Singapore’s Sephardic Success: An Interview with Nash Benjamin
In Honor of “The Sassoons” an exquisite exhibition through 13 August at the Jewish Museum.
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The American Sephardi Federation’s Sephardi Ideas Monthly is a continuing series of essays and interviews from the rich, multi-dimensional world of Sephardi thought and culture that is delivered to your inbox every month.
In January, Sephardi Ideas Monthly (SIM) launched a new series, “Jews in Asia: From the Baghdadis to Ben Gurion & Beyond,” dedicated to exploring Jewish life in Asia from the 19th c. to the present and with an eye to the future. We started with Dawei Wang’s, “From Zionism to Self-Rule: Singapore’s Baghdadi Jews,” an extended essay that ended with the appointment of David Marshall, a legendary attorney from the Baghdadi Jewish community, to the position of Chief Minister of Singapore in 1955-56.
This month, SIM brings our exploration of Jewish life in the prosperous island city-state of Singapore up to date by speaking with Mr. Eli Mannaseh “Nash” Benjamin, Executive Chairman of the Board at F.J. Benjamin Holdings Ltd. and, since 2020, President of Singapore’s Jewish Welfare Board, the body responsible for overseeing the rich ecosystem of Singapore’s vibrant Jewish community. A celebrated entrepreneur and executive, Nash won the prestigious Ernst & Young Lifestyle Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2007, and in 2008 he received the Chief Executive Officer Award at the Singapore Corporate Awards. Born in Singapore to a Baghdadi Jewish family, Nash and his wife Violet have been blessed with four children, two of whom have families of their own and are proud parents of a 4th generation of Singaporean Jews.
Before approaching our discussion with Nash, it’s first necessary to set the Singaporean stage. Singapore is a unique place. The 3,000 Jews of Singapore are a small community with historic Baghdadi roots in a state founded in 1965 that is remarkably diverse, with six million Chinese, Indians and Malay citizens practicing and professing belief in Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Daoism and Hinduism, as well as speaking English, Mandarin, various Chinese dialects, Malay, and Tamil. It was within this social context that Singapore’s leaders successfully transformed a miniscule, undeveloped island with no natural resources into a regional economic powerhouse, with Jews wholly integrated and making significant contributions along the way. The government remains transparent, the markets are free and highly competitive, and, in our discussion, Nash offers insight into how Singapore successfully manages its pluralistic ethno-religious mix through a rare case of government regulation. The policy’s success is an example of why Singapore’s free-market meritocracy continues to enjoy the trust of its citizens, including its Jewish citizens. Nash also introduces us to the different parts of the Singaporean Jewish infrastructure that he coordinates and oversees, from education to fine dining to the vibrant religious life enriched by the presence of 2,500 Israelis.
Next month, SIM will continue its journey through southeast Asia by interviewing Bilahari Kausikan, doyen of Singapore’s diplomatic corps, author of three excellent collections of speeches and essays, and Chairman of the Middle East Institute at Singapore’s National University. Kausikan will share his appreciation of Jewish contributions to Singapore, take us deeper into Singapore’s remarkable story, and then zoom out to his highly-informed, tough-minded, international perspective.
Sephardi Ideas Monthly is always happy to share highlights of contemporary Sephardi Jewish life with our readers, and this month we’re very happy introduce our readers to Nash Benjamin, a highly accomplished business and communal leader and proud Singaporean Jew who graciously shared with us his time, knowledge and insight.
Sephardi Ideas Monthly: Singapore is home to a dynamic Jewish community of 3,000 people. Please tell us about the composition of the community. How did a thriving Jewish center develop in southeast Asia?
Nash Benjamin: The origins of the Jewish community of Singapore go back to Baghdadi Jewish merchants who arrived in the 1830s, part of the interconnected Baghdadi diaspora that would ultimately stretch from Bombay to Shanghai. After the Suez Canal opened in 1869, Jews from Europe and the Middle East came to the island, and there were approximately 1,000 Jews in Singapore on the eve of WW II. After the war, many Jews emigrated to Israel, the US and the UK, but a strong nucleus of Baghdadi Jews remained.
