UK: 'Jews of Morocco' conference, June 20-22

The British Institute for Jewish Studies is planning a summer conference on the Jews of Morocco.

The conference will take place June 20-22, at University College London, Gower Street WC1.

Jews have lived in Morocco for nearly two thousand years, in desert and mountain regions, in the imperial cities of central Morocco and in towns along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, with Berber and with Arab  neighbours. This conference is a rare opportunity to find out more about the rich and varied culture of Moroccan Jews and their history.

The program has not yet been announced, but the list of speakers includes:

Joseph CHETRIT (University of Haifa),
Emily GOTTREICH (UC Berkeley)
Paul FENTON (Sorbonne)
Henry GREEN (University of Miami)
Oren KOSANSKY (Lewis and Clarke College, Portland, Oregon)
Michael LASKIER (Bar-Ilan University)
Jessica MARGLIN (Princeton University)
Hilary POMEROY (University College London)
Moises ORFALI (Bar-Ilan University)
Vanessa PALOMA (Casablanca)
Norman STILLMAN  (University of Oklahoma)
Susana WEICH-SHAHAK (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

For more information, email the Institute of Jewish Studies at UCL or check out the IJS website.

New York: 15th NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival, March 10-16

The 15th New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival will showcase five US and six New York premieres March 10-16 at the Center for Jewish History.

The event is presented by the American Sephardi Federation (ASF) in association with Yeshiva University Museum (YUM).

The 2011 program includes critically acclaimed, award-winning, classic features and documentaries prsenting diverse global perspectives.

The annual event (since 1990) draws personalities, scholars, diplomats and filmmakers.

This year's themes include a special focus on the Jews of Morocco, as part of ASF's year-long series, '2,000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey."

The Pomegranate Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to Sephardi actor/filmmaker Ronit Elkabetz at the Opening Night Gala. She has received three Ophir Awards, the 2010 France Culture Award at the Cannes Film Festival and the Israeli Film Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award.

It is the only annual festival of this kind, and attracts more than 30,000 attendees.

The ASF is committed to exhibiting a selection of thought-provoking, international quality feature films and documentaries that examine the past and explore contemporary Sephardic issues and identity.

"Through cinematic exploration, our aim is to further elevate the understanding of the very rich history and culture of Sephardic Jewry," says ASF President, David E.R. Dangoor.

See the full program list and ticket information here.

New York: Moroccan henne ceremony, February 6

Looking for an ethnic alternative to Super Bowl Sunday?

The American Sephardi Foundation will present a re-enactment of the traditional Moroccan pre-wedding ceremony called berberisca or henne, on Sunday, February 6.

The program begins at 4pm at the Center for Jewish History, in New York.

It is part of a year-long series - "2,000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey" - presented under the patronage of His Majesty Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, and made possible through the generous support of the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation.

Tableau Vivant: The Berberisca Ceremony (A Living Picture)
Among the traditional ceremonies of the Moroccan Jews, the richest, most original and picturesque is the "Noche de Berberisca" or "Noche de Paños" (according to the Northern Moroccan Jews, who used to live in the former Spanish zone of Morocco), or the "Henne" or "Soiree du Henne," as it is called in the Southern Moroccan communities. The ceremony takes place during the week that precedes the wedding, in an atmosphere full of joy and emotion. It is enhanced with Sephardic songs, or Judeo-Arabic music, fashion, delicious dishes and pastries made with almonds and honey. The evening reaches its climax when the bride makes her entrance magnificently made up and dressed in the Berberisca "Traje de Paños", or "Vestido de Berberisca" (Spanish), or "Keswa Elkibra" (Great Dress or Grand Dress in Arabic). Moroccan Tea and pastries will be served.

Tickets: $18 General Admission/$12 ASF members. Advance registration requested.

New York: 'Jewish life in Morocco' opens Oct. 14

"Looking Back: Jewish Life in Morocco" will open at the Center for Jewish History in New York City on Thursday, October 14.

It begins at 6:30pm at the Center for Jewish History,15 West 16th Street New York.

Produced by the American Sephardi Federation , the exhibt focuses on the history of the Jewish people and Jewish life, as it once was in Morocco.

This event launches a year-long series of programs on "2,000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey" including an international symposium, a concert and individual lectures.

ASF president David Dangoor said:

"The American Sephardi Federation aims to promote cross-cultural understanding and highlight the diversity and international scope of the Sephardic Jewish heritage. The ASF is delighted to present this series of multidisciplinary events that will celebrate the patrimony and legacy of Jewish culture in Morocco."

Jews have lived in Morocco since at least the time of the Phoenicians, 550 BCE. Over several thousands years, Jewish communities lived there and were influenced by those with whom they lived: the Berbers, the Spanish, the Arabs and the French.

