In Honor of Mr. Eli Devico, a successful Moroccan Jewish entrepreneur and generous philanthropist, who serves as the Fez Jewish community’s treasurer as well as custodian of many of the Jewish sites in the city. He has personally, with great energy and attention to detail, worked to restore and beautify Fez’s historic cemetery. Mr. Devico has also served as an advisor to our friends and partners, Mimouna Association, since 2007 and is an enthusiastic supporter of the ASF and Mimouna Association’s USAID-supported Rebuilding Our Homes project in Fez
The Sephardi World Weekly is made possible by Professor Rifka Cook, Maria Gabriela Borrego Medina, Rachel Amar, Deborah Arellano, and Distinguished ASF Vice President Gwen Zuares!
Click here to dedicate a future issue in honor or memory of a loved one
Read the latest “Letter from the Land of Israel”: A Sephardi Sage’s Timely Thoughts on The Festival of Freedom
📚“Photos tell story of Jewish life around the globe in new Haggadah”
By Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel
Bookcover: Pictures Tell: A Passover Haggadah by Zion Ozeri. Edited by Joshua A. Feinberg and Sara Wolkenfeld
The photographic images of celebrated photographer (and friend of the ASF) Zion Ozeri are the central focus of a new Haggadah, Pictures Tell: A Passover Haggadah, which features photos from around the Jewish world. The images are intended to stimulate thought, with insights offered by thinkers, such as Daniel Gordis, Yossi Klein Halevi, Deborah Lipstadt, R’Daniel Bouskila, Jonathan Sarna, and R’David Wolpe, as well as QR codes providing links to relevant sources on Sefaria, a partner in developing the Haggadah. Other QR codes take you to Passover songs of various Jewish communities. What’s the source of Ozeri’s visual curiosity? “Ozeri… was born to a Yemenite family in Israel…[and] raised during the years of mass immigration from other countries, instilling in him a lifelong interest in cross-culture perspectives.”
Feature: A Piyyut for Passover: R’ Raphael Entebbi’s Yachid Nora (“Awesome One”) 🎶🔊
The Love of Piyyut Project performing Yachid Nora
(Screenshot courtesy of YouTube)
“The Love of Piyyut Project” performs a rousing rendition of Yachid Nora (“Awesome One”) by the great Syrian rabbi and payytan, R’Raphael Entebbi (1853-1919). The piyyut is still sung with gusto by Halabi (Aleppian) Jews on Passover. The ASF wishes you and yours Chaj Pesach Sameach, Happy Passover!
🙏“Passover Symbols--Symbols for our Lives”
By Rabbi Marc D. Angel, The Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals
“Historiated initial-word panel with gold letters: Avadim at the beginning of the passage, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh,’” The Barcelona Haggadah, Catalonia, Spain, c. 1340
(Image scan courtesy of The British Library)
According to the ancient Mishna, R’Gamliel liked to say that we are obliged to talk about three things during the Passover seder: matzah, Pesach (the lamb offering), and maror (bitter herbs). Rabbi Marc D. Angel understands R’Gamliel as referring to three concentric realms of humble, empathetic consciousness, from the individual to the family to the world as a whole: “Matzah is… basic… flour and water, without leavening. It stands for our basic selves, unpretentious, not inflated with vanity or pride… Because of its sheer simplicity and honesty, Matzah symbolizes freedom… The Pessah offering in the ancient Temples in Jerusalem was to be eaten in groups of family and friends… the Pessah offering reminds us that we are part of a family, part of a larger community… The Maror, bitter herbs, remind us that the world includes many people whose lives are filled with suffering, pain and bitterness… We cannot forget the immeasurable pain inflicted by wars, by terrorism, by cruelty, by disease, by poverty....”
The ASF’s Sephardi World Weekly is pleased to offer the following
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The American Sephardi Federation invites all individuals, communities, and organizations who share our vision & principles to join us in signing the American Sephardi Leadership Statement!
Please also support the ASF with a generous, tax-deductible contribution so we can continue to cultivate and advocate, preserve and promote, as well as educate and empower!
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By Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel
This unique Sephardic Passover Haggadah will be valued by Sephardim and Ashkenazim alike. Hakham Rabbi Angel provides a new, readable translation of the classic Haggadah text. Added to it are some selections in Judeo-Spanish as well as the popular “Bendigamos” blessing after meals.
