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In Memoriam: Francesca Cernia Slovin, A”H, public intellectual, prolific author, passionate activist, and loving partner to Bruce Slovin, Founder of The Center for Jewish History and Distinguished Member of ASF’s Board of Directors
10 April 2017 |
10 April 2017
Last month we turned our attention to North American Sephardi communities with 2016 National Jewish Book Awards Winner and ASF Advisory Board Member Professor Devin E. Naar’s essay, “From the ‘Jerusalem of the Balkans’ to the Goldene Medina: Jewish Immigration from Salonika to the United States.”
For the month of April, Sephardi Ideas Monthly continues its exploration of Sephardi life in the Americas by shining the spotlight on Emma Lazarus (1849-1887), the American Sephardi poet famous for penning the words engraved on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal: “Give me your tired, your poor/ Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” We explore Lazarus’ life through Michael Weingrad’s review of Esther Schor’s biography, Emma Lazarus, in Commentary (April, 2007).
 Emma Lazarus (Image courtesy of Indiana University) |
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Emma Lazarus
Weingrad begins by praising Schor for “sumptuously” laying out before the reader the details of Lazarus’ rich life. In particular, Weingrad praises Schor for demonstrating that, “There was much more to Emma Lazarus’s life than the fourteen lines she is best remembered for today.” First of all, Lazarus not only composed poems, she also wrote, “concert and theater reviews, art criticism, and polemics.” What’s more, she was friendly with some of the notable literary personalities of her day, including Henry James and Ralph Waldo Emerson. And while Lazarus’ social circle was mostly comprised of non-Jews, it is especially remarkable how:
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Emma Lazarus
(Image courtesy of Indiana University)
Weingrad begins by praising Schor for “sumptuously” laying out before the reader the details of Lazarus’ rich life. In particular, Weingrad praises Schor for demonstrating that, “There was much more to Emma Lazarus’s life than the fourteen lines she is best remembered for today.”
First of all, Lazarus not only composed poems, she also wrote, “concert and theater reviews, art criticism, and polemics.” What’s more, she was friendly with some of the notable literary personalities of her day, including Henry James and Ralph Waldo Emerson. And while Lazarus’ social circle was mostly comprised of non-Jews, it is especially remarkable how:
Against the backdrop of rising anti-Semitism in the 1870’s and 1880’s, this secularized member of the Sephardi elite defended the Jews against their enemies and detractors, threw herself into work on behalf of Eastern European immigrants, and eloquently promoted the cause of a Jewish homeland in Palestine more than a decade before the appearance of Herzl’s The Jewish State.
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But because Lazarus packed lifetimes into her thirty-eight years, with excursions into various intellectual, artistic, social and political fields, the import of her life can be interpreted in various ways. Schor, for one, reads Lazarus as an early exponent of contemporary progressive concerns. Perhaps.
Weingrad, however, takes Schor to task for trying to force this rich 19th-century personality into the confines of a particular political agenda:
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Weingrad, however, takes Schor to task for trying to force this rich 19th-century personality into the confines of a particular political agenda:
Schor… presents Lazarus as anticipating the left-wing, secular modes of 20th-century American Jewish identity, as well as of 21st-century multiculturalism. There is a measure of truth here: Lazarus was a secular Jew before the type was well understood. Yet Schor’s own evident sympathies for this form of identity prevent a sober examination of its contemporary limitations, let alone its historical meaning in Lazarus’s time.
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Weingrad accordingly concludes his review by noting that in order to appreciate Lazarus in all of her fullness, we should be on guard against reducing her not only to a few shining lines from a single poem, but also to a single political position. Sephardi Ideas Monthly is happy to introduce our readers to the dynamic personality of Emma Lazarus, whose “passionate, ardent life” is both celebrated and soberly assessed in Michael Weingrad’s stimulating review essay, “Emma Lazarus by Esther Schor.” |
Weingrad accordingly concludes his review by noting that in order to appreciate Lazarus in all of her fullness, we should be on guard against reducing her not only to a few shining lines from a single poem, but also to a single political position.
