In Honor of Marian Scheuer Sofaer, the editor of Jay Waronker’s The Synagogues of India: Architecture, History and Communities, which she presented to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Israel
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
🕎“Between East and the Middle East: The Integration Story of the Indian Jewish Community in Israel”
By Oshrit Birvadker, The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune
Indian-Israeli singer Liora Itzhak performed Hatikvah and Jana Gana Mana during the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s historic visit to Israel
(Photo Courtesy Youtube/India Today)
Israel and India will be celebrating thirty years of diplomatic relations throughout 2022, but when it comes to telling the Israel-India story, one important dimension of the relationship is often overlooked: “[S]cholars of both Israel and the Indian diaspora have paid scant attention to the Indian Israeli community, and many… are… unaware of… the Indian Jewish migration to Israel and of the community’s contributions.” Today approximately 80,000 Indian Jews live in Israel and, like India itself, the Indian Jewish community is a fascinating mosaic of different groups: “The Jews of India do not form one homogenous community but rather comprise five distinct ones, each with its history and social composition.” One hopes that the burgeoning relationship “will serve as an incentive to encourage research on the histories and cultures of Indian Jews.”
Feature: A R’Yisrael Najara Piyyut, Indian-Jewish-Israeli Style ✡️🎶
Hedar Nehemya
(Photo courtesy of the author)
Rabbi Yisrael Najara (1555-1625) is one of the great payytanim of Jewish history, with his popular piyyutim − songs from the genre of liturgical soul music − migrating as far as Morocco in the West and India in the East. In this week’s featured video, a young Indian-Israeli vocalist, Hadar Nehemya, puts a contemporary twist on a piyyut by Najara, Yonati Ziv Yifatech (“My Dove, Your Splendid Beauty”), that among the Bnei Israel community of Bombay (Mumbai) is traditionally sung by the groom as part of the wedding ceremony. But not only does Nehemya sing the piyyut herself, she adds to the mix a home recording of her grandmother, Yekara, singing the piyyut back in the early 90s.
📘 “‘Womb of Diamonds’ Details the Life of a Syrian Woman in Japan”
By Kylie Ora Lobell, Jewish Journal
Lucie Choueke
(Photo courtesy of Ezra Choueke/Jewish Journal)
The history of Jewish life in Asia remains, to a large extent, unexplored. In his book, Womb of Diamonds: A True Adventure From Child Bride Of Syria To Celebrity Businesswoman Of Japan, Ezra Choueke takes a deep dive into one mind-bending story, the life of his Aleppo-born Sephardic grandmother, Lucie Choueke, who was married at thirteen to a twenty-nine year-old businessman working in Japan, lived through WWII when Japan was an Axis power, “started a black market business after the war to keep food on the table,” and then, “officially took control of her family’s business interests around the mid-1980s.” Lucie passed away in 2019, “seven days shy of her 100th birthday.” Today? In Kobe, Japan, “The family has a museum, the Choueke Family Residence, that they open for special events and charities.”
~~~~~~~
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!
~~~~~~~
On Being a Jew: What does it Mean to be a Jew
A Conversation about Judaism and its Practice in Today's World
By James Kugel
Composed as a meandering dialogue between a wily Syrian-Jewish banker and an American graduate student of literature, this engaging book explains all the basic beliefs and practices of Judaism, including Jewish teachings on intermarriage and conversion, keeping the Sabbath, prayer and Torah, midrash and mitzvot, and God's presence in the world.
Although the book has plenty of the “how to” of religious practice, On Being a Jew is in the end an eloquent reflection on Judaism's deepest theme: living life as a way of serving God.
*Exclusively available at the ASF's Sephardi Shop
Where the Wind Blew: A Boyhood Lost in Tangier
By Michel Emile Bensadon
This memoir of coming of age in Morocco in the 1950s is also the memoir of a lost nation. The author’s childhood coincides with the end of the idyllic Sephardic culture that had flourished in Tangier for centuries. This is the story of two paradises lost: the dreamy childhood, which ends when Michel’s parents’ marriage breaks apart; the end of Morocco’s colonial rule, in which the Jewish community had grown and prospered. The “wind” in the title is Simoun, an infamous blast that blew in from the Sahara and terrified the author as a child. The wind is also the symbol for the wild forces at work in that part of the world and the havoc they wreaked upon the author’s family, and the Jews who left soon after.
The author has recreated the rich tapestry that was his Sephardic culture; a world redolent of spices, populated by exotic extended families, and lavish celebrations. The book spans the crucial years 1949-1960, and is a time capsule of that vanished Eden. This is the definitive portrait of a lost Sephardic paradise.
