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In Honor of Pamela & Aba Claman, Founders of Thank Israeli Soldiers
11 April 2016
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For the month of April, Sephardi Ideas Monthly follows the trail of piyyut, Sephardi liturgical poetry and (soul) music, all the way out to the Moroccan countryside with Sam Thomas’ delightful essay, especially written for Sephardi Ideas Monthly, “The Virtues of the Shleuh: Celebrating the Amazigh Contribution to Jewish Music and Identity.”
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Samuel Torjman Thomas
The Moroccan-Jewish term shleuh refers to Jews who “come from the hinterlands.” Conventionally thrown around as a semi-humorous pejorative─imagine referring to North African Jews as “country bumpkins”─the Shleuhim were looked down upon because they lived with the Imazighen (popularly known as “Berbers”), and not the urbanized, urbane Arabs. Inspired, however, by the example of his half-Amazigh, Moroccan-Jewish mother, Thomas embraces, and owns, the term. A professor of ethnomusicology and Sephardi studies at City University of New York, the Artistic Director of the New York Andalus Ensemble, and a multi-instrumentalist and composer, Thomas notes that “In most discussions of Moroccan Jewish history and culture, the Sephardic element, and by extension the Arab influence on Andalusian society, are emphasized.” |
The Moroccan-Jewish term shleuh refers to Jews who “come from the hinterlands.” Conventionally thrown around as a semi-humorous pejorative─imagine referring to North African Jews as “country bumpkins”─the Shleuhim were looked down upon because they lived with the Imazighen (popularly known as “Berbers”), and not the urbanized, urbane Arabs. Inspired, however, by the example of his half-Amazigh, Moroccan-Jewish mother, Thomas embraces, and owns, the term.
A professor of ethnomusicology and Sephardi studies at City University of New York, the Artistic Director of the New York Andalus Ensemble, and a multi-instrumentalist and composer, Thomas notes that “In most discussions of Moroccan Jewish history and culture, the Sephardic element, and by extension the Arab influence on Andalusian society, are emphasized.”
| There is, however, more to the Moroccan-Jewish story than the Sephardi and Arab elements. Beginning in the 8th century, writes Thomas, “Every aspect of this nascent Andalusian foothold was imbued with Amazigh character.” And when it comes to music: “While… elements of classical Arab-Andalusian musical culture constitute an important marker of Moroccan identity, much more could be said of the Amazigh influences.” These influences include Moroccan-Jewish rhythms, melodies, and musical-ritual forms. |
 Sam Thomas performing on oud with the New York Andalus Ensemble at The Sephardi Report’s Launch Party, 9 September 2015 (Photo courtesy of Chrystie Sherman). Click here to hear their rendition of R’ Yisrael Najara’s classic piyyut, “Ya’alah, Ya’alah.” |
Sam Thomas performing on oud with the New York Andalus Ensemble at The Sephardi Report’s Launch Party, 9 September 2015 (Photo courtesy of Chrystie Sherman). Click here to hear their rendition of R’ Yisrael Najara’s classic piyyut, “Ya’alah, Ya’alah.”
| Thomas notes that Moroccan-Jewish identity, like Moroccan-Jewish music, is a hybrid: “transmuting the connections between Jews, Arabs, and Imazighen.” And it is precisely the hybrid character of Moroccan-Jewish identity that “makes the marginalization of Amazigh-Jewish identity all the more striking.” However, the marginalization of Amazigh-Jewish identity “isn’t only historically inaccurate, it also departs from the way in which Moroccan Jews have traditionally celebrated their rich history.” |
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Ultimately, Thomas wants Moroccan-Jewish culture to remain true to its open, Andalusian roots and “to recognize, and celebrate, the Amazigh contribution to Jewish history and culture.” Indeed, the Amazigh element of Moroccan-Jewish culture is one more reminder that “[a]s has been the case for Jews throughout the history of the Diaspora, Jews in Morocco were at once repositories, refractors, and creators of the cultures of the people amongst whom they ─ we ─ lived.”
Sephardi Ideas Monthly is delighted to shine a light on Amazigh-Jewish culture with Sam Thomas’ wonderful essay, “The Virtues of the Shleuh: Celebrating the Amazigh Contribution to Jewish Music and Identity.” |
Sephardi Ideas Monthly is delighted to shine a light on Amazigh-Jewish culture with Sam Thomas’ wonderful essay, “The Virtues of the Shleuh: Celebrating the Amazigh Contribution to Jewish Music and Identity.”
Nabucco, Opera by Verdi
April 12th, 14th, and 17th at 8PM
Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th Street, New York City
An opera by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by and starring David Serero as Nabucco. Building on the biblical accounts of the Babylonian Exile found in Jeremiah and Daniel, Verdi’s Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar) combines political and love intrigues with some of the greatest songs ever written (including Va pensiero, The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves).
Please click here to purchase tickets
(General Admission $26; VIP $36)
Portugal, The Last Hope: Sousa Mendes’ Visas for Freedom
April 7th through September 9th
Center for Jewish History
15 West 16th Street, New York City
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
The ‘Jerusalem of the Balkans’: The Rise and Fall of the Jews of Salonica
Wednesday, April 13th at 7:30PM
Sephardic Temple in Cedarhurst
775 Branch Boulevard, Woodmere, NY
Once home to the largest Ladino-speaking Jewish community in the world, the Aegean port city of Salonica (Thessaloniki) provides a unique window into the broader Sephardic Jewish world. In this lecture, Professor Devin Naar, Isaac Alhadeff Professor in Sephardic Studies at the University of Washington and The American Sephardi Federation’s representative on The Center for Jewish History’s Academic Advisory Board, will explore the history of this “Jerusalem of the Balkans,” where Jews represented half of the city’s residents and the port closed every week in observance of Shabbat.
Drawing on original research materials in six languages that form the basis of Naar’s forthcoming book, Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece (Stanford University Press), the lecture will focus on the dramatic changes that accompanied the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the rise of modern Greece in the 19th and 20th centuries. To what extent could Salonica’s Jews remain Jewish while also becoming Greek? Ultimately, the Nazi occupation of Salonica resulted in the complete destruction of the city’s Jewish community and few echoes of the memory of Jewish Salonica may be heard today.
THE POMEGRANATE CARD
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($54 tax-deductible)
Contact us by email or phone (917.606.8266) to sponsor future issues of the Sephardi Ideas Monthly 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 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@Sephardi.House | (212) 548-4486
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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 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@Sephardi.House | (212) 548-4486
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