The exhibit is an overview of the presence and flourishing of Jews in the ancient and modern Kingdom of Morocco.

Included are artistically designed textual displays, documents, pull quotes, non-photo images (e.g. lithographs and engravings), historic photos, captions, replications of historic documents, and other visuals demonstrating the life of the Jews in this area.

The opening night keynote address will be presented by Dr. Norman A. Stillman, the Schusterman-Josey Professor and Chair of Judaic History at the University of Oklahoma. The developer and curator of the exhibit is Shelomo Alfassa.

Fee: ASF members, free; others $10. Reservations are required.

Tracing the Tribe's many readers interested in Sephardic programming may also follow the ASF on Twitter and Facebook.

Morocco: Jewish documents to be digitalized

An Oregon anthropologist has received a grant to digitize Jewish Moroccan documents.

In Rabat, Morocco, on a 2005 Fulbright research grant, Lewis & Clark University assistant professor of anthropology Oren Kosansky worked with community leaders and discovered a genizah (photo left) - a room or depository found in synagogues, where old religious documents no longer needed are kept and then periodically buried.

Tracing the Tribe reminds readers that such collections are often rich resources for family information and provide details not available elsewhere, which will surely benefit genealogists and family history researchers looking for information on Jewish families in Rabat.

Kosansky has now won a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) to develop a digital archive of Jewish Moroccan documents from the 18th-20th centuries. The online archive will enable open access to international researchers interested in North African Jewish culture and allow them to share ideas and information. The project will also offer a new model for intercultural and international collaboration in the creation of technological resources to share historical information.

What is a genizah and what may be found in one? The most famous of course, is the Cairo Genizah.

“In Judaic tradition, documents containing references to God are forbidden from being destroyed,” Kosansky explained. “Most obviously books and papers on religious topics such as the Torah are deemed sacred and treated in a ceremonious fashion, but any item with religious or legal references—such as a wedding announcement or business contract—would also be kept.

“In this case, I found literally thousands of books and documents pertaining to virtually all facets of Jewish life in Morocco, especially as it was transformed during the 20th century. My first thought was, ‘How can I save these materials from burial, so that they can be consulted by community members and scholars.’”

The Rabat community once had thousands of residents, but decreased to less than 100 following major emigration to Israel, France and elsewhere. The research materials remained in Rabat.

“Written materials are very important in Judaism,” Kosansky explained. “It is a very textual culture. These documents offer great insight into a culture and a community of people that once thrived here. They offer an opportunity to investigate elements of a society that has not been fully explored by those of us in the academic field. For the Jewish community, it represents something perhaps even more valuable—an opportunity to reflect on how their traditions have been shaped by modern life, colonialism, technological change, and global networks of migration, communication, and commerce.”

The community leaders allowed Kosansky to go through hundreds of sacks containing thousands of documents to determine which documents were appropriate for burial and which represented significant historical texts suitable for preservation. They gave him the documents for preservation and he donated them to the Jewish Museum in Casablanca. The collection includes handwritten letters, unpublished manuscripts, community records, as well as published materials in Judeo-Arabic, Hebrew and French.

The project raised questions on how to build such a specialized archive, and how to respect legal, ethical and social differences across societies:

“There are so many issues up for consideration,” Kosansky said. “For example, what, if any, are the copyright issues for such old documents? And what are the copyright laws in Morocco? Are their private documents we shouldn’t digitized out of respect for some individuals or the Jewish community? Who should be consulted on such ethical considerations?”

He will begin the project when he directs the university's first overseas program in Morocco in spring 2011. While there, he'll be locating experts in the US and in Morocco in digital archives, information access, intellectual property law and Jewish history to address the legal issues, begin digitization and build the website.

Read the complete article at the link above for more information.

New York: Defining Sephardic identity, Jan. 14

A kick-off event exploring identity in New York's Sephardic communities will take place at the Next Generation Culture Café of the American Sephardi Foundation (ASF) in January.

"Defining Sephardic: A Roundtable Discussion on Sephardic Identity" begins at 6.30pm, Thursday, January 14.

Moderated by filmmaker and Be-chol Lashon's New York director Lacey Schwartz, the participants will be:

-- Zena Babayov: New York University master's (communications) student and active member of the Bukharan community in Forest Hills, Queens.

-- Mijal Bitton: Yeshiva University/Stern College junior from Argentina and an active member of the Sephardic Community of Great Neck, Long Island.

-- Sion Setton: Manhattan's Safra Synagogue director of youth programming, with Iraqi, Syrian and Egyptian heritage.

-- Matieu Furster: Software engineer with both Moroccan Sephardi and Russian Ashkenazi heritage.

