ALEF 45 OCTOBER 2011 ENGLISH

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ERENSYA SEPHARDIC JEWS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD MEET IN BULGARIA

From 19th to 21st September, Sefarad-Israel brought together representativesof more than twenty communities from the Sephardic Diaspora.The Mayor of Toledo, Emiliano García-Page, took part in the Summitas the representative of the Network of Jewish Quarters.

// Editorial

Once again, Sefarad-Israel is excited about celebrating the Jewish New Year, which takes place at the start of the month of Tishrei in Israel and all around the world. On 26th September, we welcomed many representatives of Spain's Jewish community to the Palacio de Cañete garden to share the traditions which have marked the start of the New Year for millennia. Jewish homes celebrate the New Year with abundance and joyfulness, with invocations of sweetness and fertility. However, this joyful event is also the start of several days of reflection which continue until the solemnity of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This event therefore combines the festive and the serious, the entertaining and the transcendent, in a ritual of contrition which is now in its 5772nd year.

We believe that an understanding of the needs and concerns of Spanish Jews is part of the role of Sefarad-Israel. We are honoured to invite people from the civil and religious life of Spanish Judaism to our home, which we do with the dual purpose of enabling them to discover a place which shares their habits and values, whilst at the same time enabling Spanish society to find out about and appreciate these signs of our identity. The fact that a public institution is hosting an event of this type attended by Secretary of State Juan Antonio Yáñez and many other official representatives, including the President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, Isaac Querub, enshrines the commitment which led to the establishment of Sefarad-Israel a few years ago.

5772, the start of the Jewish New Year

> GOVERNING COUNCIL PRESIDENTTrinidad Jiménez VICE-PRESIDENTEsperanza Aguirre Gil de BiedmaVICE-PRESIDENT Alberto Ruíz Gallardón

> SEFARAD-ISRAEL GENERAL DIRECTOR Álvaro Albacete GENERAL SECRETARY Miguel de Lucas HOLOCAUST AND ANTI-SEMITISM Henar CorbíCULTURE Esther BendahanEDUCATION Sonia SánchezPRESS ANDCOMMUNICATIONS Úrsula O'KuinghttonsPRODUCTION Belén ReinaMANAGER Ramón de Albert MeruéndanoREPRESENTATIVE IN ISRAEL Manuel Cimadevilla

> ALEF MAGAZINE EditorÚrsula O'Kuinghttons Opinion coordinatorFernando Martínez-Vara de ReyAssistantEsther Querub PhotographyPepe Méndez, Samuel Grané and Atlántida Comunicación (www.atlantidacdp.com)News and designAtlántida Comunicación (www.atlantidacdp.com)

Alef is a monthly periodical published by Sefarad-Israel and Sefarad Editores. All rights reserved. Sefarad-Is-rael is not responsible for the editorial content or opinions expressed by the authors.

ACTIVITIES

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5 >OCTOBERA 7 p.m.S Palacio de Cañete (Mayor, 69). b Free admission

Cinema in Vivamérica: Mal día para pescar

U The 5th edition of Vivamérica will take

place from 4th to 9th October. It is an event which brings together debate, celebration, creation, meeting and fun, for the purpose of spreading Latin American talent and culture on both sides of the Atlantic. Given the influence of Jewish authors and creators on many aspects of such culture, and the spirit of collaboration itself between two similar institutions such as Sefarad-Israel and Casa de América, our institution is taking part in Vivamérica for the first time.The Palacio de Cañete will be the venue for an exclusive showing of the feature film “Mal día para pescar” (Bad Day to Go Fishing), the debut of Jewish-Uruguayan film maker Álvaro Brechner. Entirely filmed in Uruguay and based on a story by Onetti,

“Bad Day to Go Fishing” describes the ups and downs of two particular go-getters: Orsini, a cunning, cynical and ingenious businessman who calls himself the "Prince" and his representative, Jacob van Oppen, a tough, old-looking, alcoholic and uncontrollable former world wrestling champion, whose manager can only calm down by singing Lili Marlene. Aiming to keep alive the epic adventure that once united them, they embark on a interminable tour of exhibitions in backwater towns, after which Orsini maintains, with conviction, the champion will win back his title.After the screening, there will be a debate with the director Álvaro Brechner.

5 >OCTOBER b Free admission

ULLS 2011. Dance, theatreand musicin Barcelona

B ULLS -the festival of contemporary

performing arts promoting a cultural dialogue between Europe and Latin America through free shows for the whole family- is back.For the first time, the 5th ULLS will be centred in the Plaça de la Mercè, in Barcelona's Barrio Gótico, and will also feature performances at Espai Món, Sala de Intercambio Cultural, Art Santa Mònica, Goethe Institut, Maremagnum Hall and Espai Jove La Fontana. These are in addition to traditional ULLS venues, such as La Rambla, Plaça del Rei, Biblioteca Jaume Fuster and Institut del Teatre.The festival is divided into a number of sections and features a wide-ranging programme, ranging from monologues to clowns, theatre, music and dance performances and shows.

The educational aspect of ULLS includes master classes and workshops in the performing arts. As always, Sefarad-Israel's latest publications will be on display in the "reading space" at the Ulls Art Café.

6 >OCTOBERA 7 p.m.S Palacio de Cañete (Mayor, 69).

Talk by Alberto Pimienta Toledano

P Alberto Pimienta was born in Tangiers

and went to primary and secondary school at the Italian School there, before completing his schooling at the Instituto Español.With his artistic sensibilities, he studied cinematography in Madrid and teaches piano. He has been a theatre director and actor and is an expert in Sephardic songs and ballads.He lived in an international Tangiers which is now no more than a memory for those who experienced it. The city is still there, but its soul has changed.We hope that through this talk and his imagination and enthusiasm, Alberto will bring to life those people, lights and sensations which were part of our past.The Alumni Association of the Tangiers Instituto Español has organised this talk. This Association was created 20 years ago in order to bring together people who studied there but now mostly live outside the city of Tangiers. The current Chairman of the Association is Manuel Segura Jiménez, a professor of chemistry, who studied at the Institute. The Association organises a range of events and has created a book grant which it awards every year to a Moroccan student chosen by the Centre in recognition of their academic achievement. Spanish wine will be served after the talk.

