Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 9, 2014
International Mizrahi Remembrance Month
San Francisco Ceremony to Honor the Forgotten Refugees
With Israel’s Consul General to the Pacific Northwest Dr. Andy David,
JIMENA Co-Founder Semha Alwaya, and Israeli Musician & Schusterman Visiting Israeli Artists at The Magnes Yair Harel
Thursday, October 30, 2014
7:00PM – 9:00PM
Congregation Beth Sholom
301 14th Ave San Francisco
RSVP at info@jimena.org
San Francisco – On June 23, 2014 the Government of Israel adopted a law which designates November 30th as an annual, national day of commemoration for the 850,000 Jewish refugees who were displaced from Arab countries and Iran in the 20th century. The law, which is the culmination of several years of hard work and dedication by an international team of Mizrahi Justice advocates, entails commemoration events and the inclusion of Mizrahi history into schools’ curriculum.
JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, a nonprofit that seeks universal recognition of the Mizrahi refugee experience and heritage, will honor this pivotal moment by launching “Mizrahi Remembrance Month: Honoring the Forgotten Refugees.” As part of Mizrahi Remembrance Month, JIMENA is planning a range of educational and cultural programs throughout North America during the month of November. The initiative will kick off in San Francisco with a dignified ceremony honoring the heritage and history of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews from Arab countries and Iran.
The ceremony will feature a performance by Yair Harel, a Jerusalem-born musician and educator who is credited for having played a major role repopularizing ancient piyyutim – a form of Jewish liturgical poetry that thrived in the Arab world. Since 2008, Yair has served as artistic director of the critically acclaimed Jerusalem Piyyut Festival and the Piyyut Ensemble of Hebrew University’s Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi Institute, for the study of Jewish communities in the Arab world.
The San Francisco program will also feature remarks by JIMENA co-founder and Iraqi native, Semha Alwaya. In her JIMENA testimony, Semha relates that “I was born in Baghdad, and like most other Iraqis, my mother tongue is Arabic. My family’s cuisine, our mannerisms, our outlook, are all strongly influenced by our synthesized Judeo-Arabic culture. In discussions about refugees in the Middle East, a major piece of the narrative is routinely omitted, and my life is part of the tapestry of what’s missing. I am a Jew, and I, too, am a refugee. Some of my childhood was spent in a refugee camp in Israel (yes, Israel). And I am far from being alone.”
The program will conclude with remarks by Israel’s Consul General to the Pacific Northwest, Andy David. Dr. David will provide a synopsis of the new Israeli initiative and the efforts that are taking place in Israel to ensure that Mizrahi and Sephardic heritage and history is passed down to the benefit of future generations.
This event is co-sponsored by The Israel Center of the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation, Consulate General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest, the Israel Institute, Magain David Sephardim Congregation, Congregation B’nai Israel, and Congregation Beth Sholom
For further information please contact:
Analucia Lopezrevoredo, San Francisco Program Director
JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa
Tel: (415) 626-5062
Cell: (714) 343-5998
analucia@jimena.org
