Sephardi Sisters’ Spanish Citizenship, Sephardi Shakespeare, Studying Silabrios, and O, Barcelona

8 July 2016 Mazel Tov/Mubarak Emad Tayefeh, an award-winning Persian filmmaker and courageous activist for human rights in Iran, on his first week of freedom

“Learning Ladino–Then and Now”  By Sarah Zaides, Stroum Center for Jewish Studies   Sephardi Jews learned Ladino in the 19th and 20th centuries through “silabarios… small grammar books… that taught children how to read and write in Ladino… in the traditional Hebrew alphabet.” Although silabarios were originally published by Protestant movements hoping to win Christian converts, “Sephardic Jews decided to publish their own books… that would promote Jewish messages.” Silabarios were thus used to teach basic information regarding holidays, including, in one Constantinople silabario published in the early 1920’s, the holiday of 2 November. The holiday of November 2nd? That was when some Sephardi Jews with Zionist sympathies celebrated “[n]one other than the Balfour Declaration.”

Nuevo Silavario Djudeo-Espanyol, Constantinople, 1908 (Photo courtesy of Stroum Center for Jewish Studies)

“Learning Ladino–Then and Now” 
By Sarah Zaides, Stroum Center for Jewish Studies
 

Nuevo Silavario Djudeo-Espanyol, Constantinople, 1908 (Photo courtesy of Stroum Center for Jewish Studies)

David Serero as Othello (Photo courtesy of Myra Chanin/Theater Pizzazz)

“Shakespeare gets the Sephardic treatment” By Danielle Ziri, The Jerusalem Post Who would think to put a Sephardi spin to Shakespeare’s Othello? David Serero, the Moroccan-Jewish great-grandson of the Chief Rabbi of Fez and a classically-trained Opera singer. Serero’s idea had its skeptics, but, “When he approached the American Sephardi Federation about putting together a Sephardic Othello, the idea was immediately welcomed.” Next up, “a Sephardic King Lear.”

David Serero as Othello (Photo courtesy of Myra Chanin/Theater Pizzazz)  “Shakespeare gets the Sephardic treatment”
By Danielle Ziri, The Jerusalem Post

Who would think to put a Sephardi spin to Shakespeare’s Othello? David Serero, the Moroccan-Jewish great-grandson of the Chief Rabbi of Fez and a classically-trained Opera singer. Serero’s idea had its skeptics, but, “When he approached the American Sephardi Federation about putting together a Sephardic Othello, the idea was immediately welcomed.” Next up, “a Sephardic King Lear.” Video of the Week: “Oh, Barcelona!”

“Sisters from a prominent Sephardic family to get Spanish citizenship” By Roberto Loiederman, Jewish Journal   Yosef Elyashar, a rabbi in the Spanish town of Híjar, was expelled from Spain 500 year ago. Today, two of Elyashar’s American descendants are poised to acquire Spanish citizenship after having passed a battery of tests and producing documents proving Spanish lineage. Says Tamar Hurwitz, one of the rabbi’s descendants, “It never occurred to me that I’d be able to return to Spain. It never occurred to me that we’d be welcomed back as Sephardic Jews based on our family’s history, and the fact that this law emerged sparked something in me.”

Sisters Sharón Eliashar (left) and Tamar Hurwitz (right) and their mother, Rina Eliashar (middle) (Photo courtesy of Sharón Eliashar and Tamar Hurwitz)

“Sisters from a prominent Sephardic family to get Spanish citizenship”
By Roberto Loiederman, Jewish Journal

Sisters Sharón Eliashar (left) and Tamar Hurwitz (right) and their mother, Rina Eliashar (middle) (Photo courtesy of Sharón Eliashar and Tamar Hurwitz)

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

April 7th through September 9th
Center for Jewish History 
15 West 16th Street
New York City

The American Sephardi Federation, Portuguese Consulate of New York, the Sousa Mendes Foundation, and the Municipality of Almeida, Portugal proudly present a new 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

Your Cardholder Benefits Include:  Subscription to the print edition of The Sephardi Report, a magazine that shines a light on contemporary Sephardi creativity and excellence in the arts, scholarship, entrepreneurship, rabbinic thought, and philanthropy   Subscription to Sephardi Ideas Monthly and Sephardi World Weekly   Invitations to special events across the country     Discounts at Sephardi businesses around the world, including restaurants, salons, and boutiques    Reduced ticket prices and back-stage access at the annual NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival

$72

($54 tax-deductible)

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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’s Sephardi House 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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