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In Honor of Scholar, UCLA Professor, and Academic Leader David Myers, the new CEO and President of The Center for Jewish History
12 June 2017 |
12 June 2017
For the month of June, Sephardi Ideas Monthly extends its exploration of Eastern-Mediterranean Jewry in America with Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel’s article, “The Literary, Social and Cultural Life of the Judeo-Spanish Sephardim During the Immigrant Generation (Early 1900’s).”
 Rabbi Marc Angel speaking at the Opening of Sephardic Journeys, a Center for Jewish History with The American Sephardi Federation exhibition in The David Berg Rare Book Room, 28 May 2015. Sephardic Journeys can be viewed online within the Google Cultural Institute. (Photo courtesy of Irina Tsukerman) |
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Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel
Hailing from Seattle’s Sephardi community, Rabbi Angel previously served at Congregation Shearith Israel, the historic Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of New York City, and presently directs The Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. Rabbi Angel is an accomplished chronicler of Judeo-Spanish history and thought, and a living embodiment and advocate of Classic Sephardic Judaism. Rabbi Angel begins his article by discussing how, during the first two decades of the 20th century, “Judeo-Spanish speaking Jews formed their own unique society in the lower East Side… They were quick to establish restaurants and coffee houses to cater to their culinary tastes. They established their own self-help groups, their own synagogue services, their own burial societies, and their own communal organizations.” One of the principal figures in re-establishing Judeo-Spanish life in America was Mr. Moise Gadol (1874-1971), a Bulgarian-born Sephardi Jew who arrived in the United States in 1910. |
Rabbi Marc Angel speaking at the Opening of Sephardic Journeys, a Center for Jewish History with The American Sephardi Federation exhibition in The David Berg Rare Book Room, 28 May 2015. Sephardic Journeys can be viewed online within the Google Cultural Institute.
(Photo courtesy of Irina Tsukerman)
Hailing from Seattle’s Sephardi community, Rabbi Angel previously served at Congregation Shearith Israel, the historic Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of New York City, and presently directs The Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. Rabbi Angel is an accomplished chronicler of Judeo-Spanish history and thought, and a living embodiment and advocate of Classic Sephardic Judaism.
Rabbi Angel begins his article by discussing how, during the first two decades of the 20th century, “Judeo-Spanish speaking Jews formed their own unique society in the lower East Side… They were quick to establish restaurants and coffee houses to cater to their culinary tastes. They established their own self-help groups, their own synagogue services, their own burial societies, and their own communal organizations.”
One of the principal figures in re-establishing Judeo-Spanish life in America was Mr. Moise Gadol (1874-1971), a Bulgarian-born Sephardi Jew who arrived in the United States in 1910.
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A successful businessman and master of eleven languages, Gadol decided to raise the cultural level of Judeo-Spanish Jewry by publishing a Ladino newspaper, La America, “He felt by doing this he would be able to provide practical advice to his readers as well as to give them general enlightenment and intellectual guidance.” While the newspaper never made money, “[t]he pages of La America are a fascinating reflection of the literary, cultural and social life of the immigrant generation of Sephardim.” Rabbi Angel notes, moreover, “Gadol was a brilliant journalist. Even when reading his editorials now, so many years after they were written, one senses the energy and vitality of the author.” Judeo-Spanish culture in America wasn’t limited to print journalism. As Rabbi Angel points out, Judeo-Spanish culture also thrived in the theatre: “There were virtually hundreds of performances of plays sponsored by Sephardic societies in New York… The pages of La America report that plays drew capacity crowds, some numbering over a thousand people. Since the Yiddish theatre and English theatre were not comprehensible to the Sephardim, they developed their own dramatic programs and catered to their own interests.” Introducing a vanished world in broad strokes and in typically fascinating fashion, Rabbi Angel’s article demonstrates how turn-of-the-century Judeo-Spanish Jewry, so culturally different from the overwhelming majority of Jews in America, “created their own literary, social and cultural institutions as manifestations of their own unique cultural background.” Sephardi Ideas Monthly is pleased to introduce Rabbi Angel’s learned and stimulating article to our readers. |
Judeo-Spanish culture in America wasn’t limited to print journalism. As Rabbi Angel points out, Judeo-Spanish culture also thrived in the theatre: “There were virtually hundreds of performances of plays sponsored by Sephardic societies in New York… The pages of La America report that plays drew capacity crowds, some numbering over a thousand people. Since the Yiddish theatre and English theatre were not comprehensible to the Sephardim, they developed their own dramatic programs and catered to their own interests.”
