Re-envisioning Rosh HaShana 5783
!תזכו לשנים רבות
(“May you merit many blessed years!”)
From your friends at
The American Sephardi Federation
In honor of Rosh HaShana, the ASF’s Sephardi World Weekly is pleased to offer the following “Letter from the Land of Israel”:
The central mitzvah, or commandment, that is observed on Rosh HaShana is listening to the sound of the shofar. According to Rabbi Sa’adya Gaon (882-942), we blow the shofar on Rosh HaShana in order “to remind ourselves of the experience at Mt. Sinai.” What happened at Mt. Sinai? “The sound of the shofar grew louder and louder” (Shemot/Exodus 19:19) and the Jewish people were offered a vision of becoming a Holy Nation that comprehends all of life in light of the Divine.
Hakham Rabbi Ben Zion Meir Hai Uziel (1880-1953), the first Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, rearticulated this all-embracing vision of spiritual excellence through the word teudah, a term that in contemporary Hebrew means “document” or “certificate,” but that in R’Uziel’s time meant aim, goal, or purpose. According to R’Uziel: “Judaism’s mission (teudah) is nothing less than the exalted aspiration to elevate humanity… to the highest level of human perfection.” He then extended this perfection to embrace the “scientific… artistic, economic and aesthetic” dimensions of life, so long as the actions are undertaken “for the sake of heaven.”
As for the political realm:
Israel’s mission (teudah) is to issue a call for peace to all of humanity… Israel’s redemption cannot be a particular redemption, but the redemption of all of mankind from its many lethal wars, from its servitude to strange ideologies, superstitions and tyrannical regimes, or to false religious hypocrisy. Judaism does not aspire to change the order of the world and the values of life. Rather, its great aspiration is to abolish religious and political rule that exploits and abuses, dominates and oppresses…
This is an inspiring vision, and the American Sephardi Federation takes to heart the ancient warning that:
Where there is no vision, the people perish (Mishlei/Proverbs, 29:18)
Continue reading below…
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Together, we can go from strength to strength in the New Year!
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The ASF likewise takes to heart what the great American writer Charles Johnson penned in his Introduction to Proverbs:
Carefully think it through: without a vision, either personal or political, the individual (or society) is ‘like a city that is broken down, and without walls.’
This Rosh HaShana, the American Sephardi Federation invites you to listen to the primal call of the shofar blasts and, in so doing, to meditate on R’ Uziel’s exalted vision of Israel’s teudah. This is the Classical Sephardi vision that informs the ASF’s projects, programs, publications, and that, with your help, we will be able to share this upcoming year with increasingly larger audiences in the United States and around the globe.
Anyada Buena, Dulse i Alegre!
The American Sephardi Federation
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The American Sephardi Federation invites all individuals, communities, and organizations who share our vision & principles to join us in signing the American Sephardi Leadership Statement!
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“Shema Qoli” (“O G-d Who Acceptest”)
Click here to hear Rabbi Abraham Lopez Cardozo’s Western (Spanish & Portuguese) Sephardi rendition of “Shema Qoli,” “a more than nine hundred year old hymn of entreaty by Hai, the last of the great Geonim of Babylonia (d.1038).” According to Dr. Edwin Seroussi: “Shema Qoli… was adopted by the Sephardi communities as an introduction to the Yom Kippur evening service.”
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities
Kanisse: A Modern Sephardic + Mizrahi Community presents:
Multicultural High Holiday Services
Dates and Locations
Monday, 26 September at 3:30PM
Rosh Hashanah Tashlikh Service
@ Pier 57
57 Hudson River Greenway (at 15th Street), New York, NY
Meeting on the upper rooftop under the shade canopy.
Sign-up Now!
(Tickets: $0-$250)
If you are unable to buy a ticket but would still like to attend in-person, please email hello@kanisse.org
“Kanisse will be hosting a special Rosh Hashanah Tashlikh Service (“casting-off” of sins) on the Hudson. The short program will begin with Dr. Galeet Dardashti leading quintessential holiday piyutim from a variety of Middle Eastern and North African traditions. We will then meditatively sound the shofar and conclude with traditional and alternative Tashlikh readings along the river’s edge.”
