Mazal tov/Maboruk to Elmehdi Boudra, Founder & President of Mimouna Association and an ASF Advisory Board Member, on the Israel-Is & Mimouna’s “Leaders of Tomorrow” delegation, which brought a select group of Bahraini, Emirati, Israeli, and Moroccan civil society leaders to Washington, D.C. and New York for high level meetings
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
💿“New Album Celebrates The Iraqi-Jewish Experience”
By Baruch Lytle, The Jewish Press
Yoni Battat playing an oud, 9 September 2022
(Photo courtesy of Yoni Battat/Facebook)
Yoni Battat’s debut album, Fragments, includes “Iraqi-Jewish-inspired original music and an ode to some traditional classics.” Batta, a thirty-year-old “multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, and… Broadway actor” born and raised in New Haven, locates the “context” for his first recording “‘here in Connecticut… that’s the experience I want to talk about in my album: what it’s like to be so far removed from any Iraqi Jewish ancestry and culture.’” It’s not a simple project, “‘It takes a lot of work to connect with your ancestry… I’ve been making a concerted effort to study Arabic language and Arab music.’” Battat knows that his path doesn't necessarily lead to fame, “‘I know [these are] not the pop songs that will appeal to broad audiences and that’s OK with me. My goal is to express myself in an authentic way and I think there are a lot of people this message will resonate with.’”
Feature: Kabalat Shabbat with Yoni Battat 🎶🪕
By CJP’s Jewish Arts Collaborative
Yoni Battat
(Screenshot courtesy of Jewish Arts Collaborative/Youtube)
In 2020-21, the Community Creative Fellowship gave the stage to Yoni Battat, a dynamic, talented, and spiritually-sensitive young man of Iraqi-Jewish heritage on a cultural mission to receive and transmit new life from the Iraqi-Jewish musical tradition. In this video, Battat offers introductions and sings two songs for the Kabalat Shabbat (“Welcoming the Shabbat”) service, one original and the other traditional, but both executed with Iraqi-Arabic modes and musical coloring.
👑“Jewish woman to be knighted for helping Sephardic Jews gain Spanish citizenship”
By Jackie Hajdenburg, JTA
Doreen Alhadeff presented King Felipe VI of Spain with an antique key, a symbol of the memories and desire to return of Sephardic Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula, 2015
(Photo courtesy of Doreen Alhadeff/Seattle Times)
Doreen Alhadeff is the face of Sephardi Jews who have reclaimed their Spanish citizenship. A Member of the Seattle Sephardic Network, she was one of the first to become a Spanish citizen under Spain’s 2015 law reaching out to Sephardim. Alhadeff is now set “to be knighted by Spain’s monarchy for helping others obtain that same citizenship.” No small irony is involved, as “[t]he order under which Alhadeff will be knighted is named for Queen Isabella I of Castile — the same Queen Isabella who, along with her husband King Ferdinand… carried out the Spanish Inquisition and… expelled Jews from Spain.” Alhadeff isn’t overly concerned: “‘When I go to Spain, I feel home… as if I were walking in the footsteps of my grandmother.”
Alhadeff became the 1st Ambassador of the Red de Juderías de España in the United States during the ASF and Caminos de Sefarad’s event, “Descubre Sefarad,” on 24 June 2018 at the Center for Jewish History.
🎨“Ethiopian Israeli painter preserves her past for the future”
By Diana Bletter, ISRAEL21c
Nirit Takele in her studio, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2022
(Photo courtesy of Diana Bletter/Israel21c)
Nirit Takele “is an Ethiopian-Israeli artist who does emotional, vivid paintings that make you want to keep looking at them.” Takele’s path to artistic success wasn’t easy. Stuck in a post-army factory job that made her wonder if she had “lost (her) soul,” Takele only began to paint as an adult, taking private classes and enrolling at a local college, “I didn’t think about my future… All I thought about was the present and that I wanted to paint.” Listening to her soul paid off, as Takele’s vibrantly sculpturesque Ethiopian figures barely able to contain their inner energy (Michelangelo is an influence) have been exhibited in London, Addis Ababa, Tel Aviv and New York. Takele shares her paintings with a deep sense of gratitude, “It’s challenging for artists, especially for Israeli artists, to earn a living, and I feel very privileged.”
~~~~~~~
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!
~~~~~~~
A Pizmonim: Sephardic-Hebrew Songs of the Middle East, Volume 1
By David Elihu Cohen
Pizmonim, a unity of poetry and song, have been an integral part of the Jewish People and may be traced in the Bible to the very beginning of our history.
The twelve selected Pizmonim contained in this booklet serve to perpetuate the Greater Sephardic culture and tradition of singing praise to the Lord on all joyous occasions.
By Dr. Hélène Jawhara Piñer, a 2018 ASF Broome & Allen Fellow
In this extraordinary, award-winning and best-selling cookbook now in its 4th imprint, 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.
~~~~~~~
Upcoming Events or Opportunities
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Exclusive Authors Series with Judith Roumani
Join us for this episode of our Exclusive Authors Series with Judith Roumani discussing her new book Francophone Sephardic Fiction: Writing Migration, Diaspora, and Modernity.
