Hazaq u’Barukh to American Sephardi patriot and United States Marine CorpsColonelJonathan de Sola Mendes on his 100th Birthday! A stalwart member of Congregation Shearith Israel: New York’s Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue, graduate of Dartmouth (Class of 1942), and, for many years, the oldest New York City Marathon runner (who, needless to say, never failed to finish), ColonelJonathan de Sola Mendes flew 100 air combat missions in the Pacific during World War II and 70 in the Korean War, including the last USMC mission on 27 July 1953. ColonelJonathan do Sola Mendes earned 10 Air Medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. The ASF and Jewish War Veterans Foundation/National Museum of American Jewish Military History were honored to host ColonelJonathan do Sola Mendes for our Jewish Warrior Weekend during Veterans Day Weekend, 2017. Años munchos y buenos!
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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!
Sephardic Culinary History with Chef Hélène Jawhara-Piñer Join us on Sunday, 29 November at 10:00AM EST for a Hanukkah Special: Challah Candles and Bimuelos (Two-Ways)
Donate Now Your generous contribution will support Chef Jawhara Piñer’s forthcoming academic publication and accompanying recipe book, as well as the ASF Institute of Jewish Experience!
Hakham Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie, UAE’s newly appointed Senior Rabbi, represented the ASF at Azerbaijan’s II Baku World Summit of Religious Leaders. R’Abadie is seen here with Haji Allahshükür Hummat Pashazade Sheikh ul-Islam and Grand Mufti of the Caucasus, Israel’s Former Chief Sephardic Rabbi and Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Shelomo Amar, and President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, 14-15 November 2019
(Photo courtesy of R’Abadie)
By Chief Rabbi Shneor Segal, Archbishop Alexander, and Sheikh-ul-Uslam Allahshukur Pashazade, Newsweek
Leaders of Azerbaijan’s Jewish, Christian Orthodox, and Muslim communities reject that the recently concluded conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan was religious in character. Indeed, Azerbaijan “is a multi-religious, multi-ethnic nation with a flourishing Ashkenazi Jewish community, our own unique Mountain Jewish community and Christians of the Catholic, Orthodox and Armenian traditions. Even Islam is not of one single branch, with both Sunni and Shia amongst our fellow citizens.” What’s more, these communities don’t simply live side-by-side, “We have met together and prayed together. It is our duty as men of faith to stand with all our peoples, regardless of whether they themselves are of any particular faith or none.”
Ethiopian-Israeli Star Gili Yalo and his band at NYC’s 10th Annual Sigd Celebration
(Screenshot courtesy of YouTube)
The American Sephardi Federation and Chassida Shmella (Ethiopian Israeli-Jewish Community of North America) presented NYC’s only Sigd celebration last year. The event featured a Kessouch reading in Ge’ez ምህልላ, Ethiopian music and shoulder dancing, Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony, and traditional cuisine. Sigd’s headliner was Gili Yalo, one of the most intriguing new artists in Israel’s music scene. From his base in Tel aviv, Gili Yalo is launching a solo career in a new project that combines Ethiopian roots with Soul, Funk, Psychedelic, and Jazz music. Gili Yalo, who has collaborated with top music producers Beno Hendler and Uri Kinrot (Boom Pam), incorporates sounds from traditional Ethiopian music into a contemporary music production. The result is an exceptional, rich, vivid melody accompanied by Gili’s unique voice with lyrics in both English and Amharic.
Video courtesy of talented Moroccan filmmaker Zakaria Siraj.
Don’t miss SIGD: A Global Introspection Event tomorrow, 15 November at 12PM EST
The Bouskila family doesn’t permanently live in Israel, but it has sent three generations of fighters to the IDF. Moroccan-born Nessim Bouskila was 22 when he left Paris to fight in Israel’s War of Independence. He participated in the liberation of Israel’s Negev region, including Metzudat Yoav (the Yoav fortress). Nessim’s son Rabbi Daniel Bouskila (today, a Sephardi Ideas Monthlycontributor and the Sephardic Education Center’s Executive Director) spent his senior High School year in Israel and two years later was fighting in Lebanon. And Nessim’s grandson and R’Daniel’s son, Ilan, enrolled in the IDF after graduating LA’s Shalhevet High School in 2018. Today, he’s serving in the Givati Brigade. Ilan recently participated in a Givati ceremony at the same Yoav Fortress that his grandfather help to liberate, “‘Being there in that moment reaffirmed what I already knew; that I was part of something far bigger and more important than myself and my family; that there would always be more Jews ready to put our lives on the line for our people and future.’”
