The ASF, on behalf of the Moroccan Jewish community, sends best wishes to HM King Mohammed VI on the 60th anniversary of his birth. May he be granted many years of health and happiness with which to continue his enlightened reign
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The Sephardi World Weekly is made possible by Daniel Yifrach, Rachel Sally, Professor Rifka Cook, Maria Gabriela Borrego Medina, Rachel Amar, Deborah Arellano, & ASF VP Gwen Zuares!
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Read the latest Sephardi Ideas Monthly exclusive: “American Excellence: Jews and the Jazz Tradition”
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🤝“Archives of Morocco, Israel State Archives Sign MoU”
By Asharq Al-Awsat
The signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Archives of Morocco and the Israel State Archives
(Photo courtesy of Asharq Al-Awsat)
The preservation, study and celebration of Jewish Moroccan tradition was just recalibrated a notch as “The Archives of Morocco and the Israel State Archives signed in Rabat on Wednesday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at preserving the Jewish-Moroccan memory and heritage.” The MoU was signed by “the director of the Archives of Morocco, Jamaa Baida, and the head of the Israel State Archives, Ruth Avramovitz.” In his remarks, Baida noted the MoU was made possible thanks to Israel’s recognition of the Western Sahara, which is “a major event highly appreciated by King Mohammed VI and all the living forces of the Moroccan Nation.” For her part, Avramovitz expressed her appreciation for the “warm and unforgettable welcome” she received on her first visit to the country. The official ceremony featured the screening of a film documentary film about eminent historian Haim Zafrani, whose work is available from the ASF’s imprint:
Two Thousand Years of Jewish Life in Morocco
Driven by a passionate desire to share his intimate knowledge of the vibrant Judeo-Moroccan society, Professor Haim Zafrani has painted this unique cultural landscape with a multicolored brush-sometimes wielding it with the acumen of a historian, other times with the insights of a sociologist or a linguist. Throughout, however, he has penned this work as a meticulous student of the multifaceted personality of Moroccan Jewry.
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Feature: “The Jewish Women of ‘Aden” 🎓✡️👭
Join the ASF’s Institute of Jewish Experience next week to explore the multifaceted history of the Jews of Aden! Our international conference will take place 28-30 August in London and Cambridge, United Kingdom, and is dedicated to the intersection of histories, cultures, and communal dynamics in the cosmopolitan port of Aden and its surroundings. Learn more and register at: adenconference.com. In the interim, enjoy this short clip (on either Instagram or Facebook) exploring the exceptional impact of education and freedom on ‘Adeni Jewish women.
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🎶“The song in an ad for an Israeli sandwich shop has become a nationwide party anthem”
By Deboarh Danan, JTA
Performers dance in the video for the song “Omelette Bread in Netanya.”
(Screenshot courtesy of JTA/YouTube)
Stricken with COVID and in a coma for 12 days, Vicky Ezra’s miraculous survival as well as a desire to leave a legacy for his son sparked a late life career change. Deborah Danan gets to the bottom of the tongue-in-cheek party song written in ten minutes out of love for the unlikely owner of a Netanya sandwich shop. How can a song for an establishment called “Omelette Bread in Netanya” go viral? She follows the musical trail to discover what the song, a cover of a Greek original, tells us about the impact of Greek music on Israeli culture: “According to Yasmin Ishbi, the chief music editor for Galgalatz, Israel’s most-listened to music station, ‘Many of the hits from the 1970s, 80s and 90s were actually Greek songs that went through giyur,” meaning, before their translation into Hebrew and adaptation to Israeli sounds. As for the song itself, Ishbi thinks the popularity of “Omelette Bread in Netanya,” aside from its catchy tune, is the lack of pretension, pure intention, and humor that was invested in the musical production, “The charming thing about it is that it was done with zero intention to become viral… So when you watch it, you laugh at them and their absurd lyrics, but you’re also laughing with them.”
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Please 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 Jews of the Middle East and North Africa: The Impact of World War II
By Professor Reva Spector Simon
Incorporating published and archival material, this volume fills an important gap in the history of the Jewish experience during World War II, describing how the war affected Jews living along the southern rim of the Mediterranean and the Levant, from Morocco to Iran.
Surviving the Nazi slaughter did not mean that Jews living in the Middle East and North Africa were unaffected by the war: there was constant anti-Semitic propaganda and general economic deprivation; communities were bombed; and Jews suffered because of the anti-Semitic Vichy regulations that left them unemployed, homeless, and subject to forced labor and deportation to labor camps.
Covering the entire Middle East and North Africa region, this book on World War II is a key resource for students, scholars, and general readers interested in Jewish history, World War II, and Middle East history.
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
Attention college students!
