Author: SepLeadSite

March 23, 2021

Rabbi Daniel Bouskila, Rabbi/Director at the Sephardic Education Center introduced fellows to Classic Sephardic Judaism and examples of how Sephardic sages and leaders have created equitable, inclusive, and adaptive communities through the ages. He grounded his talk in lessons articulated by Rabbi Yitshak Chouraqui, a Sephardic Scholar from Jerusalem who noted the following:

” Faced with the social, cultural, and technological upheavals of the past two centuries, Sephardi rabbis in Muslim lands did not withdraw from modern society, and did not choose to create a strict, isolationist Orthodoxy. Instead they faced modernity exhibiting a spirit of openness and flexibility. Attention to the dynamic sources of human life is a central element in Classic Sephardi and North African jurisprudence. To put this approach into practice as a factor in halakhic decision making, a sage must exhibit love for those affected by his decision, and sympathy for their needs and circumstances.”

Rabbi Bouskila provided a detailed source document to benefit all fellows and those visiting this website

Rabbi Daniel Bouskila is widely known in the Jewish community for his dynamic lectures, thought-provoking sermons and creative articles on a wide variety of Jewish topics. His 26-year rabbinic career represents a unique blend of spiritual leadership, intellectual pursuits and Jewish communal professionalism.

From 1993-2009, he was the rabbi of the Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel in Los Angeles, during which he was also an instructor in Jewish Studies at Shalhevet High School (fun fact: he coached the Shalhevet Girls Varsity Basketball Team to back-to-back national tournament championships).

In 2009, he assumed the leadership of the Sephardic Educational Center (SEC), an international educational and cultural organization with its own historic campus in the Old City of Jerusalem. Under his leadership, the SEC has become a world renowned Sephardic think tank that translates and teaches the moderate halakhic approach and tolerant worldview of Classic Sephardic Judaism’s major rabbinic figures.

March 9, 2021

Speaker: Dr. Devin E. Naar

In this talk fellows explored a series of challenging moments in American Jewish history from the 18th to 20th centuries that reveal the ways in which Jews of different kinds have simultaneously been targets and beneficiaries of racism and discrimination. Fellows learned the ways in which the laws of the country, which have provided or deprived people of rights based on their race, have shaped Jewish institutional practices over the generations. The laws of the land have influenced how American Jewish institutions have provided greater legitimacy and representation to certain Jews over others while also shaping Jews’ relationships with other vulnerable communities. The recognition of the ways that Jews have been implicated in systems of oppression even while remaining vulnerable provides the historical context for action in the present.

Speaker’s Bio

Dr. Devin E. Naar is the Isaac Alhadeff Professor in Sephardic Studies, Associate Professor of History, and faculty at the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies in the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. From New Jersey, Dr. Naar graduated summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis and received his Ph.D. in History at Stanford University. He has also served as a Fulbright fellow to Greece.

His first book, Jewish Salonica: Between the Ottoman Empire and Modern Greece, was published by Stanford University Press in 2016. The book won the 2016 National Jewish Book Award in the category of Research Based on Archival Material and was named a finalist in Sephardic Culture. It also won the 2017 Edmund Keeley Prize for best book in Modern Greek Studies awarded by the Modern Greek Studies Association. It was translated into Greek by Alexandria Press in Athens in 2018.

Speaker: Dr. Mijal Bitton

This session helped fellows build foundational language and knowledge around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and Sephardic Jewish Americans. Fellows began to untangle some of the ideas and language about how Sephardic Jews are defined and the limitations many Sephardic Jewish Americans face in DEI spaces. During Mijal’s talk she shared research from a variety of scholars including: Aviva Ben Ur, Daniel Elazar, Zvi Zohar, Nissim Leon, and Nissim Mizrachi.

Speaker’s Bio

Dr. Mijal Bitton is a Scholar in Residence at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, and the Rosh Kehilla (communal leader) and co-founder of the Downtown Minyan in New York City. Mijal received a BA from Yeshiva University and earned her doctorate from New York University, where she conducted an ethnographic study of a Syrian Jewish community with a focus on developing the field of contemporary Sephardic studies in America.  She is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship and is a recognized national and international scholar and leader of Sephardic Jewish communities.