Watch Ema Shah’s Pomegranate Award Performance, The Sephardic Reach in Film, and Shabbat in Tehran

18 March 2016 In honor of Irina Tsukerman for the inspired nomination of Ema Shah for ASF’s 2016 Pomegranate Award

“The Sephardic Reach, Through Cinema” By George Robinson, The Jewish Week   In past few decades “…Sephardic Jews have re-asserted themselves with considerable success,” writes George Robinson, and “that trend is nowhere more evident than in the continued growth of the New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival.” Noting how the 19th NYSJFF’s films speak to the ubiquity and geographic diversity of Sephardim, Robinson looks at three individuals/films: Pramila (Esther Victoria Abraham) in Beqassor, Layla Mourad in Shore of Love, and Carvalho’s Journey, a documentary about pioneering daguerreotypist Solomon Nunes Carvalho.

Two Jewish silver screen stars appeared in films at the 19th NYSJFF: Bollywood pioneer Pramila (left) and the legendary Egyptian singer Layla Mourad (right)

“The Sephardic Reach, Through Cinema”
By George Robinson, The Jewish Week

Two Jewish silver screen stars appeared in films at the 19th NYSJFF: Bollywood pioneer Pramila (left) and the legendary Egyptian singer Layla Mourad (right) Special Feature: Ema Shah Performs at Opening Night of the 19th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival 

Inside the Purported Shrine of Esther and Mordechai, Hamadan, Iran, 1972 (Photo courtesy of Yassi Gabbay/Diarna Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish List)

“Shabbat with the Iranian Jews of Tehran” By Annika Hernroth- Rothstein, Jewish News Annika Hernroth-Rothstein, a blue-eyed Jewish journalist from Sweden, recently visited the Jews of Iran and found synagogue life there─“the children running rampant, ignoring the older mens’ condemning stares”─to be strangely familiar. The Islamist regime’s hospitality, however, includes: “[an] assigned government handler.” Turning the tables on her expectations, Hernroth-Rothstein’s discovers a close-knit community that is legally “separate but equal, free yet contained and the regime lets them know this with their perennial outburst of Holocaust denial and unbridled anti-Zionism. Much like the country in which they reside, they are a community full of contradictions and with beauty and darkness in equal measure.”

Inside the Purported Shrine of Esther and Mordechai, Hamadan, Iran, 1972 (Photo courtesy of Yassi Gabbay/Diarna Geo-Museum of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish List)  “Shabbat with the Iranian Jews of Tehran”
By Annika Hernroth- Rothstein, Jewish News

Annika Hernroth-Rothstein, a blue-eyed Jewish journalist from Sweden, recently visited the Jews of Iran and found synagogue life there─“the children running rampant, ignoring the older mens’ condemning stares”─to be strangely familiar. The Islamist regime’s hospitality, however, includes: “[an] assigned government handler.” Turning the tables on her expectations, Hernroth-Rothstein’s discovers a close-knit community that is legally “separate but equal, free yet contained and the regime lets them know this with their perennial outburst of Holocaust denial and unbridled anti-Zionism. Much like the country in which they reside, they are a community full of contradictions and with beauty and darkness in equal measure.”

Shirat Baqashot ve-Piyyutim

Mondays, starting March 21st at 7:30PM
Center for Jewish History 
15 West 16th Street, New York City

According to the nusach of the Moroccan Jews
Presented by the hazzan and payytan, R’Avraham Amar

The American Sephardi Federation is pleased to announce a new class exploring the Baqashot (‘Songs of Seeking’ in Edwin Seroussi’s wonderful translation), a musical tradition whose roots are in Andalusian Spain. R’Amar, a student of R’David Buzaglo, considered the greatest Hebrew liturgical poet of the 20th century, will guide students through the theory and practice of the Baqashot:

1). Their purpose, when and how they are used in the liturgy–how they are attached to weekly parshiyot (Shabbat Torah readings)
2). The musical  maqamim (Arabic melodic mode) used in the singing of the Baqashot
3). The great composers of this traditional art form

Students will be instructed in the chanting of each of the baqashot according to the weekly parshiyot and maqam. 

Please click here to RSVP for the sessions
Cost: $20 for four classes

Special Announcement

Sephardic Birthright Trip Summer 2016

Sephardic Communities in New York, Miami, and Seattle, are joining together to create a Sephardic Birthright Israel Trip this Summer from August 7th to August 17th!  If you’ve never been on Birthright before and want to go to Israel for free, this is your chance! For 10 days, you’ll be able to travel around the country with amazing people with Sephardic, Greek, and Turkish backgrounds, all while exploring everything Israel has to offer. You’ll be able to ride camels in the desert, raft down the Jordan River, explore the Old City in Jerusalem, and a whole lot more.

The trip is totally free and anyone between the ages of 18 and 26 who hasn’t been on a Birthright Israel trip before is eligible. What’s more, we are working on creating an extended portion of the Trip to Greece! Even if you’ve been to Israel before on a non-birthright trip you may still be eligible. 

If you or someone you know is interested, please register today at https://www.israelfreespirit.com/app and use the organizational referral code “Sephardic Trip.” Registration takes less than 10 minutes and no final commitment is necessary. You can also email the organizers to find out more info at sephardicisraeltrip@gmail.com
 

Note: ASF is not organizing this trip, although individual members of our Young Leadership Board are participating

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     Reduced ticket prices and back-stage access at the upcoming 19th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival   Discounts at Sephardi businesses around the world, including restaurants, salons, and boutiques

$72

($54 tax-deductible)

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 unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences

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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