ASF is excited to launch the application for Cohort 4 of our Sephardi House Fellowship — a unique learning, community-building, and leadership development opportunity that infuses the wisdom, diversity, and joy of the Sephardic spirit into Jewish student life.
Bringing together a select group of students from colleges across the U.S., our program is the only national, yearlong fellowship dedicated to deepening a sense of Jewish belonging through an immersion in the multifaceted history, cultures, and intellectual legacy of the Greater Sephardic and Mizrahi world.
Apply Now to be a ’23-’24 ASF Sephardi House Fellow!
Application Deadline: 27 August 2023
This Sephardi House experience includes:
1) 10 cohort-based learning sessions with influential Jewish educators, community and industry leaders, scholars, and artists, 2) one-on-one mentorship and tailored campus support, 3) free access to ASF’s robust educational resources and events, 4) two in-person Shabbaton leadership summits, 5) a capstone community-building project that empowers fellows to imbue Sephardic energy and their unique voices into Jewish student life, and 6) a $1,000 stipend upon full completion of the program.
Deadline: 27 August 2023
Joshua Benaim, a Harvard University and Harvard Business School alum and Founder & CEO of Aria Development Group, is the visionary leader behind the creation of Sephardi House. He was inspired to create Sephardi House to honor his father Carlos, who instilled in him a love for the Sephardic tradition and community.
Please write to info@americansephardi.org for more information on how you can get involved today!
Please support our work and help light a candle of wisdom and spirit on campus by donating now!
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The ASF’s Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
The Aden Conference
Building on the success of the ASF and E’eleh B’Tamar’s “The Yemenite Conference: Jews and Muslims in Yemen” held in 2017 at New York’s Center for Jewish History, the Aden Conference will bring together the world’s leading scholars from Aden, Israel, US, UK, and Europe to explore the historical, cultural, and communal dynamics that intersected in Aden and its environs, particularly under British rule.
28-30 August 2023
Opening Night | JW3, London
Conference | Woolf Institute, Cambridge
Cambridge, Madingley Rd, Cambridge CB3 0UB, UK
Sign-up Now!
Co-Presenters:
Woolf Institute, ASMEA (Association for the Study of the Middle East & Africa), Aden Jewish Heritage Museum, Zalman Shazar Center, and Harif: Association of Jews from the MENA
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The ASF’s Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Sefarad: The Movie
Watch Sefarad, a film about the revival and rebirth of a Jewish community, on your own* and register for a Zoom webinar discussion with community leaders and those behind the film!
7 September at 12:00PM EST
Q&A with Dara Jeffries (Vice President of the Jewish Community of Oporto) and Michael Rothwell (Member of the Board of the Jewish Community of Oporto and Director of the Oporto Jewish and Holocaust Museums)
Sign-up Now!
(Tickets: $10)
*After registering, you’ll receive a code and link to watch the movie on your own.
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Galeet Dardashti in collaboration with the Neighborhood: An Urban Center for Jewish Life presents:
MONAJAT
Album release with Galeet Dardashti
“Galeet Dardashti’s multi-sensory project and album, Monajat, is inspired by old and haunting recordings of Jewish prayers chanted by her late grandfather, Younes Dardashti, a famous master singer of Persian classical music in 1950s/60s Iran.
Galeet reinvents the ancient ritual of Selihot— poetry sung nightly preceding the Jewish New Year as spiritual preparation—by singing with remixed samples of her grandfather's legacy recordings. Riffing off these old tapes, Galeet composes a soundscape of original music performed by an acclaimed ensemble of Middle Eastern and jazz musicians. As she dialogues with her grandfather in song, the live performance immerses audiences in Persian melodies, heavy grooves, sacred Hebrew and Persian poetry, and dynamic video art.
Saturday, 9 September at 8:00PM EST
@Littlefield
635 Sackett Street Brooklyn, NY 11217
(Tickets: $22.53 – $31)
Sign-up Now!
Featured Musicians:
- Galeet Dardashti
- Shanir Blumenkranz
- Philip Mayer
- Max Zbiral-Teller
- Dafer Tawil
About the artist:
As vocalist, composer and anthropologist Galeet Dardashti has earned a reputation as a trail-blazing performer, educator, and advocate for Middle Eastern and North African Jewish culture. Dardashti is the first woman to continue her family’s tradition of distinguished Persian and Jewish musicianship. Galeet’s grandfather, Younes Dardashti, was one of the most highly acclaimed singers of Persian classical music in Iran and her father, Farid Dardashti, is an accomplished cantor in the US. Galeet Dardashti is widely known as leader/founder of the renowned all-woman powerhouse Sephardi/Mizrahi Jewish ensemble Divahn, which released its newest album, Shalhevet, in 2020. Time Out New York described Dardashti’s first solo album—her multi-disciplinary commission, The Naming— as ‘urgent, heartfelt and hypnotic;’ The Huffington Post called it heart-stopping.’ Dardashti recently completed an Artist-in-Virtual-Residence at Indiana University, and recorded Monajat supported by IU and the MFJC. Dardashti also has years of experience as cantor; this year she’ll be leading High Holidays with Kanisse in Manhattan—one of the first egalitarian Sephardi/Mizrahi communities in the country. As a scholar, Dardashti examines Mizrahi music/media/cultural politics; she is currently Visiting Professor at NYU and will be a Fellow at University of Pennsylvania this coming year. As artist, scholar, and cantor deeply steeped in this music, Dardashti is uniquely poised to share her boundary-breaking piece, Monajat.”