MetzudatYoav fortress, also known as ‘Iraq Sueidan’ police station, is the heritage center as well as a historic monument of the Givati Brigade. The building was also named the ‘Beast on the Hill’ due to the cruel and harsh battles to conquer this fortress and its surroundings during the State of Israel's War of Independence.
(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
The Grandees: The Story of America’s Sephardic Elite By Stephen Birmingham
The controversial classic purporting to provide insight into how “the Sephardic Jews began a tradition of wealth, pride, and exclusiveness that continues to this day. Stephen Birmingham sheds light on this segment of Jewish society who viewed other Jews as peasants and ardently shunned all publicity. It is the story of over three centuries of power and achievement, scandal and folly, elegant lifestyles, and sometimes flamboyant personalities - a story only Stephen Birmingham could tell with characteristic spellbinding skill.”
Loving Truth and Peace: The Grand Religious Worldview of Rabbi Benzion Uziel By Hakham Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel
Hakham Rabbi Benzion Uziel (1880-1953) was one of the leading rabbinic figures of his generation. He served as Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv-Jaffa and Salonika before becoming the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel (1938), a post he held until his death.
A scion of great Sephardic rabbinical families, he was also well-steeped in the teachings of the Ashkenazic tradition. A staunch traditionalist, he was innovative and sensitive to the challenges to modernity. He was a religious Zionist who taught respect for all Jews, even those who were not religiously observant. He was deeply devoted to the particular teachings and norms of halakhic Judaism, while also maintaining a universalistic outlook and a genuine concern for the well-being of the non-Jewish population within Israel.
Rabbi Uziel was a prolific author. His volumes of responsa, Mishpetei Uziel, are models of halakhic erudition, clarity and sensitivity. Various speeches, sermons, and addresses were included in a volume, Mikhmanei Uziel, reflecting not only Rabbi Uziel's worldview, but also the pressing issues within the Jewish community of his time. Shaarei Uziel is a two-volume work dealing with the laws of guardianship of orphans and with the laws of charity in general. Hegyonei Uziel is a two-volume work in which Rabbi Uziel presents a general philosophy of Judaism.
This book draws on the various published writings of Rabbi Uziel to present his grand religious worldview rooted in Classic Sephardic Judaism. He dealt with issues that are of continuing concern to the Jewish people, such as conversion, halakhah in a modern Jewish state, the role of women in Jewish law, Jewish nationalism, and tolerance.
Sigd is a unique Beta Israel holiday celebrated 50 days after Yom Kippur. Typically it is a day of communal gathering and introspection, which is why this year we'd like to turn to global introspection on this special day. We invite you to gather with us for an online Sigd event that will both explore the meaning behind this holiday and celebrate the Ethiopian culture and tradition. The event will include kessim, dignitaries, special photo essay with Joan Roth, music by Dror Kanunat and more!
At the Crossroads of Sephardic, Mizrahi, and Russian-Speaking Worlds: The History of Bukharian Jews (2-Part Series)
The culture and history of Bukharian Jews is situated at the unique, intersection of Sephardic, Mizrahi and Russian-speaking Jewish identities. Through this 2-part learning series, we will explore the multilayered, rich story of this millennia-old community—discovering the ways in which they have developed their mosaic culture through a dynamic interaction with the dominant and changing societies surrounding them.
Our discussion will also shed light on how their experiences fit into the broader historical saga of the Jewish people.
