The cover from the 1917 Brotherhood Gala brochure (Courtesy of David Saffan) The common answer today is: Yes. Even the Brotherhood’s own website indicates that the organization was established as a “volunteer mutual aid and burial society.”   But Ladino publications of the era tell a slightly different story.   During the early twentieth century, economic challenges, political changes, and war compelled many Sephardic Jews to leave the Ottoman Empire. Between 1908 and 1924, a

Benoun Torah Crown from the Kehila Grande of Rhodes For decades, artifacts and photographs related to the Jewish community of Rhodes have been carefully collected as part of a personal and communal mission to preserve its rich history for future generations. And despite the tragic deportation and murder of nearly all its Jews to Auschwitz, it is our role as their descendants to honor and remember their life stories, thus preserving the community’s legacy now and forever.  Tha