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12 March 2021
In Honor of the special book talk with Distinguished ASF Board Member Dr. Joe Halio at the Sephardi Federation of Palm Beach County’s Echar Lashon Meeting (Tuesday, 16 March) on the newly republished Birkenau (Auschwitz II): Memoirs of an Eyewitness: How 72,000 Greek Jews Perished by Dr. Albert Menache (Number 124454), one of the few Shoah survivors from the Jewish Community of Salonika and the first to publish Greek Holocaust survivor testimony. Sign-up here!
Click here to dedicate a future issue in honor or memory of a loved one. Thank you to Sephardi World Weekly Patrons 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.
Thank you to Sephardi World Weekly Patrons Professor Rifka Cook, Maria Gabriela Borrego Medina, Rachel Amar, Deborah Arellano, and Distinguished ASF Vice President Gwen Zuares!
Become a Patron today!
 Sephardic Culinary History with Chef Hélène Jawhara-Piñer Join us on Sunday, 21 March at 10:00AM EDT for Episode VIII: Mexican Crypto-Jewish Pesah recipe. (Complimentary RSVP; Donations suggested) Donate Now Donate Now
Sponsorship opportunities available: |
Sephardic Culinary History with Chef Hélène Jawhara-Piñer
Join us on Sunday, 21 March at 10:00AM EDT for Episode VIII: Mexican Crypto-Jewish Pesah recipe.
(Complimentary RSVP; Donations suggested)
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info@americansephardi.org
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“85-year-old Israeli testifies to Nazi-inspired pogrom that massacred Iraqi Jewry” By Lynette Hacopian, The Times of Israel Nazi Germany’s involvement in spreading antisemitism and destroying Middle Eastern Jewish communities during—e.g., the alliance with Haj Amin al-Husseini, publishing a cynically abridged Mein Kampf translation in Arabic, inspiring the Farhud pogrom—and after World War II is a critical but overlooked chapter in 20th century history. Now, Daniel Sasson, an Baghdad-born, 85-year-old Israeli, sheds light on part of that story in his recently published, Hebrew-language work, The Untold Story: The First and Last Ghetto in Iraq. In particular, Sasson relates how an alliance between Hitler and Iraqi Prime Minister Rashid Ali al-Gaylani led to the establishment of a ghetto in Diwaniya, a small city south of Baghdad: “‘[W]e knew that it was Nazi-inspired and that if allowed to continue, ghettos would become slaughterhouses to expel Jews living in the Middle East.’” The ghetto ended thanks to the British invasion and occupation of Iraq. |
 Daniel Sasson as a young man
(Photo courtesy of The Times of Israel) |
By Lynette Hacopian, The Times of Israel
Nazi Germany’s involvement in spreading antisemitism and destroying Middle Eastern Jewish communities during—e.g., the alliance with Haj Amin al-Husseini, publishing a cynically abridged Mein Kampf translation in Arabic, inspiring the Farhud pogrom—and after World War II is a critical but overlooked chapter in 20th century history. Now, Daniel Sasson, an Baghdad-born, 85-year-old Israeli, sheds light on part of that story in his recently published, Hebrew-language work, The Untold Story: The First and Last Ghetto in Iraq. In particular, Sasson relates how an alliance between Hitler and Iraqi Prime Minister Rashid Ali al-Gaylani led to the establishment of a ghetto in Diwaniya, a small city south of Baghdad: “‘[W]e knew that it was Nazi-inspired and that if allowed to continue, ghettos would become slaughterhouses to expel Jews living in the Middle East.’” The ghetto ended thanks to the British invasion and occupation of Iraq.
(Photo courtesy of The Times of Israel)
Daniel Sasson’s grandfather’s house at Diwaniya, which was turned into a ghetto for one month in 1941.
(Photo courtesy of The Times of Israel)
Daniel Sasson tells the little-known story of the Nazi-inspired ghetto of Iraq. From May 1-31, 1941, Iraqi authorities, under the influence of Hitler, forced local Jews to live together in horrible conditions in the small town of Diwaniya. The Jews suffered from hunger and exhaustion, and police officers told the Jews about plans to open more ghettoes across the country. The ghetto was dismantled thanks to the subsequent British invasion and occupation.
