The Sephardic Perspective

The MTA Newkirk Station is '100 Years Old' today July 1, 2008

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:32:53 -0500

By Shelomo Alfassa

The Newkirk Avenue, New York City Subway station, was created by the 'Brooklyn Grade Crossing Elimination Commission' when they sought to run the trains below ground in order to speed up efficiency and primarily to reduce potential accidents from when the train ran above ground. Work started on August 1, 1904 and was completed July 1, 1908.

Newkirk was opened around 1900 as a two-track surface station named South Midwood, a reference to its location at the southern end of the former Town of Flatbush, which was also historically known as Midwood. Yet, what is 100 years old today is the station as you see it today.

The line where the Q and B train runs today was once called the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island RR, a steam train line, known as "the Brighton line." The Brooklyn Grade Crossing Elimination Commission was created by the New York State legislature on May 9, 1903 to accomplish the goal of providing fully grade separated rights-of-way for the BRT's Brighton Beach Line and the Bay Ridge and Manhattan Beach lines of the LIRR.

One year before the grade crossing at Newkirk was complete, while there was still only a single track on the "Brighton Beach Division" line (Modern Q/B train), two trains crashed head-on at Newkirk Avenue station. Three cars were derailed, two almost overturned, and the third WAS crushed beneath a heavy wooden bridge which the force of the collision shook down from its position across the cut.

According to train historian Bob Diamond, the line was electrified in 1899, when it was connected into the Fulton Street EL, permitting service between lower Manhattan and Brighton Beach. The work mostly included elevating and depressing the line for the elimination of grade crossings, the construction of steel bridges and the construction of sewers to aid real estate development along the route. When on the surface, the station was a division point at which short-lined elevated trains of the Fulton Street Elevated lines terminated.

A project completed November 2, 1964 lengthened the platforms in the northward direction. The open cut was widened for about 40m and the tracks rearranged to fit the platform extensions. Newkirk is the "next stop" from Kings Highway which is in the heart of the most vibrant Sephardic community in North America.

Now you know more than you wanted to about the Newkirk Station!

Plaque: http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?84123

Photos: http://www.nycsubway.org/perl/stations?193:2147

Palestinians not the only Middle East Refugees

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:44:16 -0500

BRITISH PARLIAMENTARIANS TO FOCUS ON JEWISH REFUGEES FROM ARAB COUNTRIES

The first ever hearing in the British Parliament on the subject of Jewish refugees from Arab countries will take place on Tuesday, June 24, 2008, 7:00-9:00 pm in the House of Lords, Committee Corridor, Committee Room 2A.

Convened by Labour MP John Mann and Lord Anderson of Swansea, this Joint Briefing is being organized by Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) in association with the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

When the issue of 'refugees' is raised within the context of the Middle East, people invariably refer only to 'Palestinian refugees'. Neither the mass violations of human rights, nor the displacement of Jews from Arab countries, has ever been adequately addressed by the international community. This Joint Briefing will underscore that two refugee populations emerged as a result of the Arab-Israeli conflict; and will assess the most appropriate role that the UK should play in seeking to resolve issues affecting all Middle East refugees.

Featured speakers will include renowned historian Sir Martin Gilbert who will speak on the "Historical Narrative and the UK's Response to Middle East Refugees" and former Canadian Minister of Justice, The Hon. Irwin Cotler, MP who will speak on" International Law and Middle East Refugees." Two former refugees will testify on their flight from Iraq and Egypt and their resettlement in the UK.

Invited to the Joint Briefing will be Members of the House of Lords and House of Commons, government and Foreign & Commonwealth Office senior staff as well as the international and national NGOs and the media. Persons interested in more information should contact Stanley Urman (US cellphone) 917-640-8028 or email info(at)justiceforjews.com.

Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) is an international coalition of major Jewish communal organizations operating to ensure that justice for Jews from Arab countries assumes its rightful place on the international political agenda and that their rights be secured as a matter of law and equity.

The Champion of Zion: Hakham Mordehai Eliyahu, shelita

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:38:05 -0500

by Shelomo Alfassa

I wish to thank my friend Amb. Yossi Ben-Aharon for contributing toward this essay.

Hakham Mordehai Eliyahu has been in the recent news after suffering major health ailments, yet, he remains strong. During this period, where calls for public prayers in his name have been established, some unfamiliar with him have asked, "who is this rabbi?"

Hakham Mordehai Eliyahu is the former Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel that served from 1982 to 1993 and is a member of the Bet Din Harabani Hagadol (Supreme Rabbinical Court) based in Jerusalem. Hakham Eliyahu is considered one of the leading Zionist rabbis and certainly one of the most popular and charismatic rabbinical leaders in all of Israel.