As Singapore developed into a significant manufacturing and industrial center in the 1990’s and into the new millennia, we began receiving many Jewish families from the US, Europe, Australia and especially Israel. These families were engaged in businesses and supply chain manufacturing. It’s also important to remember that in 1965, Israeli advisors helped plan and establish Singapore’s military when no one else would, and many Israeli companies began to set up here in the defense industry. Today we still have a small Baghdadi community retaining our Orthodox practices, a large Israeli community of approximately 2,500 people, and approximately 300 French, Australian, British and Americans Jews.
SIM: Singapore’s Jewish community enjoys a strong infrastructure. You serve today as the President of the Jewish Welfare Board (JWB), a role in which you manage the infrastructure, or “ecosystem,” of Singaporean Jewry. What are the different parts of that ecosystem?
NB: Our community was blessed with amazing leaders over the generations who had the vision and leadership to lay a foundation that, from the beginning, ensured that we had synagogues, a daily minyan for prayer, schools, and a thriving Jewish life. Today there are services led by Chief Rabbi Mordechai Abergel as well as Rabbi Netanel Rivni throughout the week and on Shabbat, lunches are offered and a large selection of dairy and meats are available at “Elite Kosher Mart,” and there’s a restaurant, Awafi, that offers Middle Eastern, Indian, Chinese and Western cuisine. There’s a preschool and a day school, mikvahs (ritual baths), assisted living for the old, Bar-Mitzvah lessons and assistance from Yeshiva boys and Bnei Akiva girls who mentor our young teenagers. We celebrate all of the Holidays like Pesah, Purim and Hanukkah besides the High Holidays, and our Social Committee is very active bringing the community together with many events. And, in 2022, we opened “The Jews of Singapore Museum.”
SIM: Congratulations on the opening of the museum. Who supports the museum, and who is its intended audience?
NB: The museum was built with the support of the Ballas Trust and the National Heritage Board and is managed by the JWB. It’s open to all Singaporeans, tourists and peoples of different faiths. We have visitors from all cross-sections of Singaporean society and of course student groups. Our community is small, and many people don’t know of our existence. We felt that it was important for all visitors to know about our history, and the many contributions of the Jews of Singapore to the development of law, medicine, politics, business and the arts in the country.
Here’s one example: David Marshall came from a Baghdadi Jewish family, fought for the allies during WWII, was an extraordinarily successful lawyer, and served as Singapore’s first Chief Minister from 1955 to 1956. There’s now a bust of Marshall at the entrance to Management University’s School of Law, and in 2008, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong called Marshall “undoubtedly the greatest criminal advocate that has ever graced the halls of justice in Singapore and Malaya.” We’re proud of this history.
SIM: Understandably. So yes, the Jewish community of Singapore is clearly flourishing, but we can’t avoid asking about antisemitism. Is there any antisemitism in Singapore? And what is the government’s response to antisemitic activity?
NH: I believe antisemitism does exist in Singapore like anywhere in the world, however not in any shape or form like what we see in the US, Europe or the Middle East. In Singapore, religious or race discrimination in any shape or form is prohibited, as we live in a multicultural society where freedom of religious practice is guaranteed by Law. The government takes this right most seriously, and any violation leads to prosecution and jail.
SIM: You noted that Singapore is a multicultural society, and managing the pluralistic character of Singapore’s society is clearly a government priority, with integration being a conscious policy aim. Six million people live in Singapore, including Chinese, Malays, Indians and other ethnic groups. There are Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Taoists, Hindus and, of course, Jews. While the Jewish community preserves a traditionalist orientation, it is also deeply integrated into Singaporean society, like the other groups. What are some of the ways that Singapore’s government facilitates the integration of Singapore’s society?
NH: First, we need to remember that Singapore is a new nation that only obtained its independence in 1965 with a very diverse population. Accordingly, integration is essential to the country’s stability and success.
The policy of integration begins at a young age where all Singaporean children attend government schools and are barred from attending international schools unless one parent is not Singaporean. Our eighteen-year-old boys serve in National Service with no exceptions. We celebrate fifteen National Holidays a year, including the Chinese New Year, several Malay Islamic Holidays, the Indian New Year as well as Christmas and New Year. All this, together with the wide variety of traditional foods that each of these communities brings, encourages further integration, which all of us enjoy.