Admission is free. Light refreshments served. Email reservations or call 212-294-8301 x8356.

This is the first event of a year-long program funded by the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation. ASF also received assistance from the Consulate General of Spain in New York.

For more information, click on the ASF site and see future events.

Philadelphia: 'Jews of the Amazon' screening, Jan. 11

Do the stories of lost tribes and Jewish history grab your attention? You'll enjoy "The Fire Within: Jews in the Amazon Rainforest," to be screened at thGershman Y in Philadelphia, on Monday, January 11, at 7pm.

The documentary on the Jews of Iquitos in Peru was written, directed and produced by Lorry Salcedo Mitrani, a descendant of Peruvian Jews, while discovering his own grandfather's story. It has already been screened at many 2009 Jewish film festivals (more in 2010) and other venues, such as universities.

The booming community, populated by those who had made their fortunes in rubber, even had a theater designed by Gustave Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame.

The guest speaker will be Rabbi Marcelo Bronstein of B’Nai Jeshurun (New York City).

One of the best stories on this is from Tablet Magazine, written by Robin Cembalest.

Around a century ago, Abraham Edery Fimat, a Sephardic sailor from Morocco on leave in a Brazilian port, fell asleep in a bar. He soon learned his ship had sailed without him. As Victor Edery Jr., his grandson, recounts in Lorry Salcedo Mitrani’s affecting new documentary, The Fire Within, Abraham tried to follow his crew on another boat—only he went the wrong way. That’s how he ended up heading west, hundreds of miles down the Amazon, until he arrived in the remote Peruvian city of Iquitos.

To his amazement, Edery found other Jews there. They were merchants, traders, and adventurers, Sephardic as well as Ashkenazic, from Morocco and Europe, who came to make their fortunes in the rubber boom. As photos in the film show, many did. Parading in front of their tropical mansions in top hats and tuxedos, the newly rich aspired to bring a continental sophistication to the jungle outpost (though not with the intensity of the city’s most famous resident, the ill-fated opera lover in Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo). Eventually, the rubber business moved on to Asia, and most of the Jews returned to their native lands. But the families they created with native women stayed behind.

An excellent story on the people of Iquitos was in the New York Times, by Simon Romero, which quotes several individuals, including Salcedo Mitrani:

“It was astounding to discover that in Iquitos there existed this group of people who were desperate to reconnect to their roots and re-establish ties to the broader Jewish world,” ...

The film demonstrates the the connection of their children and grandchildren to their heritage. Several hundred descendants of these men have rediscovered their identity, some have converted while others have made aliyah.

In the 19th century the Amazon was the center of a rubber boom. Many North African Sephardic men arrived to join in and make their fortunes, marrying local women and raising families. Some men died in the difficult conditions, others returned home after the industry's decline, still others stayed and kept a flame alive, lasting five generations in some cases.

Unknown to the established Lima Jewish community until the 1980s, the Orthodox rejected them, but the Conservative community taught them. Fifty years later, one man's efforts led to more than 500 converts and 300 who have made aliyah.

For more, see RuthFilms.com.

GenAmi: Paris Archives, journal articles

GenAmi (Paris, France) has announced information on new online access to the Paris Archives and the list of articles in its new issue. Read on for more.

If your quest includes family that had lived in Paris, remember that GenAmi is an important resource.

Click GenAmi for more information on the organization, its publications and other events, such as its annual meeting, set for March 9, 2010.

Paris Archives

In the photo above, see (left) Victor Hugo's death certificate on May 23, 1885.
At right, see a ledger page for 10 births from 1872-1881.

The Paris Archives are now online, click here to view. Records include reconstructed data through 1859, as well as decennial lists and records through 1902.

The site is only in French, which Tracing the Tribe reads but doesn't speak. I also used Google Translate and the English translation was sufficient for those who do not read French.

The first section: 1860-1902. It contains civil records for each of 20 districts. In the The research is done in conventional tables and decadal records of acts within each of 20 districts. Birth certificates, however, in the 12th arrondissement were destroyed for the period 1 January 1870 to May 25, 1871.

Choose the type of record (birth, marriage, death) and the district; these two fields are required. The date of the record is optional. There are 20 districts, so you might need to run multiple searches to find the individual you are looking for.

For the decennial records, there are alphabetical surname lists for each 10 year period for each of the 20 districts and by type of document. Records found will include the person's name and surname and the date. Again, if you do not know where they lived for each record, you will need to run multiple searches.

The second section: reconstructed records 16th century-1859. Of some 8 million records destroyed by fire in May 1871, only some 30% has been restored. You can check for a record in the alphabetical surname database - organized by type of document - to see if it has been reconstructed. A digitization program is ongoing.

