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2 December 2016
In Memory of Elsi Levy (née Kovacs), A”H, concert pianist, philanthropist, volunteer extrodinaire, and wife of Leon Levy, A”H, Past President of the American Sephardi Federation and the first Sephardi to head the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations |
In Memory of Elsi Levy (née Kovacs), A”H, concert pianist, philanthropist, volunteer extrodinaire, and wife of Leon Levy, A”H, Past President of the American Sephardi Federation and the first Sephardi to head the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
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“The Exodus Obama Forgot to Mention” By André Aciman, The New York Times
Writing in 2009 after President Obama’s address to the Arab-Muslim world delivered at Cairo, Egypt, Andre Aciman noted a glaring omission in the speech’s survey of Middle Eastern injustices: “The president never said a word about me. Or, for that matter, about any of the other 800,000 or so Jews born in the Middle East who fled the Arab and Muslim world or who were summarily expelled for being Jewish in the 20th century….Nor did he mention that with this flight and expulsion, Jewish assets were – let’s call it by its proper name – looted…. My Mother’s house, my father’s factory, our life in Egypt, our friends, our books, our cars, my bicycle.”
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 André Aciman speaking at ASF’s “We Were Neighbors: Remembering Middle Eastern and North African Jewish Communities,” Center for Jewish History, 30 Nov. 2016 |
By André Aciman, The New York Times
André Aciman speaking at ASF’s “We Were Neighbors: Remembering Middle Eastern and North African Jewish Communities,” Center for Jewish History, 30 Nov. 2016
(Photo courtesy of Chrystie Sherman)
 360-degree Panorama of the Jewish Cemetery, Tétouan, Morocco (Photo courtesy of Josh Shamsi/Diarna Geo-Museum). |
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“How One Organization Is Using Google Maps to Save History in the Middle East” By Ross Ufberg, Pacific Standard
Diarna is a Geo-Museum that maps Jewish sites across the Middle East and North Africa. Co-founded by ASF Executive Director Jason Guberman, it also serves as the research engine of the American Sephardi Federation. “‘If you don’t protect your history you can’t protect your future,’” says a Diarna researcher recently returned from the front-lines with ISIS. As religious extremism has flooded the Arab-Islamic world, “Diarna has coordinated over two dozen missions so far in Iraq, Syria, Morocco, Egypt, and elsewhere, creating an interactive online museum where the displaced can locate their family homes, and where the curious can learn a history that’s much more complex than what the conquerors allow to be written. The locals near Diarna sites might even learn about their own past….”
Please contact Diarna now if you have testimony or documentation pertaining to Jewish sites in the Middle East and North Africa
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360-degree Panorama of the Jewish Cemetery, Tétouan, Morocco (Photo courtesy of Josh Shamsi/Diarna Geo-Museum).
By Ross Ufberg, Pacific Standard
ASF’s “We Were Neighbors: Remembering Middle Eastern and North African Jewish Communities” began with this recording of HaTikvah from Tunisia. Shown here: Lucette Lagnado, ASF President David E.R. Dangoor, ASF Executive Director Jason Guberman, and André Aciman, Center for Jewish History, 30 November 2016. Click here to see additional photos
(Photo courtesy of Chrystie Sherman)
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“The Last of the Arab Jews” By Lucette Lagnado, Wall Street Journal
The Jewish community of Djerba, Tunisia, is growing in size, an accomplishment community members ascribe to the protection of the government, and God. But the community’s deeply-rooted traditionalism is now facing a new challenge: a push from within for women’s education.
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 Lucette Lagnado speaking at ASF’s “We Were Neighbors: Remembering Middle Eastern and North African Jewish Communities,” Center for Jewish History, 30 Nov. 2016 |
By Lucette Lagnado, Wall Street Journal
Lucette Lagnado speaking at ASF’s “We Were Neighbors: Remembering Middle Eastern and North African Jewish Communities,” Center for Jewish History, 30 Nov. 2016
(Photo courtesy of Chrystie Sherman)
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
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 an 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 additional information and viewing hours
Donate now and your tax-deductible contribution will help ASF preserve and promote the Greater Sephardi history, traditions, and culture as an integral part of the Jewish experience!
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 © 2016 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 St., New York, New York, 10011). www.AmericanSephardi.org | info@AmericanSephardi.org | (212) 548-4486 |
Copyright © 2016 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 St., New York, New York, 10011).
www.AmericanSephardi.org | info@AmericanSephardi.org | (212) 548-4486
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