~~~~~~~
Upcoming Events or Opportunities
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
The Jew who Ruled Persia: The Story of Sa’ad ad-Dawla
Sa’ad ad-Dawla was a Persian Jew from the city of Abhar. Being a master in recovering delayed taxes, he was able to rise in the ranks of the Mongol Ilkhanate that ruled all of Persia and Iraq. He had personal interactions with Ilkhan Arğun, where he demonstrated a strong compunction against corruption, a facility with languages, knowledge about minute matters throughout the lands, and the ability to cure the Ilkhan of disease. The led to Arğun appointing him as the Grand Vizier of the Ilkhanate in 1289, the most powerful position in the country below the Ilkhan himself. Despite the offense that many Muslims took to having a Jew in such a position of power, the Buddhist Arğun defended him and gave him a long leash to improve the Ilkhanate.
Sunday, 6 February at 12:00PM EST
Sign-up Now!
Complimentary RSVP
(Please consider a suggested donation of $10: https://tinyurl.com/DonateASFIJE)
About the Speaker:
Richard Sassoon is an Iraqi-American of Jewish heritage who graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and Fordham University Law School with a J.D. and with an LL.M. in European Business Law from Madrid’s Universidad Pontificia Comillas. He currently works at UnitedLex as a Contract Manager, but has previously held roles at Samsung Engineering, J.P. Morgan, and several law firms. Richard sits on the ASF Young Leaders Board and is a recipient of the ASF Broome & Allen Fellowship. Richard has a long-standing interest in diverse cultures and regions, having visited over fifty different countries, meeting various high-level diplomats with Jewish organizations, working on three continents, and handling legal documents in five languages.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
===
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Kavkazi, Georgian, and Bukharian Jews: At the Crossroads of Sephardic, Mizrahi, and Russian-Speaking Worlds
(3 Part Learning Series)
The histories and cultures of Bukharian, Kavkazi (Mountain), and Georgian Jews are situated at the unique intersection of Sephardic, Mizrahi, and Russian-Speaking Jewish (RSJ) identities. Through this 3-part learning series, we will explore the multilayered and rich stories of these millennia-old communities in Central Asia and the Caucasus—discovering the ways in which they have developed their mosaic cultures through dynamic interactions with the dominant and changing societies surrounding them. Our discussion will also shed light on how their experiences fit into the broader historical saga of the Jewish people.
On Tuesdays at 12:00PM EST
8 February
(Part 1)
Sign-up Now!
22 February
(Part 2)
Sign-up Now!
22 March
(Part 3)
Sign-up Now!
About the Speaker:
Ruben Shimonov is an educator, community builder, and social entrepreneur with a passion for Jewish diversity. He previously served as Director of Community Engagement and Education at Queens College Hillel. Currently, Ruben is the American Sephardi Federation’s National Director of Sephardi House and Young Leadership. He is also the Founding Executive Director of the Sephardic Mizrahi Q Network and Director of Educational Experiences & Programming for the Muslim-Jewish Solidarity Committee. He is an alumnus of the COJECO Blueprint, Nahum Goldmann and ASF Broome & Allen Fellowships for his work in Jewish social innovation and Sephardic scholarship. He has been listed among The Jewish Week's "36 Under 36" Jewish community leaders and changemakers. Currently, he is a Jewish Pedagogies Research Fellow at M² | The Institute of Experiential Jewish Education. Ruben has lectured extensively on the histories and cultures of various Sephardic and Mizrahi communities. He is also a visual artist specializing in multilingual calligraphy that interweaves Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
===
The Department of Anthropology & Archeology at the University of Calgary, Schusterman Center for Israel Studies, Brandeis University and Belzberg Program in Israel Studies, University of Calgary, & the American Sephardi Federation present:
Sephardi Thought and Modernity 2022 Webinar Series
Continuity and Rupture in Sephardi Modernities
(Second Edition)
On Wednesdays at 1:00PM EST
(10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK / 8pm Israel / 9:30pm Iran)
(Complimentary RSVP)
9 February
Lital Levy (Princeton University) Esther Moyal, Emile Zola, and Alfred Dreyfus: An Arab-Jewish Feminist on the Affair that Rocked the World
9 March
Deborah Starr (Cornell University) and Eyal Sagui Bizawe (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) Nostalgia as Critique: The Case of Jews in Egyptian Cinema
13 April
(10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 5pm UK / 7pm Israel / 8:30pm Iran - note time - US Daylight Savings)
Julia Philips Cohen (Vanderbilt University) and Devi Mays (University of Michigan) Middle Eastern and North African Jews in Paris: A Forgotten Chapter
11 May
(10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 5pm UK / 7pm Israel / 8:30pm Iran - note time - US Daylight Savings)
Vanessa Paloma Elbaz (University of Cambridge) Rhizomic networks of unruptured continuity from 16th c. Italy to 21st c. Casablanca: Music, Power, Mysticism and Neo-Platonism
In this second edition of the Sephardi Thought and Modernity Series we will focus on the question of continuity and rupture as a way to deepen our dialogue about the different forms that modernity has adopted throughout Sephardi history. We will discuss questions such as the meaning of the concept of “modernity” in non-European contexts such as the Levant and/or the Arab world. We will explore how non-European Jewish societies developed ways of life and practices that synthesized tradition, change and cultural diversity throughout time. We will delve into Sephardi intellectual life, cosmopolitanism, cultural belongings, language, translation and mobility.
