This issue of the Sephardi World Weekly is dedicated in commemoration of the Anniversary of the Great Fire at Salonica (Thessaloniki), Greece, 18-20 August 1917.
~Dr. Joe Halio, President, Sephardic Foundation on Aging and the Foundation for the Advancement of Sephardic Studies & Culture; Distinguished Member of the American Sephardi Federation’s, the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America’s, and the American Friends of the Jewish Museum of Greece’s Boards of Directors.
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
🎙️“Podcast: Yair Harel on Haim Louk’s Masterful Jewish Music”
By Yair Harel and Jon Silver, Mosaic Magazine
Omer Avital, R’Haim Louk, and Yair Harel, Israel Festival, Jerusalem, Israel, June, 2010
(Photo courtesy of Lishay Levron/Jewish Review of Books)
Yair Harel is a leading Israeli band leader, musician, vocalist and educator with a deep knowledge and love of piyyut. In this podcast with Jon Silver, editor of Mosaic Magazine, Harel and Silver take a deep dive into the life and influence of the great contemporary Master of Andalusian Piyyut, Haim Louk. What separates piyyut from contemporary pop? Among other things, the quality and possibility of trance: “[T]he melody is repeating itself. This repetition is happening all the time… you’re surrendering to it. It’s repeating, but it’s not actually repeating. It’s always moving slowly, slowly forward… If you’re in it, you’re not supposed to feel when it happens. But suddenly you find yourself going faster and faster, and if you surrender to it there’s the quality of listening, of being open, with someone who knows how to lead it. It’s rare in modern times, when everything goes fast and a song has to be three minutes long in order for someone to listen to it.”
Feature: Meet Yair Harel, R’ Haim Louk, and The New Jerusalem Orchestra 🎶🎺
Rabbi Haim Louk and the New Jerusalem Orchestra, Piyyut Festival, Jerusalem, Israel,11 September 2013
(Photo courtesy of Maoz Vaystooch/Haim Louk/Facebook)
Yair Harel dreamt of exploring and expanding the sound of classical Andalusian piyyut with the harmonic and improvisational tools of jazz. His dream became a reality with the amazing and critically celebrated New Jerusalem Orchestra, starring the Master of Andalusian piyyut, R’ Haim Louk. Here’s their story.
✨“The Daring Life and Tragic Death of Tunisia’s Jewish Pop Sensation”
By Laura Elkeslassy, The Librarians
Habiba Messika, cover of L'Éclaireur du dimanche, 3 February 1929
(Photo courtesy of Gallica-BnF/History Today)
Vocalist Laura Elkeslassy’s most recent musical project “takes readers on a musical journey across North Africa to rediscover Judeo-Arab divas from the early twentieth century through the 1960s.” One of those divas was Habiba Messika (Msika), “a legendary figure in Tunis’s 1920s art scene.” In this article, Elkeslassy offers her interpretation of Msika’s life and career: “A rebellious soul, Msika crossed boundaries in all that she did,” from politics to morality. Ultimately murdered by a rejected suitor, “Msika’s bold nonconformity and tragic fate resonated deeply with her contemporaries, and fascinate… now.”
See also September 2019’s Sephardi Ideas Monthly: “Habiba Messika: North Africa’s First Superstar”
🕶️“How a blind Jewish boy from Baghdad became a great musician”
By Jonah Nelson and Esther Warkov, The Forward
Avraham Salman (with dark glasses, center, bottom row) and the Israel Broadcasting Authority Orchestra rehearsing in the studio, circa 1959.
(Photo courtesy of Ezra Aharon/The Forward)
Ibrahim Shahrabani was born in 1930 to a Jewish family in Baghdad. Blind by the age of two—“As a toddler, he would look up and see a sky full of clouds when there were none”—Shahrabani learned to play music and soon excelled at the qanun, “a plucked zither.” A sought-after musician, Shahrabani nevertheless was compelled to flee Iraq for Israel with the rest of the Jewish community in the early 50s. Once in Israel, Ibrahim Shahrabani became Abraham Salman, and he enjoyed a remarkable career playing classical Arab music that by and large flew under the radar of Israeli society: “Before his death, Salman lamented that while ‘people would really cry’ when he played qanun in Iraq, modern audiences didn’t appreciate his art.”
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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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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.
By Oded Halahmy
Like countless New Yorkers who arrived from distant lands, Oded Halahmy has a rich personal history of exile, migration and travels. Born in the old city of Baghdad in 1938, the artist came from a family of Orthodox Jews with deep roots in ancient Babylonian culture. Iraqi Cooking: Exile Is Home is a tasty exploration of Oded’s roots accompanied by several pieces of original art, sculptures and jewelry.
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
T-JEM: New Year, New Ideas
T-JEM is a series of online workshops by the ASF Institute of Jewish Experience for Jewish educators on understanding the Jewish mosaic and practical applications for incorporating the beauty, depth, diversity, and vitality of the Jewish experience into their classrooms.
In the workshops, we explore the video clips and complimentary resources ASF IJE designed to augment classroom lessons and explore Jewish diversity by expanding upon standard curricula.
