In Honor of the Modern Maccabees—Americans, Israelis, Ukrainians, and our allies on the Free World’s frontlines—whose virtues (patriotism, intelligence, integrity, and courage) are the lights that daily defeat the darkness of tyranny
Read a special Letter from the Land of Israel: “What do Honeycombs have to do with Hanukkah? A Sephardi Sage on Ideal & Real Judaism”
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
🕎“Adapt, Adopt, Subvert, Survive”
By Richard Hidary, Tablet Magazine
Rabbi Richard Hidary, Ph.D, “What Muslim & Jewish Philosophers Can Teach The World? Challenges & Opportunities Rooted in History,” Leo And Julia Forchheimer Auditorium, Center for Jewish History, 22 October 2021
(Photo courtesy of Zakaria Siraj)
Rabbi Richard Hidary offers some comic cultural perspective on the dreidel’s place in modern Jewish practice, “My grandparents never played dreidel back in Aleppo. Why would they? Hardly anyone in Arabic- and Persian-speaking lands had ever heard of this Yiddish word, let alone celebrated Jewish victory by gambling.” Still, the dreidel “is a perfect symbol for Jewish survival.” How so? The Jews are a spiritually sensitive people characterized by what R’ Uziel called their “intense receptive power,” and as Hidary explains regarding the dreidel, “(T)he Yiddish game derives from a European gambling game called teetotum in England and its equivalent in Germany, where the spinner bears the letters N(ichts), G(anz), H(alb), S(tellein).” And what was true in ancient Judah remains true today, “[A)] religious minority seeking to survive in a dominant empire… can decide to adopt, adapt, incorporate, imitate, modify, mock, subvert, convert, or Kedushify (make holy) the practices, ideas, and forces of the world around them.” So spin the sevivon this holiday and “Kedushify the world.”
Feature: Ever Heard R’ David Bouzaglo’s Rousing Moroccan Hannukah Piyyut? 🎶🪕
Payytan Rabbi Haim Louk
(Photo courtesy of Israel/Youtube)
Am Ne’e’manai (“My Trusted People”) is a rousing Hanukkah piyyut written by the great 20th c. master of the Moroccan-Andalusian tradition, R’David Bouzaglo (1903-75). In the piyyut, the narrator retells the story of the Maccabees’ victory from verse to verse, playing with passages from the special holiday prayers and blessings along the way, while urging his compatriots in the chorus to offer their thanks for God’s lovingkindness. In this stirring 2013 performance of the piyyut, Bouzaglo’s main pupil, R’Haim Louk, gets the audience to sing along.
🙌 “Los Angeles Jews Honor Muslim Scholar of Moroccan Jewry”
By Karmel Melamed, The Jewish Journal
Dr. Aomar Boum receiving the ASF and Mimouna Association’s Dr. Haim Zafrani, A”H Award, Uncommon Commonalities: Jews and Muslims of Morocco Conference, Leo And Julia Forchheimer Auditorium, Center for Jewish History, 17 June 2019
(Photo courtesy of Zak Siraj)
More than 400 of LA’s Moroccan Sepharadim came together with local dignitaries in mid-November “to honor Moroccan Muslim anthropologist Aomar Boum for his two decades of promoting Moroccan Jewish history and encouraging warm relations between Jews and Muslims.” Boum deflected the honor back to the North African Kingdom: “‘(I)n Morocco we’re very fortunate to have a political system and culture that has promoted tolerance of all groups, including the Jews that have lived in the Moroccan desert since the destruction of the Second Temple.’” In order to better appreciate the Moroccan perspective, Boum explained how Moroccans understand the Abraham Accords: “In Morocco the Abraham Accords are not really seen as a normalization of relations with Israel, but instead they are seen as a continuation and strengthening of ties between Morocco and its Jewish community that have been around for quite some time.”
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My Life and Work: Chanukah Lamps
By Oded Halahmy
The Hebrew word Hanukkah means "dedication" and symbolizes freedom; Oded Halahmy has dedicated himself to honoring his Jewish roots and culture through artwork related especially to this holiday.
Oded once hosted a holiday party and invited many friends to light Hanukkah candles. Every year since, he has kept up the tradition of making a new Hanukkah lamp.