Sephardi Ideas Monthly is happy to introduce our readers to the dynamic personality of Emma Lazarus, whose “passionate, ardent life” is both celebrated and soberly assessed in Michael Weingrad’s stimulating review essay, “Emma Lazarus by Esther Schor.”
“‘Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!’ cries she
With silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’”
Special Announcement
Sephardic Birthright Trip Summer 2017
Sephardic Communities in New York, Miami, and Seattle, are joining together to create a Sephardic Birthright Israel Trip this Summer from August 7th to August 17th! If you’ve never been on Birthright before and want to go to Israel for free, this is your chance! For 10 days, you’ll be able to travel around the country with amazing people with Sephardic, Greek, and Turkish backgrounds, all while exploring everything Israel has to offer. You’ll be able to ride camels in the desert, raft down the Jordan River, explore the Old City in Jerusalem, and a whole lot more.
The trip is totally free and anyone between the ages of 18 and 26 who hasn’t been on a Birthright Israel trip before is eligible. What’s more, we are working on creating an extended portion of the Trip to Greece! Even if you’ve been to Israel before on a non-birthright trip you may still be eligible.
Register HERE today and be sure to select the “Sephardic Experience” Trip. Registration takes less than 10 minutes and no final commitment is necessary. If you have any question, be sure to email us at info@sephardicbrotherhood.com and be sure to check out some of the amazing pictures from last year’s trip and our promo video made by one of our very own trip participants!
Note: While not an ASF program, ASF is proud of the members of our Young Leadership Board who are involved in organizing this trip
When Baghdadi Jews Baruch and Ellen Bekhor (née Cohen) succumbed to the camera’s gaze for their denaturalization pictures in 1951, they became stateless. Ellen was in her eighth month of pregnancy. Permitted to bring no more than a few kilos of belongings out of Iraq, Ellen carried their wedding picture and ketubah in her pocketbook. Laissez-Passer, Royaume D’Irak by Leslie Starobin (2016)
The Last Address
Now Through April 2017
in ASF’s Myron Habib Memorial Display
Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
The American Sephardi Federation proudly presents excerpts from The Last Address, a multi-year, photo-montage series and oral history and book project by award-winning artist Leslie Starobin that explores the enduring texture of memory and culture in the lives of Greater Sephardic families from dispersed Jewish communities in Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Iran, and Lebanon.
Leslie Starobin is a Boston-area photographer and montage artist. Her work is in the permanent collections of many academic (Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University) and public (Jewish Museum, MoMA) museums. Starobin is the recipient of numerous grants, including from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England Foundation of the Arts/Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. Most recently, she received two Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Grants for this series, The Last Address.
Her exhibition in ASF’s Myron Habib Memorial Display is sponsored in part by CELTSS: The Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching, Scholarship and Service at Framingham State University in Massachusetts, where Starobin is a Professor of Communication Arts.
Please click here for additional information and viewing hours
Portugal, The Last Hope: Sousa Mendes’ Visas for Freedom
April 2016 through January 2017
Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
The American Sephardi Federation, Portuguese Consulate of New York, the Sousa Mendes Foundation, and the Municipality of Almeida, Portugal proudly present a new exhibition in the Leon Levy Gallery honoring Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the courageous and creative Portuguese diplomat who saved Salvador Dali, the authors of Curious George, and thousands of other Holocaust refugees.
Please click here for viewing hours
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Contact us by email or phone ((917) 606-8266) to learn about giving opportunities in honor or memory of loved ones
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Copyright © 2017 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 a proud partner of the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th St., New York, NY, 10011). American Sephardi Federation | http://www.AmericanSephardi.org | info@americansephardi.org | (212) 548-4486
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Copyright © 2017 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 a proud partner of the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th St., New York, NY, 10011).
American Sephardi Federation | http://www.AmericanSephardi.org | info@americansephardi.org | (212) 548-4486
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