Introducing a vanished world in broad strokes and in typically fascinating fashion, Rabbi Angel’s article demonstrates how turn-of-the-century Judeo-Spanish Jewry, so culturally different from the overwhelming majority of Jews in America, “created their own literary, social and cultural institutions as manifestations of their own unique cultural background.” Sephardi Ideas Monthly is pleased to introduce Rabbi Angel’s learned and stimulating article to our readers.
(Photo courtesy of the Dr. Joe Halio/ASF’s National Sephardic Library)
Justice for Shylock: A Mock Appeal Commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the Venice Ghetto
Wednesday, June 21
5:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Coolidge Auditorium
Thomas Jefferson Building
10 First Street, SE
Washington, DC 20540
The program is a mock appeal of Shylock’s case from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, taking place after the play itself ends. Actor Edward Gero will portray Shylock. The appeal will be heard by five judges including Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg; Professors Suzanne Reynolds and Richard Schneider of Wake Forest University Law School; former U.S. Ambassador to the OECD Connie Morella; and Micaela del Monte from the European Parliament. The case will be argued by Michael Klotz of Jones Day; Law Librarian and Professor Teresa Miguel-Stearns of Yale Law School; and Eugene D. Gulland of Covington LLP. Assistance will be given by James Shapiro of Columbia University and Michael Kahn of the Shakespeare Theatre Company. This event is the last of three events hosted by the Law Library to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish Ghetto in Venice.
The event is made possible by a generous donation to the Library of Congress from the American Sephardi Federation. The Library also gratefully recognizes a contribution received through the Friends of the Law Library of Congress from Thomson Reuters. Additional support was provided by Mr. Robert S. Roth, Jr.
Please click here to make a complimentary registration*
*Registration is not a guarantee of admission. Seating is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Tickets are limited to one per person.
When Baghdadi Jews Baruch and Ellen Bekhor (née Cohen) succumbed to the camera’s gaze for their denaturalization pictures in 1951, they became stateless. Ellen was in her eighth month of pregnancy. Permitted to bring no more than a few kilos of belongings out of Iraq, Ellen carried their wedding picture and ketubah in her pocketbook. Laissez-Passer, Royaume D’Irak by Leslie Starobin (2016)
The Last Address
Now through September 2017
in ASF’s Myron Habib Memorial Display
Center for Jewish History
15 W 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
The American Sephardi Federation proudly presents excerpts from The Last Address, a multi-year, photo-montage series and oral history and book project by award-winning artist Leslie Starobin that explores the enduring texture of memory and culture in the lives of Greater Sephardic families from dispersed Jewish communities in Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Iran, and Lebanon.
Leslie Starobin is a Boston-area photographer and montage artist. Her work is in the permanent collections of many academic (Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University) and public (Jewish Museum, MoMA) museums. Starobin is the recipient of numerous grants, including from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England Foundation of the Arts/Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. Most recently, she received two Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Grants for this series, The Last Address.
Her exhibition in ASF’s Myron Habib Memorial Display is sponsored in part by CELTSS: The Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching, Scholarship and Service at Framingham State University in Massachusetts, where Starobin is a Professor of Communication Arts.
Please click here for additional information and viewing hours
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Copyright © 2017 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 a proud partner of the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th St., New York, NY, 10011). American Sephardi Federation | http://www.AmericanSephardi.org | info@americansephardi.org | (212) 548-4486
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Copyright © 2017 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 a proud partner of the Center for Jewish History (15 West 16th St., New York, NY, 10011).
American Sephardi Federation | http://www.AmericanSephardi.org | info@americansephardi.org | (212) 548-4486
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