Upcoming Events

Drora Arussy in conversation with Dr. Aviad Moreno (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; University of Florida), author of the award-winning Entwined Homelands, Empowered Diasporas: Hispanic Moroccan Jews and Their Globalizing Community (Indiana University Press, 2024) A minimum $18 donation is greatly appreciated to help us continue and expand our programming https://tinyurl.com/DonateTapestry. Please consider a monthly recurring donation or sponsoring a class. Why Venezuela? While most Moroccan Jews left for Israel in the mid-twentieth century, many from northern Morocco, long under Spanish rule, went instead to Venezuela, building one of the largest Moroccan Jewish communities in the Americas. Like Israel, Venezuela drew Moroccan Jews and virtually no other Moroccans. Unlike Israel, it did so without an embassy, a state agreement or any national ingathering, and as one destination in a wider movement out of the Mediterranean: Spaniards, Italians and Portuguese arriving alongside Lebanese and Syrians — Christian, Muslim, Druze and Jewish alike — who settled across Latin America. Aviad Moreno reads the Moroccan Jewish case within that wider system, following migrants who claimed a place within hispanidad and whose networks bound the Americas to the Old World in trade and kinship, and later in memory — a memory in which Morocco could be recalled at once as North Africa and as Spain.

Dr. Drora Arussy and Dalya Arussy Di Veroli explore the Sukkot customs of Jewish communities across the globe — from the silk-ribbon lulavim of Morocco and the fragrant herb bundles of Bukhara to the biscochos of Salonica, the etrog jelly of Yemen, and the Torah-binder wimpel of German Jewry. Drawing on research and interviews for the illustrated Gan BeYahad book Sukkot BeYahad, available on Amazon, they bring to life the remarkable diversity of how one holiday is celebrated across one people. If you have a special song, memory, and/or picture of succot we would love to hear it and share it. Please reach out to drora@jewishtapestry.org. Help us continue and expand our programming https://tinyurl.com/DonateTapestry. Please consider a monthly recurring donation or sponsoring a class.

What makes the High Holidays at Amsterdam's historic Esnoga different from anywhere else? This presentation explores the unique customs, melodies, and liturgical traditions of Amsterdam's Portuguese-Jewish community, many of which have been preserved for centuries. Drawing on his experience as a former cantor of the Esnoga, Nachshon Rodrigues Pereira offers participants a rare insight into one of Europe's oldest living Jewish communities, with ample opportunity for questions and discussion. About the speaker: Nachshon Rodrigues Pereira is the founder and community leader of Bendigamos, an independent Portuguese-Jewish community in Amsterdam. As one of the few remaining bearers of Amsterdam’s historic Portuguese-Jewish tradition, he is dedicated to preserving and revitalizing this unique heritage. His work focuses on education, community building, and inspiring a new generation to connect with Sephardic Jewish life and traditions. Help support the future of our Jewish heritage by donating to Jewish Tapestry today - register for a monthly donation at https://www.jewishtapestry.org/contact-donations. To sponsor a program info@JewishTapestry.org To get in touch with the community or support them via Patreon please visit the following pages: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Bendigamos, https://www.patreon.com/Bendigamos (in English) Contact email: BendigamosNL@gmail.com

A discussion celebrating Jewish resilience with Rabbi Shlomo Pereira. Rabbi Prof Shlomo Pereira presents an overview of the evolution of the crypto Jewish community in Portugal and his own connections with them 5 hundred years later. It is a story of bitter persecution but more importantly with a glorious story of Jewish survival against all odds. Register for our newsletter to ensure you do not miss any new events. Help support our programming by sponsoring a class, sharing feedback, sharing our programming, and donating https://www.jewishtapestry.org/contact-donations.

