11th July 2021
A Sephardic Summer Celebration
From Cordoba to the World
Limmud, Music & Traveling
11th July 2021
On-line
We have great reasons to celebrate this day with friends from all over the world. After more than a year in which almost all of our activities have been online, we have made friends from the four corners of the earth. We hope that you will soon be able to come to Spain and Andalusia and celebrate with us in person the beauty of the Sephardic legacy. Until that moment arrives, we offer you this day dedicated to two exciting aspects of our Sephardic culture: women and music. The celebration will end with a virtual tour to the Jewish quarter of Cordoba led by Rabbi Haim Casas.
Our Program
"Moroccan Jewish women and their blessings: incantations of protection and care"
DR. Angy Cohen
Blessings and prayers for the well-being of others have traditionally been part of women's religiosity.
We will explore women's blessings in Haketia and will reconstruct their meaning and experience of the world. This will allow for a better understanding of women's spiritual life and their contribution to a lived Judaism.
"Flamenco and the Influence of Sephardic Culture"
Leilah Broukhim
Flamenco is a deeply-rooted, multi-faceted art form, historically influenced by diverse cultures. Iranian-American flamenco dancer Leilah Broukhim delves into the background of flamenco and the presence of Sephardic tradition through her ground-breaking show "Dejando Huellas," which poignantly traces her Sephardic roots through music and dance.
Virtual Walking Tour of Jewish Cordoba
Rabbi Haim Casas
The Jewish quarter of Córdoba is one of the best preserved medieval Jewish quarters in all of Europe. Home of great thinkers and unsurpassed beauty, its streets and houses keep secrets that fascinate both locals and visitors. In it we can visit the only medieval synagogue preserved until today in Andalusia. Discover with us the fascinating history of this neighborhood, declared a world heritage by the UNESCO, as well as the life and work of its most famous inhabitants such as the great thinker Maimonides.
Celebrate Spanish Jewish Heritage with us from home and support our work in southern Sepharad.
We need you!
Speakers
Dr. Angy Cohen
Dr. Angy Cohen is the 2020-2021 Belzberg postdoctoral associate in Israel Studies at
University of Calgary. She is a cultural researcher focused on the study of personal narratives and identity construction among Jews from Arab and Muslim countries in Israel. Her approach to ethnographic work weaves together the fields of cultural psychology, narrative psychology, sociology, and anthropology. She is a member of the Sephardi/Mizrahi feminist Beit Midrash Arevot in Jerusalem, where she coordinates the Morot Tzedek/Teachers of Justice program, taught by Rabbi Haim Ovadia. Morot Tzedek which trains women in the Sephardi tradition to become agents of change in the field of halacha.
Angy Cohen received her PhD in 2017 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, in a Joint PhD program. Her doctoral dissertation was a comparative ethnographic study of life stories among Spanish-Moroccan Jews that emigrated to Israel and Argentina. She has held postdoctoral positions at the School of Cultural Studies of Tel Aviv University and the Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies at Concordia University.
Leilah Broukhim
Persian-Jewish flamenco dancer, singer-songwriter and artistic director Leilah Broukhim moved to Madrid from New York after receiving a B.A. from Columbia University. She performs in Spain's principal tablaos, teaches workshops globally and currently tours with her own dance company in international theaters and festivals.
R. Haim Casas
R. Casas was born in the beautiful city of Córdoba, the city of Maimonides, in 1981. He spent part of my childhood and youth in Cádiz, the oldest European city founded by the Phoenicians on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean 3,000 years ago. He did his law studies at the University of Seville. These three cities have marked his life and are responsible for the three pillars on which his rabbinate is built: love for history and tradition, hospitality, and joy.
After finishing his law studies, and spending a year living in the United Kingdom, he decided to return to Córdoba to collaborate with Rosana de Aza in founding Casa de Sefarad. In addition to his work at Casa de Sefarad, he was a cofounder of Casa Mazal, the first Sephardic restaurant in Andalusia. Since then, protecting and promoting the Judeo-Spanish legacy has been a fundamental mission in his life.
Creating spaces in which the rich diversity of Jewish identity and spirituality can be lived in an open and tolerant way has guided his work since he began rabbinical training at London’s Leo Baeck College. Since his ordination in 2017, he has served communities in Switzerland, France and Spain, always guided by three principles: openness, humility, and joy.
Rabbi Haim Casas is the promoter of “La Sinagoga Abierta”(The Open Synagogue) and the Director of Makom Sefarad both projects carried out thanks to the support of ROI and the Schusterman Family Foundation.
This event was made possible through the ROI Community Grassroots Events program.