In Memory of Rabbi Yosef Hayyim, A”H, the Baghdadi Hakham known as the Ben Ish-Hai, who passed away on this day in 1909.
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The Sephardi World Weekly is made possible by Daniel Yifrach, Rachel Sally, Professor Rifka Cook, Maria Gabriela Borrego Medina, Rachel Amar, Deborah Arellano, & ASF VP Gwen Zuares!
Don't miss the latest Sephardi Ideas Monthly: “Emet ve Emunah: The Secret of the Sassoons’ Success”
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“Study of Cairo’s synagogues reveals an Egyptian Jewish ‘Golden Age’ abruptly ended”
By Gavriel Fiske, The Times of Israel
(Right to Left): Magda Haroun (President, Egypt’s Jewish Community), Professor Yoram Meital (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev), Sammy Ibrahim (President, Drop of Milk Association), and Jason Guberman (Executive Director, American Sephardi Federation), the Mimouna Association and ASF’s 1st Jewish Africa Conference, Paul S. And Sylvia Steinberg Great Hall, ASF - Center for Jewish History, 27 January 2019
(Photo courtesy of Zak Siraj)
Egypt, the proper name and the physical space, holds a special place in the Jewish imagination. Abraham descended to Egypt, as did Jacob’s clan. The people of Israel were enslaved in Egypt until, as the Passover story recounts, we were miraculously liberated. Maimonides lived the last 36 years of his monumental life in Egypt, details of which we know from the 400,000 manuscripts and documents found in the Cairo Genizah, the depository of Jewish memory dating back to the 6th century that was discovered and revealed to the world at the turn of the 20th century.
A new book, Yoram Meital’s, Sacred Places Tell Tales: Jewish Life and Heritage in Modern Cairo, adds another chapter to the long Egyptian-Jewish saga by following the growth, development and decay of Cairo’s modern Jewish community, from British colonial government to Arab nationalist rule.
Much of Sacred Places Tell Tales focuses on “the Golden Age of Egyptian Jewry” from the late 19th century until the 1950s, a period when Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe escaped “from very poor environments,” some of them “running for their lives,” and joined the local Jewish community. The key to the Jews’ success and the city’s growth was the British colonial rule that offered local Jews economic freedom and rights and protections to Jewish refugees, “Egypt became a magnet… Egypt was a major commercial and economic hub at the turn of the 20th century, [so they could] find work and a safe place.” According to Meital, the new arrivals fit in well with “the very strong Jewish community that existed in Egypt” at the time, Sephardi Jews who spoke both French and Arabic and whose leading families of “Jewish tycoons” were “pioneers in establishing modern Egyptian industry and agriculture. [They were] very rich. They ran a significant part of the Egyptian economy.”
A scholar in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Meital looked for clues to reconstructing modern Jewish history in Cairo by exploring the city’s synagogues for four years from 2017-21. For instance, Meital noted how the seats in less affluent synagogues have numbers, not names. Name plaques are reserved for those with the means to donate permanent seats, “and if you look into the names carefully, you have a social map of the Jewish elite of the time.”
The ending of Cairo’s Jewish community is a variation on the last chapter of other Jewish communities across the Middle East and North Africa. After the re-founding of Israel and Egypt’s wars with Israel, the Jewish community rapidly declined.
“David Bernstein on the Rise and Challenge of Woke Antisemitism”
David Bernstein
(Photo courtesy of the Institute for Jewish Liberal Values)
David Bernstein, Former President of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Founder of the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values, and author of Woke Antisemitism, joins Aryeh Tepper and Greg Thomas, the co-hosts of Straight Ahead: The Omni-American Podcast, for a rousing discussion exploring intersectionality, “systemic racism,” the notion that Jewish Americans are "white," the communal character of Jewish identity, and the impact of DEI. Bernstein's personal and professional odyssey from Baghdad to Manhattan and Durbin frames the conversation, which also explores the post-colonial ideology and the impact of the Oct. 7th attack on Jewish Americans on the left who find themselves out of step with woke progressives motivated by an anti-Israel animus.
Read Bernstein’s article, “How an Old-New Ideology Alienates Immigrant Jews,” co-authored with Elina Kaplan (President, Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies) and Jason Guberman (Executive Director, American Sephardi Federation).
“Giving Israel a Big Hug”
By Neil J. Sheff, The Jewish Journal
SEC meeting with Maj. Gen. Doron Almog (Chairman, Jewish Agency for Israel)
(Photo courtesy of Shlomi Amsalem)
The Sephardic Educational Center (SEC) “through the wisdom of its director, Rabbi Daniel Bouskila,” organized an Israel trip for a delegation “to give Israel a big hug.” The experience was intense. Writes SEC President Neil J. Sheff:
I have visited Israel as a one-year abroad student at Hebrew U, as a counselor for six summers at the SEC and as board member and president of SEC over the past 44 years. I can say that I never felt such an emotional trip as this one.
