Mazal tov to Dovid Efune and the Algemeiner on the spectacular success of their 49th Anniversary Gala. Hazaq u’Barukh to the ASF’s own Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie (JCE, AGJC, Council of Sephardic Sages) and Julia Jassey (Broome & Allen Scholar, ASF YL, Jewish on Campus) for being named to the J100 along with many friends, including the leadership of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (Dianne Lob, Malcolm Hoenlein, William Daroff), Xiyue Wang, Dara Horn, Loay Alshareef....
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
👐🏾“Combating Antisemitism and Racism with Jazz”
Staff, The Jerusalem Post
Combating Racism and Antisemitism Together Poster
Did you know that during WWII, there was an anti-Nazi counter-culture in Germany based on a love of jazz? True story. Jazz, freedom, and human dignity go together. The American Sephardi Federation, the Jazz Leadership Project, and the Combat Antisemitism Movement are joining forces for an online event, “Combating Racism and Antisemitism Together: Shaping an Omni-American Future,” that will celebrate Albert Murray’s vision of “Omni-American” culture, with jazz music at its heart. The digital event on 24-25 October, includes a roster of world-class artists, scholars, and writers, such as Wynton Marsalis, Prof. Robert. G. O’Meally, Loren Schoenberg, Thomas Chatterton Williams, Prof. Farah Jasmine Griffin, Prof. Ephraim Isaac, and Itamar Borochov. Says Dr. Aryeh Tepper, the ASF’s Director of Publications: “‘I want to help people think differently about racism and antisemitism… We need to be open to all forms of human excellence. We never know where life or vitality is going to show up. What’s the opposite of racism and antisemitism? A love of human excellence.’”
Feature: Itamar Borochov goes deep with “Daasa!” 🎼 🎶 🎧
Itamar Borochov
(Photo courtesy of Aviram Valdman/The Tower)
Recipient of the LetterOne Rising Stars Jazz Award (2021) and the American Sephardi Federation’s Pomegranate Award for Musical Conservation, Creativity, and Coexistence (2018) Itamar Borochov will be a featured performer for the upcoming online event, “Combating Racism and Antisemitism Together: Shaping an Omni-American Future,” on Oct. 24th-25th. A collaborative effort between the ASF, The Jazz Leadership Project, and Combat Antisemitism, Borochov will contribute his unique sound, a sophisticated blend of jazz vocabulary, Arabic scales, quarter-tones, piyyutim, and deep human soulfulness, to the event. For a taste, check out, “Dasaa!” from the Womax festival in 2019, including Borochov’s traditional, passionate Bukhari opening to Psalms 84.
🎭“A Brazilian-Lebanese-Jewish playwright explores the nostalgic Beirut of his family’s past”
By Jacob Judah, JTA
The Beirut skyline projected on Victor Esses
(Photo courtesy of Alex Brenner/JTA)
What did Victor Esses’ Lebanese-Jewish parents tell him about Lebanon? “‘[T]hat the Mediterranean smelled better than the South Atlantic…that Lebanese nuts were better than the famed Brazilian ones.’” Esses’ father was forced to flee Beirut in 1967 and his mother left in 1975. When Esses visited the country in 2017: “‘My body responded in such an emotional way to being in Beirut… I would fall into tears just thinking about it and feeling it inside of me.’” Esses, a playwright, explored the different parts of his identity in his play, “Where to Belong,” and it moved him to larger reflections regarding the artistic portrayal of Sephardic Jewish culture: “‘I don’t think we usually have a lot of Sephardic stories in theater, in books, in films… They are beautiful, powerful, lived experiences that we don’t hear… It’s this mix of cultures, even the idea of a Jewish person speaking Arabic which is so common for so many people — but that can seem so alien to so many others.’”
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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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Volume 6; Spring 2019
The Sephardi Report is a publication that explores the legacy of Jews from the Middle East and the greater Sephardic Diaspora, and that shines a light on contemporary Sephardi creativity and excellence in the arts, scholarship, entrepreneurship, rabbinic thought, and philanthropy.