10 >OCTOBERA 7:30 p.m.S Palacio de Cañete (Mayor, 69). b Free admission

The concert: Itzhak Perlman. A programme dedicated to leading Jewish performersof classical music

X The second session in the programme El Concierto

will be dedicated to the Israeli-North American violinist Itzhak Perlman who was born on 31st August 1945 and is still fully active on the international concert scene.Fondly christened by North American music lovers as “The Fiddler”, at four years old, Ithzak Perlman contracted polio which left him with a physical handicap which never allowed him to play the violin standing up; however, this did not stop him from becoming one of today's most popular and loved violinists.In the first half of this new session of El Concierto, which will be held on 10th October at 7:30 p.m., the coordinator of the programme, Jorge Aráoz Badí, will outline the profile of the artist with audiovisual documentary materials, while the second part is set aside for the performance of a full work in which Itzhak Perlman will be the leading character.


Sukkot on the big screen: Ushpizin (the guests)

U The Jewish festival of Sukkot -which is also

known as the Feast of the Harvest, the Feast of Booths and the Feast of Tabernacles- begins at nightfall on 12th October. For a week, Jews all over the world stay, eat,

// Agenda

Director Álvaro Brechner.

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// Agenda

ACTIVITIES

receive guests and sleep in a temporary structure or "sukkah" in memory of the 40 years during which the people of Israel wandered the desert following the exodus from Egypt and the hardship of their living conditions. The day before it begins, the Embassy of Israel in Spain and Sefarad-Israel are organising an evening event in the Palacio de Cañete to explain the origins, symbolism and customs of this festival. This will feature a screening of the comedy 'Ushpizin, the guests', by the Israeli director Giddi Dar: On the night before the celebration of Sukkot, Moshe and Mali, a poor orthodox couple with no children living in Jerusalem, pray fervently to God to end their misery. The miracle happens when the couple receive charity from a totally unexpected source. When two criminals on the run –friends of Moshe's from his secular past– cross their path, Moshe and Mali believe that this is another sign and that God will bless them with children if they follow the religious precept of receiving guests (ushpizin) on this holy day.


‘La Diáspora judeoconversain Colombia' (The Diasporaof converted Jewsin Colombia) is presented in Spain

d This is the title of a detailed essay edited

by the University of Valle which takes the reader back to the 16th and 17th century and to the incipient world of converts or new Christians who settled down in territory which would later become the Republic of Colombia.

The author, María Cristina Navarrete, takes us back to the confused times of Jewish converts, the outrages of the overseas Inquisition and the social-economic background of the new Christians. Cartagena of the Indies, Antioquia and Popayán are the scenarios in this significant text with its cast of nobles, governors, judges and priests, pirates and slave traders.María Cristina Navarrete is a professor in the Humanities Faculty of the University of Valle (Colombia) and a researcher in ethnography. Her education includes a Master’s degree in Education from the University of New York and a PhD in Philosophy and Arts from the Complutense University of Madrid. Professor María Cristina Navarrete will present her work at a ceremony sponsored by Sefarad-Israel in which Mª Leticia Ortega, representing the Embassy of Colombia; professor Alfonso Rubio, a Member of the Department of History at the University of Valle; and José Manuel Laureiro, Director of the Antonio Moreno Rosales School, will also be taking part.

18 >OCTOBERS Palacio de Cañete (Mayor, 69)

Tributeto Ivan Schuller

P Marking the celebration of the Symposium on

Nanophysics at IMDEA (the Madrid Institute of Advanced Studies) Nanoscience, Sefarad-Israel is taking part in a homage to the eminent Jewish scientist and researcher Ivan Schuller. Schuller is a professor at the University of California San Diego and President of IMDEA Nanoscience in Madrid.


Masora. The transmissionof the traditionof the Hebrew Bible

d Guadalupe Seijas, associate professor at

the Department of Hebrew and Aramaic Studies at the Complutense University of Madrid, and Elvira Martín, a researcher at the CSIC Institute of Mediterranean and Near East Languages and Culture, will be presenting the first monograph in Spanish on the Masora. They have both produced a significant work published by the Editorial Verbo Divino, which also has a prologue by the Doctor of Semitic Philology and research at CSIC, Emilia Fernández Tejero.Masora is the name of the body of margin notations which accompany the Hebrew Biblical text. The purpose of this is to ensure that the Biblical text is transmitted correctly and that its integrity is preserved: nothing can be removed, added or changed. The Masora notes give specific instructions about words or phrases where mistakes could be made in writing. This has enabled the sacred text to be preserved without any significant changes over the centuries.This book is a response to the increasing demand to incorporate the Masora into Bible study. The specific nature of its content and

form, and its almost complete absence from university study, makes it difficult to access the Masora notes and therefore to use them to further our understanding of the Biblical text.This work provides the resources and methodology required to decipher the Masora from the main Biblical manuscripts in the tradition of Tiberias (Cairo, Aleppo and Leningrad) and the M1 manuscript of Madrid's Complutense University, together with independent Masora tracts.It provides a detailed description of the materials required to work with a Masora note and its use, and it provides a protocol establishing the steps to be followed to understand and interpret these notes. This is applied to specific cases with proposals for new cases so that the readers can continue to study on their own.