Thanks to the trip, Sheff understood that “Israelis are strengthened when they see foreign tourists returning just to show they are not alone in this war and we are with them in this most challenging period.”
The SEC delegation visited many of the Oct. 7th sites where Hamas attacked and met with victims. For instance, they toured Kibbutz Kfar Aza
where Shachar and Ayelet Shnurman, residents and brave survivors of the attacks, met us and told us of all that had happened to them and their neighbors. They walked us through the horrors of that day starting at 6:29 a.m. Their neighbors and friends were tortured and killed, burned and abducted… Bullet holes in the doors and on the buildings, destroyed interiors, burned out remains and photos of each couple or family that was murdered or abducted in front of their homes. The quiet was broken only by the chirping of birds as we walked silently...
Prior to the trip, “some of our friends in the U.S. told us “it’s too dangerous,” “aren’t you scared?” “what if you get stuck?” etc.” However, after feeling the warmth and appreciation from Israelis, Sheff’s message is unequivocal, “Make your reservations, go visit Israel and give them a hug.”
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities
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
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The American Sephardi Federation presents:
“The Golden Age of the Jews of Alandalus” | “La Edad de Oro de los judíos de Alandalús”
On View in the Paul S. And Sylvia Steinberg Great Hall
through August 2024
@ the Center for Jewish History
The Jewish community of Alandalús gave the world extraordinary thinkers like Maimonides, diplomats like Ibn Shaprut, and poets like Ibn Gabirol and Judah Halevi, whose wisdom, works, and accomplishments resonate through the ages. 820 years after his death, the RAMBAM’s contributions to medicine, philosophy, diplomacy, and Jewish law continue to inspire wonder and influence till today. Across the Mediterranean in Fustat (Cairo) about two hundred thousand documents accumulated in the Ben Ezra Synagogue’s Genizah—a room or grave where obsolete sacred documents are respectfully discarded—over the course of nearly a millennium.
The geographical location of Egypt, a natural bridge between the Islamic East and Christian West, made it possible for many of these documents to be of Andalusian origin. This exhibition, curated by the University of Granada Professor José Martínez Delgado, takes us on a journey from the origins of this important community to its exodus and extinction in the XIX century. Although subsequently scattered all over the world, Sepharadim have maintained connections to their past by perpetuating traditions, the Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) language, and exemplifying a seriously Jewish yet cosmopolitan worldview.
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The American Sephardi Federation presents:
Convergence: Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian Calligraphy in Conversation
Featuring the multilingual art of Ruben Shimonov Convergence creates a visual world where Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian languages interact with, and speak to, one another; a world where stylized letters and words dance together on the page; a world where cultures, religions, communities, and philosophies intersect.
Juxtaposing cognates from these ancient West Asian languages, artist Ruben Shimonov encourages the viewer to explore the deep-rooted connections between these tongues, as well as the multilayered and transnational identity of the artist himself.
On View in the Leon Levy Gallery
through August 2024
@ the Center for Jewish History
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The American Sephardi Federation and Mimouna Association’s Rebuilding Our Homes Project present:
Re-Creation: Judaica by Moroccan Muslim Artisans
Explore the exhibition of Judeo-Moroccan art, Moroccan Judaica, cultural and religious objects, including Menorot, Mezuzot, Yads, Shabbat Candleholders, Seder Plates, Hallah Covers, and much more.
On View through August 2024
@ the Center for Jewish History
As Moroccan Jewish populations largely left the mellahs (Jewish quarters) in the latter half of the 20th century, there was a danger that not only designs but even the traditional artisanal techniques needed to create them would be lost. Passed down from one artisan to another and perfected over time, these designs and techniques. ranging from vibrant patterns to intricate metalwork and soulful wood carvings, are expressions of Moroccanity and reflect the individual character of each city. The materials and craftsmanship of Rabat are different than Fez, and Essaouira is distinct from both.
Mimouna Association and the American Sephardi Federation’s Rebuilding Our Homes Project, a multi-year USAID-supported New Partnerships Initiative, brought three notable experts-Ms. Zhor Rehihil, Ms. Deborah Koenigsberger Gutierrez, and Ms. Meryem Ghandi to train Moroccan Muslim artisans in the history of Judeo-Moroccan art and guided them in re-creating Moroccan Judaica, which encompasses a diverse array of cultural and religious objects, including Menorot, Mezuzot, Yads, Shabbat Candleholders, Seder Plates, Hallah Covers, and much more.