===
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Protest, Philanthropy, and the Struggle for ‘Aliyah in 1940s ‘Aden
After the 1947 “pogrom” in ‘Aden, Selim Banin and a handful of other traumatized ‘Adeni Jewish notables were left to pick up the pieces of a shattered community. They founded the “Jewish Emergency Committee,” which took charge of representing ‘Adeni Jewry in negotiations and confrontations with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the British colonial regime ruling ‘Aden, and the Zionist organizations. Theirs is a story of solidarity and culture-clash in a philanthropic network that spanned New York, London, Tel Aviv, South Africa, Asmara, and ‘Aden. In time, through a combination of petitions, closed-door negotiations, and popular demonstrations, they would play a key role in making possible the evacuation of most Yemeni and ‘Adeni Jews to Israel
Sunday, 13 February at 12:00PM EST
Sign-up Now!
About the Speaker:
Benjamin Berman-Gladstone, an ASF Broome & Allen Fellow, is a doctoral student at the Skirball Department for Hebrew and Judaic Studies and the Department of History at New York University. He graduated magna cum laude from Brown University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in Middle East Studies and Judaic Studies and received honors for his thesis on the idea of an “Ingathering of Exiles” in relations between the American, Israeli, and Yemeni Jewish communities during Operation On Eagles’ Wings. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 2018 and spent the 2018-2019 year in Jerusalem on a Fulbright research scholarship. His writing about issues related to Israel, American Jewry, and Southwest Asian affairs has been published in the New York Times, Haaretz, Tablet Magazine, the Jewish Daily Forward, Tower Magazine, the Times of Israel, the Jewish Advocate, the Hill, the Brown Daily Herald, and the Brown Political Review.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
===
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
New Works Wednesday with Yehuda Azoulay
Join us for New Works Wednesday with Yehuda Azoulay of Sephardic Legacy Series as he discusses his new book “A Legend of Humility and Leadership: Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu”!
Wednesday, 16 February at 12:00PM EST
Sign-up Now!
About the Speaker:
Noted scholar, educator, author, activist, and entrepreneur. He is the Vice President & Head of Investor Relations for Concrete Mortgage Capital Inc. Currently he holds a Rabbinical Degree, a Bachelors of Talmudic Law, a Bachelors Degree in Liberal Arts, from Excelsior College and a Masters of Science degree from Yeshiva University’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration. He is presently pursuing his Doctorate from Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning, from the Northwestern University and receiving his Doctor of Science in Jewish Studies. Yehuda was the Vice-Principal of Torah High/NCSY in Toronto for the past four years, and later moved in to the field of finance and is Vice President & Head of Investor Relations for Concrete Mortgage Capital Inc. Furthermore, Yehuda is the founder of “Sephardic Legacy Series – Institute for Preserving Sephardic Heritage.” To date he has authored five books and published over thirty articles on Sephardic historical topics.
For more about the book: https://sephardiclegacy.com/index.php/publications/
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
===
HUC-JIR Jewish Language Project, Iranian American Jewish Federation, Nessah Synagoque, and USC Caden Institute present:
Languages of the Jews of Iran: A series of online conversations and performances
On Sundays at 1:00PM EST
(10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK / 8pm Israel / 9:30pm Iran)
(Complimentary RSVP)
20 February
Lishán Didán and Hulaulá: Jewish Neo-Aramaic in the Kurdish region of Iran
In each town of the Kurdish region, Jews and Christians spoke different dialects of Jewish Neo-Aramaic. Dr. Geoffrey Khan gives a historical and linguistic overview and showcases an interactive map with recordings based on his decades of research. Shahnaz Yousefnejadian shares her long-term dictionary project of the Hulaulá dialect of Sanandaj. Alan Niku gives the perspective of a heritage learner/speaker. And musicians Alon Azizi and Adi Kadussi explain why it’s important to record songs in these languages. The event ends with the world premiere of two new songs by Azizi and Kadussi
13 March
(10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 5pm UK / 7pm Israel / 8:30pm Iran - note time - US Daylight Savings)
Judeo-Persian in the 20th century: New research
Dr. Habib Borjian and Ibrāhīm Šafiʿī present personal documents written in Persian in Hebrew letters, and Alan Niku discusses the distinctive Tehran Jewish dialect of Persian based on recordings and fieldwork. Then, Cantor Jacqueline Rafii presents Passover psalms translated into Judeo-Persian and recorded by her grandfather in Tehran in 1971.