Over the years, other ancient Middle Eastern symbols from Oded's Iraqi heritage began to appear in his lamps: the pomegranate, Hamsa (hand), lion, palm tree, palm frond, crown, and horseshoe.
Hanukkah in Eight Nights: Bring the Past to Light
By Marian Scheuer Sofaer
Celebrate a family Hanukkah with dramatic readings about the feats of the Maccabees! In addition to the candle lighting blessings, Hanukkah songs, recipes, and sevivon game rules, this book incudes excerpts from ancient sources and vivid read-aloud stories by Moshe Pearlman for each night that will bring the riveting events of 164 B.C.E. to life. Good for school age children through adults.
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Building your family tree with the Genie Milgrom databases
Join us as Genie Milgrom shows you the databases available and how to use them to build out your family tree and complete the application process.
Wednesday, 4 January 11:00AM EDT
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Las bases de datos de Genie Milgrom y la construcción de su árbol genealógico
Únase a nosotros mientras discutimos el proceso necesario para solicitar el Certificado de Herencia Sefardí. Le mostraremos las bases de datos disponibles y cómo usarlas para construir su árbol genealógico y completar el proceso de solicitud.
Miércoles, 4 Enero 1:00PM EDT
(RSVP gratis)
Regístrese Ahora!
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
A Yemenite Jerusalem Power Couple: The Story of Rabbi and Rabbanit Kapach
Join us for a movie and discussion!
A link to the film, Two Legacies three days before the program to watch at their leisure. Einat Kapach will join on Zoom to talk about making the movie, about her grandparents, their contributions to the Jewish world, and how we each gained from their legacy.
Wednesday, 11 January at 12:00PM EDT
(Tickets: $15)
Sign-up Now!
About the film:
Yosef and Bracha married when they were 12 in Sana`a, Yemen and lived together for close to 70 years. Yosef became absorbed in his books, while Bracha took care of the needy. Before he dies, Rabbi Yosef Kapach hands his granddaughter Einat, director of the film, a bundle of pages which uncover a secret he has kept close to his heart his entire life—the secret of the theological war that split the Yemenite Jewish community. The documents tell of his persecution as a young orphan by the Jews of Yemen, a persecution that continues until the day he dies in Israel. Having read these words, Einat sets out on a journey to understand why he chose her to pass on the legacy and how he managed to turn his life around from such a lonely point and to become a world-famous Jewish philosopher.
About the director:
Einat Kapach is a screenwriter and director who lives and creates in her native Jerusalem. A graduate of the Ma’aleh Film School with an MA from the Schechter Institute in Jerusalem, Einat lectures on film and Jewish identity in different communities in Israel and abroad including small Jewish communities in the US and Africa. She directed the award-winning film Jephtah’s Daughterwhich played at numerous festivals around the world. She was a diarist in the film Peace Diarieswhich details the lives of Israelis and Palestinians over a six month period. Einat is frequently invited to lecture at various foundations and was a judge at the 2009 Jerusalem Film Festival. She recently directed the documentary film Two Legacies and her feature script At the End of a Long Daywon the Minister of Education’s award for Artists in the field of Jewish Culture.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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The Center for Hewish History with the American Sephardi Federation presents:
Citizen, Subject, National, Protégé
“In this talk, Jessica Marglin (University of Southern California) will trace the modern history of Jewish citizenship in North Africa and the Middle East, including nationality legislation; the abolition of dhimmi status; the status of Jews in European colonies; and their citizenship in independent nation-states.”
Thursday, 19 January at 7:00PM EDT
(Tickets: $8 general; $5 members, seniors, students)
Sign-up Now!
About the Speaker:
Jessica Marglin is Associate Professor of Religion, Law, and History, and the Ruth Ziegler Early Career Chair in Jewish Studies at the University of Southern California. She earned her PhD from Princeton and her BA and MA from Harvard. Her research focuses on the history of Jews and Muslims in North Africa and the Mediterranean, with a particular emphasis on law. She is the author of Across Legal Lines: Jews and Muslims in Modern Morocco (Yale University Press, 2016) and The Shamama Case: Contesting Citizenship across the Modern Mediterranean(Princeton University Press, 2022).
