In Honor of the House and Senate Abraham Accords Caucus Co-Chairs, all 8 of whom for the first time signed a letter seeking support for intercultural exchange. This effort is an outgrowth of briefings conducted by the Philos Project, In Defense of Christians, the American Sephardi Federation, Mimouna Association, and our partners in the Abraham’s Missing Child Initiative.
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
📜“Pharaoh’s Daughter: Thoughts on Parashat Shemot”
By Rabbi Marc D. Angel, The Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals
Moses Saved from the River, Fresco, Dura Europos Synagogue, Syria
(Photo courtesy of Jewish Women’s Archive/Wikimedia)
In this this week’s Torah portion, Shemot (“Exodus”), Moses grows up in Pharoah’s palace before setting out to save his brethren, the enslaved Hebrews. Rabbi Marc D. Angel asks three questions:
The Torah informs us that when Moses grew up ‘he went out to his brothers,’ i.e. the Israelites. How did Moses know they were his brothers?
When God told Moses to go to Egypt to lead the Israelites to freedom, He told Moses that his brother Aaron would meet him and help him. How did Moses know he had a brother?
Later, when Moses assumed leadership of the Israelites, he spoke an eloquent Hebrew. When and where did he learn Hebrew?
Rabbi Angel argues that “The answer to these questions leads back to one person: Pharaoh’s daughter,” the nameless woman who defied her father’s order to kill every male Hebrew newborn by adopting and raising Moses. R’Angel reasons that Pharoah’s daughter identified with the suffering of the Hebrews and that “when she raised Moses, she apparently wanted him to know that he was an Israelite.” The lesson? “[P]eople whose deeds are hardly noticed, whose names we don’t even know—even such people may be courageous beyond measure.”
Feature: Bringing Sephardi Izmir Back to Life 🕍💃
Nesim Bencoya descring the importance of the Ladino language to the community
(Screenshot courtesy of Konak Belediyesi/Youtube)
Turkish-born Nesim Bencoya led the Haifa Cinematheque before returning to Turkey and founding the Izmir Jewish Heritage Project. In this week’s featured video, Bencoya sketches the history of Jewish Izmir and introduces the Sephardi culture that Jewish emigrees brought to the city beginning in the 15th century.
Bencoya also produces an annual Sephardi Culture Festival in the city that is set in local synagogues and that uses music, cuisine, photo exhibitions and literature to bring the lost Sephardi culture of Izmir back to life. Non-Jewish guests, including guest musicians, are also invited; Bencoya’s intention is to introduce the Sephardi Jewish culture of Izmir to non-Jews and, in so doing “to convey a message of brotherhood.”
Izmir Jewish Heritage Project Fund @ The ASF
Make a tax-deductible donation via the American Sephardi Federation to support the Izmir Jewish Heritage Project in Izmir, Turkey.
✨“In Turkey, a festival revives a jewel of the Sephardic world and aims to break stereotypes”
By David I. Klein, JTA
Poster for the Sefarad Kültür Festivali, 2021
The Director of the Izmir Jewish Heritage Project, Izmir-born Nesim Bencoya, wants to make the Turkish city a popular tourist destination. After all, “from the 17th century, Izmir was a center for Sephardic Jewry… We can’t recreate that, but we cannot forget that either.” In order to preserve and share the city’s Sephardi history, Bencoya moved back from Israel 13 years ago, where he led the Haifa Cinematheque, and now directs a Sephardic culture festival every Hanukkah. Bencoya clarifies that “this festival is not for Jewish people to know us, but for non-Jews… Most of the people who come to the festival have never been to a synagogue, maybe a small percentage of them have met a Jew once in their lives.” Offers Kayra Ergen, a Muslim native of Izmir and visitor to the most recent festival, “This is so sad and lame to say out loud, but I didn’t know about this — that only 70 years ago, 60% of this area… was Jewish… [W]e must do whatever we can and this festival is a good example of showing the love between cultures.”
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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.
Foundations of Sephardic Spirituality: The Inner Life of Jews of the Ottoman Empire
By Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel
Who were the Sephardic Jews of the Ottoman Empire?
What lasting lessons does their spiritual life provide for future generations?
“How did the Judeo-Spanish-speaking Jews of the Ottoman Empire manage to achieve spiritual triumph? To answer this question, we need to have a firm understanding of their historical experience…. We need to be aware of the dark, unpleasant elements in their environments; but we also need to see the spiritual, cultural light in their dwellings that imbued their lives with meaning and honor.”
