and musical works as well as their shared magical rites and popular texts and proverbs. In Jews and Muslims in Morocco: Their Intersecting Worlds historians, anthropologists, musicologists, Rabbinic scholars, Arabists, and linguists analyze this culture, in all its complexity and hybridity. The volume’s collection of essays span political and social interactions throughout history, cultural commonalities, traditions, and halakhic developments. As Jewish life in Morocco has dwindled, much of what is left are traditions maintained in Moroccan ex-pat communities, and memories of those who stayed and those who left. The volume concludes with shared memories from the perspective of a Jewish intellectual from Morocco, a Moroccan Muslim scholar, an analysis of a visual memoir painted by the nineteenth-century artist, Eugène Delacroix, and a photo essay of the vanished world of Jewish life in Morocco.

Purchase the book here!

About the speakers:
André Elbaz is a professor emeritus of French at Carleton University.
Edwin Seroussi is a professor of musicology and director of the Jewish Music Research Centre at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Michal Ben Ya'akov is an associate professor of history at Efrata College of Education.

Sponsorship opportunities available:

info@americansephardi.org

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
At the Crossroads:
Provençal Jewish Culture in the Middle Ages


Monday, 1 November

@ 9AM PDT ◊ 12PM EDT ◊ 5PM London ◊ 7PM Jerusalem ◊ 8PM Dubai


Sign-up Now!



The medieval Jewish community of Provence sat at the crossroads of Ashkenaz and Sefarad, a meeting place of diverse ideas and a center of innovative thought. Provençal Jews were renowned for their masterpieces of Talmudic learning as well as groundbreaking works of philosophy and science. It was in Provence that the treasures of Judeo-Arabic learning were translated into Hebrew, from which they were handed down to us today. This distinct blend of traditional and worldly knowledge characterized Provence. Its denizens saw themselves as belonging to a unique regional culture and proudly recorded its customs in books of minhagim and its version of the liturgy. With the French expulsions of the fourteenth century, Provençal Jewish culture was dispersed, but it did not come to a halt. Everywhere that members of this community went, they carried with them their distinctive approach to Jewish life, and their influence is felt into modernity.

About the speaker:
Dr. Tamar Marvin is a scholar of medieval Jewish intellectual history and a semikha student at Yeshivat Mahrat. She holds a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a B.A. in Literature and Journalism from New York University. Dr. Marvin has taught and developed curricula in a variety of academic and Jewish settings, including American Jewish University and Hebrew Union College-JIR, Los Angeles. She has published her work in academic journals as well as writing for broader media. Dr. Marvin’s research centers on questions of how medieval Jews reacted to and creatively adapted new forms of meaning-making in the world they encountered around them, including both philosophical reflection and Kabbalistic speculation.

Sponsorship opportunities available:

info@americansephardi.org

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
No hay boda sin tanyedera:
Ladino Music Salon


Thursday, 4 November at 10:30AM EST 
Sign-up Now!



Are there “right” instruments to accompany Sephardic songs? People often remark on the instruments in the background of Judith’s online lectures and concerts. Here, Judith will use the online format to invite you to this background, her living-room, and all the stringed, wind and hand percussion instruments in it. Rather than background, the instruments, most of them hand-crafted, will be protagonists. Each one has songs and stories associated with it, and your questions and comments will help shape the order in which they’re presented.

About the speaker:
Dr. Judith Cohen is a Canadian ethnomusicologist, medievalist, singer and storyteller specialized in Sephardic music, music among the Portuguese Crypto-Jews, and related traditions. Her presentations are based on both academic research and many years of fieldwork in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, the Balkans, Turkey, French Canada and wherever else her work and curiosity take her. She teaches part-time at York University in Toronto and is the consultant for the Alan Lomax Spain 1952 recordings.

Sponsorship 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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