Mazal tov to Ruben Shimonov, the ASF’s National Director of Sephardi House, Young Leadership, & Education, on being chosen for the inaugural “I’m a Builder” series showcasing “someone helping to bridge communities and bring harmony to the Middle East.” Watch the video for a tour of Ruben’s Convergence: Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian Calligraphy in Conservation exhibition in the ASF’s Leon Levy Gallery.
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Celebrating Resilience at the ASF Sephardi Film Fest (includes video)
By Marjan Keypour Greenblatt
Enrico Macias, Opening Night of the 26th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival, Leo And Julia Forchheimer Auditorium, ASF - Center for Jewish History, 2 June 2024
(Photo courtesy of Zak Siraj)
The non-stop flow of antisemitic vitriol following Oct. 7th, and the realization that Oct. 7th generated hatred for the Jewish people instead of sympathy, reinforce the importance of strengthening and celebrating Jewish resilience.
Marjan Keypour Greenblatt is a human rights activist and advocate for women and minorities in Iran and the Founder and Director of the Alliance for Rights of All Minorities. Highly attuned to the dangers of Islamism and their enablers in the West, Keypour was deeply moved by the hopeful and resilient spirit that animated Opening Night of the ASF’s New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival in June:
I wish I had more words and space for videos and pictures to express the pride and joy that was shared at the opening night of @americansephardifed’s New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival. At a time when we are constantly consumed with terrible news and negative stories, The Center for Jewish Heritage was an intimate oasis of hope and mutual empathy.
Keypour was especially moved by the personal example set by the spirited elders in attendance. Watching “the iconic 101-year-old Holocaust Survivor Stella Levi was a reminder of the generational adversities that we have faced and yet the resilience that we have developed over the years,” while 85 year-old Enrico Macias showed what it means to “bring it” on-stage:
...his performance hasn’t diminished; it has evolved as he has mastered the art of his own talents. Enrico is a spectacular guitar player, but his most important instrument is the heart. He plays with heart, he sings with heart, he lives with heart and he loves with all his heart. It's hard to be in his presence and not feel it.
Understanding the importance of bringing together good people to set the mood, Keypour concluded her post by thanking ASF Executive Director Jason Guberman “for a wonderful and memorable event and festival.”
Marjan and Jason co-authored “Transcending Western Myopia: Understanding Contemporary Middle Eastern Neocolonialism on its Own Terms” for the Brown Journal of World Affairs.
“A Rousing Jewish-Israeli Tradition: Selichot at the Kotel”
The Kotel, circa 2023
(Screenshot courtesy of Moshe Habusha/Youtube)
The month of Elul is upon us and Tishrei, the month of the High Holy Days, will soon follow. During Elul and in preparation for the High Holy Days, it is customary for Jewish congregations to add Selichot, classic penitential song-poems, to prayer services.
The mass recitation of Selichot at the Kotel in Jerusalem’s Old City during Elul is one of the most powerful spiritual-aesthetic experiences in the world today. Being a relatively new, post-1967 phenomenon, the beautiful, still-evolving custom still awaits adequate documentation.
This week’s featured video takes us to the Kotel before the break of dawn on an Elul early morning with more than one-hundred thousand Israelis led by the great payytan in the Jerusalem-Sephardi tradition, R’ Moshe Habusha, singing a rousing version of Adon haSelichot (“The Master of Forgiveness,” composer unknown). The pirate iPhone angle of the video reflects the living quality of this new, 21st c, mass Israeli-Jewish tradition.
“This year’s High Holiday kids’ books are a celebration of Jewish diversity”
By Penny Schwartz, JTA
A selection of kids books for the Jewish holidays
(Photo courtesy of JTA)
Looking for kids’ books for the High Holy Days? Here are some options on the market:
Etan Basseri’s A Turkish Rosh Hashanah features Rafael, a young Jewish boy in Istanbul, wishing Anyada Buena (Ladino for “Happy New Year”) to grandmother Nona and cousins Alegra and Leon before the multi-generational crew heads out to the bustling outdoor market to help Nona shop for the holiday. A bully and friendly cats are part of the adventure that ends with the family at home seated around the table as Nona blesses her grandchildren for their help. Basseri adds a note about Sephardic customs and a helpful glossary.