Each sheet has the year of record, where recorded (parish, former district or municipality annexed to Paris), name and surname of the person, and the date the event. For weddings, there is a record for each spouse with the wife's under her maiden name. sheet has been developed for each of the spouses, the wife is to look at his birth name.

I checked for Cohen under marriages and found this:

Click on the second record and see this:
New Journal Issue

GenAmi has also announced the articles in its new journal issue. See the site link above for more information.:

- Bond to the soil and ties of blood: foundation of Jewish tradition, by historian Stephane Encel

- Simon Hayem and his descendents: Merchants, artists and doctors.

- Chief Rabbi Abraham de Cologna: Four known children.

- UK research: CemeteryScribes.com

- Tunisia's civil records during the French Protectorate Acquisitions

- "Une Memoire de papier", (Silvain, Perret) - Jews of Belgium in postcards

- "Atlas des Parisiens" from the Revolution to today

- "Mes anciens et la mer" by Lionel Levy- "Jews of Morocco", bibliography

- "Durmenach se souvient"

- Booklets on Jewish Basel (Switzerland)

GenAmi is a good source of information.

France: New issue, Sephardic gen journal

The new issue of ETSI, the Sephardi Genealogical and Historical Review is now out.

Among the articles:

-- In "An unfulfilled dream - The saga of Anusim families." Raphael Benghiat traces the history of the previous owners of Montfavier castle in the Gironde, France. It likely belonged to Jews of the Bordeaux and Bayonne area, where many New Christians (Conversos, Anousim) settled.

-- Laurence Abensur-Hazan explores the 1841 fire which partially destroyed Smyrna, Turkey. The Jewish residents were the ones most affected by this catastrophe.

-- There's also a book review of the recently published "Tanger, entre Orient et Occident." The Jews of Tangier (Morocco) were never required to live in a specific geographic area. The book details many aspects of this community, such as Jewish businesses, the city's first Freemason society, and provides information on the Fuente Nueva quarter where many Jews lived.

To see the indexes for this and past issues, click here. For membership information, click here. Here's more about ETSI:

"Etsi" (my tree, in Hebrew) is the first Sephardi Genealogical and Historical Society, founded in 1998 in Paris by: Mrs Laurence Abensur-Hazan, Anne-Marie Rychner-Faraggi, Lucette Marques-Toledano, Mr Sidney Pimienta, Jimmy Pimienta, Philip Abensur, Claude Missistrano

The purpose of "Etsi" is to help people interested in Jewish Genealogical and Historical Research in the Sephardi World. "Etsi"'s field of study covers the Ottoman Empire (Turkey, Greece, Palestine, Syria, Libya, Egypt...), North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia), Spain, Portugal, Italy and Gibraltar. The study of every Sephardi community or family who lived in other regions is equally within the society's aim.

The objective of the founders is to create an international exchange forum for genealogists and historians interested in research into the Sephardi world.

"Etsi" supports and encourages all research work on Sephardi Genealogy and History, especially archives records, cemeteries records, ketubbot (Jewish marriage contracts) and circumcisions registers inventories.

To obtain this issue or back issues of ETSI, contact Philip Abensur in Paris, France.

Morocco, Brazil: Making the connection

[NOTE: Brazil is the English spelling, Brasil is the Portuguese spelling.]

Chris Silver writes the Jewish Morocco blog, and he just experienced one of those serendipitous connections that could only be accomplished with technology making the world much smaller.

Nearly a year ago Silver wrote about the Jewish cemetery in Asilah, and mentioned two tombs he saw. One was that of Levy Roif who died in 1926 at the ripe old age of 110. Tracing the Tribe wrote about his visit to Asilah, so Chris let me know today about this new exciting development.

Last week, Chris received an email from Rinaldo in Brazil. It was a surprise that only the Internet could have enabled. Rinaldo is the great-great-grandson of Levy Roif and lives in Belem in northern Brazil.

Read Chris' story of this new connection here.

Rinaldo wrote:

It was quite a wonderful surprise to read about the location of the tomb of Levi Roif. He was my great-great-grandfather. His son Abraham Roffe, or Roif, emigrated with his family in the late XIXs [19th century] to the city of Belem, in northern Brazil where he died in 1931 and was one of the leaders of the local Jewish Sephardic Community. My grandmother, Miriam Roffe Athias commented about her grandfather Levi Roif whom she knew personally, lived almost 110 years old, and was buried in Asilah.

Rinaldo continued:

In the late XIX’s [19th century] and early XX’s [20th century] there was a massive migration of Moroccan Jews to the Amazon region during the rubber boom, they came from the cities of Tangier, Tetouan, Larache, Rabat and Asilah. The three sons of Levy Roif moved in the wake of that migration and settled in the city of Belém where there is a Synagogue since 1848. Around 300 Jewish Sephardic families still live there. The eldest son, Abraham Roffe, my great-grandfather came with wife and younger children. His eldest daughter, Miriam Roffe my grandmother, stayed in Azilah for a few years more, living with her grandparents Levy Roif an Honoria (The same name of my mother); she died in Belém in 1956.

