In Memory of Yvonne Green, A”H, a “lawyer, poet, translator, and teacher” described as a “‘force of nature’” within the UK’s Sephardic Jewish community. The Sephardi Ideas Monthly’s featured Green’s poem, “The Farhud.”
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Don't miss the latest Sephardi Ideas Monthly: “Building the Land from Sephardi Jerusalem to Jazz Age Shanghai”
“Meet Argentina’s Axel Wahnish, first-ever rabbi to be appointed ambassador to Israel”
By Juan Melamed, JTA
R to L: Rabbi Alex Wahnish, Argentine President Javier Milei, and Rabbi Zvi Klor, Aish World Center, Old City, Jerusalem, Israel, 9 February 2024
(Photo courtesy of Aish/The Jerusalem Post)
The Argentinian senate is set to confirm President Javier Milei’s personal rabbi, Shimon Axel Wahnish, as Argentina’s next ambassador to Israel. R’ Wahnish “is widely understood to be responsible for Milei’s recent philosemitism, which shaped his candidacy and first months as president.”
R’ Wahnish began to move through the Argentinian ranks after becoming “the chief rabbi of ACILBA, Argentina’s official Moroccan Jewish community.” ACILBA is “headquartered in a historic synagogue in central Buenos Aires that was built more than a century ago by Jewish immigrants of Moroccan origin, who arrived in Argentina in large numbers starting in 1891.”
The ACILBA first brought Milei and R Wahnish together when
the economist was still a fringe political figure known for making outlandish statements on TV but not seen as a likely contender for national office. According to Argentine political lore, Milei sought to speak to Wahnish’s group in part to remediate the perception that he was antisemitic.
However, a “brotherhood” was born behind the meeting’s closed doors, and
even as Milei’s popularity skyrocketed, he became a regular at the rabbi’s classes in the synagogue. Behind the scenes, Milei began joining the Wahnish family for Jewish holidays. And in public, he was forthcoming with praise for Wahnish, often in starkly emotional terms.
Out of respect for his friend and advisor, Milei’s inauguration was an interfaith event in which R’ Wahnish addressed Milei directly:
‘Mr. President, I was asked to bless you. But … I’m not the one who gives blessings. We are all humans and in front of God we are all equals,’ Wahnish said during the nationally televised ceremony.
‘The only thing that I can do is to ask God … to give you, dear president, exactly what you have been asking God for a long time,’ Wahnish continued. ‘Do you remember what it is?’
Milei responded by mouthing three words: ‘wisdom, temperance and courage.’ Then the two men embraced for a long time.
R’ Wahnish’s visible markers of Jewish identity and Milei’s plan to move the Argentinian embassy to Jerusalem have aroused opposition in Argentina, with one lawmaker brazenly admonishing Wahnish that “‘You must be aware that you are not the ambassador of Israel in Argentina. You are the ambassador of Argentina in Israel.’”
In practice, however, “Wahnish will be responsible for maintaining newly improved relations between Argentina, home to the sixth-largest Jewish community in the world, and Israel.”
Getting Ready for the Holiday with R’ Moshe Hussein’s Pesach Piyyut
R’ David Menachem
(Screenshot courtesy of YouTube)
Israeli scholar, popular lecturer, dayan (religious judge), singer, and multi-instrumentalist, R’David Menachem, is a contemporary transmitter of the Baghdadi Jewish tradition. In this week’s video, R’Menachem takes a seat among the hills of Jerusalem to offer a solo version of R’ Moshe Hussein’s classic 18th c. Baghdadi Jewish Pesach piyyut, Melech Go’el u’Moshia (“King who Redeems and Saves”). The piyyut celebrates the return of Spring, retells the story of the exodus from Egypt, and ends with a prayer for the future redemption.
An illustrious line has descended from R’ Moshe. His son, R’Tzadka Hussein (Chutzin), studied in Iraq under R’Elisha Dangoor and R’Yosef Hayim, aka, the Ben Ish Hai, and grew up to become a dayan, mohel, and spiritual leader of the Jewish community in Iraq and Israel. R’ Tzadka’s students included two Sephardi Chief Rabbis of Israel, R’Yitzhak Nissim and R’Mordechai Eliyahu; two deans of the Porath Yosef Yeshiva, R’Yehuda Tzadka and Ben Zion Abba Shaul; and others. In 1933, R’Tzadka persuaded the father of 12-year-old genius-in-the-making named Ovadia Yosef to let his son enroll at Porat Yosef and dedicate himself to Torah learning. R’Moshe’s great-grandson and R’Tzadka’s grandson, Rabbi Menashe Tzadka, is a rabbi in Queens, New York.
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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.
Exploring Sephardic Customs and Traditions
By Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel
Over the centuries, Jewish communities throughout the world adopted customs that enhanced and deepened their religious observances. These customs, or minhagim, became powerful elements in the religious consciousness of the Jewish people. It is important to recognize that minhagim are manifestations of a religious worldview, a philosophy of life. They are not merely quaint or picturesque practices, but expressions of a community’s way of enhancing the religious experience. A valuable resource for Sephardim and Ashkenazim alike.
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities
Our friends at Qesher present:
Sefarad: Music of the Jews of Spain, Portugal and their diaspora
“Sefarad is both a geographical place and a concept - it's Spain and Portugal, and it's the centuries and continents of the Sephardic diaspora, to the present. We'll travel - musically - from medieval Jewish life in Spain and Portugal through the diaspora in Morocco and the eastern Mediterranean, former Ottoman lands. Old ballads with hypnotizing stories, irresistible wedding song rhythms, songs of the Jewish calendar cycle, and the popular love songs and songs of daily life will be presented both live and in archival recordings, with photos and stories of the Sephardim who kept this tradition alive against all odds.”
Sunday, 21 April at 3:00PM ET
Sign-up Now!
Tickets: $9-$18
About the speaker:
Judith Cohen is a Canadian ethnomusicologist and singer known for her work in Sephardic music, and related traditions. Village songs of Spain and Portugal, narrative ballads and stories in English and pan-European traditions, Balkan singing, songs of French Canada, Yiddish - and music of Medieval Europe are among her performance and workshop repertoires. Besides, she has spent many years of fieldwork and research on music in the lives of Portuguese Crypto-Jews, who maintained their identity throughout the centuries of the Inquisition.
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Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum presents:
Greek Jewish Festival
Sunday, 19 May 12:00-6:00PM EST
(280 Broome Street, Lower East Side, NYC)
Join the Greek Jewish Festival 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, Sephardic cooking demonstrations, and much more!
The ASF is once again proud to be a Festival Sponsor.
Learn more at www.GreekJewishFestival.com
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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 30 June 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 30 June 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.
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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 14 June 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.