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4 September 2020 

We stand in solidarity with Philadelphia’s Congregation Mikveh Israel, which was recently the victim of anti-Semitic vandalism, as reported by the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement. The “Synagogue of the American Revolution" is a classic Western (Spanish & Portuguese) Sephardic community close to the ASF’s heart. Parnas Emeritus Leon Levy and Parnas Eli Gabay, Esq., are both Distinguished Members of the ASF’s Board of Directors. Mikveh Israel’s Hakham Rabbi Albert Gabbai said in response to the attack: “‘There is still, unfortunately, hatred in the hearts of people.... In Judaism, we are forbidden to hate.... We have to teach love...’”
  
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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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Bestselling author’s new [Young Adult] novel stars teenage Sephardic Jew under Inquisition” 
By Renee Ghert-Zand, The Times of Israel

Gail Carson Levine is an American author of books for young adults. Her latest offering, A Ceiling Made of Eggshells, is personal. Set in the late 15th century and the Expulsion of Spanish Jewry, Levine dives into the Sephardi heritage that her Greek-born father, orphaned as a child in New York and raised in an Ashkenazi environment, wasn’t able to pass on. In the process, she draws in young readers, “by creating an authentic and compelling atmosphere, the result of several years of intense research. She studied up not only on the Jews of Sepharad, but also on the minutiae of everyday life in Spain during the period.”
Gail Carson Levine
(Photo courtesy of the author)  

 

Hamilton's Jewish Roots
(Image courtesy of UNPKD/Youtube

The latest scholarly evidence indicates that Alexander Hamilton was, indeed, Jewish and educated in a Sephardi Talmud Torah on Nevis. And no, this isn’t another instance of finding a Jewish connection to everyone important who has ever lived. Oklahoma University Professor Andrew Porwancher began his research before Lin Manual Miranda produced his magnificent musical, and, in this video, he makes the case. Dr. Porwancher’s book, The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton, will be published by Princeton University Press in 2021.

Dr. Ronnie Perelis, Chief Rabbi Dr. Isaac Abraham and Jelena (Rachel) Alcalay Associate Professor of Sephardic Studies at Yeshiva University, an ASF Institute of Jewish Experience Advisory Board Member, and the ASF’s Representative on the Center for Jewish History’s Academic Advisory Board
(Photo courtesy of YUNews
Living Diasporically in the Zoomisphere” 
By Dr. Ronnie Perelis, YUNews

Teaching via Zoom, one loses the face-to-face conversation that constitutes the soul of the humanities. However, at the same time, Zoom creates a fascinating dynamic in which people from across the world are linked together in a virtual space. In this post, Dr. Ronnie Perelis meditates on the experience of teaching via Zoom, including as co-organizer of the ASF Institute of Jewish Experience’s Global Nação Conference on Western (Spanish & Portuguese) Sepharadim, and the uncanny Diaspora dynamic that such teaching creates. While Perelis, “missed the little things, missed people in the flesh,” he admits, “that this Zoom thing is pretty miraculous… For centuries… ties were maintained through the traffic in letters, goods, money and people… Zoom allows us to create and keep those bonds immediately and all at the same time… We got to connect with people across oceans and time zones and share our ideas and passions through these little boxes.”
Sephardi Gifts:
Sephardi Voices, 1492-1992: A Study Guide
By Hakham Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel

What happened to Spanish Jewery after their expulsion from Spain in 1492? Where did the Sephardim settle, who were some of their leading thinkers and personalities, what were their continuing contributions to world Jewery?

Rabbi Angel brings us a rich treasury of historical documents. Spanish folklore; philosophical, ethical, and mystical tracts; and especially rabbinic responsa-all help us to understand the changing conditions that Sephardic Jews faced in their new worlds. Rabbinic responsa, which are based on halakhah, do not develop in a vacuum. New situations raise new questions, which in turn require new answers.

 
Our Story: The Jews of Sepharad; Celebrations and Stories
By Lea-Nora Kordova Annette and Eugene Labovitz

Celebrations and Stories, a special publication of the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education with the American Sephardi Federation, is an essential work that enhances the teaching of Sephardi history, traditions, and cultures. 

The life cycle and calendar sections are designed to horizontally connect to the teaching of customs and ceremonies from the Spanish & Portuguese, Syrian, Judeo-Spanish, and Moroccan traditions. Other sections include translations of classic texts and poetry, tales of our history’s heroes, and classroom activities. 
 
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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


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, 30 August 
through
Sunday, 13 September

Don't miss Live Zoom Q&A with Avi Dabach the Great Grandson of the Keeper of The Aleppo Codex on Sunday, 13 September at 5:00PM 

All Films Start at 7:00PM
Links and Passwords will be sent out a few hours prior to the start of each film.
Each film is Available for Streaming for 3 Days


Sign-up Now!

Check out the Trailers Below!

(Talkbacks for These Films Coming Soon)
 

      

    

           




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

ASF Young Leaders present:

Sephardi Indie Film Series

Broken Bird

Director Screening and Discussion with the Director
Rachel Harrison Gordon


Tuesday, 15 September at 7:00PM EDT


Sign-up Now!
(Complimentary RSVP)



Rachel Harrison Gordon is an MFA/MBA candidate at NYU Tisch/Stern and a Sundance 2020 Blackhouse Fellow. Rachel's interest in storytelling evolved through pursuits of perspectives in journalism and in government. She has studied people through quantitative behavioral data and through their stories, and hopes to create films, commercials and music videos that highlight the different ways people come of age. Her work challenges expectations of race, family, and addiction.

Prior to NYU, she served as a Presidential Innovation Fellow for the Obama Administration, learning about Veterans and their experience returning home. She worked as a data analyst within a consumer insights group at The New York Times. Rachel graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering, where she studied Mechanical Engineering. Broken Bird is Rachel's first film.

The Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America and the American Sephardi Federation present:

Preparing for the High Holidays
Understanding our Sephardic Laws and Traditions with
Hakham Rabbi Elie Abadie, M.D.


On Wednesdays at 8:00PM EDT
16 September -
 Rosh Hashanah 
23 September - Yom Kippur

30 September - Sukkot
7 October - Simhat Torah


Sign-up Now!
(Comlimentary RSVP)



Rabbi Elie Abadie, M.D., comes from a long and distinguished rabbinical lineage dating back to fifteenth century Spain and Provence. Born in Beirut, Lebanon, he grew-up in Mexico City before settling in the United States. Following in the footsteps of the great Jewish scholar and philosopher Moses Maimonides (the Rambam), he is both a rabbi and a physician. Rabbi Dr. Abadie maintains a practice in Gastroenterology and is fluent in English, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, French, as well as conversant in Italian and Portuguese. He serves on the Boards of the American Sephardi Federation and Beit Hatfutsot, as the Director of the Jacob E. Safra Institute of Sephardic Studies at Yeshiva University, Head of School of the Sephardic Academy of Manhattan, and Founder and Leader of the Manhattan East Synagogue – Congregation Shaare Mizrah.


Sephardic Culinary History with Chef Hélène Jawhara-Piñer


Episode Two:
Beans, Chicken, and Brown Nougat


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!

Wednesday, 30 September 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 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.

Thank you for opting (on our websites, at an event, or by email) to receive American Sephardi Federation Programming Updates and Publications. We apologize if this message was sent in error.

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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