Rinaldo sent Chris the only known photo in existence of Levy Roif, taken in Asilah, as well as one of the extended family in Brazil in 1922.

Read Chris's complete post at the link above and view the great photographs sent by Rinaldo and other photos Chris took on his 2008 visit.

Connections are made every day!

USHMM: July-August 2009

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington, DC) has announced its July-August programs.

North Africa and its Jews in WWII: 2-4pm, Friday, July 24

The Center's Summer Research Workshop Program culminates in a public presentation of participants' work. This program will examine the experiences of North African Jewry with especial focus on Nazi, Vichy, Spanish fascist, and local policymakers; anti-Jewish legislation and property confiscation and its implementation and effects on the ground; Muslim-Jewish relations; and Jewish cultural life. Participants also assess postwar historiography and memorialization of Jewish experiences in North Africa during the Holocaust.

Topics include are "Implementation of Anti-Jewish Legislation in Morocco at the Local and Metropolitan Levels," "Saharan Jews under Vichy: A Historical Assessment," "The Final Solution in North Africa, 1942-43: An Analysis of the Failed German Project to Annihilate North African Jewry," "The Memorial to the Victims in Borgel Jewish Cemetery," "Aryanization" of Jewish Property in North Africa during the War," "The Detained of Hammamet during the War, 1942–43,"Moncef Bey and the Tunisian Jewish Community in the Context of the Political Tradition of the Tunisian Beys," "Morocco during World War II: The Dynamics of Historical Memory and Jewish-Muslim Relations," "Inventing the Ideal Mother and the Perfect Home: Jewish Women in Tunis, 1933-1943," "The Franco Regime and the Jews of North Africa, 1939-1945," "Stages in the Historiography of the Second World War in North Africa," "Information and Research on North African Jewry during World War II," "Between Mendoub and Khalifa: Tangier's Jews."

Bringing the Past into the Present: Missing Narratives of the Holocaust in Ukraine: 2-4pm, Friday, July 31

Workshop participants explore the experiences of Jews and Ukrainians during World War II and the Holocaust, with especial focus on Ukrainian forced laborers; the Lvov ghetto; the Janowska camp; and postwar historiography, collective memory, and contemporary treatment and presentation of this history in Ukraine.

Topics include "Ukrainian Forced Laborers in Austria: The Pain of Memory," "Histories in Discord: Stalinist and Nazi Terror in Ukrainian Historical Culture," "Narratives and Identities in Western Ukraine, 1940-2008,"As in the old days in Shanghai: Propaganda and Forced Recruitment of 'Eastern Workers' for the War Economy of the Third Reich," "Women of the Underground: Female Roles in the OUN and UPA," "Testimonies of Holocaust Perpetrators in Ukraine," "Eyewitness to an Occupation: Collaboration and the Holocaust in Olevs'k, Zhytomyr Region," and "Missing Jewish Narratives in the Publicly Presented Past: An Invisible Tragedy in Lviv."

Exploring the Newly Opened ITS Archive at the USHMM: 2-4pm, Friday, August 14

Drawing on their previous research, participants work in interdisciplinary groups to explore how the Museum's collection of digitized documents from the ITS can inform the study of foreign, forced, and slave labor in the Third Reich and in its occupied and allied territories. More than a dozen scholars will speak.

For more information, see the USHMM site.

Sephardim: A culture check

Modern Sephardic culture was addressed today by JTA.org. The story by Amy Klein touches on items from many regions.

There are dozens of ways to enjoy modern Sephardic culture, art that draws upon traditions from regions such as Spain, Portugal, the Middle East, North Africa, the Far East, Italy, Rome and Greece. The culture includes music, literature, history, cooking, art and theater. Here are just some samples.

Under LISTEN, find

De Leon: Indie rock band with 15th century Spanish influences and Sephardic tradition. http://jdubrecords.org/artists.php?id=22

Pharoah's Daughter: Jewish folk group performing traditional Judaic tunes with Arabic rhythm and African beats.

Vanessa Paloma - singer, performer, scholar and writer - specializes in Sephardic women's songs and their connection to women's spiritual expression.

I'm adding in our cousin Galeet Dardashti's group, Divahn.

Under READ, there's

Iranian Jewish author Gina Nahai's first novel (1991) “Cry of The Peacock." Insiders know the book's characters were based on her family's interesting individuals and the family wasn't very happy about it. She's now writing her fifth book, charting seven generations of a Jewish family beginning in 18th-century Persia to modern-day Iran.