Round-table: 25th Anniversaryof ‘Raíces’ magazine

P In 1986 the first issue of “Raíces” was published. It

is the only magazine published in Spain which specialises in the Jewish world. For twenty-five years in quarterly publications, “Raíces” has been examining all aspects of Jewish culture: history, literature, linguistics, social sciences, visual arts, music, theatre, philosophy, religion etc.A significant number of Jewish and non-Jewish authors have collaborated in an effort which, in the words of its editorial team, “promotes a more tolerant world and opens the circle to its limits, whether it be Jewish or Spanish, providing the keys that allow us to better understand the

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ADVERTISING

world in which we live”.Subscribers from many countries enjoy a publication which is also distributed through the usual commercial channels. The Ministry of Culture also distributes copies to all public libraries and the Israeli embassies do the same in Israel and in Jewish associations in Latin America. The electronic edition has been distributed since the summer of 2001.The Palacio de Cañete will be the venue for a celebration in honour of “Raíces”, which the current director, Horacio Kohan, will attend along with some of the people who have been important in its development, such as Jacobo Israel Garzón, Arnoldo Liberman, Jaime Vándor, Liliana Kohan, Uriel Macías and Esther Bendahan, who will later take part in a round-table discussion. At the end of the ceremony Spanish wine will be served.


Sod 22: El secreto, a book aboutthe central aspectsof the Cabbala

dMario Sabán will be presenting his book

‘Sod 22: el secreto’ (Sod 22: the secret) at the Palacio de Cañete. This is a detailed study of Jewish mysticism, which addresses the content and essence of central aspects of the Cabbala.The different dimensions of the Tree of Life; the existence and development of evil; predestination and free will; and the existence of hidden energies within material reality are just some of the topics addressed. The notes at the end of the book are a fundamental part of it in which the author analyses the great themes of Jewish mysticism in detail. ‘Sod 22: El secreto’ examines the most ancient traditions of the Cabbala in approachable, modern language.Mario Sabán is a Doctor of Philosophy from Madrid's Complutense University. He has dedicated more than 15 years of work to historical and theological research into the Jewish origins of Christianity, which forms the inspiration of many of his books and speeches. He is also the president of Red Tarbut, which promotes Jewish culture and connects people and associations around the world. Esther Bendahan and Marcos Ricardo Barnatán will be joining Mario Sabán in a discussion of ‘Sod 22: El secreto’ and the Cabbala tradition.

30 >OCTOBERA 5 p.m.S Main Hall of the College of Lawyers of Jerusalem

14th Samuel Toledano Awards

PA committee chaired by the ex-President of Israel,

Yitzhak Navón, and coordinated by Abraham Haim organises the Samuel Toledano Awards every year in order to pay tribute one of the great figures in promotion of the Spanish Jewish community. The award is given to one researcher from Israel and another from Spain who work in the areas in which Samuel Toledano was involved: a) Study of the Jewish communities of Spain and the countries of the Sephardic Diaspora, their history and cultural legacy; b) relations between Jews, Christians

and Muslims in Spain; and c) relations between Spain and Israel.The Committee has decided to award the 14th Samuel Toledano Award to professors Ángel Alcalá and Yosef Haker, and to recognise the Ribadavia Centre for Mediaeval Studies and Lorca Council with a special diploma. Professor Alcalá has been given the award for his research into Jews and Christians in Spain and the contribution of converted Jews to Sephardic culture and society; and professor Haker is being recognised for his research work into the Sephardic Diaspora, particularly in the eastern Mediterranean.The Samuel Toledano Award ceremony will include speeches, a musical performance and a conference addressed by Álvaro Albacete as the Director General of Sefarad-Israel.

The award went to Spanish professor Ángel Sanz-Badillos last year.

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ACTIVITIES

// Activities in pictures

1 The Palacio de Cañete garden was the setting for the start of a new season which opened with a chamber music recital by the Barnatán trio and the musicians Marcelo Bru and Perla Gonilsky.

2 Álvaro Albacete and Miguel de Lucas take part in a working breakfast with Alon Bar, the recently appointed ambassador of Israel.

3 Our director of Holocaust and Anti-Semitism, Henar Corbi, at the homage to Jorge Semprún organised by the Madrid Institut Français on 16th September.

4 Miguel Ángel Moratinos and Simon Sebag Montefiore discuss the latter's book ‘Jerusalem, the Biography’ at an event hosted by Sefarad-Israel on 14th September.

5 Opening of the exhibition ‘Fierro’ by the Uruguayan sculptor Dino Barrocas on 22nd September.

6 Celebration of the Jewish New Year -Rosh Hashanah- in the gardens of Sefarad-Israel on 26th September.

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// Cultural promotion

In the words of Milewicz, ever since Shakespeare's ‘The Merchant of Venice’, the Jewish stereotype "has been used and abused" in the performing arts.

There are some people, however, on whom you cannot pin labels; one of these is the Uruguayan Álvaro Brechner. As he says, “cinema is cinema”. This film director, who will be presenting his first film ‘Mal día para pescar’ (Bad Day to Go Fishing) at the Palacio de Cañete, the home of Sefarad-Israel on 5th October, cannot be pigeonholed.

It is a fact that the experience of the Diaspora has transformed the viewpoint and voices of countless artists. There is a good reason for San Diego Film Festival including a specific section for Jewish Latin American films every year. The fusion of these two cultures is explored in films ranging from comedies to documentaries.

Daniel Burman, the director of ‘El abrazo partido’ (Lost Embrace - which he produced in collaboration with the writer Marcelo Birmajer), is a leading light in this area. The film is set in a shopping centre in Once, one of the most cosmopolitan and multiethnic parts of Buenos Aires, which has a

The notebooks of the Argentine director Eduardo Milewicz are full of ideas tinged with Judaism, such as his own origins, but neither of his next two films address this issue, which did appear in the script of his film ‘Un tipo corriente’ (Samy and me). The representation of the Jewish population by this director is becoming "ever more diverse and wide-ranging”. Sometimes he notes "it gets close to stereotype; other times to prototype, archetype, caricature, parody, testimony; the unique, the different, the renegade, the assimilated". It is true. Beyond this list of directors born in Latin America or victims of an involuntary exile who bring a Jewish identity to their work, Judaism and Jews have thousands of forms of representation and faces. This is, and will continue to be, a tempting and attractive theme for many directors.

thriving Jewish community. In this comedy, a family -the Makaroffs- help us to understand the stark choice debated by the population of the attraction of Israel and the temptation of continuing as wandering Jews.

