Friends,

            While a good deal of the work that I do addresses the problems
of the Sephardic Jews from the standpoint of Right Wing Jewish Orthodoxy and
Zionism, it is equally important to realize that racist Ashkenazi Jews are
not only on the Right Wing side of the political ledger.

            Indeed, Ashkenazi Jewish ethnocentrism is not limited to
Conservatives, but exists among Liberals and Progressives as well.  In the
media, academia, and in the non-profit world of Think-tanks and institutions
there is an anti-Sephardi exclusionary principle at work that is
all-too-apparent to those of us who examine what is happening in the Jewish
world at present.

            I am often told that this exclusionism is not a product of
conscious design, but simply an oversight due to ignorance and a lack of
information.

            For this reason, I have prepared a special edition of the
Sephardic Heritage Update that would help to rectify the matter.  I have
collected a bunch of previously-published articles from the SHU that would
serve as resources addressing issues central to the Progressive community.

            We begin the newsletter with a reading list I prepared which
lays out the case of the Sephardi activist community.  The list includes
many important books and academic studies that display the important work
being done by a small but dedicated group of Sephardim who are routinely
ignored by the Progressive community.

            Next is the article I wrote a few years ago which deals with the
lack of positive Sephardi inclusion at the J Street conference in Washington
.  J Street has become a lightning rod within Right Wing Jewish and
pro-Zionist circles, and yet its exclusion of Sephardi voices and issues
remains unspoken.

            “A Broken Frame” is one of my generic essays on the evisceration
of Sephardic culture and history from the Ashkenazi-dominated Jewish
discourse.  It is an attempt to introduce those unfamiliar with Sephardic
civilization to the basic ideas and concepts in that history.

            “Contested Histories and Disembodied Voices” is my review essay
on Yehouda Shenhav’s book The Arab Jews.  The essay goes into some detail to
explicate the Sephardi Question in Israel and the oppression and persecution
that Sephardim have been forced to face in the larger framework of a Jewish
empowerment in Israel that has largely passed them by.

            “Sephardi Typologies” is an essay of mine that provides the
philosophical issues that have forced many Sephardim to acculturate to the
dominant Ashkenazi Jewish models.

            An excellent article from Trude Weiss-Rosmarin first published
in 1967 gives us an overview of the Sephardic place in the peace discourse
on the Middle East.  It is a comprehensive review of many of the basic
issues involved in pro-Sephardi advocacy as it relates to Israel and the
Palestine issue.

            My teacher Ross Brann is one of the most important experts on
the literary culture of Sepharad/al-Andalus.  His lecture on Muslim Spain
and the Sephardim at the time of the Genizah provides some basic information
about the foundational elements of Sephardic culture and civilization.

            Another scholar who has done so much to illuminate Sephardic
history is our good friend Arthur Kiron.  His seminal article on “Atlantic”
Judaism is one of the most important resources for American and European
Jews to better understand how the old Andalusian tradition found its way to
the West, moving from the Mediterranean world to the Americas.  For those
who continue to think that American Judaism means Ashkenazi Judaism, the
article will provide an important perspective that will serve to alter your
view of the matter.

            Michelle Campos has recently published an excellent book called
Ottoman Brothers, the seeds of which appear in her article on
Palestineprior to the emergence of
Israel.  The article opens a window onto what is a largely forgotten world
where Jews, Muslims and Christians lived together and were working towards a
new union based on the emerging constitutional principles of the Ottoman
government.

            In a similar vein, Abigail Jacobson has done wonderful work on
the relationship between Sephardic Jews in pre-state Jerusalem and the
Zionist movement.  Her excellent article provides us with the voices of
Sephardim before they were extinguished in favor of Ashkenazi ones.

            We end this special newsletter with an important article from
the Israel radical group Matzpen which vilifies some of the most prominent
Sephardi activists.  In my comments to the article I argue that
anti-Sephardi prejudice is not limited to Right Wing partisans, but the
demeaning and condescending Ashkenazi ethnocentrism is also alive and well
in Progressive circles.

            I hope that our readers will take a serious look at this problem
and make use of this special newsletter in order to become more
knowledgeable about the Sephardi Question, but to also make their friends
and colleagues aware of the plethora of resources that are currently
available; resources that can be utilized to create a more balanced account
of Jewish concerns in an age of polarization.  There is no legitimate reason
for Sephardim to be kept out of conferences and discussions of Jewish
matters.  The many Sephardi activists who are out there are given voice in
this special newsletter and should be acknowledged as a critical part of the
ongoing Jewish discussion over Israel and Zionism.

David Shasha

* *

*Sephardic Resources for Progressive Activists*

By: David Shasha

* *

*American Sephardim: **No Place** at the (Ashkenazi) Jewish Table*

By: David Shasha

* *

*A Broken Frame: Sephardi Occlusion and the Repairing of Jewish Dysfunction*

By: David Shasha

* *

*Contested Histories and Disembodied Voices: How to Speak of the Arab Jew*

By: David Shasha

* *

*Sephardi Typologies: Hating Ourselves and Others*

By: David Shasha

* *

*Toward Jewish-Muslim Dialogue*

By: Trude Weiss-Rosmarin

* *

*Hebrew Literary Culture in **Spain** (Al-Andalus) in the Age of the Geniza*

By: Ross Brann

* *

*An Atlantic Jewish **Republic** of **Letters**?*

By: Arthur Kiron

* *

*Between “Beloved Ottomania” and “The **Land** of **Israel**”: The Struggle
for Ottomanism and Zionism among **Palestine**’s Sephardi Jews 1908-1913*

By: Michelle U. Campos

* *

*The Sephardi Jewish Community in Pre-World War I **Jerusalem**: Debates in
the Hebrew Press*

By: Abigail Jacobson

* *

*Ashkenazi Racism has no Barrier: Israeli Leftist Radicals Attack Mizrahim!*

By: David Shasha

* *

*Zionism and Oriental Jews: Dialectic of Exploitation and Cooptation*

By: Ehud Ein-Gil and Moshe Machover

* *

newsletter special sephardic resources for progressives.doc 1177K Download