Mazal tov to ASF Pomegranate Award Recipients: André Aciman (Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature), The Marvelous Mrs. Maazel’s Caroline Aaron (Lifetime Achievement for Acting), Lainie Kazan (Lifetime Achievement Award for Acting), The Blacklist’s Amir Arison (Achievement Award for Acting), Neta Elkayam (Achievement Award for Music), & Violeta Salama (Ronit Elkabetz, A”H Rising Star), who will be honored at the 24th New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival! Join us at the Moise Safra Center, located at 130 E 82nd St, from 3-7 April. The Pomegranate Award is sculpted with love by world-renowned, Baghdad-born artist Oded Halhamy
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
🎥“Lior Raz: ‘Fauda can build bridges in the Middle East’”
By Francine White, The Jewish Chronicle
Fauda Season 4 Poster
(Photo courtesy of Deadline)
Lior Raz is the star of the Israeli action series Fauda streaming on Netflix. Raz plays Doron, a rough and gruff but good-natured Israeli soldier in an Arabic-speaking undercover unit, a role that has earned him fans across the region: “‘It was number one in Lebanon, number two in UAE, popular all over the Arab world. I cannot walk around in the UAE, I am mobbed… Countries who feared Israelis, from Yemen, Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria, their people are sitting with me, talking with me on how we changed their perspective of Israelis.’” Raz’s familiarity with Arabic language and culture, however, started a while back, at home. His father was from Iraq and his mother from Algeria, and aside from speaking Arabic in the house, “‘A lot of the people who worked at my father’s nursery were Arabs and I would help out there after school, so I got very used to speaking Arabic.’”
Feature: Halabi Piyyut for Purim - Rejoice! 🎶👑
Rabbi David Menahem
(Photo courtesy of YouTube)
Aside from R’ Yisrael Najara, Syrian Jews don’t have a record of any individual composer of piyyutim until the appearance of R’ Raphael Entebi Taboush (1853-1919) in the 19th century. R’ Taboush serves as the central figure in Kay Kaufman Shelemay’s 1998 study of the Alepo-Syrian musical tradition in the Americas, Let Jasmine Rain Down: Song and Remembrance among Syrian Jews, and this week’s Sephardi World Weekly features R’ David Menahem’s joyous rendition of R’ Taboush’s popular Purim piyyut, Ranu Gilu (“Rejoice!”).
📚“Israel’s First Ethiopian Rabbi Speaks to Us”
By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin, San Diego Jewish World
Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom at the ASF IJE’s SIGD: An International Online Celebration
(Screenshot courtesy of the ASF IJE/Zoom)
Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin, a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Army chaplain’s corps, gushes over the recently published English-language translation of Rabbi Dr. Sharon Shalom’s, Dialogues of Love and Fear. After celebrating some of the highlights of Shalom’s biography, “‘He is an Orthodox rabbi, trained at the elite Yeshivat Har Etzion, sometimes called the ‘Harvard of the Yeshivot.’ He has a doctorate in Talmud from Bar-Ilan University… He served in the Israeli army as an officer. He is the congregational rabbi to Holocaust survivors in Kiryat Gat, Israel, an Ashkenazi synagogue. He holds an important academic college position,’” and even overenthusiastically referring to R’ Sharon as the first Ethiopian rabbi in Israel, Drazin traces the narrative of Dialogues of Love and Fear, “a fictional reflection upon Shalom’s life and transformation” that Drazin believes can, “‘help us obey God’s command to love our fellow as ourselves.’”
~~~~~~~
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!
~~~~~~~
Our Story: The Jews of Sepharad; Celebrations and Stories
By Lea-Nora Kordova Annette and Eugene Labovitz
Celebrations and Stories, a special publication of the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education with the American Sephardi Federation, is an essential work that enhances the teaching of Sephardi history, traditions, and cultures.
The life cycle and calendar sections are designed to horizontally connect to the teaching of customs and ceremonies from the Spanish & Portuguese, Syrian, Judeo-Spanish, and Moroccan traditions. Other sections include translations of classic texts and poetry, tales of our history’s heroes, and classroom activities.
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..
~~~~~~~
Upcoming Events or Opportunities
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Sepharadi approach to Talmud Torah in the writings of Hakham Yosef Faur (1934-2020)
(3 Part Series)
Join us for Part 2 in our series “Insights from our Hakhamim with the students of The Habura.”
Thursday, 10 March at 12:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
About the speaker:
Yonatan Rahmani is a Jewish educator living in NYC. After completing the Springboard Fellowship at CUNY Queens College Hillel, he moved to Jerusalem to study at the Pardes Center for Jewish Educators. Yonatan returned to NYC as a member of the NYU Bronfman Center’s Student Life team, before joining YCT as a member of the inaugural JEWEL program. Yonatan is happiest when cooking, learning, hosting guests for Shabbat, and spending time with his family.
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)
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 YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in partnership with the Consulate General of Canada in New York presents:
CHEWDAISM: A Taste of Jewish Montreal
Film Screening
Co-sponsored by the American Sephardi Federation, Center for Jewish History, & CHAIFLICKS
An hour-long documentary following Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman of “YidLife Crisis” fame as they discover the roots of Montreal’s Jewish community through a series of classic Jewish eateries. As they tell this story, Batalion and Elman encounter various guests along the way, sharing tales and meals during a day’s worth of eating in and around the city.