José R. Ayaso, an associate professor of the History of Israel and the Jewish People at the University of Granada, analyses this phenomena in his essay ‘Entre Israel y la diáspora’ (Between Israel and the Diaspora).

According to Professor Ayaso, Argentina “has been a pioneer in the growth in Jewish Latin American film over recent years”. In his opinion, Burman “is largely responsible for this boom”, because his experience as a Jew informs all of his films. He has also worked with other Argentinean Jewish artists and actors. A key part of his artistic production is the trilogy ‘Esperando al Mesías’ (Waiting for the Messiah, 2000), ‘El abrazo partido’ (Lost Embrace, 2004) and ‘Derecho de familia’ (Family Law, 2006).

His feature films (of which the second is the most popular) detail the everyday and identity problems of the Jewish community in Buenos

Aires: “Jewish tradition and family, relations with non-Jews, a society of emigrants and the dominant culture, mixed marriages, Israel, anti-Semitism etc”.

Ilene Goldman, who teaches in the Radio, Television and Cinema Department at Northwestern University, notes that in the 1990s the experiences of the protagonists of such films were more related to struggles and tragedies in the midst of political upheaval. Jewish identity was shaped in the context of being foreigners who “struggled to balance their religious and ethnic identity with a national identity which limited Judaism”.

However, as the new century arrived, changes were appreciable in the Jewish topics dealt with in works from Mexico, Chile and Argentina. Now identity is shaped in the microcosm of the family, whilst evocations of the experience of exile persist.

This continuous flow of productions includes such gems as ‘Hacer Patria’ (Fly the flag), by the director and scriptwriter David Blaustein from Buenos Aires, which describes a nostalgic trip from Spain to Argentina and its consequences

for a Polish family. “It is the story of the grandparents and their children, and of their union membership and the problems this resulted in. It also addresses the rejection of their native Poland and the assumption of Jewish identity," according to Blaustein.

Daniel Goldberg's intention with ‘Los pasos de Abraham’ (In the footsteps of Abraham) was not to convince the audience to convert to Judaism, but to become involved in the personal search of some Jews from Veracruz who were "prepared to break geographic and cultural barriers and explore a very different world, that of Judaism”.

There have been many other films as well, including ‘Te extraño’ (I miss you) by Fabián Hofman, ‘La vida útil’ (A useful life) by Federico Veiroj, ‘Anita’ by Marcos Carnevale, ‘El último verano de la boyita’ (The Last Summer of La Boyita) by Julia Solomonoff, ‘Norberto apenas tarde’ (Norberto's deadline) by Daniel Hendler, ‘El brindis’ (The toast) by Shai Agosin and ‘Cara de queso’ (Cheese Head) by Ariel Winograd. Each of these films forms part of a mosaic which is also a reflection of the multi-faceted, and Jewish, nature of Latin America.

JEWS AND JUDAISM IN LATIN AMERICAN CINEMA

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ACTIVITIES

ERENSYA, SEPHARDIC JEWS FROM AROUNDTHE WORLD MEETIN BULGARIA

One of the main inspirations for the work of Sefarad-Israel is making connections with Sephardic communities dispersed around the world. Miguel de Lucas and I made a number of field trips in 2008 and 2009 to hold preliminary meetings with some of these communities, mainly in Europe, and this inspired the foundation of Erensya, through which we aim to promote and develop such relationships among these communities and with the people and government of Spain.

BY FERNANDO MTEZ-VARA DE REY A three-day event took place from 19th to 21st September 2011 which differed significantly from previous meetings. For the first time, the event was held outside Spain; included representatives of various parts of the Diaspora, leading us to describe it as a "Summit"; and it debated initiatives -such as grants, prizes, exchanges, publishing ideas, action for children and young people- which would help to pursue the objectives of Erensya.

The event was hosted by Shalom, a body which represents Sephardic communities in Bulgaria. Months of intense work involving Sefarad-Israel, Shalom and the Spanish Embassy in Bulgaria went into developing the agenda; which involved new organisers such as the Fundación Tres Culturas, the Instituto Cervantes of Sofia and the Casa del Mediterráneo. Meanwhile, invitations were

// Cultural promotion

sent to the leaders of the main Sephardic communities, who were quick to confirm their participation: we soon received registrations from

Athens, Salonika, Skopje, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Istanbul, Smyrna, Lisbon, Madrid, Ceuta, Buenos Aires, Toronto, Mexico DF, Rio de

Janeiro, Caracas and local communities. The Network of Jewish Quarters decided to have a significant presence, including its General Secretary

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and four current mayors and councillors from a number of towns. The inclusion of the Mayor of Toledo, Emiliano García-Page, had a symbolic importance which was much appreciated. The University of Paris, the Circulo of Melilla and Centropa completed a roll call of around sixty guests from around twenty countries.

As a prelude, I travelled to the city of Varna on the Black Sea coast with Miguel de Lucas and Carmen and Luis Bassat. The city is home to a number of Sephardic families, the oldest members of which can still express themselves in Jewish-Spanish. They do not have a synagogue or a rabbi, but they do have a venue where they meet every Friday for the ritual lighting of the Sabbath candles. The leader of the community is Oleg Kalderón, who, together with his daughter Eliza, provided us with welcoming and affectionate hospitality.

