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“Tributes Paid Following Death of Tunisian Born Chief Rabbi of France” By Elizia Volkmann, Tunisia Live The Tunisian-born former Chief Rabbi of France, Joseph Sitruk, passed away on 25 September at the age of 71. Charismatic and humane, R’ Sitruk was remembered as a rabbi “who could make people like reading.” He made headlines in 2015 by expressing solidarity with Tunisia after the country suffered a terror attack, stating for the record that the land of his birth is a “land of coexistence and tolerance.”
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 The cover of Rabbi Sitruk’s memoir, Rien ne vaut la vie. Mémoires et Réflexions par Joseph Haïm Sïtruk, Grand Rabbin de France, 2006 |
By Elizia Volkmann, Tunisia Live
The cover of Rabbi Sitruk’s memoir, Rien ne vaut la vie. Mémoires et Réflexions par Joseph Haïm Sïtruk, Grand Rabbin de France, 2006
 Dr. Avraham Shama |
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“Walking barefoot to the House of God: My childhood Slichot prayers in Iraq” By Avraham Shama, The Jerusalem Post Avraham Shama remembers walking barefoot to attend Slichot, petitions for forgiveness offered in the period leading up to Yom Kippur, as a six-year old child in Iraq. Shama was told, “If we step on gravel or shards and hurt the soles of our feet, then our pain will count toward our suffering for the destruction of the Temple.” Now a successful professor of international business living in New Mexico, Shama, “drives to the synagogue wearing designer shoes and socks of any color.”
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Dr. Avraham Shama
(Photo courtesy of The University of Texas-Pan American)
By Avraham Shama, The Jerusalem Post
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“Jews from Aleppo in Israel pained by city’s destruction” By Etti Abramov, Ynet
Some Israeli Jews originally from Aleppo fondly remember the city while simultaneously loathing the blood-soaked dictator currently at its helm, Bashar al-Assad, “Sometimes, I’m sad that I left Aleppo, because there I knew which house belonged to whom. There was a yard that where everybody gathered every Shabbat… I had Arab friends, customers who cried when we left. Because of this, it’s very painful for me when I think of those people….”
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 Torn photo of Bashar al-Assad over the entrance to the synagogue, Qamishli, Syrian-Kurdistan, 2015 |
By Etti Abramov, Ynet
Torn photo of Bashar al-Assad over the entrance to the synagogue, Qamishli, Syrian-Kurdistan, 2015
(Photo courtesy of Diarna: Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life)
 Akre, Iraqi-Kurdistan |
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“An American Jew in Kurdistan” By Benjamin Kweskin, Jewish Currents
According to one American Jewish writer who has spent considerable time in Kurdistan, Kurdish government officials and the Kurdish “street” fondly remember the Jews who lived among them and are Philo-Semitic and pro-Israel. The Kurds also share with the Jewish people memories, “of oppression and persecution,” as well as a desire, “for political self-determination in an often unstable and hostile Middle East.”
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Akre, Iraqi-Kurdistan
(Photo courtesy of Diarna Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life)
By Benjamin Kweskin, Jewish Currents
“In Memory of the Beilis Trial: Beilis Not Guilty, Jews Guilty.” Yiddish postcard. Artwork by Mitchel Loeb. Printed by Progress Publishing Company, New York, ca. 1913. (Image courtesy of YIVO)
The Blood Libel Then and Now: The Enduring Impact of an Imaginary Event
October 9th from 9:30AM-4:15PM
Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
ASF is co-sponsoring The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research’s scholarly conference on how the blood libel, the accusation that Jews committed ritual murder, has been the basis for some of the most hateful examples of organized antisemitism around the world since its fabrication in the Middle Ages up to the present day. This conference will explore the impact of the blood libel over the centuries in a wide variety of geographic regions with a focus on how cultural memory was created, elaborated, and transmitted. Scholars presenting will include Elissa Bemporad, Raphael Israeli,David Kertzer, Hillel Kieval, E.M. Rose, Magda Teter, and Barbara Weissberger. Talks will examine well-known incidents and accusations, and address questions about motivations and the historical and cultural contexts of individual accusations. They will address the sources for the accusations, their impact on affected Jewish communities both in the short and the long term, and they will consider how these accusations have been treated in popular culture and learned commentary.
Please click here to purchase tickets
(General admission $25; YIVO, ASF, Co-Sponsors, and Students: $20)
Sephardi Yom Kippur Services
October 11-12
King David Nursing Home
2266 Cropsey Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11214
Join the Payytan R’ Avram Amar for Moroccan-style Sephardi services at the former Sephardic Home in Brooklyn. Complimentary full Kiddush meals and housing will be provided.
Please confirm by contacting (713) 266-6100 x305
Portugal, The Last Hope: Sousa Mendes’ Visas for Freedom
April through October
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 “Connect, Collect, and Celebrate” Sephardi culture throughout the year with engaging programs and compelling publications.
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@Sephardi.House | (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@Sephardi.House | (212) 548-4486
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