Press “CC” for subtitles
 Former Bahraini Ambassador to the US Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo and Hakham Rabbi Elie Abadie (Screenshot courtesy of i24/YouTube) |
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“Together, we are changing history: Bahrain’s Ambassador Houda Nonoo”
By Joydeep Sen Gupta, Khaleej Times
The Emirati daily, Khaleej Times, hosted Houda Nonoo, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s Ambassador to the US from 2008 to 2013 and a member of the Iraqi-Jewish community, for an extended interview. Ambassador Nonoo shared her experience hosting inter-faith Ramadan meals during her time in D.C.: “‘[P]articipants were amazed to find that the Ambassador representing Bahrain was a woman and could not fathom how I could be Arab and Jewish at the same time.’” She also shared her optimism for Jewish life in Bahrain: “‘We are proud to be the only indigenous Jewish community in the Gulf… Our synagogue is under renovation and is slated to open in the next few months. It will operate both as a synagogue for prayers and a Jewish museum — the first of its kind in the Gulf.’” Ambassador Nonoo is part of the recently launched Council of Gulf Jewish Communities (AGJC). |
Former Bahraini Ambassador to the US Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo and Hakham Rabbi Elie Abadie
(Screenshot courtesy of i24/YouTube)
The Emirati daily, Khaleej Times, hosted Houda Nonoo, the Kingdom of Bahrain’s Ambassador to the US from 2008 to 2013 and a member of the Iraqi-Jewish community, for an extended interview. Ambassador Nonoo shared her experience hosting inter-faith Ramadan meals during her time in D.C.: “‘[P]articipants were amazed to find that the Ambassador representing Bahrain was a woman and could not fathom how I could be Arab and Jewish at the same time.’” She also shared her optimism for Jewish life in Bahrain: “‘We are proud to be the only indigenous Jewish community in the Gulf… Our synagogue is under renovation and is slated to open in the next few months. It will operate both as a synagogue for prayers and a Jewish museum — the first of its kind in the Gulf.’” Ambassador Nonoo is part of the recently launched Council of Gulf Jewish Communities (AGJC).
Edited by Tamar Morad, Dennis Shasha, and Robert Shasha
Iraq’s Last Jews, a National Jewish Book Award Finalist, is a collection of first-person accounts about the once-vibrant, 2,500 year-old Babylonian Jewish community and its disappearance in the middle of the 20th century. This book tells the story of the last generation of Iraqi Jews, who both reminisce about their birth country and describe the persecution that drove them out, the result of Nazi influences, growing Arab nationalism, and anger over the re-birth of the State of Israel.
By Albert Khabbaza
The Last Tango in Baghdad is an inspirational memoir depicting a painstakingly true tale of a fascinating life lived in turbulent times and countries of the Middle East. This story, so reminiscent of the experiences of Jews in the past, is extraordinary. Readers are delighted by the humorous and saddened by the terrible injustices Dr. Khabbaza encountered throughout his life.
Providing some background and an understanding of the culture, the author examines the political facts and reveals in detail the events that shaped his life. Reading this book will inspire you and entertain you as well. It is highly recommended for all non-specialist general readers for its revealing content and valuable insight.
Sephardi Federation of the Palm Beach County presents:
Dr. Albert Menache & The Holocaust in Salonika
With Dr. Joe Halio
A special book talk at Sephardi Federation of the Palm Beach County Echar Lashon meeting on the newly republished Memoirs of Dr. Albert Menache, one of the few survivors from the Jewish Community of Salonika.
Birkenau (Auschwitz II): Memoirs of an Eyewitness: How 72,000 Greek Jews Perished was a ground breaking work by a Holocaust survivor and one of the first testimonies written by a survivor published after World War II.
Immerse yourself in the language of the Sephardim.
This is a social and cultural gathering for new and native Ladino speakers who meet in friendship to encourage the continuance of an expressive language.
Tuesday 16 March at 2:00PM EDT
Sign-up Now!
(Complimentary RSVP)
Joe Halio is a doctor of Geriatric Medicine based in Long Island. He is a board member of a number of Sephardic organizations, including: the American Sephardi Federation, the Sephardic Brotherhood of America, and the Foundation of the Advancement of Sephardic Studies and Culture.
