In Memory of Albert Kamoo, A”H, President of the Syrian Jewish Community and one of the last Jews in Damascus, Syria
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
🙌🏼“Moroccan Muslims Are Reviving Jewish Heritage in Former Jewish Neighborhoods”
By Adi Koplewitz, The Media Line
Moroccan artist Amina Yabis, El Mehdi Boudra (Founder/President, Mimouna Association), and Jason Guberman (Executive Director, American Sephardi Federation), Rebuilding Our Homes exhibit opening, Mohammed V Foundation, Fez, Morocco
(Photo courtesy of Rebuilding Our Homes)
The Jewish history of Morocco will soon be told by “Moroccans now living in the mellahs – historic urban neighborhoods in Moroccan cities that were once thriving Jewish quarters.” Not long ago, however, the resident non-Jewish Moroccans didn’t know “anything about the people who lived there before them.” Enter “Rebuilding Our Homes,” a new multi-year initiative of the American Sephardi Federation and Mimouna Association that is supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The aim? Says ASF Executive Director Jason Guberman: “‘We wanted to establish a connection between youth and grownups in these neighborhoods and their own history – as well as to the rich Jewish heritage surrounding them.’”
Feature: The Jewish Mayor of Ioannina Shares the History of Romaniote Jews 🕍✡️
Kahal Kadosh Yashan, Ioannina, Greece
(Photo courtesy of i24/YouTube)
Dr. Moshe Elisaf is the Mayor of Ioannina, Greece, and a member of the ancient Greek-speaking Romaniote Jewish community. In a recent interview, Eliasaf shared the very rich 2,000-year-old history (!) of Romaniote Jews while humbly acknowledging that, “‘Small Jewish communities depend upon the support of Israel and the Jewish people around the world.’”
💏“Ancient Indian Jewish community holds on to customs despite shrinking numbers”
By Avi Kumar, JNS
Community leader Elias Josephai (second right) with Thapan Dubayehudi (second left) and his bride celebrate their wedding, Kadavumbhagam Ernakulam Synagogue, Kochi (Cochin), India
(Photo courtesy of Thapan Dubayehudi/JNS)
Fifteen Jews remain in Kerala, India. Last month, the community celebrated its first wedding in a decade. Elias Josephai—aka “The Babu Uncle,” Babu meaning “boss” or “father”—is caretaker of the Kadavumbhagam Ernakulam Synagogue and, according to a community insider, “the one-man army keeping the community and synagogue alive.” Josephai paints his connection as deeply personal, “‘Many of my relatives have made aliyah. But I feel like I would be like a fish out of water if I moved to Israel.’”
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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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The Synagogues of Greece: A Study of Synagogues in Macedonia and Thrace
By Elias V. Messinas
Published by the American Sephardi Federation, this is an English edition of Elias V. Messinas’ study The Synagogues of Greece: A Study of Synagogues in Macedonia and Thrace based on his 1999 doctoral dissertation and subsequent work on documentation and protection of Jewish heritage sites in Greece.
The book provides two main themes. First, it is a detailed history of the the synagogues of northern Greece (Macedonia and Thrace), mostly a legacy of the Ottoman period. Messinas has dug deep to collect information on all identifiable synagogues, some known only by name. He traces the history of these institutions and structures and places them in their urban context from the 15th through the 20th centuries - so there is much of value here for student’s of Jewish settlements and Jewish quarters. Almost all of these buildings are gone. Many were destroyed in the great fire that swept Salonika in 1917. Those that were rebuilt were destroyed in the Holocaust or in the years following, when the once large Jewish communities of Northern Greece were reduced to tiny numbers. In the 1990s, Messinas was able to document several extant synagogues—albeit surviving in ruined condition—and document them with measured drawings and photos before they were demolished.
*Exclusively available at the ASF’s Sephardi Shop
Birkenau (Auschwitz II) How 72,000 Greek Jews Perished
By Albert Menache, M.D.
Memoirs of An Eyewitness; NUMBER 124454
This is the story of the destruction of the Balkan Sephardic Jewish Community by the Nazis in WWII. Written by the President of the Jewish Community of Salonica, Greece, it is the earliest published account by a survivor. Written while still in the concentration camp on smuggled paper, it has been out of print since the first edition appeared in 1947.
This new edition has been updated with historical documents, photographs, and notes on the restoration of Jewish life in Greece after the war.
Watch Dr. Joe Halio speak about “Dr. Albert Menache & The Holocaust in Salonika”
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities
Kanisse: A Modern Sephardic + Mizrahi Community presents:
Multicultural High Holiday Services
Dates and Locations
Monday, 26 September at 3:30PM
Rosh Hashanah Tashlikh Service
@ Pier 57
57 Hudson River Greenway (at 15th Street), New York, NY
Meeting on the upper rooftop under the shade canopy.
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
“Kanisse will be hosting a special Rosh Hashanah Tashlikh Service (“casting-off” of sins) on the Hudson. The short program will begin with Dr. Galeet Dardashti leading quintessential holiday piyutim from a variety of Middle Eastern and North African traditions. We will then meditatively sound the shofar and conclude with traditional and alternative Tashlikh readings along the river’s edge.”
*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:
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.