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21 August 2020 

In Memory of Esther Marcus, A”H. the Mother of Distinguished American Sephardi Federation Executive Board Member Joel Marcus. Esther passed on Thursday at age 92 her Atlanta, Georgia home. She will be interred in the Menorah Gardens Cemetery (Southwest Ranches, Florida) next to her Husband, Ben Reuben Marcus, A”H, the Founding President of the Sephardic Jewish Center of Canarsie. Rabbi Nissim Elnecavé of the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood will officiate. Sibah, which commences on Sunday, will be limited to family members and close friends due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The family asks that donations in her honor be made to Shearith Israel, the Cedarhurst Sephardic Temple, or American Sephardi Federation. Please click here to request information about online services or to send condolences.
  
 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, and Distinguished ASF Vice President Gwen Zuares! Become a Patron today!
 
All Jews Together @ ASF's Institute of Jewish Experience  

“We have to unite our energies together. All Jews, together…. If we are united, all Sephardim and also Ashkenazim, together... we will see the light!”
~Enrico Macias

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience is uniquely dedicated to ensuring that today’s Jews know our history; appreciate the beauty, depth, diversity, and vitality of the Jewish experience; and have a sense of pride in Jewish contributions to civilization.
 

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Never Again – Remembering the Holocaust in Greece – A Book Review” 
By Jim Claven, Neos Kosmos

90% of Greece’s Jewish population was murdered during the Shoah. A new book, The Holocaust in Greece (Cambridge University Press, 2020), tackles the question of why so few Greek Jews survived. One main reason was the participation of local authorities and collaborators. The academic collection accordingly, “takes us through the role of these collaborators—from the leaders of the three successive collaborationist governments in Athens, through the regional and local administrations… to those who profited by the persecution of their fellow Greeks.” Difficult reading, but, “For all who say, ‘never again’, this book will be a welcome addition to their library.”
Lena Russo, A”H, pictured here in Greece, was one of the last of 35 Holocaust survivors from Kastoria, a town that prior to the Shoah was home to 300 Sephardic families. Her remarkable life is 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 on 5 April 2017. 
Feature of the week: HaLev Sheli (“My Heart”)
 

HaLev Sheli (“My Heart”) Single Cover
(Photo courtesy of Yishai Rivo/Omer Adam

Watch and listen as two all-star Israeli vocalists, Yishai Rivo (on the left in the video) and Omer Adam (on the right in the video), offer a heartfelt version of Rivo’s HaLev Sheli (“My Heart”), a humble thanks to the Creator of the Universe for holding and healing the pain in our hearts. According to press reports, Adam, who is half Kavkazi (Mountain Jewish), has been extended an invitation to perform in the United Arab Emirates by a member of the royal family.

Rámi Méir
(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia)
Renowned Russian Museum Features Exhibit On Caucasus Mountain Jews” 
By Mushvig Mehdiyev, Caspian News

The Museum of the History and Culture of Mountain Jews opened this past February in the Azerbaijani city of Krasnaya Sloboda. Now, through 6 September, the State Museum of the East in Moscow is showcasing the life of Kavkazim (Mountain Jews), especially from Azerbaijan, with an exhibition dedicated to the work of the Baku-born and Israeli-based Azerbaijani Jewish poet, singer, and painter, Rámi Méir. The exhibition, entitled “The History of One Nation, For The Entire World,” will display 31 of Méir’s paintings and wooden sculptures. Offers Méir: “‘A person who does not know his history does not know himself. Wisdom is perhaps the most valuable thing in the culture of Mountain Jews. You will find it in my paintings.’”
Sephardi Gifts:
A Cry for Tomorrow 76859...
By Berry Nahmia
Translated by David R. Weinberg

Berry Nahmia was born of Sephardic Jewish parentage in the lovely Byzantine town of Kastoria in the Macedonian province of Greece. In 1944, at eighteen years of age, she was torn from her home by the Nazis and deported along with her parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, and relatives to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. Upon arrival at the camp, she was selected for work as she watched the rest of her family taken to the crematoria and burned.

Her experiences in the camp and her miraculous survival there and on the Death March is the story of an incredible determination to survive the horror of the Holocaust suffered by more than 6,000,000 Jews. This story of survival is chronicled in her book.

 
A Liter of Soup and Sixty Grams of Bread: The Diary of Prisoner Number 109565
By Heinz Salvator Kounio
Translated by Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos

On 15 March 1943 the first Greek transport left from Salonika bound for Auschwitz. Their arrival on 20 March was the beginning of the end of Greek Jewry. Among the 2,800 deported Jews was the 15-year old Heinz Kouinio. Wrenched abruptly from a comfortable upper-middle class home, Heinz found himself immersed in the horrors of the Nazi Concentration Camps. Heinz, along with his mother, father, and sister, would ultimately survive. What kept him going was his fervent wish that his murdered brethren would be remembered and that their killers would be punished. He had to survive to bear witness to that unbelievable horror. Heinz kept a diary in which he recorded his experiences. That diary is the basis of this book.

 
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities:
 
Announcing ChaiFlicks, the American Sephardi Federation's Official Streaming Service.
Featuring the Best in Jewish Entertainment, including your favorite films from the New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival!
 
Sign-up Now!

Sponsorship and Naming opportunities avaialble:
info@americansephardi.org


Be’chol Lashon in collaboration with the Sephardic Brotherhood, PJ Library, and The American Sephardi Federation
Presents:


Ladino Kabbalat Shabbat
Inspired by the Sephardic traditions of Salonica 

Rabbi Nissim Elnecavé will lead a Sephardic-style service, with musical selections from singer Sarah Aroeste and historical context provided by Prof. Devin E. Naar of the University of Washington


Friday, 28 August at 5:00PM EDT

Complimentary RSVP

Sign-up Now!

