*Annual New York Conference to mark the departure and exile of Jews from Arab Countries, 20 May 2024, Touro University, Brooklyn. With MK May Golan, Shimon Ohayon, Ben Dror Yemini, Sasha Goldstein-Sabbah, Haim Saadoun, Stanley Uruman, Sarina Roffé, etc
"With over 40,000 #Jews in #Mexico City, hailing from all different parts of the world, their culture and food is a beautiful mix of homely #Jewish cooking and authentic #Mexican#cuisine. It's this very blend that’s brought award-winning entertainer, television personality, and social media star, Eitan Bernath to unearth Mexico's hidden Jewish #culinary history.
Mexico City in many ways is a perfect microcosm of this diasporic history, with a Jewish population that spans #Ashkenazi, #Sephardi, and #Mizrachi#food stories all beautifully melding with traditional Mexican flavors."
This year, JIMENA is proud to highlight our Holocaust page specially designed for Jewish K-12 educators, part of our Sephardi & Mizrahi Education Toolkit.
This resource is crafted to help educators introduce students to the experiences and stories of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews during the Holocaust—a perspective often underrepresented in Holocaust education.
Our toolkit provides educational materials that include first-hand accounts, lesson plans, and multimedia resources to ensure a comprehensive and inclusive approach to Holocaust education. By bringing these narratives into classrooms, we aim to foster a deeper understanding of the Holocaust's impact on all Jewish communities and the diverse histories of our people.
Soon, Jews around the world will celebrate Passover, a story of resistance and return. From persecution and slavery under a tyrannical ruler to liberation and the beginning of our return to Eretz Israel, it is a story foundational to the Jewish experience. In the face of threats by tyrannical rulers today, we stand steadfast in our identity as Jews, as Jews whose diasporic experience heralds from the Middle East and North Africa, and as Jews who support the existence of Jewish life in our ancestral homeland. Just as before, we will triumph over those who wish to destroy us, and we will continue to advocate for peaceful coexistence for all peoples in the region, so we may live our lives free from persecution, antisemitism, and hate.
The People of Israel Live, today, tomorrow, and forever. Am Israel Chai.
Sarah Abrevaya Stein is the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Director of the Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies, as well as Professor of History and the Viterbi Family Chair in Mediterranean Jewish Studies at UCLA. She is the award-winning author or editor of ten books, including, most recently, Wartime North Africa: a Documentary History, 1934-1950 (Stanford University Press, co-authored with Aomar Boum). She lives and surfs in Santa Monica, CA.
MPORTANT: Please note that no registration is required but for security reasons, in the Zoom room only participants identified by name (ie not 'Ipad' or "Wonderwoman') will be admitted. The event will also be livestreamed to the Harif Facebook page.
A video about the ways that many Sephardim celebrate Purim. Sara Malka's videos are always interesting. 🙂 (And yes, I know, there are some minor factual errors in this, but it doesn't detract from the beauty of the video.)
Savor has a busy few weeks ahead! We hope you'll consider joining us, whether in Atlanta, Italy and Spain - or on Zoom...
March 10th at 1pm Eastern / 10am Pacific
Savor Purim with Lilith Magazine
This Purim, explore tantalizing Egyptian, Persian and other Sephardic holiday traditions and food through music, cooking demonstrations and lively conversations with Lilith and Savor! You’ll bake Persian Purim cookies with chef Susan Barocas, hear how cookbook author Viviane Bowell celebrated the holiday of Queen Esther growing up in Egypt, be inspired by the food traditions of Rhodes with Bendichas Manos, and sing Purim songs along with Ladino singer Sarah Aroeste. With music, spice, and inspiration, this Savor Sunday event, co-sponsored by Women of Reform Judaism, will set you up for Purim’s pleasures!
This Purim and Passover, explore delicious Sephardic holiday traditions and food from Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Iraq and more through music, cooking demonstrations and lively conversations with Lilith and Savor: A Sephardic Music & Food Experience.
Hosted by chef Susan Barocas and singer Sarah Aroeste, these gatherings by Zoom take place on March 10 and April 7, 1:00-2:30 pm ET|. Join us to learn recipes from global Savor chefs including the Sephardic Spice Girls Rachel Emquies Sheff & Sharon Gomperts, cookbook author Viviane Bowell and Marcia Weingarten & Kaye Israel from Bendichas Manos.
You won’t want to miss these two Savor Sundays filled with music, spice, inspiration and delight. Cosponsored by Women of Reform Judaism.
"Does your Jewish day school expect students to understand Yiddish terms? When learning about Jewish practices, which customs and traditions are discussed? What does “Jewish food” look like at your school?
These are some of the questions that JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa poses to Jewish day schools as the first stage — a self-assessment — in its Sephardi & Mizrahi Education Toolkit, a new guide released on Thursday offering “content, resources, and strategies” to better teach Sephardi and Mizrahi culture and history and to make students of all backgrounds feel more welcomed and included."
This video is probably the best summarization of the various Jewish denominations/branches, the history of Judaism, including the various geographic changes that lead to changes, belief structures, understanding of Judaism as different from Christianity, differences on observance, and more.
It's such a great explainer video, I highly recommend it!
Shalom LeKulam, I am Ayali (also known as Ladymaimonides on the old Jtwitter), and this is my #introduction! French Israeli currently living in the US, but I am really from all over. I am into #languages and #poetry. Also, I am into #sephardi and #mizrahi culture and traditions, I follow #andalusi minhag and mesorah. I am looking to connect with some of my old Jtwitter friends and more of the #Jewish community here. Yallah let's go
"What makes #Greek#Sephardi#food so unique isn't just the fusion of the two cuisines and cultures but also their vastly different techniques and ingredients.
We're going to take a look at a few of the most important and delicious #recipes that first originated in #Thessaloniki in the #Jewish community."
TIL that the term "Mizrahi" is a reclaimed term, originally a racist term and slurrish, it's since been reclaimed by those Jews as a way to self-identify, especially for those Jews who live in Israel.
I've only heard it in the context of its reclaimed use, but knowing the history is important.
“When many people think of #antisemitism, they tend to think of the six million Jews murdered across Europe by the Nazis and their collaborators, a genocide that took the lives of one third of the #Jewish people,” wrote Lipstadt. “Sadly, many people don’t think of the struggles that #Sephardi and #Mizrahi#Jews have faced in their homelands throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Iran. Though they often lived in harmony with their non-Jewish neighbors, there were far too many moments of discrimination and persecution. Far too many people fail to recall that one million Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews were displaced from their ancestral lands in the past century.”
Trying to learn more about Spanish history and Kingdoms of Faith was a bust. (Almost exclusive focus on dynasties and war rather than cultural history, and barely discusses Jews?)
So let's try another angle. Anyone got a good cultural history of Sephardic Jews in Medieval Spain?