I’ll give you an important example of the way in which the government ensures an integrated society. 80% of the population live in public housing. Singapore is an economically vibrant, pro-business country, but the government actively limits the percentage of public housing that can be occupied by a certain ethnicity. The government ensures that the three main groups, Chinese, Malay and Indian, live in mixed apartment buildings in order to discourage “ghetto mentality living.” This shows that Singapore’s government takes the challenge of social stability very seriously, and integrated government housing is one of the most successful programs for integrating Singapore’s population.
Today in Singapore, one-fifth of marriages are inter-ethnic and I believe in the next twenty years we will see the Chinese, Malay and Indian communities mixing even more. While traditions will still be preserved, there will be a more truly Singaporean national identity.
SIM: Singapore’s Jews have contributed to and benefitted from Singapore’s remarkable economic success. To what do you attribute Singapore’s economic dynamism?
NH: Singapore’s early settlers were Jewish, Arab and Armenian traders who came to Singapore following the trade route from the Middle East to China. These immigrants were all merchants finding a new home and they built successful businesses. The Chinese migrant workers who followed eighty years later were hard working people who fled China due to famine and wars. Together these peoples from different countries all worked hard together to build a new life. I believe the true spirit of entrepreneurship striving for economic success was built and evident from the early years which contributed to the economic dynamism we have today.
We were also very fortunate to have a government which from the early years focused on education, racial harmony, and meritocracy with pro-business policies and with strong rule of law which was the catalyst for our success. Our system of government aims to be a free-market meritocracy and it has, thus far, done quite well. Trust in Singapore’s leadership is shared widely across the country.
SIM: It’s fair to assume that Jews will remain in Singapore and that others will want to join the community, even though it’s not easy to become a Singaporean citizen. What’s your perspective on the future of Singapore’s Jewish community?
NH: Firstly, I am second generation born Singaporean, and my kids’ children will be the fourth. A Singaporean Jewish identity has already been formed going back sixty years and will continue to evolve. Our community continues to grow, this year we received many families from Hong Kong who have relocated to Singapore.
As Singapore’s position and reputation as a world city continues to grow, it will attract many more professionals from multiple industries, be it cyber security, defense, medical, logistics, and more. With the ecosystem of facilities that we have developed and thanks to our education system, this constant influx of talent will be a big catalyst of growth.
As a community we continue to invest in order to grow our services, as we believe in the future growth of our community. As I mentioned previously, we have a strong grounding in Jewish tradition and with the help of Hashem, our rabbis and young, idealistic teachers, we look forward to making Singapore a strong base for Jewish life in Asia.
Further reading:
“A new museum tells the story of Singapore’s Jews, starting with their Baghdad roots ” Jordan Hymie, JTA: Even though “in [this] southeast Asian city… countless roads and monuments… are named for influential Jews of the past and their achievements,” there’s never been a place to tell the story of Singaporean Jewry. In 2022, however, that changed, “In the old Mahallah and on the ground floor of the Jacob Ballas community center — named for the Iraqi Jewish philanthropist who chaired the Singapore and Malaysia stock exchange in the 1960s — a new museum tells the full story of Southeast Asia’s oldest continuing Jewish community, beginning with the arrival of the first Jew in 1819.”
Further viewing:
The Jews within Singapore’s Cultural Mosaic
Singapore’s minority communities include Jews, Arabs, Parsis and Armenians. In this episode of “Singapore Mosaic,” CNA (Channel News Asia) explores the Jewish and Parsi communities. Where do Jews and Parsis in Singapore get their food and buy their clothes, and how do they celebrate their festivals? Jews originally from Germany and Israel talk about keeping Shabbat, protecting their peyyot and celebrating Jewish life in a corner of southeast Asia.
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The Monthly Sage החכם החודשי
(Photo courtesy of HeHaCham HaYomi)
The sage for the month of March, 2023, is Hakham Ezra Sasson Dangoor.
Born in 1848 in Baghdad, Iraq, young Dangoor studied Torah with Hakham Abdallah Somekh. After marrying in 1866, Ezra continued to study half a day but refused to receive a stipend for his studies, instead engaging in commerce the other half of the day. Only in 1892 did Hakham Dangoor begin working as a rabbi, serving the Baghdadi community in Rangoon, Burma, for two years before returning home to Baghdad.