The opening of the 1st Erensya Summit was prolonged by animated meetings and encounters in the lobby of the Sheraton Hotel. A packed official and cultural agenda was opened by a ceremony in the hundred-year old Sofia Synagogue involving the Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fundakova. Subsequently, there was a working session which established a framework for the exchange of initiatives around Erensya; this included the playing of various audio files from different locations providing evidence in Jewish-Spanish of a blessed balance between memory and technology or, in other words, the past and the future. The Instituto Cervantes then hosted two marvellous conferences led by Eliezer Papo and Marcel Israel, and Shalom organised an enjoyable theatrical performance followed by a Sephardic dinner.

Sephardic songs shattered all protocols. This historic programme ended with saying kaddish in homage to the victims of the 2nd World War under the rainy skies of Sofia and a closing dinner in a traditional tavern.

Sephardic Jews from the same roots but different locations had never met in an event on such a scale. The enthusiasm of the communities and institutions, the fertile exchange of ideas and the honour of such an event being sponsored by the Spanish government only increases the importance of ensuring that the Sephardic heritage is not diluted by the tides of the globalised world. During the Summit, we learnt from these Sephardic Jews about an identity laced with nostalgia, respect, intelligence in asking questions and sensitivity in answering them. I sincerely hope that we were able to transmit to them that we consider them to be children of our land and a twin culture, and that they absorbed our promise that Spain will never again forget its Jews.

moved by a woman in her nineties called Ivette who said: “Remember us, the Jews of Plovdiv, the "españolicos" (the Jewish-Spaniards) of Plovdiv”. Back in Sofia, we were then entertained by a recital by the Jewish-Moroccan singer Mor Karbasi.

The third day featured a new working session in which documentaries were screened and the functioning of communities in Europe and America was explained. Esther Bendahan also gave a presentation on Elías Canetti and his “tongue set free”. In mid-morning we were amazed and charmed by a meeting with the Ladino Club led by Sofía Danon and consisting mostly of women who meet every week to revitalise the use of Jewish-Spanish, or as it is sometimes called “españolito”. They recited poems and riddles, told jokes, described recipes and proudly the sang the melancholic verses of a hymn in the language of their ancestors. Overcome with words and emotions, we later attended a reception in the Spanish Embassy, where the

On the previous page, group photo at the Spanish

Embassy in Bulgaria. On the left, the Mayor of Toledo

addresses the guests at Sofia Synagogue. Above, the

meeting of the Ladino Club. Below, the homage to Ángel

Wagenstein in the city of Plovdiv.

The second day of the Summit was mainly held in Plovdiv, the city founded Phillip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. Accompanied by members of Plovdiv's Sephardic community, we visited the monument to the parts of Bulgarian society who, unlike other countries in the region, tried to stop the transportation of the Jewish community to Nazi concentration camps. We also visited the Roman theatre, the Mediaeval city and the remains of the Jewish quarter, settings which the writer and film director Angel Wagenstein evokes so masterfully in his novel ‘Lejos de Toledo’ (Far from Toledo). In the afternoon, we held a homage to the author on the eve of his 90th birthday: this was in essence a homage to creativity, freedom of thought and irony as an expression of a sharp intelligence. The Mayors of Toledo and Plovdiv praised the quality of his writing, and Sefarad-Israel presented him with a plaque inscribed with his trade as a "forger of words and worlds”. A little later, in the Plovdiv synagogue we were

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BY SOLLY LEVY

I was born in Tangiers

during the 2nd World War. My real mother tongue was the Haketia which I learnt from the cradle in a family descended from the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. I thought that we were talking Spanish. However, over the years I began to understand that our family and community language contained words, intonation and phonemes that were very different to those of everyday Spanish. For example, I realised that we were pronouncing some consonants exactly the same as we would in Arabic or in our synagogue Hebrew. Gradually my conscience developed what I would later regard as my identity card; in other words, the set of linguistic, historic and socio-cultural characteristics which define my personality and which, to an extent, explain the rejection of Haketia by other Jewish-Spanish communities.

This worrying discovery led me to insert the following "discourse" in my book ‘Yahasrá2, escenas haketiescas’ (Yahasra, scenes in Haketia), Montreal 1992,

which was published on the 500th anniversary of the Edict of Expulsion, twenty years ago.

"One of the protagonists -Selomó, a ghost of the past, is speaking.

[…] A few years ago, it seems that many Jews fetnearon (realised) that they were Sephardic. I never knew that I was Sephardic. When we lived in Spain we were Jews; and when we escaped to Tanja (archaic: Tangiers) we were still Jews. Christians called us "Jewish dog", and Arabs lashed their donkeys and said to them "¡Erra, ahya el lihudi lajor", and the Frenchman would also say "Dirty Jew!". But we never, ba'olam (Hebrew: never in this world) heard "¡Erra, ahyal Sephardic lajor, dirty Sephardic, hey you, Sephardic dog!". Never.

In this Sephardic thing there is an arreboltina (mixture) which emdujea (drives me crazy). For example, there are some Jews who are very uladennás (archaic: good people, noble) but who never knew a word of Spanish and whose ancestors never lived in Spain and who don't care a fig about what is Spanish. Ask them what they are: nous sommes des Sépharades.

More than ever, this year people are hairearon (getting excited) and are into all this Sephardism. It's five hundred years since the guerush! (Hebrew: exile, expulsion). They want to remember the killings of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, their sufferings, the mothers who waited in vain for their children to return; the rabbanim (Hebrew: rabbis) who were burnt at the stake with their Torahs in the middle of the street or public squares; the anguish of those nights of Pesah hiding in basements; the qahraz (anguish) of those who had to leave their homes and the country for which they had done so much and which had paid them back so poorly: for example, the Jewish ministers and advisors to the King, lawyers, doctors and Talmudists who knew about everything good in Spanish and in Arabic and in lasón hakkodes...(Hebrew: incorrect pronunciation of lashón hakodesh - sacred language, i.e. Hebrew).

