Keridos amigos,
First of all, happy Hanukkah - Hanuka alegre -- to everyone--we really need light amidst the darkness these days...
I would like to take the opportunity to invite you to the upcoming
Enkontro de Alhad, this Sunday, December 21, over zoom, organized by Centro Cultural Sefarad in Buenos Aires. For this session--which, like all the
enkontros, will take place entirely in Ladino--I will speak about our efforts at the University of Washington to create one of the largest libraries and archives pertaining to Ladino-speaking Sephardic Jews from the lands of the former Ottoman Empire. I'll speak about how the project began here in Seattle with members of the local Sephardic community and how it has developed over the past decade. Most importantly, I will also showcase some of the most fascinating documents and artifacts to come to our attention--they are truly "trezoros" (treasures).
I wanted to point out one, in particular, because it relates to Hanukkah; I wrote about here: "
The Paradox of Hanukkah in Greece--and Auschwitz." The "treasure" in question is a prayer book published in Salonica in 1941, during World War II, that adapted the text of the Hanukkah liturgy to accommodate the realities of living in Greece (i. e. "Greeks" were not depicted as the enemies in the story told by this prayer book!). I'll discuss this and other "trezoros" on Sunday. Please join us!
"Los Trezoros Sefaradis de Seattle"
Sunday December 21
@ 8 am PT/ 11 am ET/ 18:00 Greece/Israel / 19:00 Turkey
I hope to see some of you there! Feel free to invite any and all who may be interested in joining the Enkontro.
Looking ahead to 2026, I hope some of you will consider tuning in for the upcoming
Sephardi Modernities Seminar. I will have the honor of kicking off this year's series on January 26. The theme will be "diaspora." For more information and to register, please see
here.
Kon salud i beraha--
Devin
--
Dr. Devin E. Naar (he/him)
The Isaac Alhadeff Professor in Sephardic Studies
Associate Professor, Stroum Center for Jewish Studies & Dept. of History
The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
University of Washington, Campus Box 353650
Seattle, WA 98195
+1.206.616.6202
