Shelomo
Alfassá oversees Special Projects
for the American Sephardi Federation at
the Center for Jewish History in New
York City. He specializes in the history of
Jews from both Iberia (Spain and Portugal)
and the Ottoman Empire (the former Turkish
empire including Ottoman Palestine, etc.).
From 2006-2009 he was U.S. Director of Justice
for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) where
he successfully helped develop H.Res.185,
an historic resolution recognizing rights
of Jews displaced from Arab countries which
was unanimously approved by the U.S. Congress
on April 1, 2008.
Mr.
Alfassá is the founder and former Executive
Director of the International Sephardic
Leadership Council and the editor of the
award winning International Sephardic Journal.
Well known as an international advocate for
Sephardic Jewry, Mr. Alfassá served
as former Director of Research and Development
for Sephardic House in New York City
and for four years he served as a vice-president
of the Foundation for the Advancement of
Sephardic Studies and Culture. He was
a staff consultant to both the Sephardic
Educational Center and the Shehebar
Sephardic Center (Midrash Sefaradi)
in Jerusalem.
In
2005, he successfully worked with the U.S.
Congress to bring about greater representation
for Sephardic victims of the Holocaust (specifically
Jews from Arab countries) at the U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum (USHMM). In
2003, Mr. Alfassá traveled to Poland
representing Sephardic Jews in the United
States as part of Judéo-Espagnol
A Auschwitz, a successful multi-national
campaign that sought recognition for Sephardic
Holocaust victims that perished at Auschwitz.
Mr.
Alfassá's articles
and papers on Jewish history and politics
have appeared in numerous media outlets; his
books include Ethnic
Sephardic Jews in the Medical Literature,
Reference Guide to the Nazis and Arabs
During the Holocaust and A Window Into
Old Jerusalem and History, Politics
& Loss. Mr. Alfassá's family
is from the Ottoman island of Rhodes and Ottoman
Edirne, Turkey. He has lived in New York,
Florida, California, Colorado and Jerusalem.