Dr. Benjamin Berman Gladstone delivered a presentation on the overlooked history of Middle Eastern and North African Jews in the development of Zionism and Israel, arguing that understanding this perspective is essential for accurately understanding the country and its conflicts. He traced the origins of Zionist thought from the 1840 Damascus Affair through key figures like Rabbi Yehuda Alkalai, who advocated for Jewish settlement in the land of Israel based on religious and agricultural commandments, to more modern immigration operations like "Operation On Eagle's Wings" that brought Yemeni Jews to Israel. Benjamin discussed how recognizing the Middle Eastern and North African roots of most Israeli Jews challenges the colonialism narrative and provides a more complex understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, highlighting the roles of figures like Yisrael Yishayahu Sharabi in facilitating Jewish immigration and challenging stereotypes about Mizrahi and Sephardi communities. If you enjoyed this program please share it, comment, rate it and help support further programming by donating today https://www.jewishtapestry.org/contact-donations

The appearance of printing technology in the Jewish world was far more than a technical revolution—it was a spiritual and cultural upheaval that reshaped the foundations of Jewish life. For a people whose existence was bound to the word, the book, and the unbroken chain of learning, the printing press became not merely an instrument of replication but a vessel of survival. It multiplied Torah where exile had scattered it, preserved voices that might have vanished amid the turbulence of history, and gave permanence to the fragile beauty of written tradition. Monuments of Paper and Parchment is a visual and historical journey into this creative moment, centered on the brief yet extraordinary story of Hebrew printing in Portugal. Between 1487 and 1496—spanning Faro, Lisbon, and Leiria—three Hebrew printing houses flourished, producing a body of work that accounted for nearly two-thirds of all printing in Portugal during that decade. The story begins with the Pentateuch printed in Faro in 1487, the first book printed in Portugal in any language, and concludes with the Almanach Perpetuum of R. Abraham Zacuto in 1496, the first scientific book printed in the land. This volume invites the reader to rediscover a remarkable flowering of faith and intellect before the shadow of expulsion fell. It is both a tribute to the enduring brilliance of Iberian Jewry and an invitation to rediscover monuments not made of stone, but of paper and parchment. To order the book:   USA  Amazon.com – https://www.amazon.com/dp/9893515114?dplnkId=31b17c9c-f12b-43df-b73b-227baf5f2ddd&nodl=1 Portugal and the rest of the world: Amazon.es – https://www.amazon.es/-/en/dp/9893515114/ref=sr_1_1 For 25% discount and free shipping order directly through shlomo@chabadofva.org and say that you heard about the book through Jewish Unity Through Diversity. Please consider supporting our programs by donating today https://www.unitytdiversity.com/contact-donations

The Dahan Center at Bar Ilan University organized this event, with co-sponsorship from the Museum of Jewish Heritage, JewishGen, the Sephardic Heritage Project, Israel’s Ministry of Education, and the Jewish Unity Through Diversity Institute. Event Details - Students from SAR Yeshiva, Hillel Yeshiva, and Barkai Yeshiva shared family stories about leaving Arab countries after 1948, highlighting personal heritage and experiences. - Presentations explored conditions faced by Jews in Arab lands post-1948, detailing the expulsion and loss of homes after centuries of residence, told from the Jewish perspective. Program and Speakers Opening with remarks from Shimon Ohayon, Director of the Dahan Center at Bar Ilan University Greetings from Yigal Hagoel and Michal Slawny Cababia – World Zionist organization -Welcome from Jack Kiliger, president and CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust Opening Lecture by Rabbi Elie Abadie, MD. Featured lectures include: - Mordechai Kedar - Ben-Dror Yemini - Rabbi Moshe Tessone - The Music of Arab Lands. - Sarina Roffe will speak on the experiences of Syrian Jews, focusing on the period from 1948 to 1992, when emigration finally became possible.  - Dr. Benjamin Berman-Gladstone This event is designed to educate the public about the experiences and struggles of Jews who were forced to leave Arab countries, emphasizing heritage preservation and historical awareness.

In this discussion, Rabbi Professor Michael Broyde shared his read of the Jewish literature — social, cultural and halakhic — about celebrating the unique American holiday of Thanksgiving. Spanning the breadth of the religious literature, he will use the Thanksgiving conversation to examine the question of how American do Jews really want to be, and how to consider national holidays of various types. About the speaker: Rabbi Broyde is a Professor of Law at Emory University and the Berman Projects Director in its Center for the Study of Law and Religion. In the past, he has been the rabbi of the Young Israel in Atlanta as well as a dayan and director of the the Beth Din of America. Please consider supporting our programs by donating today https://www.unitytdiversity.com/contact-donations - Suggested minimum donation, $11