The article does not include the books of Farideh Goldin, Dalia Sofer nor Roya Hakkakian, whose books focus on different aspects of Iranian Jewish life.

Algeria is represented by Joann Sfar's “The Rabbi's Cat” and “The Rabbi's Cat 2,” by Joann Sfar (Pantheon Books, 2005, 2008). These graphic novels spotlight a rabbi's cat who narrates the stories.

Bene Israel Indian auhor Sophie Judah's "Dropped from Heaven" (Shocken, 2007) is a story collection about the everyday life of a fictional Bene Israel community.

Lucette Lagnado's “The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: A Jewish Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World,” (Harper Perennial: Reprint, 2008) is a memoir of her father and her family's life in Cairo and a relocation to American poverty.

Spanning 150 years with writings of 28 authors covers fiction, memoirs, essays and poetry in “The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature,” edited by Ilan Stavans (Shocken, 2005).

Aviva Ben Hur's “Sephardic Jews in America: A Diasporic History" (New York University Press, 2009) is a new one to read.

There's information on the NY Sephardic Film Festival, a Syrian spoof of "Seinfeld" (Jerry's mother is Syrian) and more.

If Sephardic cuisine is your thing, as it is mine, there are several good books noted:

Syria: "Fistful of Lentils: Syrian-Jewish Recipes from Grandma Fritzie's Kitchen," by Jennifer Felicia Abadi (Harvard Common Press, 2007), and “Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews,” by Poopa Dweck, Michael J. Cohen and Quentin Bacon, (Ecco, 2007)

Morocco: “Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon,” by Claudia Roden (Knopf, 2006).

Iraqi: “Mama Nazima's Jewish Iraqi Cuisine,” by Rivka Goldman (Hippocrene Books, 2006).

There is no Persian Jewish cookbook as classic Persian cooking is the same for all. A few dishes require some minor adjustments, such as not marinating chicken in yoghurt and saffron), but most are the same for Jewish Iranians as for others.

The Bible of Iranian cooking, in my opinion, is "New Food for Life," which is now a little difficult to find, but well worth the search.

Read the complete article here.

SephardicGen: Morocco riot victims database added

Just a few weeks after the State of Israel was established on May 14, 1948, riots broke out in Oujda (northeast Morocco near Algeria) and Jerada (some 60km southwest of Oujda).

On June 7, in Oujda, five Jews were killed and many were wounded. The next day the trouble spread to Jerada where 100 Jews lived. There, 38 were murdered including entire families, and many were wounded. Property damage was of course significant and police forces arrived too late.

According to historians, the causes were political and social.

Information on the names of the victims was difficult to find. In a rabbinical book titled "And Solomon Awoke," Mathilde Tagger found funeral orations listing the names and prepared a database.

This new database on SephardicGen.com memorializes the victims. Search the new database here and read more about the riots and the causes.

Morocco: A Jewish oasis

Walter Ruby has a fascinating inside look at Morocco in New York's Jewish Week, which also showed his photographs. Ruby and his fiance visited during Passover.

The Moroccan idyll I shared with my fiance Tatyana began with a Passover evening service at the ornate Neveh Shalom Synagogue in the heart of Casablanca’s Jewish Quarter — an upscale French-flavored district in this mostly modern city where 3,500 Jews live among a much larger number of Muslims — and a sumptuous seder at the well-appointed apartment of prominent community member Sammy Ifergan, his wife Natalie and their two charming teenage daughters.

The elegant century-old synagogue was packed with about 200 worshippers, many of them members of the worldwide Moroccan Jewish diaspora of up to one million, stretching from Jerusalem to Paris, Montreal and Caracas. Then Tanya and I experienced our very first Sephardic seder, with Ifergan performing fascinating rituals like holding a platter of matzah over the heads of family members and guests, while intoning, “You were once slaves in Egypt, but now you are free.”

Among Moroccan Jews, bitter herbs aren't bitter but are a celery-like plant (the Persians also use celery!). Ifergan says in the story, “Maybe because our 2,000-year exile in Morocco hasn’t been as bitter as some others."

Their seder dinner included charoset of dates and figs, soup with ful, salads, lamb with truffle mushrooms, homemade pareve ice cream and more.

The history of the Moroccan Jews is more than 2,000 years old, before the Arabs arrived in the 8th century CE. The original inhabitants of Morocco include the Berber tribes, some of whom converted to Judaism centuries ago. There are shrines to Jewish-Berber holy men like the 14th-century sage Shlomo Bel-Hench.

Moroccan Jews today include descendants of both Berbers and Spanish Jews who arrived in 1492.