An Etrog from Across the Sea by Deborah Bodin Cohen and Kerry Olitzky is based on the life of Luis Moises Gomez (1660-1740), a Sephardi merchant from [Ed. - the Caribbean] who settled in New York City. Set in early 18th century America, the story opens with a Sephardic Jewish family traveling by stagecoach from their country home to grandfather Luis’ big house in the City. Leah, Aaron and their mother eagerly anticipate Papa’s return home from Corsica before Rosh Hashanah; Papa sent a postcard home promising to arrive with the perfect etrog, the citrus fruit used during the holiday of Sukkot. The family worries when Papa is delayed, but he returns just in time for the holidays with a beautiful etrog that fits perfectly in grandpa Luis’ gift of a silver etrog cup.
Other stories include Sammy Spider’s adventures, Tata’s enchanted dreams, Jewish-Chinese holiday mash-ups, the true story of eleven-year-old Estee Ackerman keeping Shabbat and still becoming national ping-pong champion, and a time machine that travels back to ancient Israel.
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities
Rosh HaShana Cooking Class with Award-Winning and Best-Selling Chef and ASF Broome & Allen Fellow Hélène Jawhara Piñer!
Learn how to make Suares Fried Spain Unleavened Tortillas for Rosh HaShana, a recipe from Hélène's forthcoming cookbook, Matzah and Flour. Recipes from the History of the Sepahrdic Jews (Cherry Orchard Books - Academic Studies Press, October 2024)
From Gourmand World Cookbook Award-winning author of Sephardi: Cooking the Historyand Jews, Food, and Spain: The Oldest Medieval Spanish Cookbook and the Sephardic Culinary Heritage (a National Jewish Book Award Finalist), Matzah and Flour features 125 meticulously crafted recipes that showcase the enduring flavors that define Sephardic culinary heritage. Join Hélène for a tantalizing exploration of the central role of matzah and flour in Sephardic cuisine. Journey through centuries of tradition as flour, from various grains like chickpea, corn, and barley, intertwines with cultural narratives and religious observance. Delve into the symbolism of matzah, from its origins in the Exodus story to its embodiment of resilience and identity. Each of this cookbook’s thoughtfully prepared recipes is a testament to the transformative power of flour in Sephardic culinary heritage. From savory delicacies to sweet delights, these timeless flavors have sustained Sephardic families through history. Matzah and Flour is a celebration of tradition, history, and the enduring legacy of Sephardic Jewish cuisine
Sephardic Culinary History - Rosh HaShana Special
22 September @ 10AM ET
ASF - Zoom
Sign-up Now!
Registration: $10.
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The American Society for Jewish Music with the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and American Sephardi Federation presents:
Darius Milhaud’s Opera “Esther de Carpentras”
Featuring Drs. Katharina Galor, Edwin Seroussi, and Sam Torjman Thomas
“Esther de Carpentras is an opera-bouffe in two acts composed by Darius Milhaud and based on a text by Armand Lunel. It premiered in 1938 at the Paris Opéra Comique, just two years prior to Milhaud’s escape to the United States. Both the music and libretto reference the literary and theatrical interpretations of the biblical Esther story and integrate the Jewish heritage of Milhaud and Lunel with that of the papal domains of Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin (13th to 18th centuries) in southern France. Traditional readings of the Esther stories and the accompanying theatrical performances took place during the festival of Purim in the carrières (Jewish ghettos) of the cities of Avignon, Cavaillon, Carpentras, and L’isle-sur-Sorgue. In the synagogues, the biblical text was read in Hebrew, understood exclusively by the community’s men, while the literary, musical, and theatrical performances were staged in colloquial Judéo-Provençal, thus accessible also to the community’s women and children. Similar musical and theatrical performances existed in other Jewish (Ashkenazi and Sephardic) and Christian communities of Europe, a heritage that shaped both the composer’s and librettist’s vision.
This performance will feature excerpts from the opera, a video animation interpreting the work, as well as short lectures.”
23 September @ 7PM ET
Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th Street
Sign-up Now!
Registration: Required; Tickets Complimentary
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Iraqi Jewish playwright and former ASF Board Member Anwar Suliman’s play, Café Munich, is returning to NYC as part of the Dream Up Festival:
Café Munich
A gritty, cerebral drama about the far flung consequences of WWII in 1992 Germany
31 August - 15 September
Theater for the New City
First Avenue at East 10th Street, New York, NY 10003
Sign-up Now!
Tickets: General Admission $18