Ladies and Gentlemen, that is the mission of the D'Embasho (the appeared, spirits): hadear (to care for, protect) our descendants and teach them of this painful and wretched inheritance which few Jews understand

OPINION

// Guest opinion

My visionof Haketia1

1 Jewish-Spanish dialect of Morocco, as old as what is today known as "Ladino" or Jewish Spanish in the Balkan

region.2 Yahasrá, nostalgic exclamation: Those were the days!

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or appreciate. Because if you speak to some of our brothers, they will tell you that if it isn't Yiddish it is worthless. If you speak to others, they will tell you that if you cannot speak that mixture of French, Arabic and 'agüádim music (archaic: popular Arab music), you are worthless. And yet others will tell you that the real heirs to those expelled from Spain are those who speak Ladino, and that the best of these are Turkish, followed by those from Salonika, then those from Bulgaria, and then...

But why 'ibadel-lah? (archaic: servants of God). Why? Do we not have rights, yes, us, the Spanish Jews of Morocco? Are we worthless? Do we not know how to meldar (read texts in a religious context in Hebrew) or sing or pitnear (sing "piyyutim", liturgical poems)? Do we not have samples of haketia which, like their Ladino, comes from the Spanish we were speaking in Spain long before 1492?

We don't want to exclude anybody. We are all children of Israel. We all have the right to sing our songs in all types of music, from Klezmer to muwwal (archaic: a vocal improvisation in the context of a piece of Arab-Andalucian music). Everything is good and should be respected. However, what should never be forgotten is that, within

this large family of Jews of ally types, we - the Spanish Jews of Morocco- also have our place and deserve consideration.

I have spoken."

As I said, I wrote this 20 years ago.

Readers, I invite you to examine the current situation -in 2011- to understand what changes from one day to the next.

Appendix: Transcriptionsh = like the Spanish J, but pronounced with the deepest part of the larynx.j = French Jh = English H as in his, home, hatz = French Z' = 'ayin, Hebrew or Arabic: voiced pharyngeal fricative (according to Jacob Hassán)

In Haketia, our family and community language, there were words, intonation and phonemes that were very different to those of everyday Spanish.

Photo of Calle de la Marina, one

of the busiest shopping streets in

Tangiers in 1956.

/ OCTOBER 2011 / 12

// Views of Israel // Literary opinion

OPINION

BY FERNANDO MTEZ-VARA DE [email protected]

As in many cities around the world, the main cities in Israel have been subject to the phenomena known in Spain as "the indignant ones”. In Madrid and other European cities these were, with some notable exceptions, civic actions. This was not the only similarity: in Israel the initiative behind these complaints and actions was led by young people who erected permanent focal points with tents in important parts of the city, and who organised internal assemblies and public demonstrations.

There were however some differences: one of these was that the demonstrators were mostly middle class and involved the part of the population in employment, in comparison to the more working class and even marginalised nature of the movements around Europe. In addition, more people were attracted to the complaints, perhaps because they had been stripped of political content and focused on social demands.

The seed for the protests was a gesture by the Israeli Dafne Leaf who, faced with her inability to rent a flat, decided to pitch a tent on the sumptuous Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv.

Other people joined in, until the street became a small canvas city of disenchantment and rage.

The initiative soon spread to Jerusalem, Haifa, Dimona, Ashkelon, Hadera, Kiryat, Shmona and Eilat. Calls for social justice erupted in all these and reached their peak during the demonstration which took over the streets of Tel Aviv on 3rd September. A peaceful march with a certain festive feel brought together citizens of all creeds and political orientations, who were unanimous in the need for significant improvements in the country's social conditions. Compared to the abstraction and degree of destruction which occurred in the European version, the Israeli protest seemed rational and to have viable demands: the demonstrators demanded an end to inflation; the suppression of the 40% cash requirement for buying property; help for students in the form of grants and registration fees. In general, all the demands related to housing, education and the cost of living.

Politics, religion and territorial issues have never generated such a response from the public in Israel. A fair society is, without doubt, another of the facets of the peace wished for in the camp sites of the Middle East.

The 300,000Israeli March

‘La Leyenda del Santo Bebedor’ • Joseph Roth • Editorial AnagramaJoseph Roth's voice is one of the most distinctive of the tortured 20th century. His story of exiles and defeats illuminates a literature pregnant with nostalgia which is inhabited by the dismayed soul of someone who lived through the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian empire and the destruction of Europe's Jews. His anonymous epitaph -“Austrian writer died in Paris”- is the last step in a life of rootlessness. ‘La Leyenda del Santo Bebedor’ is saturated with rupture and loss, as with so much of Roth's work. In this short novel he narrates the adventures of the “clochard” Andreas who, under the bridge over the Seine where he lives a precarious life, a gentleman gives him an astonishing quantity of money; the only condition is that this amount should be returned, as proof of his devotion, to the priest who looks after the effigy of Saint Teresa of Lisieux. Andreas' determination as he wanders under the implacable dominion of glasses of absinthe is sapped by meetings with the “femme fatale” Caroline, the perfidious Waitech and the protector Kartak. Roth was also familiar with the chaos wrought by alcohol and the dullness of the world into which he was born.

