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.

UK: Leeds celebrates Jewish heritage

The city of Leeds (UK) will celebrate 150 years of the city's Jewish history and heritage with an event titled LJ150. In connection with museum exhibits, an appeal is being made for items of interest. See below for details.

The Yorkshire Evening Post covered the story about the event which will be launched in October by Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks to mark the beginning of the first Jewish History Month in the city.

Organised by Makor, the Jewish cultural office for Leeds and Yorkshire, the event will feature memorabilia on the first purpose-built synagogue in Leeds - opened on Belgrave Street in 1860.

"We want to create a real celebration of our unique heritage and invite members of the wider community to volunteer their reminiscences and ideas," said Helen Frais, Makor's project manager.

On November 28, LJ150 will sponsor a heritage day at Leeds City Museum, featuring stalls exploring Jewish heritage over the ages and a mock Jewish wedding, and videos of Jewish life now and then.

Frais is appealing for vintage outfits for the mock ceremony focusing on clothing from Jewish-based firms Burtons and Marks and Spencer. She is also asking for sewing machines and textiles including tailors' dummies, stools and pressers for the museum exhibit.

On February 27, 2011, a sculpture day with Frances Segelman is planned. The artist, who has created pieces of art for the royal family, is offering an opportunity for a community member to have their head sculpted. Sealed bids over £1,000 will be accepted for nominations through the end of September.

For more information, read the complete article at the link above.

Keeping the kipas: A family tradition

Every Jewish family owns a bagful of these.

We collect these headcoverings, called a kipa or a yarmulke, at every lifecycle event we attend and Tracing the Tribe has long advocated the use of these objects to further family history research.

It's nice to know that the New York Times feels the same way, and carried a story by Uzi Silber - Time in a Basket - about the kipa stash at the Bialystoker Synagogue on the Lower East Side.

Each kipa or yarmulka - diverse names for the Jewish skullcap - carries a unique story. Thanks to the imprint inside, we know the names of bride and groom, the date, the place and sometimes additional details. Bar and bat mitzvah head coverings are also rich sources of genealogical information. In Los Angeles, I've even seen black suede kipas made up for funerals! They are usually color-coordinated to the party theme, and made of satin, silk, velvet or suede.

Like most synagogues, the Bialystoker Synagogue, on the Lower East Side, keeps a stash of skullcaps in the foyer, for anyone who forgot to bring one. In a tattered wicker basket, under a collection of limp nylon kippot and forgettable leather circles, lies a layer of shimmering velvet and satin yarmulkes in gaudy pinks, lemons, baby blues and golds.

They are genuine antiques, and not just bits of textile treasure. Inside each is an inscription: names and dates from some long-ago wedding or bar mitzvah. The most recent in the trove was produced in the disco era, but several harked back to the Eisenhower years. They chronicled events not just at Bialystoker, a century-old Orthodox synagogue in a landmark building, but also from around the region, perhaps left by visitors, or brought by congregants cleaning out the drawers of parents who have died.

One couple mentioned in the story provided a blast from the past for Tracing the Tribe.

A gold satin kipa was handed out at the wedding of Flora and Fred Mendelson (photo left) at their 1960 wedding in Swan Lake, NY - not far from our summer stamping grounds in Kauneonga Lake and my grandparents' large bungalow colony (Fink's Kauneonga Park).

Mendelson, 73, and his three brothers, although based in Miami, ran the summer kosher butcher shop - Mendelson & Sons Kosher Meat Market - in Kauneonga Lake for as long as I can remember. They closed the year after Woodstock. My grandmother and other relatives, as well as the local hotels and bungalow colonies were all loyal customers.

Also view the interactive display with information about each of the five couples featured in the story.

San Diego: A Jewish story everywhere

Did you have family in San Diego, California? Here's a great newspaper resource for family historians and genealogists searching for Jewish family connections.

The San Diego Jewish World - whose tagline is "there's a Jewish story everywhere" - has put on line, in its blog, the paper's index and also blogs the paper's historical (from 1954, in this case) social announcements, travel notes and more.

"Adventures in Jewish History” is sponsored by Inland Industries Group LP in memory of long-time San Diego Jewish community leader Marie (Mrs. Gabriel) Berg. The comment at the end of the blog posts:

Our indexed “Adventures in San Diego Jewish History” series will be a regular feature until we run out of history.

The social and travel notes for June 25, 1954 are here.

Among the treasures are these:

-- From Near and Far – The Fischbeins write from Tel Aviv that they are “having a fabulous time seeing everything in Israel.” From not so far, the Mac Kaufmans reported last from Portland that the northwest is even more exciting than expected. And from even nearer, the Mickey Fredmans and the Harry Waxes report an exciting weekend in Las Vegas.

As an example of what else can be found, click on July 9, 1954, and scroll down for the wedding announcement of S. Esther Weitzman and Andrew Segal, which took place on July 11. There are many family connections in this one with names of parents, locations, guests, bridal party (bridesmaids, ushers flower girls, ring bearer, best man, matron/maid of honor) and out-of town relatives from New York, Los Angeles, Venice and San Bernardino.

Surnames in this social announcement are WEITZMAN, SCHWARTZ, SIEGEL, JACOBS, PEARL, LOWITZ, PRAGER, PRESS, COHEN, CHARNEY, HINE, ROCHMAN, LEIDNER, FINN, TWEDT, OSMAN, KUSCHER, DOBIN, SHAPIRO and SEGAL.

For more, go to the blog at the top link above, scroll down to "Categories" (lower right sidebar), scroll to "Adventures in San Diego Jewish History," and click for all such posts. Readers can also search by date, country, Jewish public official, author, topic or name.

Enjoy!

Jewish wedding videos sought by Museum

Should your wedding video be part of a museum exhibit? Here's your chance!

In Tel Aviv, Beit Hatfutsot (formerly the Museum of the Diaspora, now the Museum of the Jewish People) will open a new exhibit - "With This Ring: Wedding Ceremonies in Contemporary Art" - on February 25. It will run through mid-July.

The exhibit will present diverse aspects of the Jewish wedding ceremony, with traditional weddings shown alongside modern and unusual wedding traditions.

The Museum's new tag line is "You are part of the story." Exhibits like this provide interesting opportunities to share personal material and to view artists' views of the subjects, such as Melissa Shiff's PostModern Jewish Wedding (left).

"On October 12, 2003 Louis Kaplan and I stood under a new media chuppah in a 19th-century stone distillery in Toronto, Canada . Together we created a ritual that played between contemporary performance art and the customs of the traditional Jewish wedding. Solomon and Socalled’s Hip Hop Khasene served as the
musical accompaniment to our multi-media video extravaganza with cutting edge performances from new wave Klezmer musicians, Sophie Solomon, Josh Dolgin, Michael Alpert and David Krakauer."

Gila Cohen, who heads the Museum's Film Archive, asks the public to send in interesting pieces of your Jewish wedding video to be incorporated into the exhibit and its activities.

Exhibit-related activities may include a gallery talk with the curator and artists; an evening symposium covering films, music and art from a social sciences view and a May evening focusing on Jewish weddings for young people.

Send film in DVD or VHS format. Remember to include your personal contact information (name, address, phone numbers, email), wedding information (where, when, bride and groom, officiant, community traditions shown), remembrances, short stories, names, etc. as well as the all-important written permission allowing the Museum to use the films.

Questions about material you might have and want to share for this exhibit? Send an email.

Send material to:

Beit Hatfutsot
(Museum of the Jewish People)
Post Box 39359
Tel Aviv 61392
Israel

Attn: Gila Cohen, Film Archive

See you at the Museum!