This TSR features Field Dispatches from Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Syria, and Sudan; Sephardi Ideas from Professor Daniel J. Elazar, Hakham R’Ben-Zion Meir Hai Ouziel, and Rabbi Yosef Qafih; a Sephardi Spotlight on Oded Halahmy; Arts & Culture interviews with Yair Harel, Neta Elkayam and Amit Hai Cohen, Itamar Borochov, & Chama Mechtaly; ASF Broome & Allen Fellows Dr. Samuel Torjman Thomas' “Virtues of the Sheluh: Celebrating the Amazigh Contribution to Jewish Music and Identity” and Hélène Jawhara Piñer’s “Almoronía: A Moroccan-Jewish Recipe from 13th Century Andalusia”; as well as a Book Review of From Sinai to Ethiopia: The Halakhic and Conceptual World of Ethiopian Jewry.
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.
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities
The Sephardi House Fellowship (now in its second year) is a year-long learning, leadership development, and enrichment experience that is designed to immerse Jewish college students in the multifaceted history, traditions, and intellectual legacy of the Greater Sephardic world, as well as advance Jewish unity on campus. Apply Now! Deadline: 17 October at 4PM!
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Mizrahi Dance Series with Jackie Barzvi
Join the ASF Institute of Jewish Experience and Jackie Barzvi, creator of the Mizrachi Dance Archive, for a three-part series highlighting the history and movements of Mizrahi dance! Jackie will focus on three different Greater Sephardi styles: Moroccan, Bukharian, and Yemenite dances.
Each session will be both a lecture and dance class, and participants will learn about the history of each community, gain insight into how dance was included in their traditions, listen to Jewish music from each region, practice traditional movements, and so much more!
The workshops will be held via Zoom and all are welcomed.
No previous dance experience required.
On Sundays
17 October
24 October
@ 9AM PDT ◊ 12PM EDT ◊ 5PM London ◊ 7PM Jerusalem ◊ 8PM Dubai
Sign-up Now!
About Jackie Barzvi:
Jackie Barzvi is a professional raqs sharqi (belly dance) performer and instructor. She recently created the first ever Mizrachi Dance Archive to highlight specific Jewish dances from the Middle East and North African regions. Jackie was also the IACT Israel Programs Coordinator at Northeastern University Hillel in Boston, and has led over a dozen organized trips to Israel. Jackie is passionate about helping others find their unique Jewish identity and creating environments where people can dance, connect, and build community. To learn more about her work visit the archive at mizrachidancearchive.com
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Museum Mondays:
The Museum for Islamic Art, Jerusalem
Tour the Museums from the comfort of your own home with Nachliel Selavan, the Museum Guy.
On Mondays
18 October
The Museum for Islamic Art, Jerusalem
Sign-up Now!
8 November
A Hanukah Tour Through Ancient Greece - Greek Exhibits in Museums Around the World
Sign-up Now!
10 January
Tour the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in Or Yehuda
Sign-up Now!
(Registration required for each session)
@ 9AM PDT ◊ 12PM EDT ◊ 5PM London ◊ 7PM Jerusalem ◊ 8PM Dubai
About Your Tour Guide:
Nachliel Selavan created and delivered an integrated learning and museum tour program for both school and adult educational settings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and has hosted similar pilot visits to a dozen museums in North America, and a few museums in Europe and in Jerusalem. He also teaches and engages audiences through virtual tours and social media. He has recently completed a year long Tanach Study podcast called Parasha Study Plus, delivering a weekly episode of Archaeology on the Parasha, and is now on his second podcast and a new video series reviewing every book in Tanach, called Archaeology Snapshot.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
The World Should Know:
First Steps in Writing Your Memoir
Each of us has a story to tell, we just need the impetus to get started!
Join award-winning author Gila Green in a hands on workshop to begin writing yours or your family’s story.
Writing a memoir is both for you and for future generations.
Begin today!
Thursday, 21 October
@ 9AM PDT ◊ 12PM EDT ◊ 5PM London ◊ 7PM Jerusalem ◊ 8PM Dubai
Sign-up Now!
About Gila Green:
Canadian author Gila Green is an Israel-based writer, editor, and EFL teacher.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
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The American Sephardi Federation, the Jazz Leadership Project, and the Combat Antisemitism Movement present:
Combating Racism and Antisemitism Together:
Shaping an Omni-American Future
Join artists, thinkers, and musicians who will offer perspectives on how to build a shared “Omni-American” future free of racism and antisemitism.
24-25 October 2021
(Digital Event)
The term “Omni-American” is borrowed from the writings of Albert Murray, the great 20th century Black American thinker and writer who, together with his good friend and celebrated novelist, Ralph Ellison, extolled America’s pluralistic and “incontestably mulatto” culture. By robustly critiquing racial essentialism and strongly emphasizing the power of culture instead of race, Murray and Ellison's writings strike at the root of ideologies that foster division, manipulation, and hatred, and ultimately develop into Antisemitism and Racism.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
New Works Wednesday with
Andre Elbaz and Edwin Seroussi
Join us for a discussion with three researchers featured in the book Jews and Muslims in Morocco: Their Intersecting Worlds.