This lecture is part of the Sid Lapidus Lecture Series, programs created in partnership with the exhibition How Jews Became Citizens: Highlights from the Sid Lapidus Collection. Click here for information about the exhibit.
The exhibit and program have been made possible by the generous support of Sid and Ruth Lapidus, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Warriors and Mystics
Iran’s Jewish community is one of the oldest diaspora communities in the world. But is there more to those 2700 years than Queen Esther and the Islamic Revolution? This talk examines the lesser-known parts of Iran’s Jewish History, a vast story of prophets, autonomous nations, divergent sects, epic poetry, and political intrigue. Through the music, languages, foods, writings, traditions, and stories of two millennia, along with their ties to neighboring and faraway communities, the Jews of Iran have forged a culture at once Persian and Jewish, with traditions and aesthetics uniquely their own. In this two-part series, we will explore notable personalities in this rich history, from over 1,500 years ago and more recently.
On Sundays
22 January at 12:00PM EDT
29 January at 12:00PM EDT
(Registration is required for each session; Tickets: $11)
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About the speaker:
Alan Niku is a filmmaker, writer, and scholar of Mizrahi culture from San Luis Obispo, California, based in Los Angeles. A native speaker of Persian, he spends his time learning related Jewish languages, deciphering Judeo-Persian manuscripts, and interviewing community members about their stories. He is also a musician and an amateur chef, teaches history and Jewish heritage at various levels, and seeks to educate the world about the underrepresented cultures of the Middle East through his writing and films.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
1925-1979:
How Iran’s Jews Flourished & Helped Iran Prosper
Join story-breaking Iranian American journalist Karmel Melamed for a look at how the Jews or Iran were at the forefront of arts, academia, international trade, industry, technology, medicine, and engineering before the Islamist revolution and persecution under the Khomeinist regime.
Monday, 23 January at 12:00PM EDT
(Tickets: $10)
Sign-up Now!
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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The American Sephardi Federation, the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America, the Sephardic Foundation on Aging, and Shearith Israel League Foundation proudly present:
Kontar i Kantar:
The 6th Annual New York Ladino Day
Curated by Jane Mushabac and Bryan Kirschen
Featuring:
Tony- and Grammy-nominated Broadway star Shoshana Bean
A conversation with Michael Frank, author of One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World
Judith Cohen, Sing Me a Story, on Sephardic Romansas
Musical Finale, Susana Behar and guitarist Michel Gonzalez
In-Person! Also on Zoom
Sunday, 29 January at 2:00PM EDT
(Early Bird Tickets are $20)
Sign-up Now!
Sign-up for Zoom Now!
Ladino is a bridge to many cultures. A variety of Spanish, it has absorbed words from Hebrew, Turkish, Arabic, French, Greek, and Portuguese. The mother tongue of Jews in the Ottoman Empire for 500 years, Ladino became the home language of Sephardim worldwide. While the number of Ladino speakers has sharply declined, distinguished Ladino Day programs like ours celebrate and preserve a vibrant language and heritage. These programs are, as Aviya Kushner has written in the Forward, “Why Ladino Will Rise Again.”
Since 2013, Ladino Day programs have been held around the world to honor Ladino, also known as Judeo-Spanish. January 29th marks New York’s 6th Annual Ladino Day hosted by the American Sephardi Federation.
© Rhodes, mid-19th century Sephardi & Romaniot Jewish Costumes in Greece & Turkey. 16 watercolours by Nicholas Stavroulakis published by the Association of the Friends of the Jewish Museum of Greece, Athens, 1986.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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ASF Broome & Allen & ADL Collaborative for Change Fellow Isaac de Castro presents:
Entre Diasporas: Telling the Latin-American Jewish story. Contando la historia judía latinoamericana
Tell your story. Cuenta tu historia.
We’re looking for first-generation Latino Jews in the United States who immigrated because of political and social turmoil. Jews of Sephardic descent from Colombia, Cuba, and Venezuela that now reside in the Miami area will be given priority, but others are welcome to apply as well.
Fill out this form to be considered as an interviewee for this project. After you’ve submitted, we will be in touch promptly to set up a preliminary phone call.
Click here for more information.