Day 3: Shuraki’s quest for Sephardic social activism in Israel

One of the few Sephardic group’s in Israel that is seeking to train Israeli rabbis to better address social needs in their society is Memizrach Shemesh. This morning Rabbi Yizthak Shuraki, the Memizrach Shemesh’s Director of the Rabbinic training course, outlined some of the activities his organization is undertaking to help transform the mentalities of the country’s rabbis—which may ultimately help the people of Israel. Shuraki said the overall objective of his program was to offer rabbis in Israel with the knowledge and training to resolve issues of identity and serious social problems instead of merely addressing smaller topics of keeping kosher, or keeping the Sabbath or traditions. One success story Shuraki outlined was of a religious rabbi who had completed the program at Memizrach Shemesh and returned to his community to encourage young religious men to complete their high school education. This effort would result in enabling religious men in Israel to be able to earn a living, instead of being trapped in poverty or the welfare system.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Shuraki’s program is the fact that it welcomes rabbis who are both Ashkenazi and Sephardic and hail from various levels of religiosity in the country. Interestingly, Shuraki’s program began in 2004 and 36 rabbis since then have completed the program since then. Participants of the S.E.C.’s summer seminar said they were impressed with and interested in Shuraki’s program being introduced in the U.S. for American rabbis.

Day 2: Sephardim putting the “rock” in Israeli rock n’ roll music!

Author and Israeli journalist Yossi Klein Halevi is perhaps one of the most well know and respected writers in Israel and the U.S. when it comes to analysis of Israeli politics. But tonight after his presentation for our group at the S.E.C. here in Jerusalem, I was impressed with the depth of his knowledge and passion for Israeli rock music. At the same time I was more surprised to learn that Sephardic music in Israel, since the birth of Israeli rock n’ roll in the late 1960s, has gradually become the main influence for today’s rock music in Israel. “Israeli music is now a nice mixture of Sephardi and Ashkenazi music,” said Halevi who is also a fellow Shalom Hartman Institute. “In the 1960’s and 1970’s, there was a music revolution that brought Sephardi music and culture into the mainstream Israeli society”.

Halevi explained that before the 1967 “Six Days War” no Sephardic music was played on Israeli radio stations and Israeli rock n’ roll music was extremely secular. “After that war, young Israelis put down their accordions and picked up the electric guitar,” said Halevi. “There was a slow push back from Sephardi musicians with the introduction of Greek music and other ‘cassette’ Sephardic music from outside the mainstream”. Halevi also said that Israeli rock in 1977 also became more influenced by Sephardic music after the election of prime minister Menachem Begin who really had embraced Sephardic Jewry as a part of the fabric of Israeli society. Since then Halevi explained, Israeli rock music has gradually become infused with a greater message of spirituality as well as a Sephardic melodies, instruments and poems.

Halevi “rocked” out with us by playing various Sephardic influenced Israeli rock n’ roll songs for our group. This is video footage of Halevi discussing the impact of Iranian-Israeli rock singer Meir Banai on contemporary Israeli rock music and his most recent hit song “Lecha Eli” which is originally a religious song typically sung during Yom Kippur…

Day 2: JPOST reporter Mandel sheds light on Emmanuel affair

After hearing from a series of scholars and rabbis last night and today, this afternoon the Jerusalem Post’s religious affairs reporter, Jonah Mandel, spent time with us to give new insights into the everyday life of Sephardim and especially religious Sephardim living in Israel.

Mandel shed light on the contentious Emmanuel affair that has been unfolding during the last three years. The case involves religious Sephardic Jewish children from the “Slonim” sect in the small and poor Israeli city of Emmanuel who were allegedly victims of racial discrimination by religious Ashkenazi faculty members of their “Bet Yacov” school. As a result, the parents of these children sued the State of Israel for racial discrimination since the government fully funds the school and did not take measures to prevent the discrimination. Ultimately the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parents and ordered an end to the discrimination, but the case had other “interesting” twists and turns that I won’t get into but can be read in Mandel’s recent piece in the Jerusalem Post.

After his discussion with us, I sat down with Mandel for this brief interview where he sheds light on the status of religious Sephardic Jews living in Israel…



-- Karmel Melamed

Photo Essay: Sights from outside the S.E.C.

The area surrounding the S.E.C. here in the Old City of Jerusalem is a remarkable place where east meets west and where the ancient world meets the modern world. I am always blown away at how both worlds can coexist in one place. Earlier this morning I ventured outside the immediate S.E.C.'s building to further explore this area. No where else on planet earth will you such a lovely mixture of the old and new worlds of human kind woven together so beautifully in one area. This is one reason why Jerusalem is so special for the world's three major religions. These sights were remarkable considering the busy traffic in the area, the magnificent views of the various homes in the distances, the ancient stone buildings and an overall magical sense of electricity in the area.

Below are just a few snapshots I captured of the immediate areas surrounding the S.E.C. which are indeed unique and breathtaking.


-- Karmel Melamed

Video Webcasts: Dr. Nessim and Rabbi Bouskila making waves at S.E.C.

Dr. Jose Nessim, a founder of the S.E.C. is perhaps one of the very few people in this world who I consider my hero. This because even though he was successful in his medical profession, he took on the more important and unique challenge of founding an organization dedicated to keeping traditional Sephardic Judaism alive. His vision for such group and center was a task never undertaken by other Sephardim in modern times. It was a long and often tough road for Dr. Nessim, but today after more than 30 years, since his dream has become a lovely reality. The S.E.C.’s center in Jerusalem with offices in North America, South America and elsewhere have become one of the leading, if not the most well known Sephardic organization through out the world. Dr. Nessim had a dream and never gave up on it…and today, Sephardic Jews benefit from that remarkable vision.