The sprawling souk within the walled city of Marrakesh is a vast, pulsating marketplace where every product ever conjured by humankind seems to be on sale; including carpets, metalwork, pottery, jewelry and exotic herbs and spices. Visitors can watch robed and turbaned tradesmen plying timeless crafts including leather working, cloth dying and slipper-making. Adjoining Jemaa-el-Fna Square, with its snake charmers, fire-eaters, and fortune tellers, has an almost hallucinatory quality at sunset, with storks flying eerily overhead.

The couple also visited the seaside town of Essaouira, where Jews were the majority until the 1930s.

If you'd like to visit Morocco, the story includes websites and other resources.

Read the complete story at the link above.

Spain: Sephardic symposium, Cordoba, June 3-7

Casa de Sefarad and Casa de la Memoria (House of Sepharad, House of Memories) in Cordoba will sponsor the second international symposium - "Sefarad: Memory, Identiy and Diaspora" - from Wednesday-Sunday, June 3-7, in Cordoba, Spain.

The cultural organization focuses on Judeo-Spanish (Sephardic) culture, history and tradition, and through its unique collection in Spain an cultural activities, aims to rediscover and make known the extensive and rich legacy of the Sephardic tradition.

Among its assets is an extensive library, a document center and sound archive of Sephardic music. Themes cover the full range of relevant Sephardic topics, in addition to the history of Al-Andalus, diasporas, migrations, and the Mediterranean world.

Conference partners include: Center for Research on the Jews of Morocco, France; University of Cordoba, Spain; Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino, Ben Gurion University, Israel; Hebrew Studies Department, University of Paris, France; Sephardic Ottoman Center of Istanbul, Turkey; Permanences du Judaïsme Marocain of París, France; Zohar, Israeli association for preservation and study of Jewish Morocco, Israel; Vidas Largas Association and the JEAA (Judéo-Espagnol à Auschwitz), France; and Jacky Kadoch, Jewish Community of Marrakech-Essaouira, Morocco.

Casa de Sefarad is located in Cordoba. For more information, see its website or email. Information about this conference was not yet on the website (as of today), so readers with an interest in this event, should send an email for more details.

The conference opens at 5pm, Wednesday, June 3 with Professor Emeritus Haim Vidal Sephiha speaking on "Shoah and the Sephardim."

Programs on other days include: -Professeur Ephraim Riveline: "Contribution of the Sephardic Oriental narrative to Israeli literature." -Arrik Delouya: Sociologist, researcher, writer, "Moroccan Judaism, Memory and Identity." - Tamar Alexander: Book presentation, "The word of the hour is gold" (Refrains in Haketia). - Eliezar Papo: "Humor as therapy - the Hagada of the Partisans." - Sebastián de la Obra: "Diasporas: A complex memory." - Sephardic music concerts, dinners. - Karen Sarhon: "Istanbul: Identity and Diaspora." - Roundtable and debates, with participating organizations. - Presentation on the Inquisition in Cordoba.

The conference ends Sunday with a tour of Seville before airport return.

Presenters include: - Haim Vidal Sephiha: Author; Professor emeritus, The Sorbonne. Founder of Vidas Largas and JEAA. (Judéo-Espagnol à Auschwitz). - Tamar Alexander: Author; Director, Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino Culture, Ben Gurion University, Israel. - Ephraim Riveline: Professor; director, Jewish Studies and Hebrew Department, University of Paris, France; director, Revista de Estudios Judíos y Hebraicos; member, Association des Permanences du Judaïsme Marocain. - Eliezer Papo: Author; Professor of Hebrew Literature, Ben Gurion University; vice-president, Moshe David Gaon Center for Ladino Culture. - Karen Sarhon: Researcher; information center director, Turco-Ottoman Sephardic Culture; editor, "El Amaneser" (Judeo-Espanol), Istanbul; member, "Los Pasharos Sefaradies," Sephardic musical group. - Arrik Delouya: Sociologist; author, bibliographies on Jewish Moroccan literature; president, Association des Permanences du Judaïsme Marocain en París; founder, Association pour la Preservation, Diffusion et la Rayonnement du Judaïsme Marocain Zohar (Israel). - Sebastián de la Obra: Historian; director, library and documentation center of La Casa de Sefarad; director, archive and documenation service of the Andalucia Parliament; founder, "Aljama," Sephardic musical group.

For travel details and accommodations, see the Casa de la Sefarad website or send an email (link above).

Food: A taste of heritage

In Jerusalem, they lined up for a taste of Grandma's cooking on Sunday at the first Festival of the Jerusalem Pot.

Trying to get a precise recipe from one of Jerusalem's elderly cooks is impossible - they have neither specific quantities nor cooking times.