This special edition of the Haggadah includes a running commentary, drawn from the teachings of Sephardic sages through out the generations, with insights from such Sephardic luminaries as Rabbis Moses Maimonides, Yitzhak Abravanel, Hayyim Y. D. Azulai, Benzion Uziel, Hayyim David Halevy and many others, ancient and modern. The Haggadah also includes a number of Sephardic customs which will enrich anyone’s Passover Seder.
By Dr. Hélène Jawhara Piñer, a 2018 ASF Broome & Allen Fellow
In this extraordinary cookbook, chef and scholar Hélène Jawhara-Piñer combines rich culinary history and Jewish heritage to serve up over fifty culturally significant recipes. Steeped in the history of the Sephardic Jews (Jews of Spain) and their diaspora, these recipes are expertly collected from such diverse sources as medieval cookbooks, Inquisition trials, medical treatises, poems, and literature. Original sources ranging from the thirteenth century onwards and written in Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Occitan, Italian, and Hebrew, are here presented in English translation, bearing witness to the culinary diversity of the Sephardim, who brought their cuisine with them and kept it alive wherever they went. Jawhara-Piñer provides enlightening commentary for each recipe, revealing underlying societal issues from anti-Semitism to social order. In addition, the author provides several of her own recipes inspired by her research and academic studies.
Each creation and bite of the dishes herein are guaranteed to transport the reader to the most deeply moving and intriguing aspects of Jewish history. Jawhara-Piñer reminds us that eating is a way to commemorate the past.
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities
Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County presents:
New Manhattan Sinfonietta
Hymns from Auschwitz: A Tribute to Viktor Ullman and Michel Assael
In honor of Yom HaShoah, join us for a never-before-seen musical performance in memory of two Holocaust victims; one who survived; and one who was murdered.
This event will honor ASF’s distinguished Board Member Martin Elias with music inspired by a Holocaust survivor’s story to be performed on this night for the first time ever.
Renan Koen, piano and Celesta Gürer Aykal, conductor.
Featuring Hazan Rabbi Nesim Elnecavé and Ilker Nahmias
Wednesday, 20 April at 8:00PM EST
See sponsorship opportunities here!
New Manhattan Sinfonietta brings together soulful premieres. This meaningful concert includes “Hymns from Auschwitz” featuring hazans and a piano orchestral piece by Elcil Gürel Göçtü, a young student composer who worked with Renan Koen on her March of the Music initiative. The concert also includes Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491 by W.A. Mozart, which Renan Koen will perform in memoriam of Viktor Ullmann. The performance will conclude with the debut of the Auschwitz Symphonic Poem written by Holocaust survivor Michel Assael. This poem was locked away and ultimately found by Dr. Joe Halio through his passionate research, and Renan Koen assisted in bringing this masterpiece to life.
This moving musical score was written by Michel Assael, a Jewish musician and composer from Salonika, Greece. After surviving Auschwitz, Assael wrote this piece in memory of all that was lost. The piece was written in 1947, but has never been performed. It has recently been rediscovered and will be given its debut performance at this not-to-be missed concert.
This event is also in memory of Viktor Ullman, a Silesian-born Austrian and renowned composer, and conductor who was sent to Terezin where he organized concerts and performed during the war. Ullman was ultimately deported to Auschwitz and was killed in the gas chambers.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
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My Jewish Learning and the American Sephardi Federation present:
Seharaneh Storytime: Tales from Jewish Kurdistan
Monday, 25 April at 2:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
Seharaneh is the post-Passover festival celebrated by Kurdish Jews for thousands of years. Traditionally, participants sing, dance, take long walks in beautiful springtime nature, feast, and tell stories. With My Jewish Learning, enjoy a springtime afternoon complete with four Jewish folktales from Kurdistan. Make sure to bring a cup of tea! Brought to you in partnership with the American Sephardi Federation.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
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The American Sephardi Federation presents:
The Ten Commandments, The Musical
(U.S. Premiere)
One of France’s most successful musicals, The Ten Commandments, is coming to America. The Ten Commandments’ Off-Broadway cast features new diverse talent from musical theater and operatic backgrounds. Twelve artists will bring to life the story of Moses and the Jewish people.
Thursday, 5 May at 3:00PM EST
Sunday, 8 may at 6:00PM EST
Tuesday, 10 May at 8:00PM EST
Thursday, 12 May at 8:00PM EST
Sunday, 15 may at 6:00PM EST
(Tickets: $26 G/A; $36 VIP)
The Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th Street
New York City
Sign-up Now!
