Shows
Reclaiming IdentityExploring the Jewish Story: Michel GordonDrora and Dalya talk to Michel Gordon about what it means to him to be part of the Jewish story and his travels to find out more about the greater Jewish world.Michel Gordon is a Brazilian photographer who has traveled several times to Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, searching for Jewish heritage in those places. He published his first book about Jews in Islam in 2009 (in Brazil) and the last one in 2023 (in the Netherlands).Between these works, he published a book about his perspective as...
2024-05-0244 min
Reclaiming IdentityRemembering Libya: Professor Yitzchak SabbanDrora is joined by Professor Yitzchak Sabban to discuss growing up in Libya, living in Israel and coming to the US.For more about Jewish Unity Through Diversity: https://www.unitytdiversity.com/Donate to support this and other JUTD projects: http://tinyurl.com/JUniTDiDonateAbout the Podcast:Producer: Moshe SingerExecutive producers: Drora Arussy and Dalya Arussy Di VeroliIntro music by Vanessa Paloma
2024-04-1435 min
Reclaiming IdentityStorytelling and Embracing Identity: Sarah SassoonDalya and Drora speak with Sarah Sassoon, an author and educator about her Iraqi heritage and discovering her family history through her writing.Sarah Sassoon is an Australian, Iraqi Jewish writer, poet and educator. She is the author of the award winning children’s picture book Shoham’s Bangle and online poetry chapbook This is Why We Don’t Look Back. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and her work has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, Lilith, MER, Ruminate and elsewhere. Her forthcoming picture book This is Not a Cholent is forthcoming in 2024 with Kar-Ben Publishing.Sara...
2024-04-0834 min
Reclaiming IdentityFrom Un-Persian to Persian Discovery: Danielle and GaleetDrora and Dalya speak with Danielle and Galeet Dardashti about growing up un-Persian, discovering their family's story and the personal impact of their new podcast, The Nightingale of Iran.For more about Danielle and Galeet's podcast, The Nightingale of Iran: https://www.nightingaleofiran.com/For more on Galeet's album, Monajat: https://www.galeetdardashti.com/monajatDanielle Dardashti is an Emmy award-winning documentary writer/producer, a former on-air TV news reporter, and a storySLAM champion who has been featured on NPR’s Moth Radio Hour. She is the co-author of the Jewish Family Fun Bo...
2024-03-1343 min
Reclaiming IdentityConnecting Across Oceans: Dóra and SebastianDrora and Dalya speak with Dóra and Sebastian, co-founders of Qesher. We talk to them about where they grew up, how they got to starting their enlightening initiative and what they've learned along the way, about other Jewish communities and about themselves!Dóra Koranyi is a psychologist and tour guide in the Jewish quarter of Budapest. After completing her studies in Israel, Dóra returned to Hungary where she worked actively in different Jewish organizations and also took an active role in a grassroots, egalitarian Jewish community.Originally from Venezuela, Sebastian Mizrahi has liv...
2024-03-0731 min
Reclaiming IdentityFrom Ethiopia to Tsion Cafe: Chef BeejhyDrora speaks with Beejhy about arriving and growing up in Israel, becoming a wandering Jew, and finding her home in an Ethiopian-Israeli cafe in Harlem.Beejhy is an Ethiopian-born and Israeli-raised chef and activist who has called Harlem home for the past 20 years. She's a proud Ethiopian, a proud Jew, and a proud black woman. She is also the founder of BINA, Beta Israel of North American Cultural Foundation. She now celebrates her vast heritage through the food and events at Tsion Cafe https://www.tsioncafe.com/For more about Jewish Unity...
2023-12-1732 min
Reclaiming IdentityBringing My Ladino Home to Readers: Roz KohenRoz Kohen was born and raised in İstanbul, Türkiye. She attended the Jewish Lycée, B'nai B'rith in the Galata region and graduated from the American College for Girls in İstanbul. She has a graduate degree in Library Science. She retired recently after working as manager of one of St. Louis County Library branches in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.Roz shares with us her life growing up in Istanbul, making her way to Israel and then the US, finding out along the way what it means to be "Sephardic."
2023-09-2040 min
Reclaiming IdentityFrom Uzbekistan to the US and Back: Manashe KhaimovManashe Khaimov is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SAMi which focuses on the Leadership Development of under-served Jewish communities on college campuses and in their communities in North America. Manashe is a fourth-generation community organizer, serial entrepreneur, and social innovator who builds and consults organizations on Jewish diversity. Manashe is an Adjunct Professor in Jewish Studies, with a specialty in the History and Culture of the Central Asian Jews at Queens College. In his previous role as a Director of Community Engagement and Development at Queens College Hillel, he focused on creating Sepharadi and Mizrahi Leadership at...