Click here to purchase a copy of
Birkenau (Auschwitz II): Memoirs of an Eyewitness: How 72,000 Greek Jews Perished
The Department of Anthropology & Archeology at the University of Calgary, King’s College London, the International Network of Jewish Thought (Universidad Complutense of Madrid), & the American Sephardi Federation present:
Sephardi Thought and Modernity 2021 Webinar Series
A monthly lecture from February through June 2021, presenting different experiences of Sephardi modernization in different places and times.
On Thursdays at 1:00PM EDT
(11:00AM MST)
18 March
Yaakov Yadgar (Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, University of Oxford): Sephardim in Israel and the critique of secularism
22 April
Clemence Boulouque (Columbia University):
In praise of the Orient: Elia Benamozegh’s Sephardic Modernities
20 May
Gabriel Abensour (Hebrew University of Jerusalem): Rabbi Yosef Knafo’s Struggle for Democratization of Knowledge in Fin de Siècle Essaouira
17 June
Yuval Evri (King’s College London) and Angy Cohen (University of Calgary): Foreign in a familiar land: language and belonging in the work of Jacqueline Kahanoff, Albert Memmi, and Jacques Derrida.
Sign-up for the Webinar Series Now!
(Complimentary RSVP)
The intention of this series is to spark the interest in processes of Jewish modernization not exclusively mediated by Europeanization. The questions we will be dealing with are related to non-dichotomic identities, multiplicity and loss of language, colonization, social transformation, and intellectual responses to it. We will approach these questions by looking at Jewish-Arab influences, the Sephardi response to European modernization, the responses of the rabbinic leadership and the work of Sephardi intellectuals.
Series organized by Yuval Evri (King’s College London) and Angy Cohen (University of Calgary).
There will be a change to Daylight Saving Time in March, so the event times in North America will remain the same, but the event time in your area may change, depending on your location. The start time on Feb. 18 is 11 a.m. (MST), 1 p.m. (EST), 6 p.m. (GMT), 7 p.m. (Madrid; GMT +1); on March through June events, the start time will be 11 a.m. (MDT), 1 p.m. (EDT).
Sephardic Culinary History with Chef Hélène Jawhara-Piñer
Episode VIII:
Mexican Crypto-Jewish Pesah recipe
Click here to check out the ingredients
Sephardi Culinary History is a new show that combines chef and scholar Hélène Jawhara-Piñer’s fascination with food studies and flair for creating delicious cuisine. Join along as she cooks Sephardic history!
Sunday, 21 March at 10:00AM EDT
Sign-up Now!
(Complimentary RSVP; Donations suggested)
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Your generous contribution will support Chef Jawhara Piñer’s forthcoming academic publication and accompanying recipe book, as well as the ASF Institute of Jewish Experience!
Pre-order your copy of “Sephardi: Cooking the History.
Recipes of the Jews of Spain and the Diaspora, from the 13th Century Onwards” now
ASF Broome & Allen Fellow Hélène Jawhara-Piñer earned her Ph.D in History, Medieval History, and the History of Food from the University of Tours, France.
Chef Hélène’s primary research interest is the medieval culinary history of Spain through interculturality with a special focus on the Sephardic culinary heritage written in Arabic. A member of the IEHCA (Institute of European History and Cultures of Food), the CESR (Centre for Advanced Studies in the Renaissance), and the CoReMa Project (Cooking Recipes of the Middle Ages), Chef Hélène has lectured at Bar-Ilan University (in collaboration with the Stali Institute and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC): “El patrimonio culinario judío de la Península Ibérica a través de un manuscrito del siglo XIII. Ejemplos de la pervivencia de recetas en la cocina de los sefardíes de España y de Marruecos,” 2018), as well as at conference of the Association Diwan (“Reflections on the Jewish heritage according to the Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ,” 2015), IEHCA of Tours (“Jews and Muslims at the Table: Between coexistence and differentiation: state of affairs and reflections on the culinary practices of Jews and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula and in Sicily from the 12th to the 15th century,” 2017), and Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies (“The hidden Jewish culinary heritage of the Iberian Peninsula through a manuscript of the 13th century. Examples of the provenance of some recipes in Venezuelan and Colombian cuisine,” 2017).