‘1860-1883 Libro de actas de la Junta Selecta de la Comunidad de Tánger’ • Gladys Pimienta and Sidney Pimienta • Jem and Erez Editorez (Paris and Erez Editores)The praiseworthy task of compiling, transcribing and classifying the minutes of the Select Council of the Jewish Community of

Tangiers has resulted in a carefully-crafted edition printed in Jerusalem. This volume has considerable social and historical value, and also includes various introductions by the authors and other experts, a number of appendices which include a general glossary and a list of the rabbis and members of the Council, and a CD containing the 422 original sets of minutes. The transcribed minutes consist of a mosaic of attitudes and sensibilities from the Jewish society of Tangiers in the second half of the 19th century. These texts reveal the main concerns of the Council: trade with butchers and concerns that the preparation of meat should follow religious prescriptions; improvements to schools and the educational system; support for the poor; and the community's medical needs. They also deal with internal issues, such as the administration of donations and the renewal of memberships. The minutes are sometimes surprising, such as the collection of toys for the "Bajá"; the measures to stop cups being taken at Purim; and the expulsion of “bad-tempered women”. This memorable document is enlivened by words in Hebrew and Haketia, together with borrowings from Arabic and English.wFernando Mtez. Vara de Rey

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Courses at the UNEDRegistration will be open for new courses in Judaism at UNED (the National Distance Learning University) until 30th November. The courses cover an ‘Introduction to Judaism’ and ‘Mystical Judaism’ and have been organised by the Department of Mediaeval History and Historic Techniques and Sciences of the Geography and History Faculty.

IN SPAIN

BARCELONACourses in the Cabbala, introductory and advancedRegistration is now open for classroom courses on the Cabbala taught by the Doctor of Philosophy Mario J. Sabán. The lessons will be held on Wednesdays and there will be a number of levels.

Exhibition on Ben Adretat MUHBAThe ‘Salomó ben Adret. The triumph of an orthodoxy. Barcelona, 1235-1310' exhibition will be held at Centro del Call, which is managed by the Museum of the History of Barcelona. The exhibition is accompanied by a conference programme featuring leading specialists in the field.

CACERESGuided toursof the Old Jewish QuarterThe Caceres Association of Tourist Guides is offering tourists and other interested persons explanatory tours of the old city, including its Jewish Quarter.

CORDOBAExhibition on Benjamin de TudelaCordoba Council held the exhibition ‘Benjamin de Tudela, a traveller in time’ featuring a series of photographs by Jesús Álava, who spent two and a half months travelling the route described by de Tudela in his travel journal. Benjamin de Tudela was a traveller and writer who travelled around a

number of Jewish communities in Europe, Asia and Africa for 14 years around 1150.

GIRONAHebrew language coursesThe Nahmánides Study Institute is offering Hebrew language courses for beginners and advanced students until 15th June next year. The courses will be taught by Bàrbara Virgil, a graduate in Jewish philology.

MADRID2011-2012 Courseat the CEJCCEJC (the Madrid Judeo-Christian Study Centre) started its 2011-12 study programme in October under the title "The New Testament and its Jewish context’. The opening conference on 2nd October will be led by M. Victoria Spottorno Díaz-Caro (CSIC) and will deal with ‘The New Testament: Jewish document and Christian tradition’.

Modern Hebrew CourseA course in modern Hebrew taught at the Madrid Judeo-Christian Study Centre is to begin on 10th October. The classes will be taught by a native-speaker Israeli teacher who is a graduate from the Rothberg School at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

'David and Eduardo'at the Lara TheatreTwo Jewish men have been in love with the same woman for 40 years. This is the plot of ‘David and Eduardo: A strange encounter", a

work by the Jewish-English dramatist Lionel Goldstein, which has been a major success. The Spanish version was performed until mid-September in Madrid's Lara Theatre.

MONFORTE DE LEMOSGuided tour of the old townThere is no better way of appreciating the major impact on Jewish people on the local history of Monforte de Lemos than taking part in a guided tour organised by the Casa de la Cultura. The visits take place in the morning from Monday to Friday.

PALMA DE MALLORCAExhibition "The Song of Songs"The Illes Balears UNED (Distance Learning University) Palma centre is hosting an exhibition on the Song of Songs by the sculptress and painter Hortensia Nuñez Ladevéze. The exhibition will be open to the public until 20th October.

SAN SEBASTIANMarc Chagall at the KursaalThis exhibition is divided into five themes - self-portraits, landscapes, surrealism, the circus and the Bible- to explore the life and work of the painter Marc Chagall, which is on display until 9th October at the Kursaal's Sala Kubo-Kutxa. The exhibition is entitled ‘Chagall. Sens Dessus Dessous’.

ZARAGOZAJewish languageand culture coursesThe Sefarad Aragón cultural association has opened up registration for its course in modern Hebrew and Jewish culture. The course begins on 18th October and is classroom based.

ABROAD

GERMANYThe nature of being Germanat the Jewish MuseumThe exhibition "How German is it? The notion of home of

30 artists’ will be on display until next year in Berlin. The exhibition aims to examine questions such as: Is there such a thing as a collective national identity? And, how do people from the Federal Republic of Germany and people from other countries who live in Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt see themselves?

ARGENTINAHomage to the IFT Theatrein Buenos AiresAs part of the 70th Anniversary of the ICUF, a homage to the IFT Theatre was carried out consisting of an evening of ‘Klein Kunst’ (small-scale art). Three one-act plays were performed from the repertoire of the IFT theatre covering the institutions of Greater Buenos Aires, the interior of the country and its Jewish colonies. The event took place on Tuesday, 20th September.

BRAZILExhibition on Borgesand the Cabbala in São PauloUntil mid-October, Mirta Kupferminc and Saúl Sosnowski are presenting the exhibition ‘Cartografia do desejo: Borges e a Cabalá’ at the Jewish Cultural Centre of São Paulo. The exhibition takes the form of an experience in which the artists have taken over the Jewish Cultural Centre of São Paulo building and the visitor follows a map and finds (or not) keys which might provide access to different concepts related to the Cabbala and Borges.

ISRAELPhotography at the Israel Museum in JerusalemThe Israel Museum of Jerusalem is hosting a photography exhibition on the work of Helmar Lerski in the 1940s entitled ‘Working Hands’ in the Rena (Fisch) and Robert Lewin gallery until 23rd October.

NEWS

// news

The play in performance.