The rabbi was born in the Old City of Jerusalem in British-occupied Palestine during the dark year of 1929 when Arabs attacked, killed and maimed over 100 Jews throughout Hebron, Jaffa, Safed and other towns. A consequence of these sad events was an increased growth in Jewish nationalism and intensification of Jewish self-determination for Jews all over the holy land. Hakham Eliyahu's upbringing was one imbibed with a rigorous love of the land of Israel which helped him become a staunch defender of such, first inspired by his father, the Iraqi-born rabbi, Hakham Salman Eliyahu (1878-1940). The elder Eliyahu was not only considered a respected rabbi and mekubal (kabbalist) of Jerusalem, but he also had been educated in London. As a result of his Western education, he later served as personal secretary of the British High Commissioner of the Palestine British Mandate, Lord Herbert L. Samuel (1870-1963) -- the first Jew to govern the historic land of Israel in 2,000 years...

--continued in the full essay here: http://www.alfassa.com/m_e.html

Prof. Richard Ayoun a"h - Sephardic Studies Professor

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:27:44 -0500

by Shelomo Alfassa

It is with great sadness that I have learned from colleagues in Paris that Prof. Richard Ayoun, Jewish historian and lecturer in Sephardic language and civilization has passed away. He was a professor at University of Paris / Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO). He also held the Alberto Benveniste Chair in Sephardic Studies, Faculty of Letters, at University of Lisbon.

Richard Ayoun was known for his hundreds of written works, on topics including the Jews of France, Jews of Morocco, Spanish Jews in Algeria, Portuguese Crypto-Jews, the rabbis of France, the Alliance Israélite Universelle as well as others.

His three most well known books include: Typologie d'une carriere rabbinique L'exemple de Mahir Charleville, Nancy, Presses Universitaires de Nancy, 1993, 2 vol. 2004 / Les Juifs de France de l'emancipation a l'integration (1787-1812), Paris, L’Harmattan, (coll. Judaismes), 1997 / Un Grand rabbin au XIXe siecle : Mahir Charleville 1814-1888, Paris, Cerf, 1999.

His contributions to the greater Jewish world, and specifically on Sephardic studies, will live on to educate others in the future. I know many of my friends involved in Jewish studies are also mourning his sudden loss, and I wish them only comfort in this time of sadness.

Photo of Prof. Ayoun: http://www.flickr.com/photos/72881954@N00/93817367/

/SA

(Emergency Prayers) for the former Chief Rabbi of Israel

Wed, 21 May 2008 01:16:36 -0500

Former Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel - Mordehai Eliyahu shlita, went into cardiac arrest Tuesday May 20 - and underwent resuscitation. He remains in critical, but stable condition at Jerusalem's Shaarei Tzedek hospital in ICU.

Schools and yeshivas across Israel have called prayer assemblies to recite Psalms on his behalf. His family requests that people recite the following prayers in the merit of Hakham Moredehai Tzemach ben [son of] Mazal Tov: the entire book of Psalms, the book of Psalms divided amongst a group and the verses of Psalm number 19 spelling out the rabbi's name.

Join the Facebook group:

"Prayers for Former Chief Sephardic Rabbi Mordehai Eliyahu"

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17611686670&ref=nf

Sephardic Contributions to the Development of the State of Israel

Mon, 05 May 2008 01:26:28 -0500

This paper is an official educational tool for the Zionist Timelines and the Israel at 60 programs of The Jewish Agency for Israel.

Over the many centuries, while the Jewish people were exiled from Eres Yisrael (the land of Israel), Jerusalem, Safed, Hevron and other holy cities, retained a sparse Jewish population, fed by a small but constant stream of pilgrims. A cursory examination of Jewish personalities demonstrates that Sephardim took it upon themselves to migrate to and fortify Eres Yisrael, driven by a sense of historic yearning for their ancestral home. Centuries later, Sephardim continued to not only settle in the land, but were key players in its modern development, although this fact has, regrettably, been often eclipsed in the historical narrative. Few documents and small bits of history exist on Jewish national liberation and the development of Eres Yisrael, and how the country came to be with assistance and nurturing offered by Sephardic Jews. It is with tremendous ignominy that the Sephardim have been almost completely marginalized in the modern Zionist record of history.

Whether they came from Spain, North Africa or the Middle East, what is fact and needs to be remembered is that Sephardim played a considerable role in the State’s origins and modern fruition. Throughout their centuries in the Diaspora, Sephardim developed and devoted a sense of philosophical and spiritual nationalism that prepared the foundation for which modem Zionism stood on, and the resulting fruit which is the return of the Jewish people to their land.

(LINK TO FULL 21 PAGE DOCUMENT)

The Tree of Wisdom: Rabbi Isak Alfassi

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:10:51 -0500

For the 905th Memorial of the Passing of the Rabbi [on May 4, 2008 / 10 Iyar 5769]

© Shelomo Alfassa

The crusades which started in the beginning of the last millennium virtually destroyed Jewish intellectual life. It suppressed and almost brought an end to the Jewish creative process in the middle European countries and the holy land. It was during this period, that further development of the Talmud passed to Jews living in Iberia and North Africa. Remembered nearly one thousand years later, Rabbi Isak Alfassi (RIF) is still today considered one of the most influential Talmudists of all time, a man who brought a close to the Geonic Period (c. 589 CE - 1030 CE).