Rabbi Nissim Elnecavé is an active rabbinic educator in the New York Sephardic community and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America, the national umbrella organization for the Ladino-speaking Sephardic community. He was born in Mexico City to a family descendant from the Sephardic communities of Istanbul and Salonica. He received his rabbinical training in Jerusalem at the Shehebar Sephardic Center and Yeshivat Porat Yosef, focusing on the customs of the Ladino-speaking Sephardic Jews of Turkey, Greece, and the Balkans. Rabbi Elnecavé spoke at the ASF's 2nd International Ladino Day in 2019.

Determined to help bring Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) culture to a new generation, Sarah Aroeste, an international Ladino singer/songwriter, author and cultural activist, draws upon her Sephardic family roots from Greece and Macedonia (via Medieval Spain) to present traditional and original Ladino songs with her unique blend of rock, pop, and jazz. In addition to writing music, Aroeste has published numerous articles and essays about Sephardic cultural preservation, and pens Sephardic-themed books for children. Her most recent book, Buen Shabat, Shabbat Shalom (Kar-Ben and PJ Library), was published March 2020. Sarah performed at the ASF's American Sephardic Music Festival and the ASF's 3rd International Ladino Day in 2020.

Devin E. Naar is the Isaac Alhadeff Professor in Sephardic Studies and Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and History at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he founded and directs the Sephardic Studies Program. Naar received his PhD in History from Stanford University and served as a Fulbright Scholar in Greece. His first book,  Jewish Salonica:Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece, won a 2016 National Jewish Book Award and the prize for the best book from the Modern Greek Studies Association. Naar’s great-grandfather served as a rabbi in Salonica and subsequently as the first ordained spiritual leader of Congregation Etz Ahaim in Highland Park, New Jersey.


Sephardic Culinary History with Chef Hélène Jawhara-Piñer


Episode One:
Eggplant Almodrote and Moroccan Flatbreads


Sephardi Culinary History is a new show that combines chef and scholar Hélène Jawhara-Piñer’s fascination with food studies and flair for creating delicious cuisine. Join along as she cooks Sephardic history!

Sunday, 30 August at 10:00AM EDT


Sign-up Now!

Tickets support Chef Hélène’s forthcoming publications and the ASF’s Institute of Jewish Experience


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).

In 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. Her recipes have appeared in the Sephardi World WeeklyTablet MagazineThe Forward, and S&P Central’s Newsletter. Chef Hélène is currently writing a scholarly book and accompanying cookbook on the Jewish culinary history of Spain.

We are proud Chef Hélène is serving as one of the judges for the ASF's Great Sephardic Chef Competition!



Sponsorship and Naming opportunities avaialble:
info@americansephardi.org


The Axelrod Israel Jewish Film Festival in Partnership with The American Sephardi Federation Presents:

The Virtual Sephardic Film Festival

The Film Series Pass Includes Six Award-Nominated Films
Plus an Exclusive Bonus
Tours of “The History of Jews” in the Middle East
Including Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, Persia, and Kurdistan 
presented by the ASF Institute of Jewish Experience and Diarna Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life 


Sunday, August 30
through
Sunday, September 13


All Films Start at 7:00PM

Each film Is Available for Streaming for 72 Hours

Sign-up Now!



Sponsorship and Naming opportunities avaialble:
info@americansephardi.org


Saving the Iraqi Jewish Archives: A Journey of Identity

Premiére at the American Sephardi Federation’s NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival

Sunday, 13 September

11:00AM EDT (18:00 Israel Time)

Followed by the Q&A with the Filmmakers 
ASF Vice President Carole Basri, Esq. & Adriana Davis


6:00PM EDT 
Rebroadcast


Sign-up Now!

The Iraqi government, under color of law, stripped the Iraqi Jews of their property, including religious and cultural artifacts, starting in 1952. Rescued by US soldiers in 2003 from a flooded basement of the Iraqi secret police, the Iraqi Jewish Archives consist of over 4800 books and artifacts. Among those are the records of the last Jewish education center in Iraq – The Frank Iny School. Presently, the US and Iraqi governments are planning to return those same archives to a politically unstable Iraq. One day there will be little hard evidence for the community to prove they ever existed in Iraq. Moreover, this same plight is being inflicted upon other minorities in the middle east. NYSJFF is pleased to present this eye-opening feature documentary that includes personal stories of escape, how the archives were discovered, and what the archives mean to future generations to come.

Sponsorship opportunities avaialble:
info@americansephardi.org


The ASF’s Great Sephardic Chef Competition


Enter for a chance to win a spot in the ASF’s Virtual Cookbook and other prizes!

Does your family have the best Sephardic recipe? Like to cook Sephardic? Let the world know by submitting  your recipe to the ASF’s Great Sephardic Chef Competition. Entries will be judged by a panel of scholars, chefs, restaurateurs, and authors in the following categories:

Appetizers
Bread
Communities (Greek, Iraqi, Italian, Moroccan, Persian, Spanish, Syrian, et al...)
Desserts
Entrees
Grandma’s Favorite
Mom’s Best
Salads
Shabbat 
Soups
Special Occasions & Creations
Vegan
Yom Tov


Submission Due Date: 15 October 2020 

$10 per entry; unlimited entries!

Submit Your Video Here!


Finalists will be announced on 17 December 2020 by our international panel of judges!


Sponsorship and Naming opportunities avaialble:
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/

 and your generous tax-deductible contribution will empower the ASF to fight for Jewish unity and champion the Sephardi voice in Jewish communal affairs at home and abroad, as well as in our programs, publications, and projects. 

Contact us by email to learn about giving opportunities in honor or memory of loved ones.

Copyright © 2020 American Sephardi Federation, All rights reserved.

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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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