/ OCTOBER 2011 / 14

// interview

NEWS

DINO BARROCAS“I don't want to distance myself from the changesinherent in nature”

Dino Barrocas' personal sculptural universe is built around iron. The fondness of this Sephardic artist born in Uruguay (his family emigrated from Turkey to Cuba and then to South America) dates back to his childhood, when he watched his father creating cars by hand. He began his career as a metalworker when he was just 10 years old, when he also had his first exhibition. He has been involved in a perpetual search to understand the behaviour of iron when it is exposed to heat, and when it is twisted and welded.

15 / OCTOBER 2011 /

as rusting which enable me to develop my work in other directions.

Where do these directions lead to?Towards beauty or harmony. It is easy to say, but very difficult to achieve. There are a number of factors involved in sculpting in iron. In order to be able to work from a drawing to create the final piece, you need a workshop and to have mastered the skills involved.

It is hard to believe you can achieve such delicate forms with iron…There are certain fundamental pillars within iron allowing to make something heavy appear to be light at sight. Through experimentation I have generated a technique called "electrode recharging" which involves adding material to the iron instead of removing it.

Could this be considered a path to approaching the true essence of things?I don't want to distance myself from the changes inherent in nature -such as rusting- as they are allies in my work. In some pieces the rusting is stopped at a certain point, whilst in others the rusting continues over several years until the piece is completely red.

How would you define the aesthetic expressiveness transmitted through your sculptural work?It would be appropriate to define it through some of the words which have marked my behaviour and which are never too far from my work: work, dignity, balance, smoothness and beauty.

How has your stay on the Bolivian and Peruvian High Plain influenced the way in which you conceive your work?I have been connected to the anthropologist Claude H. Sirois Simoneau, author of ‘En el susurro del silencio’ (The sound of silence), in which he recounts his experience with the Inuit (Eskimos in the north of Canada) in the 1970s. I was interested in their response to the sculptures and different types of material. They believe that every stone has a soul, so they remove very little material until they manage to generate this smooth concept. On the High Plain I wanted to observe how the locals worked stone and how they treated it. It was beautiful to see how they repeated the concepts of the Inuit. This behaviour has had a major influence on me, particularly in pieces in Uruguay.

What reference points are there in your work?I have followed my own path, but others have contributed, such as my teacher in Segovia Angel de Andrés who we worked with in the forge.

How has your work developed over recent years?In a balanced way: this is something that you achieve through repeated attempts and without losing sight of the basis of natural beauty. I have evolved in my view of the interpretation of the pathways of nature, from what could be the softness of a leaf to a general concept of the interpretation of divinity.

He has been living from sculpture for the last eight years. He used to have a workshop in Santander but has recently moved to Barcelona, although he combines this with visits to Uruguay. In February, he will return to the UN headquarters in Geneva (Switzerland) with a selection of his work.

The work he has been developing over the last three years is currently on display in the garden of the Palacio de Cañete, the headquarters of Sefarad-Israel. The exhibition is entitled ‘Fierro’ (Iron) and it will be on display until 15th November. The exhibition invites visitors to immerse themselves in the various forms of interpretation of the divine from a human perspective. Roots -an essential part of this exhibition- make it possible to experience a matching of iron with other natural elements, such as wood.

Why did you choose iron as the raw material for your work? I have experimented with marble, stone and granite, but these do not offer the harmony that iron gives me. As it is a mineral, I can use some techniques and interrelations with the environment such

My work transmits work, dignity, balance, smoothness and beauty

There are a number of factors involved in sculpting in iron. You need a workshop and to have mastered the skills involved

/ OCTOBER 2011 / 16

CURRENT INFORMATION ON SEFARAD ISRAEL AND THE JEWISH WORLDOCTOBER 2011www.casasefarad-israel.es

A man is master of his silences and a slave of his wordsSigmund Freud (1856-1939)

// the quotation

The institution:

GOBIERNO DE ESPAÑA

MINISTERIO DE ASUNTOS EXTERIORES Y DE COOPERACIÓN Excmo. Ayuntamiento de Jaén

About us.Sefarad-Israel is a Spanish institution established by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the Community of Madrid and Madrid City Council. Our objectives: To promote relationships of friendship and cooperation between Spain, Israel and Jewish communities all over the world by carrying out activities in the political, economic, social, scientific and cultural fields.Where to find us? C/ Mayor, 69. Madrid / Tel.: + 34 91 391 10 02. www.casasefarad-israel.es E-mail: [email protected]

// The profile

THE MAGIC OF IVAN SCHULLER

The search for beauty in symmetry or for order in the Universe, but on a "nano" scale is the reason why Ivan Schuller is one of the most prestigious scientists in the world. In fifteen years, this physics professor from the University of California with Jewish roots (he was born on the border of Rumania and Hungary and emigrated to Chile before settling in the United States) is responsible for around 500 publications and the registration of 19 patents. He is the president of the IMDEA (Madrid Institute of Advanced Studies) Nanoscience Foundation.

One of his main areas of research involves nanoscience, which involves studying the properties of materials when they are very small (between atomic and macroscopic in size) and demonstrating that they behave very differently on such a scale.

He is back in Madrid again to attend a symposium on

nanoscience (during his stay Sefarad-Israel will be recognising his career) wearing a wild shirt decorated with the periodic table of elements which would light up any presentation; one quote recurs in his pronounced Chilean accent: “Physics is magic”. And in fact, though it may appear a little crazy, this is the case. Better still it is real magic. This premise does of course require examples to convince the audience. And Schuller, a fan of the theatre and performing arts in general (he directed ‘When Things Get Small’, which was awarded the Emmy Prize for educational cinema in 2006), never tires of repeating it. “If you throw a ball against a wall, it bounces back; however, quantum mechanics tells us that if you throw it a sufficient number of times, the ball will go through the wall. This is known as the tunnel effect, something which happens millions of times on the read/write head of a hard disk”. Physics. And magic.

Ivan Schuller was awarded an honorary doctorate by Madrid's

Complutense University in 2005.

ALEF 45 OCTOBER 2011 ENGLISH

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