Born in the Spring of 4773 (1013 CE) in Qal'at Hammad, Algeria was Isak ibn Yossef, known to history as Rabbi Isak Alfassi. He was one of the greatest codifier of Jewish law of his time, writing the most important Jewish code, prior to Maimonides Mishna Tora. Alfassi bridged a major link between the tradition of the gaonim (rabbinical leaders) who headed the ancient Talmudic yeshivot (rabbinical colleges) of Babylonia, and the burgeoning aljamas (Jewish communities) in Al-Andalus, Muslim Spain.

After studying in Kairuan, a scholarly Jewish community and main intellectual center on the east coast of Tunisia, he settled in Fez, Morocco. Alfassi is best known for his brilliant legal code, Sefer ha-Halakhot (Book of Laws). His work was extremely popular, and was revered by the Iberian and French scholars of his day. In his Book of Laws he summarized the discussions of the Talmud; he preserved the order in which they were written; he formulated his own decisions; and he did it all to make the Talmud more digestible for the community. This work, and hundreds of his written opinions (responsa), earned him a reputation as the first of the great codifiers after the finalization and closing of the Talmud.

Rabbi Alfassi's writings allowed a wider audience to have access to understanding the Talmud and thus to interpret Jewish law. In doing so, his work superseded study of the original Talmud in many locations. This smaller, more comprehensive, easier to understand version became the standard of the Jewish world, being known as the Talmud Kattan or "miniature Talmud." Many decades later, Maimonides called it, "the flower of all post-Talmudic rabbinic literature." As an independent thinker, Alfassi dared to differ from the gaonim, all the while respecting them. He established a great number of methodical rules for the interpretation of the Talmud. Not only did he give the law in accordance with his own judgment, but he also cited the relevant passage in the Talmud dealing directly or indirectly with the subject at hand. By removing the material not affecting contemporary life outside of ancient Jerusalem (i.e. animal sacrifices and ritual purity), he was able to concentrate on expanding upon items related to everyday life. In doing so, Alfassi brought a better understanding of the Talmud, and thus Judaism, to the lives of ordinary Jews.

During his lifetime, Alfassi was considered one of the foremost and final authorities on the Talmud, and in time, many commentaries were written in regard to his work. Years later, his work itself had become the center and subject of a vast literature. Alfassi influenced several great Jewish scholars over succeeding centuries. Maimonides, who studied under Rabbi Joseph ibn Migash [a prodigy of Alfassi] wrote that Alfassi's work: "has superseded all the gaonic codes…for it contains all the decisions and laws which we need in our day…" Obviously, Maimonides had great praise for Alfassi, this is demonstrated in his Mishnah Tora where he seems to strategically omit any reference to the gaonim, while continuing to praise Alfassi.

Diversity of rabbinical opinion existed back then, as it does today. Maimonides, himself, would come to note places in Alfassi's Code where there were items bearing a non-mutual opinion. However, Maimonides did defend Alfassi on occasions, even declaring, "one would be hard put to find as many as ten errors in his monumental work." In 1089 CE when Alfassi was about 75 year old, a fellow Jew slandered him to the Islamic authorities, and this sent him fleeing to Spain. Alfassi brought with him there, the seeds of wisdom, which contributed to the tree of future Jewish sages.

Soon after settling in Cordoba in 1088 CE, he relocated to the city of Lucena (a few miles southeast) after hearing of the death of Yitshak ibn Gayyat, head rabbi of the Lucena yeshiva (rabbinical college). Lucena was a grand center for Jewish learning, and was written about in contemporary accounts as the "city of the Jews." At the time when Ashkenazi Jewry was still in its infancy and Sephardi Jewry was yet to mature, Lucena had become a center for rabbinical opinions and rulings in Western Europe, and correspondence was known to be exchanged with communities in both the holy land and Babylonia. Rabbi Alfassi became both the head of the yeshiva (rosh) and the judge (dayan) of the city; he remained there for the next fourteen years. Before his death, Alfassi turned the Lucena yeshiva over to Rabbi Yossef ibn Migash, future teacher of Maimonides.

Jewish codes were initially created to answer specific internal needs of Jews law, and to respond to several external threats to its existence and authority. However, they were quite complicated, and what Alfassi did was to clarify and enhance them so that the average person could comprehend and appreciate them. His writings not only influenced Maimonides, but many subsequent sages such as Mordehi ben Hillel, Yossef Karo, and Yishak Luria. Rabbi Karo, a Spanish expulsion victim who settled in Ottoman Safed, later wrote: "Rabbi Alfassi, Maimonides, and Rabbi Asher [the Tur of Spain], are the pillars of Jewish Law, which all of Israel bases itself on."