About the musical:
David Serero, starring as Moses, will lead the cast composed of DaShaun Williams (Ramses), Aria Critchley (Nefertari), Stephanie Craven (Sephora), Lisa Monde (Bithia), Cale Rausch (Joshua), Zachary Harris Martin (Aaron), Kristyn Vario (Myriam), Shane Patrick Watson and Julia Anne Cohen (Various roles and U/S).
All performers will sing the beautiful music of Pascal Obispo, one of France’s most famous composers, with original lyrics by Lionel Florence and Patrice Guirao. The musical was originally created by Elie Chouraqui (ASF Pomegranate Awardee, 2020), who wrote the book. David Serero adapted the musical to English and is staging the show with respect to Broadway standards and culture.
“The Ten Commandments” dramatizes the biblical story of the life of Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince who becomes the deliverer of his real brethren, the enslaved Hebrews, and after that leads the Exodus to Mount Sinai, where he receives, from God, the Ten Commandments.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
The Five Pillars of Islam - A Jewish Perspective
Rick Sopher will explain the so-called “Five Pillars of Islam” (declaration of faith, prayer, giving, fasting and pilgrimage) and look at connections, similarities and differences with Jewish Practise. He will explore the basis of these practises and how one might have influenced the other.
Bonus: Rick will also look at the basis of the very close practises of Jewish and Muslim dietary laws and explain the history of this connection, which was first stated explicitly in the Qur’an.
Monday, 9 May at 12:00PM EST
(Ticket: $10)
Sign-up Now!
About the author:
Rick has a financial background and is the CEO of Edmond de Rothschild Capital Holdings, which he joined in 1993. He is the Chairman of the world’s longest established investment fund of its type. Prior to that he worked at BDO Stoy Hayward, where he was appointed the youngest ever partner. He has received various industry awards including the Outstanding Contribution Award from Hedge Fund Review and the Decade of Excellence Award by Financial News.
Rick graduated from Cambridge University and has more recently worked in the area of interfaith relations with the Woolf Institute, Cambridge as a member of their Council.
During the lockdown period, Rick convened an online dialogue between Professors of Religion at the world’s leading universities to discuss the relationship between the Qur’an and the Bible and has himself dialogued with Muslim leaders on the subject.
Rick was awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur in 2007 from President Chirac for his contribution to religious education in France and is Chairman or Director of several educational charities in the UK.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
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The Department of Anthropology & Archeology at the University of Calgary, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Brandeis University and Belzberg Program in Israel Studies, University of Calgary, & the American Sephardi Federation present:
Sephardi Thought and Modernity 2022 Webinar Series
Continuity and Rupture in Sephardi Modernities
(Second Edition)
On Wednesdays at 1:00PM EST
(10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK / 8pm Israel / 9:30pm Iran)
(Complimentary RSVP)
11 May
(10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 5pm UK / 7pm Israel / 8:30pm Iran - note time - US Daylight Savings)
Vanessa Paloma Elbaz (University of Cambridge) Rhizomic networks of unruptured continuity from 16th c. Italy to 21st c. Casablanca: Music, Power, Mysticism and Neo-Platonism
In this second edition of the Sephardi Thought and Modernity Series we will focus on the question of continuity and rupture as a way to deepen our dialogue about the different forms that modernity has adopted throughout Sephardi history. We will discuss questions such as the meaning of the concept of “modernity” in non-European contexts such as the Levant and/or the Arab world. We will explore how non-European Jewish societies developed ways of life and practices that synthesized tradition, change and cultural diversity throughout time. We will delve into Sephardi intellectual life, cosmopolitanism, cultural belongings, language, translation and mobility.
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Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum presents:
The Seventh Annual Greek Jewish Festival
Sunday, 15 May 12:00-6:00PM EST
Join us as we celebrate the unique Romaniote and Sephardic heritage of the Jews of Greece!
Experience a feast for the senses including authentic kosher Greek foods and homemade Greek pastries, traditional Greek dancing and live Greek and Sephardic music, an outdoor marketplace full of vendors, arts and educational activities for kids, and much more!
Learn more at www.GreekJewishFestival.com
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The Greek Jewish & Sephardic Young Professionals Network in partnership with the Association of Friends of Greek Jewry present:
Special Young Professionals Tour of Jewish Greece
(Summer 2022)
Join to trace the roots of our families, visit the beautiful cities of Thessaloniki (Salonika), Veroia, Kastoria, Ioannina, Athens, and Rhodes, and connect with other young Jews in Greece.
Check out the full itinerary here!
For more information email GreekJewishYPN@gmail.com