Heritage | Kurdish Sephardic; her father's family moved to Israel in 1951 |
Today | Director of Community Outreach, Jewish Family and Children's Services, San Francisco |
Expertise | Sephardic rabbinic texts, text study for social action, Sephardic names and identity |
Education | Joint Program, Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary; MSW, Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University |
Speaks to | Educators, social service professionals, students, and adult learners |
Website | |
Tamar Zaken is an educator and social worker who directs community outreach at Jewish Family and Children's Services in San Francisco. Her father's family is Kurdish and moved to Israel in 1951, and she has worked to revive Seherana, the Kurdish Jewish spring holiday. She studied in the Joint Program of Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary and holds a master's degree in social work from Yeshiva University's Wurzweiler School of Social Work.
For more than a decade she directed service learning beit midrash programs at Memizrach Shemesh, a Jerusalem center for Jewish social leadership rooted in Sephardic and Mizrahi heritage. There she refined a teaching approach built on close reading of Jewish texts, from rabbinic commentary to modern literature, and on asking good questions rather than lecturing. She later served as Chief Program Officer at HaMaqom, where she taught courses on Sephardic sages.
Tamar translates Sephardic rabbinic texts into English so that their teachings on inclusion and justice can reach new readers. She draws on sages such as Rabbi Yosef Messas, Rabbi Abdallah Somekh, the Ben Ish Hai, and Rabbi Haim David HaLevi, and she has written for Distinctions, J. The Jewish News of Northern California, and My Jewish Learning, on subjects ranging from Sephardic holiday traditions to her grandmothers' kitchens.
She has taught with JIMENA since 2018, when she led the seminar series Contemporary Issues Through a Sephardi Lens in San Francisco. Since 2022 she has taught in every cohort of the Sephardic Leaders Fellowship, leading sessions on Sephardic pedagogy, Sephardic names, and the Sephardic beit midrash, and she has helped develop JIMENA curriculum for educators and day schools.
These texts belong to all of the Jewish people.
Tamar Zaken, J. The Jewish News of Northern California, 2018
Speaking Topics
What Tamar talks about
1. Our Sephardic Names
What Sephardic and Mizrahi family names reveal about history, migration, and identity.
2. The Sephardic Beit Midrash
Learning Sephardic rabbinic texts together in a hands on, question driven study session.
3. Sephardic Wisdom for Social Action
What Sephardic sages teach about dignity, hospitality, and care for people in need.
4. Sephardic Pedagogy
Bringing Sephardic sources and ways of learning into Jewish classrooms and libraries.
5. Kurdish Jewish Heritage
The traditions of Kurdish Jews, including the spring holiday of Seherana.
Select Talks
Selected talks and appearances
2022 to 2026 | JIMENA Sephardic Leaders Fellowship sessions on Sephardic pedagogy, Our Sephardic Names, and the Sephardi beit midrash |
2022 | JIMENA Journey to the Mizrah 2.0 educators conference |
2021 | HaMaqom | The Place, Berkeley, course Sephardic Sages Bringing Peace to the World, and a planned talk with Hadar Cohen, The Racial Identity of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews |
2020 | Jewish Community Library, San Francisco, Names and Identity: Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews in Israel (February 27); HaMaqom | The Place, class on the experiences of Sephardic, Middle Eastern, and North African Jews in Israel (spring) |
2018 | JIMENA and Lehrhaus Judaica seminar series, Contemporary Issues Through a Sephardi Lens (January to April), at the Bindery bookstore and North Beach Moishe House, San Francisco |
Earlier | Memizrach Shemesh, Jerusalem, director of service learning beit midrash programs for more than a decade |
These are a selection of Tamar’s talks. Tamar has given many more, at community libraries, adult learning programs, and educator fellowships in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Jerusalem.
Publications and Media
Read, watch, and listen
Article
A Library of Sages: Bringing Sephardi Wisdom to Jewish Day Schools
A Sephardic rabbinic reading list for school libraries, Distinctions (JIMENA), Issue 5, 2025. Read the essay
Article
Using Sephardic sources to create a perfect moment of Jewish learning
Essay on teaching with Sephardic texts, J. The Jewish News of Northern California, 2022. Read the essay
Article
Wisdom of Sephardic Sages
Profile of her translation work and Kurdish Sephardic heritage, by Hadar Cohen, Lilith Magazine, 2021. Read the profile
Article
What My Sephardi and Ashkenazi Grandmothers Taught Me About Cooking and Feminism
Personal essay on family food traditions, My Jewish Learning, 2017. Read the essay
Article
Did you know November is Mizrachi Heritage Month?
Opinion essay on Mizrahi heritage, J. The Jewish News of Northern California, 2017. Read the essay
Affiliations
Organizations
- Jewish Family and Children's Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties (Director of Community Outreach)
- Memizrach Shemesh, Jerusalem (former program director)
- HaMaqom (former Chief Program Officer)
- JIMENA (fellowship faculty and curriculum contributor)
Book Tamar
Bring this speaker to your audience
To invite Tamar Zaken to your school, university, congregation, or organization, use the Book Speaker button above or email info@jimena.org.