During his long lifetime, Rabbi Alfassi influenced and taught many future scholars. This included his students Moshe ibn Esra, and Yossef HaLevi, both who would later become widely regarded poets. Rabbi Isak Alfassi died 10 Iyar, 4863 (1103 CE) at the ripe age of ninety. Though his burial location in Spain has been lost to history, the epitaphs from his tombstone have been recorded for time immemorial. Ibn Esra wrote a brief poem, one line reads, "in this grave the fount of wisdom is buried, and the world has come into blindness." HaLevy wrote, "…upon the tablets of thy heart they wrote the Law, upon thy head they placed the crown of glory, even sages cannot learn to stand upright, unless they have sought wisdom from the tree." Nine centuries later, Rabbi Alfassi's decisions still effect the life of religiously observant Jews everyday.

Real Victims Deserving Real Recognition

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 20:52:33 -0500

Published in The Cutting Edge News - April 14, 2008

An original essay by Shelomo Alfassa

On April 1, 2008, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed a Resolution which grants first-time-ever recognition to Jewish refugees from Arab and Muslim countries. The adoption of House Resolution 185, affirms that all victims of the Arab-Israeli conflict must be treated with equality, and this may be the catalyst for a dramatic shift in United States policy.

Why? Because prior to last week's adoption, all U.S. Resolutions on Middle East refugees referred only to Palestinian Arabs. The new Resolution underscores the fact that Jews living in Arab and Muslim countries suffered human rights violations, were uprooted from their homes, and were made refugees.

Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) is the tip of the spear for the International Rights and Redress Campaign, a global movement backed by a coalition of over 77 Jewish organizations. The Campaign seeks legal rights and redress for the over 850,000 Jews who lost everything from their dignity and property, to their loved ones—many of whom were beaten, tortured and murdered prior to or during their flight from Arab countries. The 77 Jewish organizations which have worked with JJAC, have lent their active support to a human rights issue which has brought the Jewish community together.

The main focus of this global Campaign is to register the narratives of the Jews that were displaced from Arab and Muslim countries. This is a paperwork process, a tedious one. It requires people who were born in, and who fled from, Arab and Muslim countries to document where they came from and what they had to leave behind. Over the course of several years, many thousands of people have been registering with JJAC, providing not only names and addresses, but descriptions and documentation of the loss of their possessions. More than the possessions however are the tragic stories of their experiences:

--An Iraqi Jewish woman called Rachel recounts: "My husband was arrested three times and was tortured in prison. He was almost killed the latest time while I was pregnant. We had to escape from Iraq on foot and had to leave all our property and belongings."

--An Iraqi Jewish woman called Lorraine recollects: "My father was imprisoned twice in 1948 and 1978, for selling one of his carpets because we had no cash. We fled and had to make life for ourselves without the parent's emotional or financial support. We were orphaned for more than 20 years. My parents had to remain in Iraq and from 1964 to 1990, Jews could not sell their property. When my parents were able to escape, they were humiliated, helpless and penniless, leaving behind everything with only the clothing on their backs."

--An Iraqi Jewish woman name Fortune recounted: "My father was arrested at our home and tortured almost half to death. We saw him again after eight months. He was able to obtain a passport and fled to Lebanon where he then managed to flee to Switzerland and eventually Israel. My mother supported us alone as one by one my family fled the country. One relative fled to Turkey then to Israel after learning her entire family was murdered while she was in school. My brother and I fled to Northern Iraq where Kurds were paid to bring us to Tehran and then we went to Israel."

--A Jewish woman, Victoria from Tunisia, told: "On several occasions my father was taken away in the middle of the night by the police without charges. My brother and I were harassed in school and discriminated because we were Jews. I was often humiliated in front of my classmates. We lived in CONSTANT fear."

--A Syrian Jewish woman called Stella remembers: "As all the young people were escaping from Syria, the government was putting their families in jail. The locked up several fathers and mothers. The next day the community decided to stay in the synagogue where a black flag was flown outside the building. After crying and praying all day, we gathered at the government building, like a rally, and demanded they better kill us, as we screamed for our freedom. It was like a civil war. My father had been captured, but eventually came home as a sick man. The next day he had a heart attack and died."

--David, an Egyptian Jew recounts: "The police came into my jewelry store then took me to a police station where we were handcuffed and beaten. The put us on a truck and took us to a prison camp where they hit us with belts and sticks. We were terrorized by the officers all night. I lost everything. A year later I was transferred to another prison, and three years later I was deported."

--Frieda, a Jew from Egypt tells that her father: "Was arrested and taken outside of Cairo to what we call a concentration camp to be interrogated with other ‘Jews' and foreign nationals. My mother was placed on house arrest. When we left we had 48 hours to get ready and we left behind everything."