This screening will mark the New York premiere of the film and will be followed by a discussion and Q&A with Batalion and Elman, moderated by James Beard Award-nominated food journalist Gabriella Gershenson. Babka from Boulangerie Cheskie in Montreal will be served after the program.
Thursday, 17 March at 7:00PM EST
General Admission: $10
YIVO, ASF, or CJH members: $5
Students: $5
Proof of full COVID-19 vaccination with matching ID is required in order to enter the Center for Jewish History. Click here to see our Visitor Safety Requirements.
Tickets must be purchased in advance.
They will not be available at the door.
Sign-up Now!
About the Speakers:
YidLife Crisis is a Yiddish comedy web series and Jewish cultural brand created by two friends, Eli Batalion and Jamie Elman, wanting to pay homage to the yiddishkayt in their upbringing and the Jewish comedic lens on life with which they were raised. With the initial support of the Shaping our Future Grants and the Bronfman Fellowships, they created “YidLife Crisis” as a love letter about modern Jewish identity, set mostly in Yiddish, making Jewish identity inclusive to all through the ice-breaking power of comedy. What started as a passion project turned into a hit with over 4,000,000 video views and 40,000 subscribers, global press, awards and accolades, appearances and shoots around the world, the collaboration of talent such as Mayim Bialik and Howie Mandel, and a chance to work with various organizations from Jewish community centers through academic institutions through comedy festivals.
Gabriella Gershenson is a James Beard Award-nominated food journalist based in New York City. She is an editor of The 100 Most Jewish Foods (Artisan) and the IACP Award-winning On The Hummus Route (Magica), and moderates a series of Jewish food talks at Temple Emanuel's Streicker Center. She is currently on staff at Wirecutter.
===
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
(Ticket: $10 per session)
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 ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
New Works Wednesday with Lior Sternfeld
Join us for New Works Wednesdays with Associate Professor Lior Sternfeld as he discusses his book Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth-Century Iran
Wednesday, 23 March at 11:00AM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
About the book:
"Between Iran and Zion" offers the first history of this vibrant community over the course of the last century, from the 1905 Constitutional Revolution through the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Over this period, Iranian Jews grew from a peripheral community into a prominent one that has made clear impacts on daily life in Iran.
About the author:
Lior is an associate professor of history and Jewish Studies. He is a social historian of the modern Middle East with particular interests in the histories of the Jewish people and other minorities of the region. His first book, titled Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth-Century Iran (Stanford University Press, 2018) examines, against the backdrop of Iranian nationalism, Zionism, and constitutionalism, the development and integration of Jewish communities in Iran into the nation-building projects of the last century. He is currently working on two book projects: The Origins of Third Worldism in the Middle East and a new study of the Iranian-Jewish Diaspora in the U.S. and Israel. He teaches on the modern Middle East, Iran, Jewish histories of the region, and Israel-Palestine related classes.
For more about the book: “Between Iran and Zion: Jewish Histories of Twentieth-Century Iran.”
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
===
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
The Evolving Nature of Humanity in the writings of Hakham Eliyahu Benamozegh (1822-1900)
(3 Part Series)
Join us for the final part of the series “Insights from our hakhamim by students of The Habura”.
Thursday, 24 March at 12:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
About the speaker:
Ohad Fedida attended the Talmudic University of South Florida. He is now completing a B.S in Psychology from Florida International University and is a research assistant at the TIES Lab. He is working toward a Clinical Psychology, PhD. Ohad is also a student at TheHabura.com
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
===
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
New Works Wednesday with Lars Fischer
Join us for New Works Wednesday with Lars Fischer as he discusses his book “Jews in Old Postcards and Prints”.
Wednesday, 30 March at 12:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
About the book:
“Jews in Old Postcards and Prints”, a collection of vintage postcards and antique prints annotated by Lars Fischer. The book sheds a thoughtful light on the history of Jews in Europe and around the Mediterranean, mainly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and invites readers to reflect on the ways in which both Jews and non-Jews used postcards and prints to portray Jews, their communities, culture and institutions. Above all, the book celebrates the vibrancy and diversity of Jewish life and culture in the “golden age” of the postcard, of a world largely extinguished by the Shoah and the expulsion of Jews from Northern Africa.
About the author:
Lars Fischer’s scholarship and publications focus on the history and conceptualization of antisemitism, Jewish/non-Jewish relations, and Frankfurt School Critical Theory. Fischer has taught at UCL, King’s College London and the University of Cambridge and served as Secretary of the British Association for Jewish Studies and Councillor of the Royal Historical Society.
For more about the book: https://www.vintage-press.co.uk/shop/p/jews-in-old-postcards-and-prints
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
===
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Torah and “Secular” Studies in the writings of Hakham Yosef Qafih (1917-2000)
(3 Part Series)
Join us for Part 1 with David Hazan: “Insights from our hakhamim by students of The Habura”.
Thursday, 31 March at 12:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
About the speaker:
David Hazan has studied and taught in yeshivot in Israel and England. Committed to finding ways of helping the Jewish community remain inspired and connected with its universal mission and unique spirituality, David looks to further his training and experience in different areas such as Meditation, counselling and mental health. He holds a Diploma in Philosophy and Religious Studies from the Open University and a certificate in Jewish Education from London School of Jewish Studies. David currently attends a programme of Rabbinical training (RTA) and officiates as a Sephardic Hazan in different synagogues. He is also a student of TheHabura.com.
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)
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.
