Annual Report - Center for Jewish History

members and interested nonmembersaround the world tofollow ASF programs and projectsand have access to a wealth ofSephardic sources.PROGRAMSIn an effort to ensure the continuationof the Sephardic legacy andtraditions, ASF with SephardicHouse seeks to reach out to awide audience in presentingeducational and cultural publicprograms of both contemporaryand historical significance thatcelebrate the diversity and richnessof the Sephardic heritage.These events include lectures,book signings and panel discussionswith experts and scholars,concerts and plays, and the InternationalSephardic Jewish FilmFestival, now in its 10th year.Recent speakers include notedhistorian Anita Novinsky fromSao Paolo, Brazil and filmmakerMiguel Angel Nieto from Spain.The Jack Calderon MemorialFund for the Sephardic Arts lendspartial support to these programs.EXHIBITIONSASF collaborates with some of itspartners, such as Yeshiva UniversityMuseum and the AmericanJewish Historical Society, onexhibitions and programs. TheLeon Levy exhibition gallery atthe Center is the only permanentexhibit space in North Americadedicated to Sephardim. Recentexhibitions include a retellingof the story of the Jews of Greece;the Ottoman Empire; Pernambuco,Brazil; and Mogador,Morocco. The Pernambuco exhibit,completed in partnershipwith Yeshiva University, was ofparticular importance because itcelebrated the arrival in New York350 years ago of the Jews fromRecife, Brazil. ASF has beenfortunate to receive partial fundingfrom the New York Councilfor the Humanities for some ofthese exhibitions and to befeatured in their cultural calendar.The exhibition gallery alsoprovides ASF with a uniqueopportunity to exhibit choiceselections from its archives.PUBLICATIONSWorking toward its missionof strengthening and revitalizingSephardic communities, theASF with Sephardic Housesupports the publication ofinformative books on Sephardichistory and culture. These includethe Sephardic/Greek HolocaustLibrary, a series of books that fillsa serious lacuna in the tragic taleof the Holocaust, and TheHebrew Portuguese Nations at theTime of Charles V & Henry VIIIby Aron Di Leone Leoni, a scholarlywork documenting the storyof the merchant Jews of Europein the 16th century. The ASF hasswitched from the publication ofa quarterly newsletter to The SephardiReport, a journal that featurescontent from scholarly events,lectures and exhibitions, as well ascontributions from authors dealingwith contemporary and historicSephardic Jewish subjects.ADVOCATING FORSEPHARDIC JEWSSephardic Jews lived for centuriesin a number of Mediterraneancountries, in the Balkans, MiddleEast and North Africa. TheASF collaborates with and promotesties to leading Jewish andnon-Jewish organizations andrepresentatives of governments,such as Spain, Portugal, Turkey,Brazil, Morocco and others, topromote closer ties as well as celebrationsof the Sephardic Jewishexperience and contributions.To further the rights andclaims of Jewish refugees fromMuslim countries, many ofwhom were forced to leave theirnative country and abandon propertyafter the birth of the State ofIsrael, the ASF has taken the leadin the Jewish Refugees from ArabLands Project. The project isintended to create awareness ofthe sacrifices of the approximately900,000 Jews who were forced toleave their homelands in Muslimcountries (where many hadresided well before most of thecurrent local populations), and todocument their personal andcommunal losses by collectingclaims and recording them in adatabase.An extraordinary developmentof our time is the desireto bring back forcibly convertedJewish families or anusim fromSpain, Portugal, Brazil, and partsof the Americas to the religion oftheir ancestors. The AmericanSephardi Federation is involvedin efforts to assist these growinggroups and present programs thattell their story, an important partof the Sephardic story.SCHOLARSHIPSThe ASF supports Sephardic educationwith scholarships for SephardicStudies through its Broome andAllen Scholarship Fund.SUMMARYThe increase in numbers anddiversification of Sephardic Jewsin North America, and the intensifiedfocus of the world on manyof the countries that SephardicJews called home for manycenturies, makes the missionof the American Sephardi Federation,to enlighten the publicand preserve Sephardic historyand culture, all the moreimportant and rewarding. TheAmerican Sephardi Federationwith Sephardic House looksforward to continued growthand expansion of its library andarchives and educational programsat the Center for Jewish History.David E.R. DangoorPRESIDENTArtifacts from the exhibition“Integrated and Distinct–Images of the Jews of Greece1180-1930.” Fall 2003.Photo courtesy of Lyn Slome.Esme E. BergDIRECTOR13