In 1903, Hakham Dangoor opened a publishing house at Baghdad, where he and his sons printed nearly 140 books, the first publication being a prayer book that follows the Baghdadi Jewish tradition. (The publishing house remained in operation through 1921). In 1917, Turkish authorities propagated a libel against 17 Jews who were then tortured and murdered. Hakham Yehezkel Baruch Dangoor, Hakham Dangoor’s brother, was among them.
Hakham Ezra Sasson Dangoor served as Hakham Bashi (Chief Rabbi) of the Baghdadi Jewish community from 1923-28.
Hakham Ezra Sasson Dangoor passed away in 1930 and was buried in Baghdad. His writings include Imrei Kohelet – a commentary and translation to Arabic of Ecclesiastes; Minha Belula – with laws, customs and piyyutim (liturgical poetry); a book of Legal Responsa, a history of Baghdad, a translation of the Torah to Arabic with a commentary, innovations and essays on derech eretz, sermons, and Adei Zahav – a commentary on the Torah. Some of Hakham Dangoor’s writings remain in manuscript form.
In the following passage from Adei Zahav, Hakham Dangoor explains why honoring parents is a national obligation and a pillar of social order:
‘Honor your father and your mother that you may long endure on the land that the LORD your God is assigning to you.’
Love and respect of parents is the source of all mercy, compassion and goodness, as is the respect of a nation’s elders, judges and teachers, without which it is impossible to sustain order in a state for very long.
For one who does not love his parents and abandons them in their times of distress, and has no pity on them, is but a cruel individual with a heart of stone. What mercy has such a person for the poor, for orphans or for widows? If a person has no respect for his parents and does not obey their bidding, how can he be expected to respect his elders, or a judge’s verdict?
Note that the Ten Commandments are written in singular form. God speaks to the People of Israel as to a single individual. God commands you – the entire nation, to sustain and protect the love and honor of parents, for they are the source of mercy and compassion. Respect elders, Cohanim and judges, so that they may endure, for the benefit of the society of Israel and for order in the state, so that their land be protected for a long time.
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By Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel
This unique Sephardic Passover Haggadah will be valued by Sephardim and Ashkenazim alike. Hakham Rabbi Angel provides a new, readable translation of the classic Haggadah text. Added to it are some selections in Judeo-Spanish as well as the popular “Bendigamos” blessing after meals.
This special edition of the Haggadah includes a running commentary, drawn from the teachings of Sephardic sages through out the generations, with insights from such Sephardic luminaries as Rabbis Moses Maimonides, Yitzhak Abravanel, Hayyim Y. D. Azulai, Benzion Uziel, Hayyim David Halevy and many others, ancient and modern. The Haggadah also includes a number of Sephardic customs which will enrich anyone’s Passover Seder.
Exploring Sephardic Customs and Traditions
By Hakham R’Marc D. Angel, Ph.D
Over the centuries, Jewish communities throughout the world adopted customs that enhanced and deepened their religious observances. These customs, or minhagim, became powerful elements in the religious consciousness of the Jewish people. It is important to recognize that minhagim are manifestations of a religious worldview, a philosophy of life. They are not merely quaint or picturesque practices, but expressions of a community’s way of enhancing the religious experience. A valuable resource for Sephardim and Ashkenazim alike.
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Upcoming Events or Opportunities
The American Sephardi Federation, in partnership with Center for Jewish History, Kulanu, Project Shema, Kahzbar, Be’chol Lashon and Jewish Multiracial Network presents:
The Hidden Jews of Ethiopia
Film Screening and Discussion
Nafkot – Yearning, a new film by Dr. Malka Shabtay
The Hidden Jews of Ethiopia, a new book by Dr. Marla Brettschneider
Sunday, 2 April at 4:00PM EST
(Followed by a reception)
At the Center for Jewish History
(Tickets: In-person $15)
Sign-up Now!
Panelists:
Dr. Malka Shabtay is an applied anthropologist who has worked for decades with the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel and more recently in Ethiopia. Author of many books, she has taught in numerous academic institutes including the Ruppin Academic Center and the Institute for Immigration and Social Integration. Shabtay combines research, consultancy, and training for organizations applying cultural and cross-cultural perspectives in their work. Nafkot (Yearning 2022) is her second ethnographic film.
