Background | Son of immigrants from Morocco and Algeria; raised speaking Judeo-Arabic prayers |
Today | International Director, Sephardic Educational Center, Jerusalem |
Expertise | Classic Sephardic halakha and philosophy, Sephardic Zionism, Sephardic history |
Education | BA in History, UCLA; rabbinic ordination, Yeshiva University |
Speaks to | Educators, congregations, universities, and community leaders |
Website | |
Rabbi Daniel Bouskila is the international director of the Sephardic Educational Center, based on its historic campus in the Old City of Jerusalem, with programs that reach diaspora communities around the world. He is widely recognized as a scholar of Classic Sephardic halakhic and philosophical writings, which he researches, translates, and teaches. Among his projects is translating the writings of Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, the first Sephardic Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel.
The son of immigrants from Morocco and Algeria, he earned a BA in history at UCLA and rabbinic ordination from Yeshiva University, studied at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh in Israel, served in the Israel Defense Forces, and studied the literature of S.Y. Agnon at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He learned Judeo-Arabic from his parents and still sings prayers in it.
He served as a rabbi in Los Angeles for about thirty years, including some seventeen years as senior rabbi of Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel, before stepping down in 2010 to lead the Sephardic Educational Center. He later served as rabbi of Westwood Village Synagogue, and he made aliyah to Israel in 2024. He writes a regular column on Sephardic Torah for the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.
Rabbi Bouskila has taught with JIMENA for many years as a rabbinic scholar in residence, leading sessions for the Sephardic Leaders Fellowship and educators across the country. He serves on JIMENA's advisory board and the editorial advisory board of its journal, Distinctions. He has also contributed to JIMENA's Sephardic curriculum work. His teaching emphasizes that Sephardic Judaism is a living tradition with much to offer Jewish life today.
Sephardic Judaism is not a museum exhibit.
Rabbi Daniel Bouskila, J. The Jewish News of Northern California, 2023
Speaking Topics
What Rabbi Bouskila talks about
1. Who Are Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews?
An introduction to the history, diversity, and traditions of Jews from Spain, the Middle East, and North Africa.
2. Sephardic Approaches to Jewish Law
How great Sephardic rabbis met new questions with a moderate, inclusive halakhic approach.
3. Sephardic Practice of Inclusion
What Classic Sephardic tradition teaches about welcoming diversity within the Jewish community.
4. Sephardic Resilience after 1492
How the expulsion from Spain inspired renewal and a return to the Land of Israel.
5. Rabbi Ben-Zion Uziel and Modern Sephardic Thought
The life and writings of Israel's first Sephardic Chief Rabbi.
Select Talks
Selected talks and appearances
2024 | JIMENA Sephardic Leaders Fellowship, Senior Educators cohort (Sephardic approaches to halakha) and Los Angeles cohort (Who Are Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews?) |
2023 | J. The Jewish News of Northern California, interviewed on the launch of the Distinctions journal |
2022 | JIMENA Journey to the Mizrah 2.0 educators conference; JIMENA Sephardic Leaders Fellowship session on the Sephardic practice of diversity, equity, and inclusion |
2021 | JIMENA and the Sephardic Educational Center, pre Rosh Hashanah Sephardic Community Seder (September 2, online); JIMENA Sephardic Leaders Fellowship session |
2019 | UCLA Covel Commons, Israel in 3D Community Conference: Israeli-American Exchanges, Religion panel with Rabbi Ed Feinstein moderating (May 5; UCLA Nazarian Center for Israel Studies with Sinai Temple) |
2016 | California State University, Northridge, Jewish Studies lecture on Sephardic heritage and culture (April 18) |
2015 | California State University, Northridge, Jewish Studies lecture on the history and culture of Spanish Jews and Sephardic life today (March 12) |
Undated | Rabbis of All Israel conference, Sephardic Educational Center, Old City of Jerusalem (hosted by Memizrach Shemesh) |
Undated | Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Los Angeles, El Judaismo Sephardi: Exploring Sephardic Customs, Culture, and Ideas |
These are a selection of Rabbi Bouskila’s talks. Rabbi Bouskila has given many more, at universities, synagogues, community conferences, and educator programs in Los Angeles and Jerusalem.
Publications and Media
Read, watch, and listen
Article
Sephardic Resilience, Sephardic Zionism: Born in 1492, Still Going Strong
Essay on how the expulsion from Spain sparked renewal and return, Distinctions (JIMENA), Issue 4, 2024. Read the essay
Article
Elul, Sephardic Mizrahi Style
Column on Sephardic and Mizrahi traditions for the month before the High Holidays, Jewish Journal, 2024. Read the column
Article
Why Sephardi and Mizrahi Approaches to Jewish Law Were Friendlier to the Zoom Seder
Response essay on Sephardic halakhic flexibility, Mosaic, 2020. Read the essay
Video
Haim Sabato's The Dawning of the Day: A Dramatic Reading
Reading and discussion of the Israeli novel with Ruby Namdar, Mosaic, 2022. Watch the reading
Profile
Rabbi Daniel Bouskila, Jewish Journal
Archive of his Sephardic Torah columns, Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Read his columns
Affiliations
Organizations
- Sephardic Educational Center (International Director)
- Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles (columnist)
- JIMENA (Advisory Board; Distinctions editorial advisory board)
- Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel, Los Angeles (former senior rabbi)
- Westwood Village Synagogue, Los Angeles (former rabbi)
Book Rabbi Bouskila
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To invite Rabbi Daniel Bouskila to your school, university, congregation, or organization, use the Book Speaker button above or email info@jimena.org.