--Joe, a Jewish man from Egypt recounts: "I remember the darker side: my lost childhood, neighbors and school friends I will never see again, the harassment, the killings of innocent Jewish families, the sudden and unlawful confiscation of Jewish property. Most of all, I can still feel like it was only yesterday the deep and intense fear for our lives as crowds shouted 'edbah el Yahud' [slaughter the Jews]."

--An Egyptian Jewish man called Steven recalls: "My mother went to the bank to withdraw the money she had saved which was in the tens of thousands. The bank teller said, ‘We don't give money to Jews.' She went to gain access to her safe deposit box to get her jewelry, diamonds and gold, and was denied. My father died penniless in Israel, he had left everything in Cairo."

Underscoring the importance of this Resolution, Congressman Joseph Crowley (D-NY), one of the bi-partisan co-sponsors, said, "The world needs to understand that it is not just the Arabs and it's not just the Palestinians in the Middle East, but also Jewish people who themselves were dispossessed of their possessions and their homes, and were victims of terrorist acts. These are people who lived in Middle Eastern communities not for decades, but for thousands of years." Rep. Crowley added that the Resolution will, "bring light upon an issue that has been swept under the carpet."

While Palestinians have been left to linger in refugee camps by their fellow Arab cousins, and just because Jews have moved forward over the last decades, that does not negate the fact that Jews were also refugees, and that Jews suffered terribly.

It would constitute an injustice were the United States to recognize rights for one victim population - Palestinian refugees - without recognizing equal rights for former Jewish refugees from Arab countries, as both were victims of the very same Middle East conflict. Because of this, House Resolution 185 also urges that the President and U.S. officials participating in Middle East discussions ensure: "That any explicit reference to Palestinian refugees is matched by a similar explicit reference to Jewish and other refugees, as a matter of law and equity."

At the end of WWII, there were close to one million Jews living in the Middle East and North Africa. They were loyal citizens that contributed to every facet of society. These people watched as their entire civilization, everything they knew, was destroyed because of discrimination, harassment, violence and worse. Thus, it is in the spirit of equality, fairness, and legitimate moral leadership that the United States government passed this important Resolution which recognizes the suffering and hardship these hundreds of thousands of victims experienced.

Shelomo Alfassa is U.S. Director of Justice for Jews from Arab Countries.

The Forgotten Jews of the Lower East Side: Greeks, Turks and Syrians

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:12:07 -0500

(This Original Essay is Copyrighted by Shelomo Alfassa - All Rights Reserved)

By the first quarter of the 20th century, some 30,000 Sephardic Jews had arrived in New York City, consisting of three independent groups, all three groups which have been often overlooked by most modern historian and authors.

The largest group consisted of the Turkinos (as they called themselves). They were Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) speaking Jews they hailed from Turkey and former Turkish administered cities such as Adrianople, Belgrade, Bucharest, Istanbul, Kastoria, Monastir, Rhodes, Sarajevo, Sofia, Salonika, and others. These Hispanic Jews' ancestors had been made refugees during the 15th century. They had been expelled some 425 years earlier by Spain and Portugal during Iberian Inquisitions. Once welcomed with open arms into cities under the administration of the Turkish Sultan, these Jews had once again become displaced, and would come to find shelter among the crowded streets, stuffy brick walkups and rough cobblestones of the Lower East Side.

The others groups to establish themselves in New York City were the Greek Yanniotes (as they called themselves), and the Jews of Ottoman Syria...

CONTINUED IN FULL: http://alfassa.com/les1.html

Judy Frankel, the Ladino Songstress, 65

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:14:58 -0500

A Personal Note by Shelomo Alfassa

(April 2, 2008) - Today, I came across a report that my friend Judy Frankel had died on March 20, 2008. There is nothing like the shock of learning about the death of a good friend in a newspaper, it's a pain that has no match. Judy was a fabulous soft spoken lady with a selfless and caring heart.

While she could sing songs in twenty languages, Judy will best be remembered for singing traditional songs, which she learned from Sephardic Jews, in the Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) language. Judy was taught the songs, mostly from older woman, who possessed these songs in only as an oral tradition. Although Ashkenazi (of Eastern European Jewish descent), Judy learned the old Spanish songs from Jews which had roots in the Balkans, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Romania and other locations where Sephardim lived. These were families, like my own, who had been exiled from Spain and Portugal in the late 15th century, and relocated to the Ottoman Empire where they rebuilt their lives.

Judy was raised in Boston, where she graduated Boston University then moved to the Bay Area in 1969. She first worked as a teacher, then went into singing. One of her first jobs singing was at Mount Zion Hospital, where she sang to patients. Joe Eskenazi, a writer for the J News Weekly recently wrote:

"Frankel's musical talent blossomed early; younger cousin Ellen Geisler remembered seders [holiday dinners] at the family's Boston home in which a pre-teen Frankel sang and played guitar. She was a professional performer by age 13, singing at weddings, bar mitzvahs and on the radio and TV. Originally gravitating toward rock and jazz, her tenor voice was more suited to folk music, and it was in pursuit of club gigs that she moved to the Bay Area from Hawaii with her then-husband in the 1960s."