In May, Chef Hélène hosted “Shavuot in the Sephardic Kitchen: Bread of the Seven Heavens,” one of the most popular sessions of the Great Big Jewish Food Fest. Her recipes have appeared in the Sephardi World Weekly, Tablet Magazine, The Forward, and S&P Central’s Newsletter. Chef Hélène is currently writing a scholarly book and accompanying cookbook on the Jewish culinary history of Spain.
We are proud Chef Hélène is serving as one of the judges for the ASF’s Great Sephardic Chef Competition!
Sponsorship and Naming opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Jews lived in the Middle East, and particularly Iran, even before the advent of Islam. Iran has a long history with varying dynasties, dynastic changes, and evolving borders and Jews have been there continuously throughout these changes. Throughout the ascent of Islam in its different forms, Jews were integrated at times more and at times less economically. There were times of intellectual and spiritual growth as well as suppression and persecution. All this will be addressed and discussed in a historical context.
The course is divided into seven units:
1. The Ancient Period – the settlement of the Jews in Iran, Acaemenid, Parthian, and Sassanian times
2. 7th to 9th Centuries – The emergence of Islam, Islam and the Jews, Dhimma, and Jewish religious streams
3. 13th to 18th centuries – Mongols, Jewish Persian poets, Safavid times
4. Mid-18th century to 19th century – Invasion, dynasties, and persecutions
5. The latter part of the 19th century – Interactions with World Jewry, legal status and conversions
6. Early 20th century – Modernization and education, constitution revolution, Zionism
7. The 20th century – Pahlavi dynasty, Revolution, Mashadis, and Migration
Dr. Daniel Tsadik
Dr. Daniel Tsadik, a former professor of Sephardic and Iranian Studies at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, has been awarded The Prime Minister’s Prize (Israel) in 2020 for the Encouragement and Empowerment of Jewish Communities in Arab Countries and Iran for The Jews of Iran and Rabbinic Literature: New Perspectives, published by Mosad Ha-Rav Kook.
Tsadik researches the modern history of Iran, Shi’ah Islam, and Iran’s religious minorities. A Fulbright scholar, he earned his Ph.D from the History Department at Yale University.
Dr. David Yeroushalmy
Born in Tehran, David Yeroushalmy completed his primary and part of his secondary education at the Alliance Israelite school in Tehran. He immigrated to Israel in 1961 and upon completing his secondary education he enrolled in the Department of Middle Eastern History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Completing his B.A. in Middle Eastern Studies and in Political Science, he served in the Israeli Army as an officer. He pursued his doctoral studies at Colombia University New York, in the Department of Middle East Languages and Cultures. He specialized in Persian and Hebrew languages and literatures. D. Yeroushalmy was appointed lecturer in the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel-Aviv University, where he has been teaching Persian language and Iranian history and culture. His Book entitled The Judeo-Persian Poet Emrani and His Book of Treasure, was published by E.J. Brill Publishers, Leiden, in 1995. Dr. Yeroushalmy’s current research focuses on the communal and cultural history of Iranian Jewry in the course of the nineteen-century.
Ms. Lerone Edalati
Lerone Edalati is a member of the Mashadi community of New York. In addition to her role as Associate Director of Donor Relations at ISEF, she researches and records the history and current practices of the Mashadi Jews. She holds a BA from NYU in Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies, and an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from The Graduate Center, CUNY. She is a Broome & Allen Fellow at the American Sephardi Federation and is currently gathering oral histories of Iranian Jews in NY.
Dr. Hilda Nissimi
Dr. Hilda Nissimi is the chair of the Generatl History Department at Bar Ilan University. Her most current research focuses on the formation adn change of identity layers in crypto-religious communities, with a particular focus on Mashadi Jews. Her book, The Crypto-Jewish Mashadis, was published in 1985 and remains the main text on the study of that population. She has written numerous articles on identity and forced conversions.
This course is made possible with the support of The Shazar Center, Israel.
For more information and other ASF IJE online course offerings visit: https://courses.instituteofjewishexperience.org/
Sponsorship opportunities available:
info@americansephardi.org
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
The Crypto Experience
The Global History of Secret Jews
An online course presented in 10 minute episodes.