Monday, 29 August at 12:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
For more information, contact drora@americansephardi.org
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Bene Israel Selichot
Join us as Hazzan Joshua Daniels introduces us to the Bene Israel piyyutim and selichot tunes as he shares stories from his life within and outside the Bene Israel community.
Tuesday, 30 August at 12:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
About the speaker:
Joshua Daniels was born in Bombay, India to an observant Jewish family. He is a member of the Bene Israel community which is the largest and oldest Jewish community from India. At an early age, his father encouraged him to read Hebrew and to follow the Bene Israel traditions with an emphasis on music and singing. His father Samuel Elijah Z”l is the greatest influence on Joshua’s life. He ensured that Joshua received a Jewish education and appointed the local hazzan in Bombay from the Etz Haeem synagogue to train him in Torah reading from the age of Bar Mitzvah.
At the age of 15, Joshua immigrated to Israel with his family before ultimately moving to Toronto, Canada. Joshua has been living in Toronto for 29 years with his wife and daughter. He has served as a chazzan and baal koreh (Torah reader) in various congregations. Joshua has expanded his knowledge and can perform the prayer services and Torah reading in Ashkenazi, Yerushalmi and Moroccan tropes. He continues to expand his singing abilities and is self- taught. He also has enriched his performance of the Bene Israel tunes and leads a minyan for High Holidays. He has taught more than 100 boys for their Bar Mitzvah, many of which could not read Hebrew. Joshua is ambitious, he continues to discover further aspects of Jewish prayer and song and takes pleasure in sharing his expertise.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Rosh Hashana Foods with Sarina Roffé
While most Jews have apples and honey before their Rosh Hashanah meal, Syrian Jews have many more brachot.
Journalist, Sephardic historian, and cookbook author Sarina Roffé will share recipes and discuss the foods unique to Syrian Jews on Rosh Hashanah. The recipes are for the brachot said before eating the holiday meal on Rosh Hashanah.
Wednesday, 14 September at 12:00PM EST
(Tickets: $8)
Sign-up Now!
About the speaker:
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, and 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.
For more about Sarina’s cookbooks:
https://sarinassephardiccuisine.com/cookbooks
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Exclusive Authors Series with Regina M. Tessone
Join us for a new episode of the Exclusive Authors Series with Regine M. Tessone who discusses her book Monavar’s Journey.
Tuesday, 20 September at 12:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
About the book:
On February 1, 1979, Regine Monavar Tessone recalls running through the Mehrabad airport with her parents and three brothers to board the last flight out of Tehran on the eve of the Islamic Revolution. The pilot announced as they entered the aircraft, “You are the lucky ones! The airport is now closed and the Ayatollah Khomeini has arrived.” In this intimate memoir, Monavar (a Farsi name meaning light) recreates the life of her Persian Jewish family before they fled Iran and her own adventures in their new home in America. Always buoyant (her maiden name Omid means hope), she describes reuniting with her mother’s family in Brooklyn, visiting Israel and serving as a volunteer, falling in love with a non-Persian Jew, and becoming a successful fashion designer. Her story, at once personal and paradigmatic, reflects her nostalgia for the homeland of her youth and her embrace of the opportunities of her adopted homeland in the United States as a successful Iranian-Jewish immigrant.
About the author:
Regine Monavar Tessone is an Iranian American fashion designer. As a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, she founded Aqua Modesta, a unique line of modest women’s swimwear and sportswear that attained worldwide success. Her initial professional goals achieved, she wrote this memoir to fulfill a lifelong dream: to share the story of her family’s incredible escape on the last flight out of Tehran. She resides with her husband and children in New York and Jerusalem.
For more about the book: https://www.amazon.com/Monavars-Journey-Bridge-Regine-Tessone/dp/163837306X
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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The Sephardi House Fellowship
Wisdom, Creativity, Community on Campus
Apply Now to be a ‘22-‘23 ASF Sephardi House Fellow!
Application Deadline: 30 August @ 5PM
The Sephardi House Fellowship (now in its third year) is an innovative initiative that seeks to infuse the wisdom, diversity, creativity, and warmth of the Sephardic spirit into Jewish student life—while also advancing Jewish unity, vitality, and pride on campuses.
Bringing together a select cohort of Jewish students from colleges and universities across North America, 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.
This enrichment and leadership development experience is composed of the following key components:
1) 10 cohort-based learning and discussion sessions with influential Jewish educators, community and industry leaders, scholars, and artists, 2) one-on-one mentorship and tailored campus support, 3) access to American Sephardi Federation’s robust educational and community resources, 4) a $1000 stipend, 5) an in-person Shabbaton leadership summit, and 6) a capstone community-building project that empowers fellows to imbue Sephardic energy and their unique voices into Jewish student life.
Deadline: 30 August, 5PM
Sephardi House Fellows receive mentorship and encouragement and support (including a $1,000 honorarium), with which to create a warm and welcoming environment for exploring the beauty, depth, diversity, and vitality of the Jewish People.
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.
Joshua invites others to join him in founding and nurturing this exciting and essential initiative.
Please write to info@americansephardi.org for more information on how you can get involved today! Sephardi House Founders Circle in formation.
Learn more on our new website, Sephardi.House!
Please support our work and help light a candle of wisdom and spirit on campus by donating now!
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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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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.