2023-09-1249 min
Reclaiming IdentityCarrying Ladino from Izmir to the US: Rachel Amado BortnickRachel Amado Bortnick is a Sephardic Jew, a Ladino speaker, born and raised in Izmir, Turkey. She came to the United States in 1958 on a scholarship from Lindenwood University in Missouri, from which she received a BA in Chemistry. Now, Rachel resides in Dallas, and is retired after teaching ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) for 35 years. For many years Rachel has been active in the preservation and promotion of Judeo-Spanish language and culture. In the San Francisco Bay Area she founded and was president of Los Amigos Sefaradis. She is featured in the documentary film, "Trees Cry for...
2023-09-0556 min
Reclaiming IdentityEducating for Jewish Pride: Ruben ShimonovRuben Shimonov is a Jewish educator and community builder of Bukhara heritage. today he is the Director of the American Sephardi Federation's Sephardi House Fellows helping to bring Sephardi culture and education to college campuses across the United States. He is a lecturer and calligrapher who is in demand at venues across the globe. Ruben serves as the Director of the Sephardi-Mizrachi Q Network and the VP of Education and Community Engagement of the ASF Young Leadership Board.He shares with us here his life growing up in different communities and the importance he sees in educating...
2023-05-181h 03
Reclaiming IdentityASF Institute of Jewish Experience: Meet the Team - Dalya, Avrom, Yona, Drora (Moshe)Meet the team behind the content, concepts, themes, and programs of the ASF IJE. Four of us sat down together to discuss why we are involved in this process, what it means to us as individuals, and what it means the the greater Jewish mosaic. Please share with us your thoughts and stories.Avrom ArievDalya Arussy Di VeroliDrora ArussyYona ShemeshProducer: Avrom ArievExecutive Producers: Dalya Arussy Di Veroli, Drora Arussy
2023-05-0440 min
Reclaiming IdentityFrom Samarkand to Israel - from one minority to another: Aaron PazDalya speaks with Aaron PazAaron Paz is a visual artist and cultural entrepreneur. He made Aliyah from Samarkand, Uzbekistan in 2008 and lives in Jerusalem. He manages Shashmaqom, a platform for the dissemination of the culture of Central Asia. Throughout his work, he intertwines parts of his biography with collective memory and narrative and in so doing reveals cultural and historical unknowns and disproves conventions.Producer and editor: Moshe SingerExecutive Producers: Drora Arussy and Dalya Arussy Di VeroliASF Institute of Jewish Experience
2023-04-2735 min
Reclaiming IdentityFrom Uruguay to New York part of the Jewish ExperienceDr. Mijal Bitton is a Torah teacher, thought leader, and spiritual entrepreneur.As the Rosh Kehilla (communal leader) of the Downtown Minyan in New York City and Scholar-in-Residence at the Shalom Hartman Institute, she is committed to building vibrant and welcoming traditional Jewish life.Mijal earned her doctorate from New York University where she is now directing the first national study of Sephardic Jews in the United States. She is an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship and was selected in 2018 for inclusion in “36 under 36” in the New York Jewish Week as a “Public Intellectual (with...
2023-03-2636 min
Reclaiming IdentityYoni Avi Battat: From Klezmer to Maqam and bridging those worldsYoni's new album, "Fragments," is a collection of original and traditional music surrounding my Iraqi-Jewish identity. With lyrics in Arabic, Hebrew, English, and Yiddish, the music utilizes Arabic modes and rhythms with an ensemble of traditional Arabic instruments to grapple with the fragmentation of ancestry and memory. This project offers visibility and recognition for the many unseen Middle Eastern Jews in America, while making room for listeners of all backgrounds to take something from my message of resilience and healing.Yoni Avi Battat is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and composer specializing in contemporary and traditional...
2023-02-1336 min
Reclaiming IdentityIsraeli Prejudice and Pride: E'eleh BeTamar PresentsTogether wtih E'eleh BeTamar, the organization representing Jewish Yemenites in Israel, ASF Institute of Jewish Experience brought together millennials of mixed backgrounds to speak about their time growing up in Israel and how they are now successful, despite the prejudice they experienced. An opera singer, an activist, a musicologist, and a silversmith came together with our own Dalya Arussy Di Veroli at the Yemenite Jewry and Jewish Communities of Israel Heritage Center in Rehovot, Israel. This group spoke openly about the prejudice they endured growing up, and how they turned around that negativity to create a positive reflection on...
2022-08-1851 min