I had met Judy some 15 years ago in Colorado. We quickly became friends, and it was nice to see her when I visited California or when she played her many concerts in New York and Florida, both places I lived. I have fond memories of after concerts joining friends and taking Judy to dinner. One afternoon in Colorado, Judy and I were going for lunch, and she had her guitar in her car (she always had it with her). She brought the guitar into the restaurant, when I asked her why she brought it in, she responded, "she's my life!"

I bought my first Judy Frankel cassette in Miami, and I listened to it over and over on a three hour drive to Orlando. Her rendition of the Israel national anthem, Hatikva (The Hope), which she optimistically titled, 'Fiestramos' (Let's Celebrate), always moved me. On my first trip to Spain, I listened to nothing but Judy's albums in the rental car as I drove through the flowing hills from Cordoba down to Granada and then back up to Seville; these were cities from which the Sephardim originated from. Judy's sweet Spanish guitar coupled with her exquisite voice was the perfect accompaniment for my visit to my ancestral homeland. I truly loved Judy Frankel's music.

During WWII, the German Army, supported by other anti-Jewish individuals and factions, devastated the communities of Ladino speaking Jews in places such as Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia. So many Sephardim were murdered, that the old Sephardic communities never were able to recover. Judy helped perpetuate Jewish songs from these locations--songs which may have been forgotten about.

Her love of music, specifically, her appreciation of 'songs of old,' have left an enduring mark on the world. Unlike many contemporary "Ladino singers," Judy Frankel never tried to jazz up the old songs or perform them in a way which was not consistent with the traditional arrangement. She never attempted to mold the old Sephardic songs into New Age fluff or cheap sounding pop tunes. Because of Judy's diligence to preserve songs in a most authentic way-the way were originally sung at home, she leaves behind a true oral tradition for future generations to cherish.

Judy and I exchanged correspondence on various topics, and she would often ask me questions on Sephardic traditions and history. She once said that some day she would play music for my family, but that won't happen now. More than 20 years ago Judy was diagnosed with breast cancer, but she recovered from it; now, cancer has returned and taken her from the world.

Judy en ganeden ke repoze. Ha'makom yenahem etkhem betokh she'ar avele Siyon v'Yerushalayim.

Judy lived in San Francisco for many years. She was an only child and she did not have any children. Among the charities her family has asked that donations may be made to in her name are: The Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, P.O. Box 650309, Dallas, Texas 75265 (and/or) The Osher Center for Integrated Medicine at U.C. San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Ave., San Francisco, CA 94143.

Music and Photos at http://www.alfassa.com/judy.html

Our Resolution on Jews from Arab Countries was APPROVED!!!

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:07:45 -0500

The Congressional Resolution our organization Justice for Jews from Arab Countries has worked to promote over the last few years has been passed!! H.Res.185 underscores the fact that Jews living in Arab countries suffered human rights violations, were uprooted from their homes, and were made refugees.

I was touched when our office received the following note today from a very prominent member of the Jewish community of New York, a man who runs a national Jewish organization: "Congratulations on what must be viewed as one of the most important contributions toward justice for the Jewish people's rights and heritage in recent times. In fact outside of Israel since the end of the Holocaust, the Nuremburg trials and the UN vote in favor of the new State of Israel, it is hard to think of any political body anywhere including the United Nations where the plight, losses and rights of the peace loving Jewish people has been better presented and dealt with than as it just was in the US Congress. A marvelous gift to the close to a million Jews who had to flee from Arab lands leaving everything behind, the Jewish people in general and to improved sanity and truth in support of peace for Israel."

The Resolution urges that the President and U.S. officials participating in Middle East discussions to ensure that any reference to Palestinian refugees must: “also include a similarly explicit reference to the resolution of the issue of Jewish refugees from Arab countries.”

We also got a comment from Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice-President of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He commented, “the failure during all these years to recognize other refugees, compounded the indignation and the suffering and the deprivation of Jews in Arab countries. There was a systematic process of expulsion which the Arab governments engaged in.” He added that the Resolution is not an obstacle to peace. “It is a distortion to talk only of one refugee population, as that would undermine the ultimate outcome of any negotiations. The Congressional action will educate a generation that know too little about the other refugees.”

The press release from the organization is here: http://www.justiceforjews.com/mediakit2.html

/Shelomo

Erroneous history of the Hurva synagogue in the J. Post!

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:10:05 -0500

Jerusalem Post
P.O.B. 81, Jerusalem
Israel 91000
Tel: 972-2-531-5621

RE: Erroneous history of the Hurva synagogue and the Jewish community of old Jerusalem

Dear Editor,

I was very happy to hear that the Hurva was being rebuilt! But the way the article in the Jerusalem Post was written, did a disservice to the topic.