*Please note: We are sharing this announcement as a public service. This is not an ASF program.
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Prepare for Yom Kippur with Hazzan Yehiel Nahari
Join Rabbi Moshe Tessone in preparing for Yom Kippur as he discusses Sephardi piyyutim and tunes with Hazzan Yehiel Nahari.
Sunday, 2 October at 2:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
Co-sponsored by the Sephardic Program at Yeshiva University and the Diasporas Project at the Rabbi Arthur Schneier Program for International Affairs at Yeshiva University.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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Kanisse: A Modern Sephardic + Mizrahi Community presents:
Multicultural High Holiday Services
Dates and Locations
Tuesday, 4 October at 6:30PM
Yom Kippur Eve
Evening Prayer – ‘Arvit
Conservative Synagogue of Fifth Avenue*
11 E 11th Street, New York, NY
Wednesday, 5 October
Yom Kippur Day
Morning Prayers – Shaḥarit and Musaf, beginning at 9:30AM
Evening prayers – Minḥah and Ne’ilah, beginning at 5:30PM
Conservative Synagogue of Fifth Avenue*
11 E 11th Street, New York, NY
Sign-up Now!
(Tickets: $0-$250)
If you are unable to buy a ticket but would still like to attend in-person, please email hello@kanisse.org
“Join Kanisse for annual Yom Kippur Services, which will be led in a variety of Sephardic and Mizrahi traditions. We are excited to host our New York community in-person at a new sanctuary, as well as offer live-streaming for those joining us at a distance. We will be using our Zemirot HaMizraḥ maḥzor, which will be provided for those attending in-person (the digital version can also be accessed on our website). At the conclusion of Yom Kippur, a break-fast of Middle Eastern delicacies will be served.”
*Please note: We are sharing this announcement as a public service. This is not an ASF program.
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Exclusive Authors Series with Judith Roumani
Join us for this episode of our Exclusive Authors Series with Judith Roumani discussing her new book Francophone Sephardic Fiction: Writing Migration, Diaspora, and Modernity.
Tuesday, 25 October at 12:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
About the book:
Francophone Sephardic Fiction approaches modern Sephardic literature in a comparative way to draw out similarities and differences among selected francophone novelists from various countries, with a focus on North Africa. The definition of Sepharad here is broader than just Spain: it embraces Jews whose ancestors had lived in North Africa for centuries, even before the arrival of Islam, and who still today trace their allegiance to ways of being Jewish that go back to Babylon, as do those whose ancestors spent a few hundred years in Iberia. The author traces the strong influence of oral storytelling on modern novelists of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and explores the idea of the portable homeland, as exile and migration engulfed the long-rooted Sephardic communities.
About the author:
Judith Roumani is founder and director of the Jewish Institute of Pitigliano, and founder and editor of the online journal Sephardic Horizons, which appears three times a year. She received a BA Honors in Spanish and French from the University of Nottingham, an MA in Latin American Studies from the University of London, and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Rutgers. She has taught Spanish and Sephardic studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, and other colleges in the Washington DC area. She has also been a director of publications, professional translator, an associate editor or author of five books and a monograph, and her work has been translated into Hebrew, Italian, and French.
Click here for more about the book.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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The American Sephardi Federation, the Seattle Jewish Theatre Company, and the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America present:
“ARRIVALS”
A Jewish Romeo & Juliet love story based on historical events.
A hit in Seattle, coming to New York.
(Written and Directed by Art Feinglass)
When the first Sephardic Jew arrived in Seattle in 1902, not everything went as planned. Marco Cordova, a young Sephardic Jew from Turkey, came to America to make his fortune. Bayla Keigelman, a fragile Ashkenazi girl from Russia, arrived fleeing a pogrom. Their meeting seemed written in the stars until tradition declared their love forbidden.
Sunday, 30 October at 3:00 PM EST
Monday, 31 October at 8:00 PM EST
Tuesday, 1 November at 8:00 PM EST
Thursday, 3 November at 8:00 PM EST
Sunday, 6 November at 3:00 PM EST
Sign-up Now!