—from Chapter 1, “The Inner Life of the Sephardim”
In this groundbreaking work, Rabbi Marc Angel explores the teachings, values, attitudes, and cultural patterns that characterized Judeo-Spanish life over the generations and how the Sephardim maintained a strong sense of pride and dignity, even when they lived in difficult political, economic, and social conditions. Along with presenting the historical framework and folklore of Jewish life in the Ottoman Empire, Rabbi Angel focuses on what you can learn from the Sephardic sages and from their folk wisdom that can help you live a stronger, deeper spiritual life.
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities
ASF Institute of Jewish Experience programming is asking for your input to better design our future program. This survey will not take more than 5 minutes and your input is very important.
All responses will remain confidential. In appreciation for your participation in the survey we would like to extend to you a complimentary course license ($40 value).
During 2022 we conducted over 60 programs covering different topics. Many of our programs are recorded and available on our web site at InstituteofJewishExperience.org.
Please share this survey with friends and family even if they didn’t attend our programs, their ideas are important for future programs.
We thank you for partnering with us to bring the most innovative and informative programs about our diverse Jewish nation.
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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
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29 January at 12:00PM EDT
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(Registration is required for each session; Tickets: $11)
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)
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Sponsorship opportunities available:
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The Center for Jewish History, the Leo Baeck Institute, the American Jewish Historical Society, the American Sephardi Federation, and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research present:
Unmasking Antisemitism
A Panel Discussion in Conjunction with the Exhibition #FakeImages at the United Nations
Widely regarded as the “oldest hatred,” antisemitism is experiencing an alarming revival in the contemporary world. The Center for Jewish History is proud to host a panel discussion on antisemitism, past and present, in conjunction with the new exhibition at the United Nations, #Fake Images: Unmask the Dangers of Stereotypes.
Join historians Dr. Jonathan Brent (YIVO Institute for Jewish Research), Jason Guberman (American Sephardi Federation), Dr. Uffa Jensen (Technical University Berlin), Dr. Pamela Nadell (American University), Dr. Gavriel Rosenfeld (Center for Jewish History and Fairfield University), and Dr. Veerle Vanden Daelen (Kazerne Dossin), as they critically analyze the origin and weaponization of antisemitic ideas, conspiracies, and images from the 19th century to the present.
Thursday, 26 January at 6:15 PM EDT
A wine and cheese reception, including welcome remarks by Tracey Petersen, Manager: The Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme, the Consulate General of Belgium and the Consulate General of Germany in New York, will begin at 6:15 pm. The program will start promptly at 7:00 pm.
A dessert reception will follow the end of the program at 8:30 pm.
Sign-up Now!
Ticket Info:
In-person panel discussion: $20 general; $15 seniors, students; $10 CJH/Partner members; advance purchase required here
Zoom livestream of panel discussion: $5
The exhibition is organized by the Holocaust and United Nations Outreach Program, Department of Global Communications, as part of the program of events marking the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. The exhibition is curated by Kazerne Dossin: Memorial, Museum and Research Centre on Holocaust and Human Rights (Mechelen, Belgium)and supported by the Arthur Langerman Archive for the Study of Visual Antisemitism Foundation (Berlin), the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technical University of Berlin, and the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The panel discussion is a joint initiative of the Center for Jewish History, the Leo Baeck Institute, the American Jewish Historical Society, the American Sephardi Federation, and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
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Giorno della Memoria 2023
(International Holocaust Remembrance Day)
“You who live safe in your warm houses”
Primo Levi
Each January 27, the Consulate General of Italy hosts the traditional ceremony of the public reading of the names of the 9,700 Jewish men, women and children deported from Italy and the Italian territories between 1943 and 1945.
Friday, 27 January 8:30AM-2:00PM EDT
The reading of the names is an open, outdoor event that will take place in front of the Italian Consulate (on Park Avenue, between 69th and 68th street).
The public is invited to take part in the reading. Anyone interested can join the reading at any time during the ceremony.
This initiative is part of a program of events promoted by the Consulate General, the Primo Levi Center, the Italian Cultural Institute, the Casa Italiana Zerilli Marimò at NYU, the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University, the Calandra Institute at CUNY, the Scuola d’Italia Guglielmo Marconi, the Center for Italian Modern Art (CIMA) and Magazzino Italian Art to commemorate the victims of the Shoah and preserve the memory of those tragic events.
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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.