Sephardic Jews
The Latest
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Books Let’s Make 2015 the Year of the Arab Jew
Call it a confirmation bias. Everywhere I turned this year, I saw a new expression of Arab Jewish identity. The revival seems to be happening across all fields — literature, food, music — yet somehow nobody’s talking about it. As an Arab Jewish writer (my family hails from Morocco, India and Iraq), I couldn’t be…
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Music Revisions to Spain’s Sephardic Law Make It ‘Meaningless’
Spanish-speaking Israelis complained that Spain’s legislation for the naturalization of Sephardic Jews has been rendered symbolic because of changes to a bill that would formalize the procedure. The changes to the government-supported draft bill were introduced last month during deliberations at a congressional committee ahead of a vote by the Spanish Congress scheduled for Dec….
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News ‘Sephardic Vogue’ Drives Revival of Spanish Jewry
(JTA) — While setting up a synagogue at the American naval base where she volunteers, Ahuvah (Amanda) Gipson made something of a bitter-sweet discovery. Rifling through a storage area at the sprawling American-Spanish military complex Naval Station Rota in 2012, Gipson, a former naval outreach professional who now teaches off base, found three dusty Torah…
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Opinion I’m Jewish and Greek. Who Do I Root for On Hanukkah?
Youth from Ioannina’s Greek community in traditional dress / Haaretz They’ve switched on the window displays on Fifth Avenue, and the trees are for sale on the street corners, so I know I’m about to get asked the question: Do I miss Christmas? It’s a common question for a convert. But, despite a childhood full…
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Opinion My Sephardic Guilt on Kristallnacht
Postcard of Madeira While other Jewish families suffered unimaginable brutality in the Holocaust, my family lived like royalty in the Portuguese paradise known for its wine, Madeira. I know: I sound like an entitled, unsympathetic brat. And what I’m trying to say is, I feel guilty about this. I always have. Every time a Holocaust…
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Fast Forward Sephardic Chief Rabbi Forbids Israelis From Going to Temple Mount
An Israeli chief rabbi urged Jews to stay away from the Temple Mount to prevent bloodshed. Yitzhak Yosef, Israel’s chief Sehardic rabbi, made the call during the funeral Friday of Shalom Ba’adani, 17 who died that morning in hospital from wounds he sustained on Wednesday when a Palestinian terrorist hit him and 12 others with…
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Opinion Learning to Undo ‘Ashkenormativity’
Maimonides, one of the most famous Sephardic Jews, as portrayed on an Israeli banknote Like most Jews with ties to South Africa, my heritage is extremely Ashkenazi. In fact, both sides of my family largely originate from the same region of what is now northeastern Lithuania and northern Belarus. Growing up in New York, most…
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Fast Forward Jerusalem Elects Ashkenazi and Sephardi Chief Rabbis
The Jerusalem City Council elected two new chief rabbis, including Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the former chief rabbi of Israel. Amar was tapped as the city’s Sephardi chief rabbi on Tuesday evening. Rabbi Aryeh Stern was picked as the Ashkenazi chief rabbi. Both had the support of Mayor Nir Barkat. Stern is a modern Orthodox rabbi…
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Opinion Outrage over Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed on sexual assault of Palestinians is missing the point
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Opinion I discovered anti-Zionism at the University of Michigan. I’m glad it lives on there
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News They texted about Torah and mitzvahs. Feds say they were insider trading
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Opinion An alarming new battleground in campus fights over Israel
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