Jews in Iran historically spoke many languages - from Semitic, Median, and Persian language families. The languages/dialects of Jews in different cities and towns were so different that their speakers often could not understand each other. Now these longstanding Jewish languages are endangered, as most Jews shifted to standard Persian in Iran or to Modern Hebrew, English, and other languages after emigrating.
The HUC-JIR Jewish Language Project presents a series of conversations and performances highlighting this rich linguistic heritage. By attending these events, you will learn how Jewish languages compare to each other and to local Muslim, Zoroastrian, and Christian languages. You will be inspired by the elderly speakers and young activists who are working hard to preserve them for future generations. And you will be entertained by new songs in Judeo-Isfahani, Judeo-Hamadani, and Jewish Neo-Aramaic.
These events will last for 75 minutes. Please register for each event separately. While the Jewish Language Project usually posts recordings of events the following day, these events will only be accessible at the times they are presented (due to security concerns and preferences of some of the presenters). These events will also be screened in person at Nessah Synagogue in Beverly Hills, California. Learn more and RSVP for the in-person screenings here.
===
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
New Works Wednesday with Chef Sibel Pinto
Join us for this episode of New Works Wednesdays with Chef Sibel Pinto as she explains the “global food waste challenge” and discusses her new book “Kashkarikas: Wasteless Kitchen – A Turkish-Sephardi Chef’s Recipes and Stories.”
Wednesday, 23 February at 12:00PM EST
Sign-up Now!
About the book:
In this colorful cookbook Chef Sibel Pinto gives an authentic collection of recipes, with many tips and tricks to open up new culinary possibilities for a conscious and sustainable kitchen. Pinto combines her Sephardic, Georgian and Turkish culinary heritage, her sustainability educator background and professional experience to raise awareness on how easy it is to respect and use seasonal ingredients from ‘root-to-leaf’.
In this difficult Covid-19 pandemic period, where many would like to change habits and adapt new ways, you will find the secrets of her easy techniques and helpful insights, inspired by the memories of her ancestors’ kitchens, her researches, her travels and the rich stories of her charity mission ‘Action Kasharikas’.
The book consists of 222 versatile, mouthwatering recipes divided into easy-to-find 60 main ingredients to inspire the passionate home cooks to reproduce waste-free meals. This book is a tribute to previous generations and an invitation to new generations to respect the environment, to give a second life to ingredients, to learn, to experiment, to share and to enjoy.
About the author:
Sibel Cuniman Pinto is a chef, culinary instructor, researcher, author, and lecturer specialized in Sephardi, Turkish and Mediterranean cuisines. As a WorldChefs certified ‘Sustainability Education to Culinary Professionals’ and Agro Tech Paris certified Food Waste Prevention trainer, food waste activist, coach and consultant she teaches how to give a ‘second life’ to ingredients, using the root-to-leaf approach. She works to raise awareness in food waste reduction and sustainable and conscious kitchens. She educates and inspires people to eat real food.
For more about the book: https://www.kashkarikas.com/
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
===
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Jewish Languages Today: Endangered, Surviving, and Thriving
Throughout history Jews have spoken many languages, such as Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, Jewish Neo-Aramaic (Iraq-Iran), and Judeo-Malayalam (Southern India). Over the past two centuries, migrations and other historical events have led to many of these languages becoming endangered. At the same time, Jews are now engaging with these languages in postvernacular ways, such as through song and food, and new Jewish language varieties are developing, including Jewish English, Jewish Latin American Spanish, and Jewish French. This talk explains these developments and makes the case for the urgent need for documentation and reclamation.
Wednesday, 28 February at 12:00PM EST
Sign-up Now!
About the Speaker:
Dr. Sarah Benor is Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion (Los Angeles campus) and Adjunct Professor (by courtesy) in the University of Southern California Linguistics Department. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University in Linguistics in 2004. She has published and lectured widely about Jewish languages, linguistics, Yiddish, American Jews, and Orthodox Jews. Her books include Becoming Frum: How Newcomers Learn the Language and Culture of Orthodox Judaism (Rutgers, 2012) and Hebrew Infusion: Language and Community at American Jewish Summer Camps (Rutgers, 2020). Dr. Benor is founding co-editor of the Journal of Jewish Languages (Brill) and co-editor of Languages in Jewish Communities, Past and Present (De Gruyter Mouton, 2018).
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org