Learn at your own pace.
Please sign-up now!
Total cost of the course is $75.00
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience is proud to present “The Crypto Experience,” an online course on Crypto-Jews. It is part of a series of online courses on a variety of topics that make up the robust Jewish experience.
For hundreds of years there have been descendants of Crpto-Jews, who have covertly kept some of their traditions while maintaining a very different public persona. It is a question of identity, be it Huegenot, Catholic, Sephardi, or Mashadi. Professing one faith on the outside and another on the inside speaks to our quest for defining identity today.
These questions of identity that we think are so new and so relevant are really rather old questions under different circumstances. In this course Dr. Hilda Nissimi (Bar Ilan University) presents an overview of crypto societies historically and in the context of today. She challenges the participants to ask themselves difficult questions like: What defines identity? If I project this outer self, how do I keep my real me? Who is the real me? Am I the me before the expression of an outer facade? Is it a new me?
The course discusses these questions as they pertain to Jews, specifically. What does it mean to be a Jew? What do I have to keep if I want to call myself a Jew? Am I allowed to change? Am I the person to decide? Who will decide? How can anyone decide under such circumstances?
In order to understand this in historic and cultural contexts, world-renowned scholars and experts in the field have joined Dr. Nissimi and will be presenting the challenges facing a range of crypto societies:
Huegenots – Dr. Hilda Nissimi
Spanish-Portuguese Crypto Society – Dr. Ronnie Perelis (Yeshiva University)
Bildi’in of Morocco – Professor Paul Fenton (Sorbonne Université, Paris)
Mashhadi Jews of Iran – Dr. Hilda Nissimi
Tracing Jewish Roots – Genie and Michael Milgrom
Growing Up Mashhadi– Reuben Ebrahimoff
For more information and other ASF IJE online course offerings visit: https://courses.instituteofjewishexperience.org/
The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
The Greek Experience
Explore the world of Greek Jewry from the ancient Romaniote to the Sephardim and others who made it to and through Greece.
An online course presented in 10 minute episodes.
Learn at your own pace.
Please sign-up now!
Total cost of the course is $75.00
Jews have been in Greece since before the Temple was destroyed. They were in Greece upon the founding of the Greek Orthodox Church. Community members, known as Romaniote, made their way through Venice, Byzantium, Spain, across the Ottoman Empire, and beyond.
Dr. Yitzchak Kerem provides an overview of the unique languages, liturgical nuances, and communal life of Jews across Greece. Dr Kerem spent significant time living in Greece and researching Greek and Sephardic history. Photographs, maps, and personal accounts provide course participants with a full picture of the unique nature of the Jews of Greece and its surroundings.
In the course, participants will look at major influential points in Greek Jewish history. They will explore The Golden Age of Salonika, a time when Greece’s northern city was a hub of Jewish scholarship. Kerem introduces the tension arising in the Greek Jewish community because of Shabtai Tzvi and the Sabbateanism movement that brought with it false messianism and conversion to Islam, at least outwardly.
The course looks at when the Alliance Israélite Universelle moved in and the Sephardic culture in Greece developed a rich secular culture with its own novels, theater, and music.
This is part of the greater Jewish heritage and history that is often overlooked. ASF IJE online courses will bring to life all parts of the greater Jewish Experience.
For more information and other ASF IJE online course offerings visit: https://courses.instituteofjewishexperience.org/
Please donate now to support the American Sephardi Federation!
Together, we can go from strength to strength in the New Year!
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Copyright © 2021 American Sephardi Federation, All rights reserved. Thank you for opting (on our websites, at an event, or by email) to receive American Sephardi Federation Programming Updates and Publications. We apologize if this message was sent in error. The American Sephardi Federation is located at the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th Street, New York, New York, 10011). www.AmericanSephardi.org | info@AmericanSephardi.org | (212) 294-8350 |
Copyright © 2021 American Sephardi Federation, All rights reserved.
Thank you for opting (on our websites, at an event, or by email) to receive American Sephardi Federation Programming Updates and Publications. We apologize if this message was sent in error.
The American Sephardi Federation is located at the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th Street, New York, New York, 10011).
www.AmericanSephardi.org | info@AmericanSephardi.org | (212) 294-8350
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