Mr. Belayneh Tazebku Worku is one of the leaders of the Ethiopian North Shewa Bete-Israel community and serves as the manager of the synagogue, Brit Olam, in Addis Ababa. Working in the community for twenty-five years, Tazebku Worku has focused on raising awareness and community organizing both locally and nationally toward full civil and human rights of the Bete Israel people and community. Tazebku Worku also works to meet concrete current needs of the community such as the creation of a Jewish cemetery and a Bete Israel community settlement in Debre Berhan, in the Amhara region.
Dr. Marla Brettschneider, Professor holds a joint appointment in Politics & Feminist Studies at the University of New Hampshire. She is a groundbreaking scholar of Jewish diversity politics and political theory, also using diversity as a frame to address antisemitism in the US and globally. Lecturing widely and author of numerous award-winning books, her works include: Jewish Feminism and Intersectionality; The Family Flamboyant: Race Politics, Queer Families, Jewish Lives; The Hidden Jews of Ethiopia; The Jewish Phenomenon in Sub-Saharan Africa, & The Narrow Bridge: Jewish Views on Multiculturalism with a forward by Cornel West.
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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TriBeCa Synagogue presents:
Mexican Jewish Film Festival 2023
(First Edition)
A retrospective on Mexican films: directed, created, written, acted or produced by Mexican Jews
2-5 April 2023 | TriBeCa Synagogue
49 White Street, New York City
Sign-up Now!
(Please use a promo code ASF2023 to receive a special 50% off discount)
Sponsorship opportunities available
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The American Sephardi Federation presents:
Sephardic Culinary History with Chef Hélène Jawhara-Piñer
“Cecilia Cardosa Matza and Sweet Lamb for her Passover Dish”
Special Passover cooking class
Sephardi Culinary History combines chef and scholar Hélène Jawhara-Piñer’s fascination with food studies and flair for creating delicious cuisine. Join along as she cooks Sephardic history!
Monday, 3 April at 12:00PM EST
(Tickets: Zoom $15)
Sign-up Now!
ASF Broome & Allen Fellow Hélène Jawhara Piñer earned her Ph.D in History, Medieval History, and the History of Food from the University of Tours, France.
Chef Hélène’s primary research interest is the medieval culinary history of Spain through interculturality with a special focus on the Sephardic culinary heritage written in Arabic. A member of the IEHCA (Institute of European History and Cultures of Food), the CESR (Centre for Advanced Studies in the Renaissance), and the CoReMa Project (Cooking Recipes of the Middle Ages), Chef Hélène has lectured at Bar-Ilan University (in collaboration with the Stali Institute and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC): “El patrimonio culinario judío de la Península Ibérica a través de un manuscrito del siglo XIII. Ejemplos de la pervivencia de recetas en la cocina de los sefardíes de España y de Marruecos,” 2018), as well as at conference of the Association Diwan (“Reflections on the Jewish heritage according to the Kitāb al-ṭabīẖ,” 2015), IEHCA of Tours (“Jews and Muslims at the Table: Between coexistence and differentiation: state of affairs and reflections on the culinary practices of Jews and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula and in Sicily from the 12th to the 15th century,” 2017), and Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies (“The hidden Jewish culinary heritage of the Iberian Peninsula through a manuscript of the 13th century. Examples of the provenance of some recipes in Venezuelan and Colombian cuisine,” 2017).
Last May, Chef Hélène hosted “Shavuot in the Sephardic Kitchen: Bread of the Seven Heavens,” one of the most popular sessions of the Great Big Jewish Food Fest. An administrator of the over 11,000 member Sephardi Cuisine! group on Facebook, her recipes have appeared in the Sephardi World Weekly, Sephardi Ideas Monthly, Tablet Magazine, The Forward, and S&P Central’s Newsletter.
Order your copy of “Sephardi: Cooking the History. Recipes of the Jews of Spain and the Diaspora, from the 13th Century Onwards”
(recently ranked “#1 New Release in Spanish Cooking, Food & Wine”).
Sponsorship opportunities available:
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The Belzberg Program in Israel Studies at the University of Calgary and the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University. With the collaboration of the American Sefardi Federation, Centro Sefarad Israel, and the International Network for Jewish Thought present:
Sephardi Modernities Seminar Series, 2023
Join us as we explore the relationship between our narratives about the past and the future to which we aspire. The ways in which scholars approach the stories, events, characters, and historical processes of the Sephardi/Levantine past are inevitably guided by values, by their moral and political beliefs. Which elements of the past do they strive to preserve, reclaim and grant continuity? What are they trying to say about a potential future? Which stories become part of canonized history, and which ones are dismissed as mere anecdotes? Which theoretical, social, political, and cultural frameworks do they wrestle with, and which do they seek to advance?