The ASF proudly serves as a co-sponsor of Dardashti’s performance.
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Instituto de Música Judaica -Brasil, YIVO, the ASF’s Institute of Jewish Experience, & Brazilian Consulate in NYC present:
Kleztival NYC
Brazilian Jewish Music and Culture, a two-day program with Brazilian and North American artists.
Celebrating the 23 Brazilian Jews who, in 1654, arrived in North America and helped to build a city then called New Amsterdam, which later became New York. Celebrating Brazil, its Jewish roots and community today.
11 September at 6:00PM EST
Brazilian Jewish Music concert
@at the Brazilian Consulate in NYC
225 East 41st, New York, NY
(no registration required)
12 September:
3:00PM EST
Screening of documentary “A Estrela Oculta do Sertão” (The Star
Hidden in the Backlands) followed by Q&A with the producers
7:30 PM EST
Brazilian Jewish Music concert
@ the Center for Jewish History
Sign-up Now!
Executive Producers: Nicole & Edy Borger
Musical Director: Frank London
Singers: Carla Berg, Nicole Borger, Ahuva Flit and Rafael Zolko
Musicians: Pablo Aslan (bass), Vicente Falek (accordion),
Frank London (trumpet), Oren Neiman (guitar), Alex Parke (clarinet),
Satoshi Takashi (drums)
Documentary Producers: Elaine Eiger and Luize Valente.
Special thanks to:
Drora Arussy, Julia Rothkof, Miriam Mora, Suzanne Schwimmer, Alex Minkin, Thiago Antonio de Melo Oliveira, Tiago Domingues Carvalho, Aaron Alexander, Peter Rushevsky, Hanna Griff-Sleven, Felipe Pait, Eliezer Kahn, Bruno & Joyce Szlak, Angela Waitzberg, Bruce Phillips, Daniel Borger.
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The American Sephardi Federation presents:
Convergence: Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian Calligraphy in Conversation
Featuring the multilingual art of Ruben Shimonov Convergence creates a visual world where Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian languages interact with, and speak to, one another; a world where stylized letters and words dance together on the page; a world where cultures, religions, communities, and philosophies intersect.
Juxtaposing cognates from these ancient West Asian languages, artist Ruben Shimonov encourages the viewer to explore the deep-rooted connections between these tongues, as well as the multilayered and transnational identity of the artist himself.
On View in the Leon Levy Gallery
through 31 December 2023
@ the Center for Jewish History
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The American Sephardi Federation and Mimouna Association’s Rebuilding Our Homes Project present:
Re-Creation: Judaica by Moroccan Muslim Artisans
Explore the exhibition of Judeo-Moroccan art, Moroccan Judaica, cultural and religious objects, including Menorot, Mezuzot, Yads, Shabbat Candleholders, Seder Plates, Hallah Covers, and much more.
On View through 31 December 2023
@ the Center for Jewish History
As Moroccan Jewish populations largely left the mellahs (Jewish quarters) in the latter half of the 20th century, there was a danger that not only designs but even the traditional artisanal techniques needed to create them would be lost. Passed down from one artisan to another and perfected over time, these designs and techniques. ranging from vibrant patterns to intricate metalwork and soulful wood carvings, are expressions of Moroccanity and reflect the individual character of each city. The materials and craftsmanship of Rabat are different than Fez, and Essaouira is distinct from both.
Mimouna Association and the American Sephardi Federation’s Rebuilding Our Homes Project, a multi-year USAID-supported New Partnerships Initiative, brought three notable experts-Ms. Zhor Rehihil, Ms. Deborah Koenigsberger Gutierrez, and Ms. Meryem Ghandi to train Moroccan Muslim artisans in the history of Judeo-Moroccan art and guided them in re-creating Moroccan Judaica, which encompasses a diverse array of cultural and religious objects, including Menorot, Mezuzot, Yads, Shabbat Candleholders, Seder Plates, Hallah Covers, and much more.