Join us in Re-envisioning Rosh HaShana 5783!
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!
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💎“Casablanca’s Jewish Heritage – a Jewel in the Sahara”
By Meyer Harroch, The Jewish Voice
Dr. Zhor Rehihil, Mimouna Association and ASF’s Moroccan Jewish Caravan in NY, Congregation Shearith Israel (New York’s Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue), 22 October 2014
(Photo courtesy of Payam Studio/ASF)
Dr. Zhor Rehihil is a Muslim woman with a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies and the Director of the Museum of Moroccan Judaism in Casablanca. What drives her to celebrate and preserve Moroccan Jewish history? “‘As Muslim Moroccans, we feel we lost a part of our identity when Moroccan Jews left the country.’” Dr. Rehihil’s sentiment is shared by others in the North African Kingdom, which is why The Jewish Voice is encouraging Jewish and non-Jewish travelers alike to visit Morocco and to discover for themselves, “the stories of the Jewish Mellah, the vibrant Jewish community, Synagogues, Andalusian and Moorish architecture, tombs and holy places, and the only Jewish Museum in the Islamic world.”
Feature: Prof. Edwin Seroussi on the Musical Poetry of Rabbi Israel Najara 🎶✍️
Professor Edwin Serrousi
Chabad of Oxford hosted the celebrated musicologist, Prof. Edwin Seroussi, Director of the Jewish Music Research Centre and Chairperson of the Department of Musicology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, for an introductory lecture on the musical poetry of the great payytan of Gaza, R’ Israel Najara (1555-1625). In his learned and fascinating presentation, Prof. Seroussi argues for Najara’s historical importance and, among other things, explains the connection between the false Messiah, Shabetai Tzvi, and the fate of Najara’s memory.
🎗“The president of Syria’s Jewish community passed away; only four Jews remain in Damascus”
By Zvika Klein, The Jerusalem Post
President Albert Kamoo, A”H, Al Franji Synagogue, Damascus, Syria, 2009 (Photo courtesy of Chrystie Sherman/Diarna Geo-Museum of North African & Middle Eastern Jewish Life)
Jewish life is growing in countries like the UAE and Morocco that have embraced tolerance and made peace with Israel. However, in crumbling, despotic regimes like Syria that align with other crumbling, despotic regimes, like Russia, Jewish life is completely ending: “‘Albert Kamoo, the President of the Syrian Jewish community and one of the five last Jews in Damascus passed away [last] week.”
🙏“A Rosh Hashanah Like No Other: How Agnon Brings Us All Together in His Days of Awe”
By R’ Daniel Bouskila, The Jewish Journal
The late Nobel Laureate Shmuel Yosef (S.Y.) Agnon
R’ Daniel Bouskila—Director of the Sephardic Educational Center, Rabbi of the Westwood Village Synagogue, Sephardi Ideas Monthly contributor, and speaker at the inaugural Omni-American event—makes the case for Shai Agnon’s Days of Awe as essential reading for the High Holy Days, including for while sitting in synagogue: “Many refer to Days of Awe as an anthology edited by Agnon, but I don’t think that paints an accurate picture. It’s much more than just an anthology. In Days of Awe, Agnon’s artistic talent is not expressed in conceiving a plot or inventing imagined characters… Agnon composed Days of Awe by creatively arranging a treasure trove of Jewish sources about the High Holy Days, letting them tell us the epic story of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.”
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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!
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Exploring Sephardic Customs and Traditions
By Hakham R’Marc D. Angel, Ph.D
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.
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.
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Prepare for Yom Kippur with Hazzan Yehiel Nahari
Join Rabbi Moshe Tessone in preparing for Yom Kippur as he discusses Sephardi piyyutim and tunes with Hazzan Yehiel Nahari.
Sunday, 2 October at 2:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
Co-sponsored by the Sephardic Program at Yeshiva University and the Diasporas Project at the Rabbi Arthur Schneier Program for International Affairs at Yeshiva University.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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Kanisse: A Modern Sephardic + Mizrahi Community presents:
Multicultural High Holiday Services
Dates and Locations
Tuesday, 4 October at 6:30PM
Yom Kippur Eve
Evening Prayer - ‘Arvit
Conservative Synagogue of Fifth Avenue*
11 E 11th Street, New York, NY
Wednesday, 5 October
Yom Kippur Day
Morning Prayers - Shaḥarit and Musaf, beginning at 9:30AM
Evening prayers - Minḥah and Ne’ilah, beginning at 5:30PM
Conservative Synagogue of Fifth Avenue*
11 E 11th Street, New York, NY
Sign-up Now!
(Tickets: $0-$250)
If you are unable to buy a ticket but would still like to attend in-person, please email hello@kanisse.org
“Join Kanisse for annual Yom Kippur Services, which will be led in a variety of Sephardic and Mizrahi traditions. We are excited to host our New York community in-person at a new sanctuary, as well as offer live-streaming for those joining us at a distance. We will be using our Zemirot HaMizraḥ maḥzor, which will be provided for those attending in-person (the digital version can also be accessed on our website). At the conclusion of Yom Kippur, a break-fast of Middle Eastern delicacies will be served.”
*Please note: We are sharing this announcement as a public service. This is not an ASF program.
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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:
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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
Monday, 31 October at 8:00 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:
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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:
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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:
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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.