Tonight I capture this brief but very touching footage of Dr. Nessim talking about his vision for the S.E.C. becoming a reality….






This is also footage I captured of Rabbi Bouskila discussing the S.E.C.’s objectives in going online to share more details about this week’s summer seminar on Sephardic Judaism for the 21st century on the web through blogging…






-- Karmel Melamed

A Warm Welcome and Insights into Sephardic Rabbis’ Responsa

(S.E.C.’s founders Ron Nessim and Dr. Jose Nessim address those in attendance)


Tonight, nearly two dozen participants of the S.E.C.’s seminar this week in the Old City of Jerusalem were given a warm welcome by the organization’s faculty and founders at an opening dinner. Delicious food and incredible conversation were plentiful inside the dinning hall before the evening’s lecture began. The S.E.C.’s chairman Ron Nessim and S.E.C. founder Dr. Jose Nessim shared some insights about the organization’s objectives to of enhancing Sephardic Judaism through a traditional centrist direction.

Rabbi Bouskila, who organized the week long seminar in Jerusalem, introduced the evening’s keynote speaker, Dr. Zvi Zohar who is a Bar Ilan University professor and leading expert on Sephardic Jewish tradition. Zohar, who surprisingly is not Sephardic, has spent his career researching and writing about the analysis of “halacha” or traditions of Sephardic rabbis during the last 150 years. He has reviewed the writings or “responsa” these various famous rabbis have had to questions posed to them by rabbis in other cities and countries. What delighted those in attendance for the lecture was the fact that Zohar presented a wide range of information from different Sephardic rabbis who were grappling with the problems of interrupting ancient Jewish traditions and laws to fit modern problems Jews in their communities faced. For example, he pointed to early 20th century Rabbi Ya’akov Mizrahi of Buenos Aires, who wrote in one of his responsa regarding women’s studying of Torah. Professor Zohar said that a time when Jewish women were not permitted to study Torah or it was not the norm for them to do so, Mizrahi states that women should be permitted to study Torah in order to keep Judaism alive when raising their children.

I witnessed something very unique for the first time, the seminar’s participants had a lively debate on how one must adapt Sephardic Jewish traditions for the modern age without loosing its key points of importance. It was nice for a change seeing average Jews discussing an essential topic without getting too loud and out of hand! Another important point Zohar made during his lecture was that “the more you know about Jewish traditions (halacha) the more wealth of information to offer those with problems other options in dealing with questions about tradition”.

On an interesting note, I had the pleasure of sitting with Professor Zohar before his meal and he shed light on the fact that his interest in Sephardic Judaism began at a young age. He said after his older eastern European teachers in school referred to Sephardic Jews as “lazy” for not being committed to strictly keeping Judaism or remaining strongly secular, he was curious to find out why Jews who were originally from Islamic or North African countries were able to maintain a happy medium between strict religiosity and strict secularism. To his surprise he discovered that Sephardic religious leaders have always managed to find a happy medium for religiosity without forfeiting their long standing traditions.

-- Karmel Melamed


Here are just some of the photos I captured this evening...



(Dr. Zvi Zohar, Bar Ilan University professor and leading expert on Sephardic Jewish tradition and religious commentaries).



(Rabbi Daniel Bouskila, S.E.C. Director of Special Projects)



(Larry Azose, S.E.C.'s World Executive Director)

Returning home to Israel and S.E.C. again…

When Rabbi Daniel Bouskila, the director of special projects for the Sephardic Educational Center (S.E.C.) in Los Angeles asked to me to join him and a group of distinguished Sephardic Jews from Los Angeles and New York on a journey to Jerusalem as a blogger to chronicle their incredible one-week long seminar on the unique aspects of Sephardic Judaism, I jumped at the opportunity. Aside from the fact that I am and have always been a fan of journeying to Israel, the S.E.C. holds a very special place in my heart since I spent one month with the S.E.C.’s young adults program traveling all over Israel in 1996 with other young Jews after I had graduated from high school. (This was in the time before "Birthright"). At that time we spent a good amount of time at the S.E.C.’s building which is prominently situated at the entrance of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. The S.E.C.’s close proximity to the Western Wall allowed us young adults at that time a greater sense of Jewish spirituality. I knew no other person on the trip but the program laid out by the S.E.C. brought us all together. Ultimately I met three of my closests friends as a result of the S.E.C.'s remarkable trip. In the end, I walked away from that post-high school trip with very fond memories of Israel and the S.E.C.

This afternoon when I entered the S.E.C’s building here in Jerusalem, those great memories came rushing back and I was delighted to see incredible renovations made to the structure during the last 14 years. I think what delights many Sephardic Jews like myself, is the fact that we have a center or base in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem dedicated to keeping our proud heritage, history and traditions alive. While the exterior of the center is covered with the traditional Jerusalem stone as required by the municipality, the interior of the building is quite new with dorms for young students visiting Israel, an area designated for eating, meeting halls and a lovely patio to delight in the outside weather. The S.E.C.’s base in Jerusalem in my opinion is also special because it brings together both the past and present of traditional Sephardic Judaism in an area holy to the Jewish people. For example, next door to the S.E.C.’s building here in Old City, one can find the well-known and historic “Four Sephardi Synagogues”. For these reasons and others I consider the S.E.C. here in Jerusalem “my home away from home” and will no doubt enjoy learning more about key areas in Sephardic Judaism through out the program this week.

-- Karmel Melamed


Before the participants entered the center for the start of this year’s program, I had a chance to capture these unique snapshots of the S.E.C.’s building…





(The S.E.C.'s patio area situated inside the building)









(A view of the Four Sephardi Synagogues from the S.E.C.)