On Zoom
(Registration is required for each session)
18 April at 12:00PM EST
‘Modernity’ and ‘Tradition’ on the Move: Spanish Moroccan Jews and their Diasporas
Aviad Moreno, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in conversation with Angy Cohen, University of Calgary
Sign-up Now!
9 May at 12:00PM EST
Sephardi Musical Modernities: Listening to the Past in the Future
Edwin Seroussi, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Yair Dalal, Composer, violinist, oud player, singer, and teacher
Sign-up Now!
Throughout this year’s series we will discuss the future invoked by each way of looking at the past, the political agendas of historical research, and the values that unavoidably guide scholastic inquiry. Topics include the transmission of narratives among collectives and among researchers, ownership of archives, encounters with the past, the academic legitimacy of certain topics and collectives, vehicles of memory (music, oral history, proverbs, etc.) and the construction of historical narratives.
Organized by Dr. Angy Cohen, Inaugural Hy and Jenny Belzberg Postdoctoral Associate in Israel Studies, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Calgary, and Dr. Yuval Evri, Assistant Professor of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies on the Marash and Ocuin Chair in Ottoman, Mizrahi, and Sephardic Jewish Studies, Brandeis University.
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YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, in partnership with the American Society for Jewish Music, American Sephardi Federation presents:
Babylon: Ghetto, Renaissance, and Modern Oblivion
Film Screening
Followed by a Q&A with director Jessica Gould
The award-winning film, considers the resonance of Psalm 137 (By the Waters of Babylon) through the music of two ghettoized peoples – Italian Jews of Mantua during the period of the Counter-Reformation, and African Americans before, during, and after the Harlem Renaissance.
Wednesday, 17 May at 7:30PM EST
@the Center for Jewish History
(Complimentary RSVP)
Sign-up Now!
About the film:
A 29-minute voyage through four centuries, Babylon confronts vital questions about minority musicians and their foundational roles in the music we enjoy today. Who was celebrated? Who was erased? Who was invited to the party and who was left out in the cold? Whose genius was attributed to someone else? Who contributed the most while remaining on the sidelines of history? And most importantly, why does it keep happening?
Ezra Knight narrates a script that interweaves works by Italian-Jewish composer Salomone Rossi (1570 – 1630) and contemporary American Brandon Waddles (1988 –). Additional Rossi works include performances by the Bacchus Consort, Voices of Music, and soprano Jessica Gould in collaboration with lutenist Lucas Harris. Also featuring the groundbreaking Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, other musical selections include historical recordings by Ma Rainey, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Big Mama Thornton, The Fisk Jubilee Singers, as well as two luminaries in contemporary West African music – Kevin Nathaniel Hylton and Yacouba Sissoko.
About the speaker:
Jessica Gould is a director, writer, and soprano who continues to enjoy a formidable reception for her maiden film project, Babylon: Ghetto, Renaissance, and Modern Oblivion, on the international film festival circuit. Having become a filmmaker by virtue of the pandemic out of a need to continue presenting classical and early music through the prism of history in the absence of live performance, Ms. Gould’s ever expanding laurels include 90 awards and counting from festivals across the globe. As the Founder and Artistic Director of Salon/Sanctuary Concerts, based in New York City, her original projects have received grants from numerous foundations and institutions, generous support which has enabled the series to blossom into one of the more significant presenters of historical performance in New York City and beyond.
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Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum presents:
Greek Jewish Festival
Sunday, 21 May 12:00-6:00PM EST
(280 Broome Street, Lower East Side, NYC)
Join the Greek Jewish Festival as we celebrate the unique Romaniote and Sephardic heritage of the Jews of Greece!
Experience a feast for the senses including authentic kosher Greek foods and homemade Greek pastries, traditional Greek dancing and live Greek and Sephardic music, an outdoor marketplace full of vendors, arts and educational activities for kids, Sephardic cooking demonstrations, and much more!
The ASF is once again proud to be a Festival Sponsor.
Learn more at www.GreekJewishFestival.com
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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.