Tuesday, 25 October at 12:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
About the book:
Francophone Sephardic Fiction approaches modern Sephardic literature in a comparative way to draw out similarities and differences among selected francophone novelists from various countries, with a focus on North Africa. The definition of Sepharad here is broader than just Spain: it embraces Jews whose ancestors had lived in North Africa for centuries, even before the arrival of Islam, and who still today trace their allegiance to ways of being Jewish that go back to Babylon, as do those whose ancestors spent a few hundred years in Iberia. The author traces the strong influence of oral storytelling on modern novelists of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and explores the idea of the portable homeland, as exile and migration engulfed the long-rooted Sephardic communities.
About the author:
Judith Roumani is founder and director of the Jewish Institute of Pitigliano, and founder and editor of the online journal Sephardic Horizons, which appears three times a year. She received a BA Honors in Spanish and French from the University of Nottingham, an MA in Latin American Studies from the University of London, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Rutgers. She has taught Spanish and Sephardic studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, and other colleges in the Washington DC area. She has also been a director of publications, professional translator, an associate editor or author of five books and a monograph, and her work has been translated into Hebrew, Italian, and French.
Click here for more about the book.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
~~~~~~~
The American Sephardi Federation, the Seattle Jewish Theatre Company, and the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America present:
“ARRIVALS”
A Jewish Romeo & Juliet love story based on historical events.
A hit in Seattle, coming to New York.
(Written and Directed by Art Feinglass)
When the first Sephardic Jew arrived in Seattle in 1902, not everything went as planned. Marco Cordova, a young Sephardic Jew from Turkey, came to America to make his fortune. Bayla Keigelman, a fragile Ashkenazi girl from Russia, arrived fleeing a pogrom. Their meeting seemed written in the stars until tradition declared their love forbidden.
Sunday, 30 October at 3:00 PM EST
Tuesday, 1 November at 8:00 PM EST
Thursday, 3 November at 8:00 PM EST
Sunday, 6 November at 3:00 PM EST
Sign-up Now!
$36 Early bird discount (if purchased before October 9th)
$50 Ticket price (if purchased after October 9th)
The Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York City
“Arrivals tells the Sephardic story with great drama, humor and warmth.”
Rabbi Simon Benzaquen, Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, Seattle, WA
“Everyone in the audience was engaged and enjoyed the show.”
Aaron Petersen, President , Temple Beth El, Tacoma, WA
“A tour de force!”
Rabbi Emeritus James Mirel, Temple B’nai Torah, Bellevue, WA
Sponsorship opportunities available:
~~~~~~~
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Exclusive Authors Series with Andrée Aelion Brooks and Ruth K. Abrahams
Join us for an episode of our Exclusive Authors Series with Andrée Aelion Brooks and Ruth K. Abrahams discussing her book The Remarkable Life of Luis Moses Gomez.
Tuesday, 1 November at 12:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
About the book:
During the early days of colonial America, a number of Sephardic Jews and conversos came from the Caribbean islands to the eastern seaboard for economic opportunity. They have largely been overlooked as the stories of the later German and Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants, took over in terms of numbers and achievements. Here is the story of one of those early Sephardic settlers who came from Jamaica to the New York area in search of such opportunities.
About the authors:
Andrée Aelion Brooks is a journalist, author and lecturer specializing in Jewish history. Formerly a contributing columnist for the New York Times, she is an Associate Fellow, Yale University, and founder of the Women’s (political) Campaign School at Yale. Her award-winning books include a comprehensive biography of Dona Gracia Nasi, a Jewish leader who was the richest woman in Renaissance Europe; Russian Dance, about a Jewish Bolshevik spy; Out of Spain, a children’s program in Sephardic history. She was honored in 2013 by the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame.
Executive Director of the Gomez Mill House Foundation from 1999-2017, Dr. Ruth Abrahams also served as Executive Director of the Lehman College Foundation and Vice President for Advancement at Pratt Institute. Artistically, Dr. Abrahams sang professionally in New York from 1967-1980. She received an M.A. in Humanities (Japanese Studies), and a Ph.D. in Dance History from New York University, where she taught as adjunct associate professor from 1982-1996. She was a founding member and first president of World Dance Alliance-Americas, an international advocacy organization for dance.
Click here for more about the book.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
~~~~~~~
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Exclusive Authors Series with Sarina Roffé
Join us for an episode of Exclusive Authors Series with Sarina Roffé as she discusses her book Branching Out from Sepharad.
Tuesday, 15 November at 12:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
About the book:
In Branching Out from Sepharad, readers will follow the history of Jewish life in Hispania, Spain, the Middle East and the Americas as Sarina Roffé links three rabbinic dynasties from the 11th Century to the present day, all with an Irish Converso Twist.
About the authors:
Sarina Roffé is a professional genealogist, editor of the journal DOROT, and founder of the Sephardic Heritage Project. She is the author of Branching Out From Sepharad (Sephardic Heritage Project, 2017), which outlines the history of Jews in Spain, the 1492 expulsion, their history in Syria, and their immigration to the Americas. She is Co-Chair of the Brooklyn Jewish Historical Initiative, and Chair of the JewishGen Sephardic Research Division.
Sarina is also the author of Backyard Kitchen: Mediterranean Salads, Backyard Kitchen: the Main Course, and a cooking app called Sarina’s Sephardic Cuisine, available in the Apple Store, as well as hundreds of articles. Sarina presents often at IAJGS Conferences and has completed over a dozen genealogies, through her genealogy consulting business, Sephardic Genealogical Journeys.
Click here for more about the book.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
~~~~~~~
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.