San Francisco Ceremony to Honor the Forgotten Refugees - International Mizrahi Remembrance Month

On June 23, 2014 the Government of Israel adopted a law which designates November 30th as an annual, national day of commemoration for the 850,000 Jewish refugees who were displaced from Arab countries and Iran in the 20th century. The law, which is the culmination of several years of hard work and dedication by an international team of Mizrahi Justice advocates, entails commemoration events and the inclusion of Mizrahi history into schools’ curriculum.

JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, a nonprofit that seeks universal recognition of the Mizrahi refugee experience and heritage, will honor this pivotal moment by launching “Mizrahi Remembrance Month: Honoring the Forgotten Refugees.” As part of Mizrahi Remembrance Month, JIMENA is planning a range of educational and cultural programs throughout North America during the month of November.  The initiative will kick off in San Francisco with a dignified ceremony honoring the heritage and history of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews from Arab countries and Iran.

The ceremony will feature a performance by Yair Harel, a Jerusalem-born musician and educator who is credited for having played a major role repopularizing ancient piyyutim – a form of Jewish liturgical poetry that thrived in the Arab world. Since 2008, Yair has served as artistic director of the critically acclaimed Jerusalem Piyyut Festival and the Piyyut Ensemble of Hebrew University’s Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi Institute, for the study of Jewish communities in the Arab world. 

The San Francisco program will also feature remarks by JIMENA co-founder and Iraqi native, Semha Alwaya, and Israel’s Consul General to the Pacific Northwest, Andy David. Dr. David will provide a synopsis of the new Israeli initiative and the efforts that are taking place in Israel to ensure that Mizrahi and Sephardic heritage and history is passed down to the benefit of future generations.

Please RSVP with info@jimena.org

For more information on Mizrahi Remembrance Month, read an article by The Jerusalem Post.

Interests: Arts & Culture, Israel, Young Adults, Teens, Families
Date: 
October 30, 2014
TIME: 
12:00 AM
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Location: 
Congregation Beth Sholom
301 14th Avenue
City: 
San Francisco

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Organized By: 
JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa
Co-organizers: 
The Israel Center of the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation, Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest, Israel Institute, Magain David Sephardim Congregation, Congregation Anshey Sfard, Congregation B’nai Israel, and Congregation Beth Sholom
Event Contact Person: 
Analucía Lopezrevoredo
analucia@jimena.org
Event Website: 
http://www.jimena.org/mizrahi-remembrance-month-honoring-jewish-refugees-arab-co…
Speakers: 
Yair Harel
Yair Harel is a Jerusalem-born musician and educator who has revolutionized the face of Israeli culture by putting piyyut – Jewish traditions of sacred song – on the country’s musical map. Since 2008 he has served as the artistic director of the critically-acclaimed Jerusalem Piyyut Festival and the Piyyut Ensemble of the Ben Zvi Institute. He also founded and is the present editor-in-chief of the “Invitation to Piyut” website. The crown jewel of his efforts, however, is establishing the New Jerusalem Orchestra with fellow artist Omer Avital.

Harel received a traditional Jewish education before going on to study the zarb (Persian drum) with two master teachers of the Persian tradition, Roger Yshay and Daghmeshid Chemirani. Harel studied the tar (the Persian lute) and Persian classical music with Peretz Eliyhau, a noted expert in the field, and improvisation with the celebrated Israeli composer and musicologist, André Hajdu. He then studied Andalusian music with two masters of the Jewish-Andalusian vocal tradition, Rabbi Meir Attyah and Rabbi Haim Louk. Also an accomplished vocalist, Harel’s vocal style is based on his knowledge of different North-African and Middle-Eastern Jewish traditions, as well as Hassidic music and free improvisation.
Semha Alwaya
Semha Alwaya was born in Iraq and grew up in Turkey, Iran and Israel. Her parents were among 125,000 Iraqi refugees whose citizenship was revoked and their property confiscated by the Iraqi government in the middle of the 20th century. Her family left Iraq in 1951, and like many other Jewish refugees, lived in temporary refugee camps in Israel known as maabarot.

Semha is a co-founder of JIMENA where she has dedicated herself to Israel advocacy and sharing her family’s story of exile– a similar story shared by nearly one-million other Jews who were made refugees from Arab countries. In addition to her commitment to JIMENA, Semha is also a member of Amnesty International USA, the World Affairs Council, and JCRC (Jewish Community Relations Council).
Andy David
Andy David was born in Romania and immigrated at the age of two with his family to Israel. He earned three degrees at Jerusalem's Hebrew University: Doctor of Dental Medicine; Master of Science; and Bachelor of Medical Science, graduating magna cum laude. He then went on to lecture, instruct, research and practice for the Faculty of Dental Medicine at Hebrew University and was also a Medical Advisor for DENX Medical Device Company in Israel. Dr. David spent three years in the Israel Air Force and in RAFAEL, the Ministry of Defense's Armament Development Authority. He is a graduate of the Executive Combating Terrorism program at the National Defense University in Washington D.C.

Dr. Andy David began his appointment as Israel's Consul General to the Pacific North-West in August 2012. In his last position he served as a policy advisor to the Foreign Minister.
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