Please consider this letter a complaint against the Jerusalem Post's article "Hurva Synagogue restoration nears completion," published March 28, 2008. This article contains revisionism. It contains blatant marginalization of the Sephardic citizens of old Jerusalem, while aggrandizing Ashkenazi Jewish history of the same location. Specific statements mentioned in the article with clarifications below:

1) "[The Hurva Synagogue] was a focal point of Jewish spiritual and cultural life in Jerusalem."

It may have been a focal point, but only for the Lithuanian Ashkenazi Jews, and only for a limited number of years. The Sephardic community, the first developed community in Jerusalem, (and when we talk about Jerusalem we are certainly only talking about Jerusalem as it existed within the Old City walls), remained distinct and possessed its own focal point and spiritual center. The center of the Sephardi Jews was the 'Kal Grande', the synagogue which is today referred to as the 'Yohanan Ben Zakkai' in the area of the 'Four Sephardi Synagogues.'

2) "The Hurva once served as Jerusalem's main synagogue, and became the largest, grandest and most important synagogue in the Land of Israel."

This is not correct. It may have served as Jerusalem's main synagogue, but it did only for a division of Ashkenazi Jews. It was absolutely never a universal center for all of Jerusalem's Jews. The much larger Sephardic community had nothing to do with the Hurva, except for high level communal and social events. On these occasions, the Hahambashi, the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, (who was always Sephardic) would be in attendance.

3) "Following its construction in 1864, the Hurva was the tallest building in the congested Jewish Quarter, its dome and that of the quarter's other main synagogue - Tifereth Yisrael"

While the Hurva was tall, it did not measure as the tallest. 'Kal Grande' (the Yohanan Ben Zakkai synagogue), may be the tallest. Yet, because it was built below ground (you have to walk down to enter), it has been marginalized. It was built below ground, because it is much older than the Hurva, and at the time it was built, the Jews of Jerusalem were predominately Sephardic and they adhered to oppressive Islamic law which mandated that no synagogue was built taller than a mosque. If you measure base to peak, you will find a difference.

4) "For the next 84 years, the structure became a center of Jewish spiritual and cultural activity, first under Ottoman and then under British rule."

Yes, it did become a center, but only--for the Lithuanian Ashkenazi community.

5) "Until the 1930s, most of the important events of the pre-state Jewish community in Israel took place in the Hurva."

This is pure revisionism. The pre-State Jewish community was led by the majority, and they were the Sephardic Jews, members of the 'va'ad haedah hasefaradit bi'yrusalayim,' the Sephardic Community Council of Jerusalem. From the mid 18th - early 20th century, ceremonial events took place in the 'Kal Grande', (the Yohanan Ben Zakkai synagogue), the largest active synagogue of the largest communal group.

6) "The goal was to make the Hurva synagogue not simply a place of worship but a center for world Jewry as it once was."

The Hurva was never a center for world Jewry. Calling the Hurva a "center for world Jewry" is a falsehood. It existed as the largest non-Hassidic Ashkenazi synagogue, one that was used late in its life, much after the Ashkenazim started to build their population in Jerusalem.

After reading this Jerusalem Post story, one may get the sense that there was no Jews in Jerusalem before the Lithuanian Ashkenazim arrived. It is strange, but in some ways, the article lends support to the belief that the Jews came late to Jerusalem and took it from the Arabs. In a world where we are facing Islamic revisionists claiming that Jews took over Palestine--and that there were no Jews in the land prior to the development of the modern State, we must ensure that the narrative is clear that Jews indeed lived in the land, even if some only want to examine Jewish history focusing on selective groups and their falsely magnified histories.

Sincerely,
Shelomo Alfassa
www.alfassa.com

Author of the book: "A Window Into Old Jerusalem."

and the paper: "Sephardic Contributions To The Development of The State Of Israel."
(Part of the 'Zionist Timelines' and the 'Israel at 60' program of the Jewish Agency for Israel.)

Iran Diverts Attention at Opening of UN Council in Geneva

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:10:29 -0500

By Shelomo Alfassa

As this goes to print, the 7th annual session of the United Nations Human Rights Council is taking place in Geneva, and already, by the second day into the week-long session, Israel is being pummeled by Iranian propaganda meant to sway public opinion against the Jewish state.

In an address to the President of the UN Council, Ms. Meirav Eilon Shahar, speaking on behalf of the government of Israel, recalled for the record, factual episodes of incitement to commit genocide by the Iranian government, something which is an international crime. Shahar called upon the UN to address the fact that leaders of the Iranian Revolution Guard were quoted on 19 February 2008 saying, "In the near future we will use the destruction of the cancerous tumor, Israel, by the powerful and competent hand of Hezbollah fighters." She then read a quote from 16 February 2008 where the Commander of the General Staff of the Iran Armed Forces called upon and urged the "Combatants of Lebanon and Palestine Islamic Resistance to continue their struggle until the complete destruction of the Zionist regime."

