Jerusalem is Home, Spanish Ghost Towns, Turkish Jewry in Decline, and Moroccan Baqashot

4 November 2016 In honor of the Algerian-born French Sephardi philosophe Bernard-Henri Lévy

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“To UNESCO: ‘Yerusalem’ is home”  By Tsega Melaku, The Jerusalem Post Ethiopian Jewry maintained a special link to Jerusalem throughout their exile. An Ethiopian Jewish activist now in Israel was moved to reaffirm that bond in response to the recent UNESCO farce denying the connection between Israel and Jerusalem’s Temple Mount: “With the same determination with which we reached Jerusalem, we will proclaim the historical truth from every stage.”

Ethiopian Jews arriving in Israel, 2013 (Photo courtesy of Miriam Alster/Flash90)

“To UNESCO: ‘Yerusalem’ is home” 
By Tsega Melaku, The Jerusalem Post

Ethiopian Jews arriving in Israel, 2013
(Photo courtesy of Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Inside the Ahrida or Okhrida Synagogue in the Balat (Jewish Quarter), Istanbul, Turkey (Photo courtesy of Belgin Palaz/Diarna: Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life)

“Why Turkey’s Jewish Population Continues to Decline” By Robert Jones, The Algemeiner Jewish life is rapidly declining in Erdogan’s Turkey. A Turkish translation of Mein Kampf became a best-seller in 2009, and, in 2015, 71% of adult Turks were reported to hold anti-Semitic beliefs. According to a leading Jewish-Turkish journalist, “a  considerable section of our community is looking to raise their children in a different country… most of this year’s emigrants have been young people.”

Inside the Ahrida or Okhrida Synagogue in the Balat (Jewish Quarter), Istanbul, Turkey
(Photo courtesy of Belgin Palaz/Diarna: Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life) “Why Turkey’s Jewish Population Continues to Decline”
By Robert Jones, The Algemeiner

Feature of the Week: “Moroccan Baqashot”
 

“Spain’s Jewish ‘ghost towns’ seek a boost from living Jews”  By Cnaan Liphshiz, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency Small towns like Ribadavia near the Spanish-Portuguese border boast “more Jewish institutions than some European capitals… including a Jewish museum, a medieval synagogue, a kosher wine shop and even two Jewish bakeries.” But budgetary and political problems, as well as BDS-inspired reluctance to work with Israelis, means that they’re not attracting Jewish tourists: “You can’t get Jewish tourists without working with the Jewish state. I mean, we can’t advertise Jewish quarters that don’t want any Jews.”

A tourist walking down the historic Jewish quarter of the town of Ribadavia, Spain, 26 September 2016 (Photo courtesy of Cnaan Liphshiz/The Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

“Spain’s Jewish ‘ghost towns’ seek a boost from living Jews” 
By Cnaan Liphshiz, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency

A tourist walking down the historic Jewish quarter of the town of Ribadavia, Spain, 26 September 2016
(Photo courtesy of Cnaan Liphshiz/The Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

 

The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, a novel by Sarit Yishai-Levi

November 13th at 3PM
Center for Jewish History 
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011

Join the American Sephardi Federation and author Sarit Yishai-Levi for a reading and discussion of her award-winning book, The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem. Described by a reviewer as a “romantic and engaging novel [which] has been an Israeli bestseller for more than two years” and which is now an international bestseller available in English translation from St. Martin’s Press, Yishai-Levi explores the lives of four generations of Sephardi women who come together and apart in the vibrant city of Jerusalem from the Golden Age of Hollywood to the 1970s.

Sarit Yishai-Levi is a renowned Israeli journalist, notable for being the first Israeli to interview Yasser Arafat. She has also interviewed major political and cultural figures like Muhammad Ali, Ariel Sharon, Leah Rubin, and Hugh Hefner. In researching her novel, Sarit has become an expert in Israeli history and Sephardic culture (she is an eighth-generation Jerusalemite–a rare heritage to claim!), and as readers and reviewers alike have commented, the novel truly brings both to life in new and exciting ways.

Reviews, photographs, an author interview, and excerpt are available here.
 

Please click here to make a reservation
Complimentary; Space limited

Liberated Libyan Holocaust Survivors (Photo courtesy of Yad VaShem)

Benghazi Bergen-Belsen Special Staged Reading with Yossi Sucary and La MaMa

November 14th at 7PM
Center for Jewish History 
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011

Join the American Jewish Historical Society and American Sephardi Federation in celebrating the English-language publication of Benghazi Bergen-Belsen (click here to readThe Sephardi World Weekly’s coverage), the first novel exploring the experiences of Libyan Jews in the Holocaust. Hear a staged reading from the upcoming theatrical adaptation of the novel, premiering at La MaMa in March 2017, and meet author Yossi Sucary for the post-reading Q&A session. 

Please click here to make a reservation
(Tickets:$7 AJHS or ASF Members; $15 General Admission)

We were Neighbors:
Remembering Middle Eastern Jewish Communities

November 30th at 7PM
Center for Jewish History 
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011

In honor of the date chosen by the Knesset to commemorate the Middle Eastern Jewish experience, ASF will present a program featuring exclusive Diarna Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life digital documentation on endangered sites, oral histories of the last primary source generation, original artwork, and scholarly reflections.

The original artwork on display will be selections from Leslie Starobin’s The Last Address, a multi-year, photo-montage and oral history exhibition and book project exploring the enduring texture of memory and culture in the lives of Sephardic families from dispersed Jewish communities around the world.

Please click here to make a reservation
Complimentary

Portugal, The Last Hope: Sousa Mendes’ Visas for Freedom

Through January 2017Center 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. 

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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


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