Born in Uzbekistan, raised in Seattle, and currently based in New York City, Ruben Shimonov is a Jewish educator, community builder, social entrepreneur and artist with a passion for Jewish diversity and pluralism. He previously served as Director of Community Engagement & Education at Queens College Hillel—where he had, within his vast portfolio, the unique role of cultivating Sephardic & Mizrahi student life on campus. Currently, he is the Founding Executive Director of the Sephardic Mizrahi Q Network—a grassroots movement building a supportive, vibrant and much-needed community for LGBTQ+ Sephardic & Mizrahi Jews. He also serves as Vice-President of Education & Community Engagement on the Young Leadership Board of the American Sephardi Federation, as well as Director of Educational Experiences & Programming for the Muslim-Jewish Solidarity Committee. Within both organizations, Ruben has used his artistry in Arabic, Hebrew & Persian calligraphy to enhance Muslim-Jewish dialogue and relationship building. In 2018, Ruben was listed among The Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36” young Jewish community leaders and changemakers. He has lectured extensively on the histories and cultures of various Sephardic & Mizrahi communities. Among his speaking engagements, he has been invited to present at Limmud Seattle, NY and U.K. He is also an alumnus of the COJECO Blueprint and Nahum Goldmann Fellowships for his work in Jewish social innovation.
Sephardic Culinary History with Chef Hélène Jawhara-Piñer
Episode Four: Hanukkah Special
Challah Candles and Bimuelos
(Two-Ways)
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!
Your generous contribution will support Chef Jawhara Piñer’s forthcoming academic publication and accompanying recipe book, as well as the ASF 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).
A virtual tour of the Bukharian Community Center/Synagogue in Queens, NY
Discover how the largest Bukharian Jewish Community outside of Israel ends it up in Queens. What is community like today?
What are the impact and footprints they are leaving in USA society?
Manashe Khaimov is an Adjunct Professor in Jewish Studies, with a specialty in History and Culture of the Bukharian Jews at Queens College. Manashe was born in a city along the Silk Road, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where his ancestors lived for over 2000 years, which makes Manashe’s Jewish identity simultaneously Bukharian, Sephardic, Mizrahi, and Russian speaking.
He is a fourth generation community organizer, informal Jewish educator, and a lifelong learner who brings his passion working with Jewish community. He is founding director and social innovator of the Bukharian Jewish Union, the founder of AskBobo.org, the only Bukharian online dictionary and the founder of The Jewish Silk Road Tours ™ walking tours in NYC. Manashe researched and produced several documentaries about Bukharian Jewish community as part of the Bukharian Lens project: The Untold Story of Bukharian Jews; The Untold Story of Bukharian Jews and Ashkenazi Jews Who Were Evacuated During WWII to Central Asia; Bukharian Roots. Manashe launched MEROS: Center for Bukharian Jewish Research & Identity at Queens College Hillel.
Manashe is a member of the 3rd cohort of UJA-Federation of NY Ruskay Fellows. Manashe is a recipient of the NY Jewish Week “36 Under 36”, and TimesLedger Newspaper’s “Queens Impact Award.” He is an alumnus of the Nahum Goldmann Fellowship for International Jewish Leaders. Manashe earned a BA from Baruch College and MSW from Hunter College in Community Organizing, Planning, & Development. Manashe has presented on the history of the Bukharian Jews at numerous communities all around the United States and beyond including in Canada, Uzbekistan, Limmud South Africa (2018), Limmud FSU Vienna (2020), and presented at eFestival Limmud North America (2020).
Wednesday, 2 December at 12:00PM EST Danny Bar Maoz discusses his new book, “Life without a Childhood in the Yemenite Jewish Community 1882-1948.”
The book is in Hebrew (חיים ללא ילדות בקהילות יהודי תימן 1882-1948) but the lecture will be given in English. Sign-up Now!
Wednesday, 9 December at 12:00PM EST Aviva Ben-Ur discusses her new book, “Jewish Autonomy in a Slave Society: Suriname in the Atlantic World, 1651-1825.” Sign-up Now!
A virtual tour of the Bukharian Jewish Heritage Museum
We will look at fascinating artifacts and traditional clothing from the Bukharian Jewish Heritage Museum. We will discuss their importance and the differences that they contain from the local community in Uzbekistan.