$36 Early bird discount (if purchased before October 9th)
$50 Ticket price (if purchased after October 9th)
The Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York City
“Arrivals tells the Sephardic story with great drama, humor and warmth.”
Rabbi Simon Benzaquen, Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, Seattle, WA
“Everyone in the audience was engaged and enjoyed the show.”
Aaron Petersen, President , Temple Beth El, Tacoma, WA
“A tour de force!”
Rabbi Emeritus James Mirel, Temple B’nai Torah, Bellevue, WA
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Exclusive Authors Series with Andrée Aelion Brooks and Ruth K. Abrahams
Join us for an episode of our Exclusive Authors Series with Andrée Aelion Brooks and Ruth K. Abrahams discussing her book The Remarkable Life of Luis Moses Gomez.
Tuesday, 1 November at 12:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
About the book:
During the early days of colonial America, a number of Sephardic Jews and conversos came from the Caribbean islands to the eastern seaboard for economic opportunity. They have largely been overlooked as the stories of the later German and Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants, took over in terms of numbers and achievements. Here is the story of one of those early Sephardic settlers who came from Jamaica to the New York area in search of such opportunities.
About the authors:
Andrée Aelion Brooks is a journalist, author and lecturer specializing in Jewish history. Formerly a contributing columnist for the New York Times, she is an Associate Fellow, Yale University, and founder of the Women’s (political) Campaign School at Yale. Her award-winning books include a comprehensive biography of Dona Gracia Nasi, a Jewish leader who was the richest woman in Renaissance Europe; Russian Dance, about a Jewish Bolshevik spy; Out of Spain, a children’s program in Sephardic history. She was honored in 2013 by the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame.
Executive Director of the Gomez Mill House Foundation from 1999-2017, Dr. Ruth Abrahams also served as Executive Director of the Lehman College Foundation and Vice President for Advancement at Pratt Institute. Artistically, Dr. Abrahams sang professionally in New York from 1967-1980. She received an M.A. in Humanities (Japanese Studies), and a Ph.D. in Dance History from New York University, where she taught as adjunct associate professor from 1982-1996. She was a founding member and first president of World Dance Alliance-Americas, an international advocacy organization for dance.
Click here for more about the book.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience presents:
Exclusive Authors Series with Sarina Roffé
Join us for an episode of Exclusive Authors Series with Sarina Roffé as she discusses her book Branching Out from Sepharad.
Tuesday, 15 November at 12:00PM EST
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
About the book:
In Branching Out from Sepharad, readers will follow the history of Jewish life in Hispania, Spain, the Middle East and the Americas as Sarina Roffé links three rabbinic dynasties from the 11th Century to the present day, all with an Irish Converso Twist.
About the authors:
Sarina Roffé is a professional genealogist, editor of the journal DOROT, and founder of the Sephardic Heritage Project. She is the author of Branching Out From Sepharad (Sephardic Heritage Project, 2017), which outlines the history of Jews in Spain, the 1492 expulsion, their history in Syria, and their immigration to the Americas. She is Co-Chair of the Brooklyn Jewish Historical Initiative, and Chair of the JewishGen Sephardic Research Division.
Sarina is also the author of Backyard Kitchen: Mediterranean Salads, Backyard Kitchen: the Main Course, and a cooking app called Sarina’s Sephardic Cuisine, available in the Apple Store, as well as hundreds of articles. Sarina presents often at IAJGS Conferences and has completed over a dozen genealogies, through her genealogy consulting business, Sephardic Genealogical Journeys.
Click here for more about the book.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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ASF Broome & Allen & ADL Collaborative for Change Fellow Isaac de Castro presents:
Entre Diasporas: Telling the Latin-American Jewish story. Contando la historia judía latinoamericana
Tell your story. Cuenta tu historia.
We’re looking for first-generation Latino Jews in the United States who immigrated because of political and social turmoil. Jews of Sephardic descent from Colombia, Cuba, and Venezuela that now reside in the Miami area will be given priority, but others are welcome to apply as well.
Fill out this form to be considered as an interviewee for this project. After you’ve submitted, we will be in touch promptly to set up a preliminary phone call.
Click here for more information.