"It's simple," says Rachel Guate, who was preparing a couscous and a black-eyed pea dish, delicacies from her native Tripoli that are much more complex than this description would imply.

The cooking process will have to remain a mystery. When asked, Guate listed only some of the ingredients: white beans, mangold leaves "ground really well and fried," stuffed intestines, some sort of beef patties that were cooked for hours, made from "beef fat, eggs, semolina, garlic and spices," and couscous.

The festival attracted thousands of hungry residents into the city's Mahane Yehuda market, reported Haaretz.

Some of the most famous home cooks were paired with famous chefs from local restaurants who helped the grandmothers make large quantities of traditional ethnic delights from many communities.

The enormous pots of food sat on improvised tables, while several road shows
offered additional entertainment. Unlike every other food festival that has been
held in recent years, this one offered a rare combination of roots, groove and
even Hassidic robes.

Chefs Keren Kadosh and Tallie Friedman, who organized the festival, visited each of the grandmothers in their own homes, eventually tasting food from 50-60 grandmothers. The event featured dishes from Morocco, Italy, Iran, Poland, Ashkenazi, Jerusalem, Kurdistan and Tripoli (Libya).

Nu? So where's the cookbook? I'd buy one if it were available.

Los Angeles: Sephardic music, Nov. 16

Voices of the East is a concert of Sephardic, Persian, Turkish and Moroccan Jewish music, at Stephen S. Wise Temple, 7pm, Sunday, November 16.

I'm glad to report that the line up includes:

- Hazzan Nathan Lam
- Pini Cohen
- Hazzan Haim Mizrahi (Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel), and
- The Valley Beth Shalom Choir under the direction of Dr. Noreen Green,

Importantly our cousins Hazzan Farid Dardashti (Beth El Congregation, New Rochelle, NY), and his daughter Galeet Dardashti, leader of then Mizrahi group Divahn will perform.

Tickets are $25. For more information, email sephardicconference@huc.edu.

The concert was made possible by a Milkin Family Foundation Grant, and is part of the Sephardic & Mizrahi Studies conference in conjunction with UCLA and USC.

'Jewish Names of Morocco' back in print

An extremely useful book for Sephardic genealogy and Jewish names is Abraham Laredo's "Les noms des Juifs du Maroc," (Moroccan Jewish Names). Published in 1978, it has been out of print for many years.

The book offers historical analysis, social and geographical origins of each of the Jewish names in northern Morocco.

Spanish publisher Libreria Hebraica has now reprinted it in a two-volume facsimile edition (the book is in French). The first volume has 480 pages; the second volume is 1,161 pages. There appears to be a new name index in Latin letters. The price is 65 euros.

The publisher offers another book by Laredo, The Origins of the Jews of Morocco (Los orígenes de los judíos de Marruecos). It appears to have been re-edited with an introduction and notes by Jacobo Israel Garzon, and published in July 2007. According to the website, the book is necessary to understand the history of the Moroccan Jews. The 218-page book is 22 Euros.

Israel Garzon has also written The Jews of Tetuan (Los judios de Tetuan, Hebraica Editions, 2005)/ The 264-page volume is 24 euros. This book covers society, architecture (including old and new Jewish Quarters, the cemetery and more), culture, folklore, language, liturgy, as well as other topics.

Jacobo Israel Garzon is president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain.

The website is in Spanish, but it isn't too difficult to navigate. On the left, find the Busqueda Rapida (Quick Search) box, followed by Busqueda Avanzada (Advanced Search). Type in an author or keyword. Under advanced search, there's a filter for a specific search (old books, new books, scholarly books, events, and Hebraica Editiones). The Spanish terms in the drop-down menu are libro antiguo, libro nuevo, libro erudite, eventos, and titulas de Hebraica Ediciones.

There are books in the list about Sephardim in many places (Turkey, various cities in Spain, etc.), dictionaries of Judeo-Espanol and many other topics.

info@libreriahebraica.com is the email for information on any of their works. I'm sure that someone there will be able to read and answer your query in English if you need help.

Moroccan library, MJH agree on exchange

The National Library of Morocco and New York's Museum of Jewish Heritage have agreed to exchange information and documents under an agreement signed in the Moroccan capital.

The agreement, signed on Tuesday, provides for developing technical co-operation and boosting inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue, according to the Moroccan national radio.

The agreement is geared towards reinforcing the cultural exchange and sharing of technical know-how between the two institution, said National Library director Driss Khrouz to National Radio.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage will have access to documents available in all universities and libraries across Morocco, he said, adding that the national library will contribute to digitalizing fundamental historical documents, magazines and papers.

The signing took place in the presence of Andre Azoulay, King Mohammed VI's adviser on Jewish affairs, and Rabat's US Ambassador Thomas Riley.