Manashe Khaimov is an Adjunct Professor in Jewish Studies, with a specialty in History and Culture of the Bukharian Jews at Queens College. Manashe was born in a city along the Silk Road, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where his ancestors lived for over 2000 years, which makes Manashe’s Jewish identity simultaneously Bukharian, Sephardic, Mizrahi, and Russian speaking.
The Souiri sense of resilience compelled the Association Essaouira-Mogador’s team to mobilize in the belief that the show must go on!
We proudly announce that this year’s Festival des Andalousies-Atlantiques will be virtual with the Festival’s original dynamic and world-class artists.
Even better, we are now free of borders, barriers, constraints, or tickets! 13-16 December 2020
Watch YouTube Live Here! (Stay tuned for more details)
This yearly rendezvous is generously provided for and open to the thousands of music-lovers, Muslims and Jews, who migrate every year to Essaouira for a musical fall season like no other. For nearly 20 years this autumn of light has been rooted in the emotion of our shared music, the richness of our mixed heritage, and the ever-renewed promises of a great Moroccan history that Jews and Muslims alike have been sharing for more than 20 years, in the fabled architectural wonders of Dar Souiri, Bayt Dakira, and El Minzeh.
Still in the making, the program for this festival includes an exhilarating selection of vintage concerts from previous editions: concerts that have established, beyond oceans, the cultural, spiritual, and artistic diversity at the heart of age-old modernity that Essaouira has chosen to embody.
The selections will also echo our morning symposiums, the expected and sought-after highlights of the Festival, during which violins, lutes, voices, and darboukas have often illustrated the moving and daring debates to the delight of all participants.
We invite you to follow our social media for details on the evolution of the programming and the dates of broadcasts that will be available on our Facebook and Instagram accounts starting 9 November 2020.
Though we will miss the live audience experience this year, the Essaouira Festival des Andalousies-Atlantiques will come back even stronger in 2021, as we are already working on the 18th edition to make it the occasion to meet again in joy and music.
In the meantime, rest in good health and let us support and appreciate culture.
Writing Between Tongues:
An Exploration of Hebrew and Arabic Calligraphy
In this interactive session and virtual gallery tour, we will dive into the rich visual worlds of Arabic and Hebrew calligraphy.
Through historical, spiritual, linguistic and artistic lenses, we will discover the parallels between both languages. Educator, community organizer, and artist Ruben Shimonov will take us on an exploratory journey of his multilingual calligraphy and the ways he has used his art to enrich Muslim-Jewish interfaith communities.
We will end the session with a live calligraphy demonstration.
(No supplies necessary, but if you’d like, feel free to bring whatever writing utensils and paper you have at home to follow along)
Born in Uzbekistan, raised in Seattle, and currently based in New York City, Ruben Shimonov is a Jewish educator, community builder, social entrepreneur and artist with a passion for Jewish diversity and pluralism. He previously served as Director of Community Engagement & Education at Queens College Hillel—where he had, within his vast portfolio, the unique role of cultivating Sephardic & Mizrahi student life on campus. Currently, he is the Founding Executive Director of the Sephardic Mizrahi Q Network—a grassroots movement building a supportive, vibrant and much-needed community for LGBTQ+ Sephardic & Mizrahi Jews. He also serves as Vice-President of Education & Community Engagement on the Young Leadership Board of the American Sephardi Federation, as well as Director of Educational Experiences & Programming for the Muslim-Jewish Solidarity Committee. Within both organizations, Ruben has used his artistry in Arabic, Hebrew & Persian calligraphy to enhance Muslim-Jewish dialogue and relationship building. In 2018, Ruben was listed among The Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36” young Jewish community leaders and changemakers. He has lectured extensively on the histories and cultures of various Sephardic & Mizrahi communities. Among his speaking engagements, he has been invited to present at Limmud Seattle, NY and U.K. He is also an alumnus of the COJECO Blueprint and Nahum Goldmann Fellowships for his work in Jewish social innovation.
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.
“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 Experienceis 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. Donate Now!
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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).