In her final words to the Council, the Israeli representative quoted the President of Iran who in February of 2008 stated, "World powers have created a black and dirty microbe named the Zionist regime and have unleashed it like a savage animal on the nations of the region." Ahmadinejad had made these remarks at a rally that was broadcast on state television. The Israeli representative asked how could the UN allow one member state threaten the destruction of another member state. She asked if these statements would be addressed.

Representing Iran, Asadollah Eshragh Jahromi replied to "The Israeli Regime," in a tirade of deceit. He said the "Israeli Regime" was at the UN to launch a series of baseless and distorted accusations against Iran in an effort to try to, "Divert attention from the ongoing atrocities in the occupied Palestinian territories." The Iranian representative stated that the "Israeli Regime" is committing aggression, occupation and daily attacks against women and children in occupied Palestine. He declared that Israel is constituting a "severe breach" of all international human rights laws, and is committing "vivid examples of genocide and holocaust" of an oppressed people.

In an allotted one minute response, Mr. Tibor Shalev-Schlosser, of the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations in Geneva called the Iranian representative, "a Wolf that is crying for help," and that Iran was making a cynical attempt to try to, "Excuse the inexcusable." He stated Iran was deliberately distorting reality, and that Iran has violated the UN Charter when it calls, repeatedly, for the destruction of another UN member state. In a daring statement directed at the Iranian representative, Shalev-Schlosser advised that it would be better if the Iranian delegate "remained silent."

The UN Human Rights Council is meeting from March 3-28 2008 in Geneva, Switzerland. Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) is among the various international NGOs (non-governmental organizations) which are testifying before the Council. As Israel stands up for it's Jewish citizens, JJAC plans to raise the subject of the (long ignored) plight of the 850,000 Jews displaced from Arab countries.

###

Shelomo Alfassa is the US Director of Justice for Jews from Arab Countries

Origins of Noise Making to Wipe Out the Evil Name on Purim

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:33:36 -0500

by Shelomo Alfassa / Purim 5768

Purim has long been a holiday on which merriment and frivolity has been welcomed within the walls of the synagogue. On Purim, in most of today's synagogues, you will encounter a certain amount of boisterous hissing, banging, stamping and rattling during the public reading of the Megillah (Book of Esther), at the mention of the evil Haman or his sons. Even so, the custom of making noise to drown out / scare away or 'blot out' evil (in this case an evil name) is one firstly of pagan origin and does not have its foundation from within the Jewish world.

In some Jewish (and non-Jewish) academic circles, the story of Queen Esther is not universally accepted as history, and some go as far as supposing that the story of Queen Esther was developed to explain the festival of Purim. One opinion indicates that the beating and noise making that takes place on Purim, originally had nothing to do with Haman...

The full 2900 word essay is here:

http://www.alfassa.com/purim.pdf

Last WWI Vets Dying, Get You Thinking About Your Family

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 11:47:17 -0500

by Shelomo Alfassa

I read with silent somberness about the passing of France's last surviving veteran of WWI, an Italian immigrant who fought in the trenches with the Foreign Legion, a man that died at the age of 110. What a life this man must have had, one that started in 1897!

As a very patriotic person who frequently attended parades and military events growing up, I recall many WWI survivors in attendance, but today, we have less then five living WWI vets left in the USA. Now that France lost their last, it makes you wonder if there are even a dozen men left world wide. That got me thinking of my great uncle, he too was a WWI vet.

My uncle Chelibi "Charlie" Yerushalmi was born on the Turkish Island of Rhodes. In 1912 Italian troops took the island over with the rest of the Dodecanese Islands. The Italians later demolished the houses that were built on and around the old city walls during the Ottoman era. They also turned the Jewish and Turkish cemeteries into an international 'green zone' surrounding the old Medieval Town. The Italians then destroyed all Ottoman buildings. During the Italian period, uncle Chelibi (a Turkish name of honor commonly used by both Turks and Jews), departed Italian occupied Rhodes for France via Italy, where he settled in Bordeaux. There, among the fertile green countryside, he met the daughter of a French winemaker, but it was not to last. He voluntarily joined the Armee de Terre, the French army, during World War One, and went on to battle in the Great War.

Upon his discharge, he migrated to New York City, moving to the great Spanish speaking Sephardic community on the East Side (today, known as the "Lower" East Side), which existed in the general area around Broome, Allen, Delancy, Chrystie and Eldridge streets. He eventually found work as a baker through FDR's 'Works Progress Administration' (WPA), which sought to find people gainful employment. He later moved to the Bronx like many Sephardim did. In his old age, he spent some of his time looking out the window at the streets below. His brother Sam (Shelomo), also from Rhodes, and his sister-in-law Rosa (from Turkey), would often come to visit him from Williamsburg, Brooklyn (another place many Sephardim lived). Today, uncle Chelibi eternally rests in the Brotherhood League of Rhodes plot located in the beautiful Mt. Hebron Cemetery in Queens, New York.