Mission

The American Sephardi Federation (ASF), a partner of and housed in New York’s Center for Jewish History, documents, preserves, and perpetuates the history, traditions, and rich mosaic culture of Greater Sephardic communities as an integral, indeed essential, part of the Jewish experience. Our work is focused on ensuring that today’s Jews know our history; appreciate the beauty, depth, diversity, and vitality of the Jewish experience; and have a sense of pride in our contributions to civilization.

For 50 years the ASF has achieved representation with results by giving platforms to scholars, preserving artifacts and memories (see: “An Immigrants Story Discovered in Discarded Papers” NY Times), engaging diplomatically to ensure access, preservation, and education, as well as standing unapologetically for bringing #AllJewsTogether.

The ASF creates high-profile events (see: New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival), exhibitions, and scholarly and cultural conferences, produces widely-read online and print publications, supports research, scholarship (Broome & Allen Fellows), the ASF Institute of Jewish Experience, the National Sephardic Library & Archives, the Sephardi House Fellowship on campuses coast-to-coast, as well as represents the Sephardic Voice in diplomatic and Jewish communal affairs as a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and World Jewish Congress. According to Robin Washington, the ASF has the most inclusive Board of Directors of the top 53 Jewish organizations in the United States.

The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience produces philosemitic educational content (including short videos) and organizes major in-person and online events, such as “Reclaiming Identity: Jews of Arab Lands and Iran Share Stories of Identity, Struggle, and Redemption” (See: Sephardi Ideas Monthly here and podcasts here). Our latest global event, Unity Through Diversity, was featured as part of Jewish American Heritage Month and supported by the Conference of Presidents, WZO, World Jewish Congress, AJHS, Center for Jewish History, and scores of others.

Since 2020, the ASF’s Sephardi House, the only national fellowship program of its kind, has brought together 58 students and engaged hundreds of others by infusing the wisdom, creativity, resilience, and warmth of the Sephardic spirit into Jewish student life—while advancing Jewish unity and pride on campus. Sephardi House is enlightening and empowering Jewish students from Yale to Stanford, providing the intellectual, moral, and organizational support to not just “fight” antisemitism (the false narratives, distortions, threats, & attacks), but to win. And the way to win is, as Enrico Macias told us, to bring “All Jews, together…If we are united, all Sephardim and also Ashkenazim, together…we will see the light!.” As described in Tablet Magazine:

The fellowship was conceived by Joshua Benaim, a real estate entrepreneur and operatic baritone—and author of the forthcoming book Real Estate, A Love Story: Wisdom, Honor, and Beauty in the Toughest Business in the World, which makes a passionate case for incorporating old world values and the humanities into business. “Amid antisemitism and the contentious political environment, I wanted to light a candle,” explained Benaim. “I realized the best antidote would be a positive and joyful immersion in poetry, philosophy, history, spirituality, and music. To me, Sephardic Jewish culture has always been able to synthesize the spiritual and Jewish world with the world of science, philosophy, and business.”

The ASF is setting the standard in Jewish education and intercultural exchange by championing a vision of human flourishing that is “seriously Jewish, yet worldly and cosmopolitan” (Dr. Daniel Elazar) in partnership with Muslim, Christian, Hispanic, African American, & other allies:

>For Yom HaShoah 2019, we hosted the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and Muslim World League for our joint signing of the It Stops Now Agreement to combat hate, bigotry, and fanaticism. For more information, see “The Message from Makkah: True Islam is Anti-Extremism” (Sephardi Ideas Monthly, September 2022).

>The Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) is partnering with the ASF to promote dialogue between cultures, heighten awareness of shared history, and for a groundbreaking exhibition on “Juifs d’Orient: Une histoire plurimillénaire” (“Jews in Islamic Lands: A Multi-Millennial History”), which is a testament to the increasing integration of Jews back into the historical memory and contemporary Muslim cultural milieus.

>We co-created (with the Combat Antisemitism Movement and the Jazz Leadership Project) the Omni-American Future Project. 2021’s Combating Racism and Antisemitism Together: Shaping an Omni-American Future honored Wynton Marsalis and Representative Ritchie Torres; in November 2022, at Harlem’s historic Minton’s Playhouse, we honored the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics’ Director/Harvard Professor Danielle Allen and the writer Coleman Hughes.

>Together with Philos Latino we co-host the annual Nosotros exhibit. In 2021, New York’s Hispanic community organized a solidarity protest in support of the ASF’s #SpainPromises campaign.

>We are a founding partner of the Philos Project’s Abraham’s Missing Child Initiative. (Listen to “Abraham Accords: Judeo-Islamic Watershed” on Rob Nicolson’s The Deep Map podcast). The House and Senate Abraham Accords Caucus Co-Chairs joint letter seeking support for intercultural exchange was an outgrowth of AMCI’s briefings with Members of Congress conducted by the Philos Project, In Defense of Christians, the American Sephardi Federation and Mimouna Association.

>Given the shared history, language, culture, and sensibilities of many Sephardic and Muslim communities we have worked to restore connections and advance positive projects. One of our partners, the Muslim American Leadership Alliance (MALA). See: https://www.newsweek.com/how-our-muslim-jewish-partnership-can-help-america-overcome-divisiveness-opinion-1632002 and https://www.algemeiner.com/2022/02/10/muslims-and-jews-unite-to-speak-uncomfortable-truths/.

>We are the official American partner of Moroccan NGO Mimouna Association and work together on many projects, including the USAID-supported Rebuilding Our Homes (ROH), with offices in Essaouira, Fez, and Rabat, Morocco, a multi-year, locally-led joint initiative. ROH was featured as a “success story” in its first year by USAID and recently in multiple publications: https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-716891 and https://themedialine.org/top-stories/morocco-makes-coexistence-history-with-arab-worlds-first-ever-synagogue-on-university-campus/ and  https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2022/10/351890/rebuilding-our-homes-a-project-encouraging-moroccan-youth-to-preserve-jewish-heritage.

In June 2022, Mimouna Association and the ASF jointly organized the 2nd Jewish Africa Conference, which brought together 51 government officials, entrepreneurs, scholars, diplomats, rabbis, and community leaders from 22 countries. See:  

For International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2023, Mimouna Association and the ASF organized, in partnership with the Council of Jewish Communities in Morocco and the United Nations Information Centre, a special event in Casablanca’s largest synagogue. 350 guests, including 100 Moroccan Muslim students from across the Kingdom, diplomats from the US, Israel, France, Germany, Poland, the Vatican, and Spain, representatives of the Moroccan state (including the Minister of Education), representatives of Moroccan civil society, and international organizations (UN Coordinator in Morocco) attended.

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