Director’s Message:

Sephardi Voices has been extremely busy since our last newsletter. We have partnered with National Libraries, Sephardi-Mizrahi Museums, Israeli Embassies and North American Federations for events celebrating Yom Haplitim, Sephardi Refugee Day, November 30th. Each event included a launching of our coffee table book, Sephardi Voices: The Untold Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands, a portrait exhibition, and testimonies from those who had experienced first-hand displacement and resettlement. 

 

November 11, 2022
Sephardi Voices Chair, Richard Stursberg, speaking at the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in Or Yehuda, Israel. 

Israel was especially busy for us as we crisscrossed the country with events at the Babylonian Heritage Center, the Libyan Museum, the Ben Zvi Institute in Jerusalem, and the Museum of Yemenite Jewish Heritage in Rehovot. A piece on the Yemeni event was shot by the Israeli Foreign Ministry and distributed widely in the Arab world.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

November 17th, 2022 
Pre-show musical interlude at the Sephardi Voices Portrait Exhibition, Museum of Yemenite Jewish Heritage, Rehovot, Israel. /

Our next stop was London, England where Sephardi Voices, along with the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Tzipi Hotovely, The Ambassador of Israel to the United Kingdom, and JW3 sponsored a sold-out event marking Yom Haplitim. It was an extra special evening for us because for the first time, Sephardi Voices honored David Dangoor CBE DL, for his vision and support of the Sephardi legacy, with SV’s first Humanitarian Award. 

November 21st, 2022
SV Executive Director Henry Green awards David Dangoor CBE with Sephardi Voices’ first Humanitarian Award. 

Special thanks to the Mashaal family, Walter Arbib, Levana Zamir, Linda Menuhin, Lior Haiat, the Israel Ministry of Culture, and Edwin Shuker for making our most recent international efforts such a success. 

In Miami in early December, in a program co-hosted with Sephardi Voices, for the first time, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation recognized Yom Haplitim as a day of remembrance for Jews displaced from Arab lands. Our special guest was the Mayor of Miami-Dade, Daniella Levine Cava who spoke movingly, advocating for human rights.

December 4th, 2022
Miami-Dade Mayor, Danielle Levine Cava, speaking at the Greater Miami Jewish Federation about Sephardi Voices and human rights. 

Our book, Sephardi Voices: The Untold Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands, continues to receive great reviews in the international press. 

Over the next several months, the Jewish Book Council has invited SV to many events around the United States to launch our coffee table book. SV is also moving forward with CIJA in Canada, and the Miami Jewish Federation Foundation in South Florida, to provide every school and synagogue with Sephardi Voices: The Untold Expulsion of Jews from Arab Lands as an educational resource for Yom Haplitim. 

With our collective efforts, I am dreaming that next year, 2023, there will be an event at the United Nations for Yom Plitim to foster dialogue, truth, and justice. To all of you who have taken the initiative to share your voice and embrace hope, thank you. May the miracles of Hanukkah shine brightly. 

Chag Hanukkah sameach,

Henry

 

To help Sephardi Voices continue the effort to collect the interviews of those displaced and preserve the Sephardi legacy, we urge you to donate now.

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