Wednesday, 27 October
@ 9AM PDT ◊ 12PM EDT ◊ 5PM London ◊ 7PM Jerusalem ◊ 8PM Dubai
Sign-up Now!
(Free Admission, registration required)
About the book:
Multiple traditions of Jewish origins in Morocco emphasize the distinctiveness of Moroccan Jewry as indigenous to the area, rooted in its earliest settlements and possessing deep connections and associations with the historic peoples of the region. The creative interaction of Moroccan Jewry with the Arab and Berber cultures was noted in the Jews’ use of Morocco’s multiple languages and dialects, characteristic poetry, and musical works as well as their shared magical rites and popular texts and proverbs. In Jews and Muslims in Morocco: Their Intersecting Worlds historians, anthropologists, musicologists, Rabbinic scholars, Arabists, and linguists analyze this culture, in all its complexity and hybridity. The volume’s collection of essays span political and social interactions throughout history, cultural commonalities, traditions, and halakhic developments. As Jewish life in Morocco has dwindled, much of what is left are traditions maintained in Moroccan ex-pat communities, and memories of those who stayed and those who left. The volume concludes with shared memories from the perspective of a Jewish intellectual from Morocco, a Moroccan Muslim scholar, an analysis of a visual memoir painted by the nineteenth-century artist, Eugène Delacroix, and a photo essay of the vanished world of Jewish life in Morocco.
Purchase the book here!
About the Speakers:
André Elbaz is a professor emeritus of French at Carleton University.
Edwin Seroussi is a professor of musicology and director of the Jewish Music Research Centre at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
At the Crossroads:
Provençal Jewish Culture in the Middle Ages
Monday, 1 November
@ 9AM PDT ◊ 12PM EDT ◊ 5PM London ◊ 7PM Jerusalem ◊ 8PM Dubai
Sign-up Now!
The medieval Jewish community of Provence sat at the crossroads of Ashkenaz and Sefarad, a meeting place of diverse ideas and a center of innovative thought. Provençal Jews were renowned for their masterpieces of Talmudic learning as well as groundbreaking works of philosophy and science. It was in Provence that the treasures of Judeo-Arabic learning were translated into Hebrew, from which they were handed down to us today. This distinct blend of traditional and worldly knowledge characterized Provence. Its denizens saw themselves as belonging to a unique regional culture and proudly recorded its customs in books of minhagim and its version of the liturgy. With the French expulsions of the fourteenth century, Provençal Jewish culture was dispersed, but it did not come to a halt. Everywhere that members of this community went, they carried with them their distinctive approach to Jewish life, and their influence is felt into modernity.
About the speaker:
Dr. Tamar Marvin is a scholar of medieval Jewish intellectual history and a semikha student at Yeshivat Mahrat. She holds a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a B.A. in Literature and Journalism from New York University. Dr. Marvin has taught and developed curricula in a variety of academic and Jewish settings, including American Jewish University and Hebrew Union College-JIR, Los Angeles. She has published her work in academic journals as well as writing for broader media. Dr. Marvin’s research centers on questions of how medieval Jews reacted to and creatively adapted new forms of meaning-making in the world they encountered around them, including both philosophical reflection and Kabbalistic speculation.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
No hay boda sin tanyedera:
Ladino Music Salon
Thursday, 4 November at 10:30AM EST
Sign-up Now!
Are there “right” instruments to accompany Sephardic songs? People often remark on the instruments in the background of Judith’s online lectures and concerts. Here, Judith will use the online format to invite you to this background, her living-room, and all the stringed, wind and hand percussion instruments in it. Rather than background, the instruments, most of them hand-crafted, will be protagonists. Each one has songs and stories associated with it, and your questions and comments will help shape the order in which they’re presented.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Judith Cohen is a Canadian ethnomusicologist, medievalist, singer and storyteller specialized in Sephardic music, music among the Portuguese Crypto-Jews, and related traditions. Her presentations are based on both academic research and many years of fieldwork in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, the Balkans, Turkey, French Canada and wherever else her work and curiosity take her. She teaches part-time at York University in Toronto and is the consultant for the Alan Lomax Spain 1952 recordings.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org