For 30 Years, I Thought I Was Sephardic. I Was Wrong.
I knew I wasn’t Ashkenazi, so for nearly 30 years, I thought I was Sephardic. I wasn’t alone.
I knew I wasn’t Ashkenazi, so for nearly 30 years, I thought I was Sephardic. I wasn’t alone.
On May 16, 2003, a series of suicide bombings struck Casablanca. The target: Jews. Luckily, the suicide bombers were not particularly savvy, and the Jewish targets they struck were empty for Shabbat. Although no Jews were killed, nearly 30 Muslims died as a result of the blasts.
Every holiday has its aura. Pesach has a scrubbed cleanliness; Purim, a cookie-dough indulgence, Sukkot, a back-to-nature thankfulness. Rosh Hashanah has its aura, too. For most of us, it\’s one that begins a season of awe, judgment and repentance.
Business at Eitan Salman\’s music store has fallen 80 percent over the last decade, but it\’s not altogether a bad thing: Mizrahi music has grown so popular in Israel that it no longer is the exclusive domain of mom-and-pop shops like Salman\’s but is sold even at Israel\’s Tower Records outlets.
This Sunday, the Skirball Cultural Center will celebrate the Jewish cultures of the Middle East with the first Mizrahi Festival in Los Angeles.