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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 365

Sephardic Jews

A sheet from early US president James Madison's ledger, containing the name of Haym Salomon, a Sephardic Jewish financier involved in the American Revolution. (Courtesy The Raab Collection)
September 25, 2024, 8:09 am
Rare document shows Jewish financier’s role in American Revolution
Surviving page from James Madison’s ledger shows contribution of Haym Salomon, a Sephardic Jewish immigrant from Poland, who gave equivalent of $23m to revolutionary cause
By Jackie Hajdenberg
Howard Teich, the founding chair of the Manhattan Jewish Historical Initiative, speaks at a monument in The Battery that marks the Jewish arrival in New York in September 1654, New York, September 13, 2023. (Julia Gergely via JTA)
September 12, 2024, 9:51 pm
NYC Council to vote on recognizing anniversary of first Jewish arrivals in city
Bill aims to mark little-known Landing Day, marking date of 1654 arrival of first Jews in then-New Amsterdam, and ‘celebrate the continuing importance of the Jewish community’
By julia GERGELY
Cover art from Nani Vazana's most recent album, 'Ke Haber.' (Courtesy)
October 8, 2023, 11:39 am
This Israel-born musician is spearheading a Ladino revival, from Taiwan to Toronto
Taking her show on the road, singer and trombonist Nani Vazana brings a lost language and culture to audiences familiar with it and to newcomers alike
By Martin Rosenberg
This portrait of Benjamin Melendez was included in the 2010 exhibition 'Only in New York.' (Julian Voloj/JTA)
September 8, 2023, 4:22 am
How a Puerto Rican-Jewish gang leader helped create hip-hop in the Bronx
New 5-part podcast ‘Can You Dig It’ explores the story of ‘Yellow Benjy’ Melendez, who brokered peace and whose influence allowed an emerging musical genre to take root and grow
By Andrew Esensten
The former metro building on Calle Castelló in Madrid, Spain is the intended seat of the Hispano-Jewish Museum, the first of its caliber on the Iberian Peninsula. (Google Maps)
July 27, 2023, 3:03 pm
Hispanic Jewish group signs lease for $40 million museum
Institution in the city’s upscale Salamanca district will be the first of its caliber in Spain and the Iberian Peninsula, a founder says
By Canaan Lidor
From left to right: Shaqed Druyan, Edmar Colon, and Tutti Druyan photographed for their album 'Kantika.' (Courtesy)
April 1, 2023, 5:00 am
With Ladino compilation, vocalist gets in tune with her family’s fading history
Israeli-American Tutti Druyan hopes release of song collection ‘Kantika’ revives interest in the endangered Judeo-Spanish language once spoken by her ancestors
By Penny Schwartz
In this still from the new feature film 'Alegria,' Yael (Laia Manzanares) is at right, with her mother Raquel (Adelfa Calvo) at left. (Courtesy/ Julio Vergne)
January 20, 2023, 10:12 pm
In ‘Alegría,’ Jews, Christians and Muslims come to a boil in a Spanish melting pot
The new film by director Violeta Salama, screening at the New York Jewish Film Festival on Jan. 22, embraces complexities of identity in the tumultuous African port city of Melilla
By Rich Tenorio
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talks with then-coalition chairman MK David Amsalem during a Likud party faction meeting at the Knesset on November 19, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
January 7, 2023, 10:54 pm
Senior Likud MK escalates criticism as Netanyahu denies ethnic discrimination
David Amsalem takes fresh shot at party leader after being skipped over for ministerial post; PM’s office calls accusation that racism influenced appointments ‘ridiculous’
By ToI Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) talks with then-coalition chairman MK David Amsalem during a Likud party faction meeting at the Knesset on November 19, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)
January 6, 2023, 3:24 pm
Demoted Likud MK Amsalem accuses Netanyahu of racism, ‘humiliating’ Sephardic voters
Most senior party lawmaker not to receive a portfolio accuses PM of deliberate snub: ‘No one will humiliate us Mizrahi Jews, not even a prime minister from Likud’
By ToI Staff
Rabbi Abraham Levy speaks to students at Naima Jewish Preparatory School, which he founded, in the early 2010s. (Courtesy of Rabbi Joseph Dweck via JTA)
January 5, 2023, 12:14 pm
Rabbi Abraham Levy, influential leader among Britain’s Sephardic Jews, dies at 83
King Charles eulogizes educator and community leader, who helped build Limmud program, as a ‘towering figure’ and ‘respected teacher’ who carried a message of tolerance
By James Martin
Detail from 'Portrait of Stella' by artist Maira Kalman, from 'One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World' by Michael Frank (Avid Reader Press)
December 29, 2022, 12:26 am
99-year-old Holocaust survivor is a final portal into vibrant life of prewar Rhodes
In ‘One Hundred Saturdays,’ Stella Levi shares with author Michael Frank her memories of centuries-old traditions of the Aegean island’s Sephardic community destroyed by the Nazis
By Renee Ghert-Zand
From left to right: Genealogist Genie Milgrom, Reconnectar's Ashley Perry, and ASF Institute of Jewish Experience's Drora Arussy (Avrom Ariev)
September 27, 2022, 8:05 am
Initiatives help descendants of Crypto-Jews reconnect with stolen Sephardic heritage
Certificate of Sephardic Ancestry validates identity, while an online ancestral database of 45,000 Sephardic family names makes searching for roots easier
By Renee Ghert-Zand
Prime Minister Yair Lapid speaks during a campaign event for his Yesh Atid party in Tel Aviv, September 13, 2022. (Gideon Markowicz/Flash90)
September 16, 2022, 4:56 pm
Yesh Atid takes flack for Russian site calling Likud a ‘sectoral Sephardic party’
Party says post written by outside group, takes it down; Lapid calls out Netanyahu for taking any opportunity to ‘incite and divide’
By ToI Staff
Edmond J. Safra, at age 16, eating breakfast in Geneva in 1948. As a teenager in the late 1940s, he lived out of hotels and conducted business for his father in Europe. (Edmond J. Safra Foundation)
September 1, 2022, 11:50 pm
New biography delves into mysterious backstory of billionaire banker Edmond J. Safra
Few truly knew the private Safra, who died tragically after scaling up his family’s small Beirut business into a hugely successful global financial operation on four continents
By Renee Ghert-Zand
Ultra-Orthodox men react during the funeral of Rabbi Shalom Cohen in Jerusalem, August 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
August 22, 2022, 6:27 pm
‘A source of light’: Thousands pay respects to Shas luminary Rabbi Shalom Cohen
Yeshiva students from across the country attend funeral for Cohen, ‘whose teachings, prayers and blessings protected the nation,’ Chief Rabbi Lau says
By Tobias Siegal
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