The Spirit of Kahena: Visual Art and Amazigh-Jewish Identity

Sephardi Ideas Monthly last explored Amazigh-Jewish identity in April 2016 with Samuel Torjman Thomas’ essay, “The Virtues of the Shleuh: Celebrating the Amazigh Contribution to Jewish Music and Identity.”

Morenica: Femme et Foi en Méditerranée (“Women and Faith in the Mediterranean”) by Chama Mechtaly Commissioned by Boston University’s Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies

Morenica: Femme et Foi en Méditerranée (“Women and Faith in the Mediterranean”)
by Chama Mechtaly
Commissioned by Boston University’s Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies  Chama Mechtaly

In her interview with Sephardi Ideas Monthly, Mechtaly discusses the connections between Amazigh identity and Jewish identity. Along the way, she explains how her family story moved her to examine the connection between Jewish and Amazigh history in Morocco: 

My paternal grandfather originated from an Amazigh village just outside Essaouira, which was mostly Jewish in the early 20th century. But he fled the village very young to later marry a secular Arab girl. He then settled in Casablanca next to Jewish neighbors. One Jewish neighbor breastfed my father and took great care of him until the day she disappeared in the early 1950s. My Dad who tells the story today is still traumatized by her disappearance.

Following the threads of Morocco’s multi-cultural history, Mechtaly became particularly enchanted by the figure of Dahia al-Kahena, an Amazigh-Jewish queen who resisted the Arab conquest in the 7th century: “I had no idea that there were women from my cultural background and history who were strong military leaders. So I thought, more women from my environment ought to know about Kahena. To be honest, I think that understanding and repeating her story meant getting back power from those who took it from my ancestors.” Mechtaly’s painting of Kahena, “standing tall and firm before a fire that caused the Tifinagh and Hebrew letters to glow in gold,” is included in this month’s feature.  

Mechtaly: This acrylic painting was the product of some personal research that sort of blew my mind suggesting strong ties between Gnaoua, Moroccan Mysticism and Judaism. Lalla Mimouna is a saint often mentioned and revered by Gnaoua musicians. Some tell the story of how she saved a slave by showing up in the middle of the Sahara desert and offering him a water canteen when he was about to die of thirst. The slave, who was inspired by the sound of water in a leather canteen, later created Gnaoua music and told others the story of Mimouna, his savior. Interestingly, Lalla Mimouna today is a small village in the south of Morocco that was built around a water source named after the saint.  Mimouna is also a festive occasion celebrated by Moroccan Jews at the end of Passover where Muslim neighbors traditionally visit Jewish homes carrying baked goods and leavened foods that aren’t allowed in Jewish homes during Passover. The story of Passover is a story of slavery, freedom, desert crossing and miracles, very similar to that of Gnaoua. What’s even more fascinating is that Gnaoua musicians head to the village of Lalla Mimouna every year around the same time as Passover to pay their respect to Lalla Mimouna’s spirit in a three day pilgrimage. Passover commemorates the journey from spiritual slavery to spiritual freedom, which is a central concept in Gnaoua music. I’m still doing research on this topic because there’s a lot of overlap in symbolism between the Gnaoua pilgrimage to Lalla Mimouna and Passover and I’m interested in understanding the connection even deeper. Maybe I’ll make a video installation or a documentary out of it. 

Also included are a series of paintings of Amazigh Jewish women, an acrylic painting of Lalla Mimouna (shown above), a mystical figure revered by Moroccan Gnaoua musicians who seems to have some subterranean connections to Jewish culture, and a recent work commissioned by Boston University’s Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies, “that captures the complexity of Mediterranean female identity in a contemporary context.”

Sephardi Ideas Monthly is delighted to introduce our readers to Chama Mechtaly, a brilliant young artist whose work reflects the kind of courage, openness, and curiosity that once animated Mediterranean cultural exchange. One hopes that such genuine convivencia will soon animate Mediterranean culture again. 

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

ASF is presenting compelling voices and visuals in honor of the date chosen by the Knesset to commemorate the Middle Eastern Jewish experience. The event will feature:

• scholarly, first-person reflections by award-winning writers Lucette Lagnado (The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family’s Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World) and André Aciman (Out of Egypt)
   
• exhibitions by Leslie Starobin (The Last Address, a multi-year, photo-montage and oral history and book project exploring the enduring texture of memory and culture in the lives of Sephardic families from dispersed Jewish communities, including Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Iran, and Lebanon)

  and

  Zion Ozeri/David Suissa (who are presenting photographs that capture the last remnants of once vibrant Jewish communities in Yemen, Tunisia, and Morocco, as well as the perpetuation and reinterpretation of Sephardi traditions in Israel today)
   

• exclusive Diarna: Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Life digital documentation on endangered sites and the last primary source generation
   

Please click here to make a reservation
Complimentary

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

April 7th through October 2016
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 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 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. 

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 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


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences