On the Shamash School and the Jewish Heritage of Iraq

In early October, JIMENA met with the Iraqis leading preservation efforts of Jewish heritage sites in Iraq. Here we respond with a question: what does it mean to preserve a Jewish school that Jews cannot visit?

Wall Street Journal: Israel’s New Center of Gravity, Dr. Mijal Bitton

More than half of Israel’s Jews descend from the countries in the Middle East and North Africa. They are key to understanding the country’s future.

Jewish National Identity: A Sephardic Perspective, Rabbi David Gingold Altchek

This article explores Jewish national identity through a Sephardic perspective, examining how Sephardic history, cultural traditions, and communal experiences inform understandings of Jewish peoplehood, Zionism, and the connection to Israel.

Counting California Jews, Dr. Ari Kelman

This Stanford University Berman Archive article features perspectives from scholars and Jewish community leaders, including JIMENA Executive Director Sarah Levin, on California’s SB 1387 and its implications for recognizing Jewish identity as an ethnicity, improving demographic data collection, and reflecting the diversity of Jewish communities.

Sephardic and Mizrahi groups accuse New York Magazine of erasing Middle Eastern Jews, Simone Saidmehr

This article in The Forward highlights JIMENA’s leadership in uniting 14 Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish organizations to challenge New York Magazine’s exclusionary portrayal of Middle Eastern identity and advocate for the recognition and inclusion of Jewish communities indigenous to the region.

A Snapshot of the Sephardic American Experience, Sue Fishkoff

A chat with the head of JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, Mayan Silver

In this WUWM interview, JIMENA Executive Director Sarah Levin discusses the history and displacement of Jews from the Middle East and North Africa, the diversity of Sephardic and Mizrahi communities, and the importance of their stories in understanding Jewish history and identity.

Jewish News of Northern California: Meet the Egyptian Copt who translates Jewish history for the Arab world, Lea Loeb

This article profiles an Egyptian Coptic Christian working to make Jewish history and heritage accessible to Arabic-speaking audiences through translation, education, and cross-cultural understanding.

JNS: Two groups ask Trump admin, House ed panel to probe California program for K-12 teachers over anti-Israel bias, Aaron Bandler

This article examines calls by two organizations for federal scrutiny of a California K–12 teacher training program over concerns about anti-Israel bias and the promotion of antisemitic narratives in public education.